The Dynamic of Yin and Yang

If you were asked to draw a circle, divide it into two equal halves, and color one half black and one half white; you would likely divide the circle right down the middle (creating two half moons) and color one side black and one side white. This image is the usual shape of western philosophic thinking... everything is often black or white. Good or evil. Male or female. Abstinence or gluttony. And we seem to seek ways to make the world fit this image. However, with this world-view nothing can truly be balanced, and there is no room for a flow from black to white, you are either one or the other. Sure, people talk about "shades of gray," but that's usually a cop-out to how this type of thinking doesn't fit the actual world.

As an example, let's imagine a tropical storm moves in from the sea to a coastal city. The storm hits with "full fury," and the city is flooded and devastated. To the people living in the city, this is a "bad" or (when taking the western philosophy) a "black" storm.

Now imagine the storm moves inland from the coast, is broken up by some natural weather barriers, but still manages to provide ample rain and water to an inland area that has been plagued by drought. To the people living here, who depend upon the land for their livelyhood, this is a very "good" or "white" storm.

Now the storm moves over an inland lake, picks up excess moisture, and floods a lake-side city... is the storm good or bad? Can a storm be good or bad? Is God using the storm to punish the "evil" and reward the "good"?

Let's look at the Taoist philosophy of Tai Chi, the dynamic of Yin and Yang...

The Taoist (pronounced Dow-ist) view of the world is also represented by an equally divided circle with one half black and one half white, called the Yin and Yang or the Tai Chi symbol (see our school logo above for an example). However, despite similarities to its western cousin described above, the colors of the Yin and Yang do not represent good or evil, as those are abstract concepts created largely in the mind. Nor does it represent male and female, though the qualities it does represent are often mistaken as masculine and feminine qualities. Also, the image is not drawn to be static, rather the black and white elements are permitted to flow into one another.

The Taoists see the world, and all the things in it, as they naturally are: both aggressive and passive. And there isn’t such a thing as pure aggression or such a thing as pure passivity; each has an element of the other (hence the "dots" of the opposite color in the symbol [our dragons are holding the "dots" in our school logo]).

Passivity and Aggression are definately not static states. Things in nature are at times aggressive and other times passive, depending largely upon the situation and external stimuli. Therefore aggression moves into passivity and passivity moves into aggression. This movement is called Taiji (pinyin spelling, and accurate pronounciation of Tai Chi).

If we look at the example of the tropical storm above, we see that the storm was not guided by black or white motives. Rather it was reacting according to its nature and behaving aggressive or passive, based on its situation and external stimuli.

When I understood this dynamic, I suddenly became very much "at peace" with nature and natural occurances. I no longer look at a terrible situation as "God being displeased" or a blessed situation as "God being pleased." I think of it now as simply "a matter of Taiji," and do my best to find a balance within the situation.

I do my best, now, to live in a state of balance between Yin and Yang, allowing Taiji to occur, and try not remain too long in aggressiveness (Yang, white) or passivity (Yin, black). Allowing too much of one to build up in my life (most often, Yin, passivity) tends to throw my life out of balance, causing stress and dis-ease. Allowing for moments of aggression and passivity tends to allow me to maintain a balance of health and happiness. Letting go of the static method of dual, or black and white, thinking was my first step in truly understanding Taijiquan.

Words of Wisdom

Below are some of the discussions my Sifu, Bill Parkinson, has with his classes. These are lectures that stick with me when I leave...

(Note: everything is paraphrased by how I remember it, I do not take a recording device of any kind to class)

Divine Breath
"You all know the story... God mixed water with dirt, made mud, and sculpted a human doll from it... something we could all do to some degree or another. But then God did something we cannot do... he breathed life into that doll and made man. Literally breathed life into the doll... and each of us has that divine breath still within us. It nourishes us. Life begins with breath. Until relatively recently, if you didn't take a breath after you were born, you were never alive. When you take your last exhale and do not inhale again, you have left life behind. The movement of Chi is the movement of the divine breath through the body."

All Knowledge
"Each of us took a sperm and an egg and made a human being. In doing so, our bodies passed through a million years of evolution inside of 9 months. We started out as a single cell dividing into two, then four; then we got to the point where we looked a little like a lizard; then we looked like a little piggy; then a primate; and finally a human being... Everything that has come before us still exists within us. That infinite knowledge is inside of all of us.

"When kung fu first started in the Shaolin temple, they were very externally focused. One of the things they did was to observe animals, and develop fighting styles around them. If you wanted to fight like a tiger, you went out and watched a tiger. I always figured they must have drawn straws, and the guy who drew the short straw had to follow the tiger around. With Tai Chi, we say you could watch a tiger OR you could access your inner tiger. You could watch a snake, or you could access your inner snake. Because all of that knowledge is within you."

The Throat Chakra
"In the beginning was the Word, and you should be careful what you say aloud because of that. If you're one of those people who, when asked how a job interview went, says: 'I don't want to say anything, I don't want to jinx it,' then its very likely that your throat chakra is spinning the wrong direction, making that which you say less likely than happen. When your throat chakra is moving in the proper direction, you can easily say: 'I think I will get this job,' and you will be more likely to get it, and you could be even more certain of the spin and say: 'I will get this job' and have an even better chance of getting it, so keep what you say about yourself positive."