Five Elements

The components of our world

composition zen, bouddha noir, bambou, yin yang

The Chinese Metaphysics or the Daosism base on the dualistic basic principle of Yin and Yang (陰陽 yīnyáng). Yin and Yang can be expressed as contrastive pairs of light and shadow, hot and cold, male and female etc. and also derived mixtures of both.

The doctrine of Yin and Yang is connected with the idea of Qi (氣 qì) representing the omnipresent life energy, the vital engine of everything that exists.

The Five Elements (chin. 五行 wŭ xíng), also called „Five Phases of Transformation“, portray the particular expressions of Qi. These are: fire, earth, metal, water and wood. Everything in this world can be associated with these phases, this means with different forms of energy.

The Elements can produce, reduce or control each other and thereby build corresponding cycles. Every Element exists as Yin or Yang.

Application of these principles

Because everything in the cosmos follow the order of the Five Elements, people can use this knowledge about elementary interactions to actively influence them.

An example of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (which is also part of the Chinese Metaphysics): The liver and the eyes are associated with wood, the heart and the tongue with fire etc. If somebody has eye issues, this can be an indicative of liver problems.

The treatment of diseases will be developed on a Five Element basis with the objective of harmonising the energy cycle. If the heart and thus fire is weak, it has to be strengthened by wood. If an element is too strong, it must be damped, for example if fire is too strong, you can add earth via nutrition.
Similarly, you can associate and harmonise people and their activities as well as locations and time with the Five Elements. You can benefit from these principles by

  • identifying the character and life course of a person and developing helpful life strategies employing Ba Zi Suanming,
  • adjusting premises to the environment and to the residents for their better energetic support employing Feng Shui and
  • ensuring the success of important ventures via Date Selection.