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Wuxing (Chinese:五行;pinyin:wǔxíng;Jyutping:Ng5 Hang4),[a] translated asFive Moving Ones,Five Circulations,Five Types of Energy,Five Elements,Five Transformations,Five Phases orFive Agents,[2] is a fivefold conceptual scheme used in many traditional Chinese fields of study to explain a wide array of phenomena, including terrestrial and celestial relationships, influences, and cycles, that characterise the interactions and relationships withinscience,medicine,politics,religion and social relationships and education withinChinese culture.
TheFive Moving Ones are traditionally associated with the classical planets:Mars,Mercury,Jupiter,Venus, andSaturn as depicted in theetymological section below. In ancientChinese astronomy andastrology, that spread throughout East Asia, was a reflection of the seven-day planetary order ofFire,Water,Wood,Metal,Earth.[3][b] When in their "heavenly stems" generative cycle as represented in the belowcycles section and depicted in the diagram above running consecutively clockwise (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).[8] When in their overacting destructive arrangement of Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, natural disasters, calamity, illnesses and disease will ensue.
Thewuxing system has been in use since the second or first century BCE during theHan dynasty. It appears in many seemingly disparate fields of early Chinese thought, includingmusic,feng shui,alchemy,astrology,martial arts,military strategy,I Ching divination,religion andtraditional medicine, serving as ametaphysics based oncosmic analogy.
Wuxing originally referred to the fiveclassical planets (frombrightest to dimmest:Venus,Jupiter,Mercury,Mars,Saturn), which were with the combination of theSun and theMoon, conceived as creating the five forces of earthly life (includingyang and yin). This is why the word is composed of Chinese characters meaning "five" (五;wǔ) and "moving" (行;xíng). "Moving" is shorthand for "planets", since the word for planets in Chinese has been translated as "moving stars" (行星;xíngxīng).[9] Some of theMawangdui Silk Texts (before 168 BC) also connect thewuxing to thewude (五德;wǔdé), theFive Virtues and Five Emotions .[10][11] Scholars believe that various predecessors to the concept ofwuxing were merged into one system of many interpretations in theHan dynasty.[12]
Wuxing was first translated into English as "the Five Elements", drawing parallels with the Greek and Indian Vedic static, solid or formative arrangement of thefour elements.[13][14][11] This translation is still in common use among practitioners ofTraditional Chinese medicine, such as in the name of Five Element acupuncture and Japanese meridian therapy.[15][16] However, this analogy could be misleading as the four elements are concerned with form, substance and quantity, whereas the post-heaven arrangement of thewuxing are "primarily concerned with process, change, and quality".[17] For example, thewuxing element "Wood" is more accurately thought of as the "vital essence" and growth of trees rather than the physical innate substance wood.[18] This ledsinologistNathan Sivin to propose the alternative translation "five phases" in 1987.[19] But "phase" also fails to capture the full meaning ofwuxing. In some contexts, thewuxing are indeed associated with physical substances.[20] Historian of Chinese medicine Manfred Porkert proposed the (somewhat unwieldy) term "Evolutive Phase".[20] Perhaps the most widely accepted translation among modern scholars is the "five agents" or "five transformations".[21][22]
In traditional doctrine, the five phases are connected in two cycles of interactions: a promoting or generative (生shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son"; and an overacting or destructive (克kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson" (see diagram). Each of these cycles can be interpreted and analyzed in a forward or reversed direction. In addition to the aforementioned cycles there is also what is considered an "overacting" or excessively generating version of the destructive cycle.[citation needed]
The generative cycle (相生xiāngshēng) is:
The destructive cycle (相克xiāngkè) is:
The excessive destructive cycle (相乘xiāngchéng) is:
The reverse generative cycle (相洩/相泄xiāngxiè) is:
A reverse or deficient destructive cycle (相侮xiāngwǔ or相耗xiānghào) is:
| Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavenly Stems | Jia甲 Yi乙 | Bing丙 Ding丁 | Wu戊 Ji己 | Geng庚 Xin辛 | Ren壬 Gui癸 |
| Year ends with | 4, 5 | 6, 7 | 8, 9 | 0, 1 | 2, 3 |
InZiwei divination,nayin (納音) further classifies the Five Elements into 60ming (命), or life orders, based on theganzhi. Similar to the astrology zodiac, theming is used by fortune-tellers to analyse individual personality and destiny.
| Order | Ganzhi | Ming | Order | Ganzhi | Ming | Element |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wood Rat甲子 | Sea metal海中金 | 31 | Wood Horse甲午 | Sand metal沙中金 | Metal |
| 2 | Wood Ox乙丑 | 32 | Wood Goat乙未 | |||
| 3 | Fire Tiger丙寅 | Furnace fire爐中火 | 33 | Fire Monkey丙申 | Forest fire山下火 | Fire |
| 4 | Fire Rabbit丁卯 | 34 | Fire Rooster丁酉 | |||
| 5 | Earth Dragon戊辰 | Forest wood大林木 | 35 | Earth Dog戊戌 | Meadow wood平地木 | Wood |
| 6 | Earth Snake己巳 | 36 | Earth Pig己亥 | |||
| 7 | Metal Horse庚午 | Road earth路旁土 | 37 | Metal Rat庚子 | Adobe earth壁上土 | Earth |
| 8 | Metal Goat辛未 | 38 | Metal Ox辛丑 | |||
| 9 | Water Monkey壬申 | Sword metal劍鋒金 | 39 | Water Tiger壬寅 | Foil metal金箔金 | Metal |
| 10 | Water Rooster癸酉 | 40 | Water Rabbit癸卯 | |||
| 11 | Wood Dog甲戌 | Volcanic fire山頭火 | 41 | Wood Dragon甲辰 | Lamp fire覆燈火 | Fire |
| 12 | Wood Pig乙亥 | 42 | Wood Snake乙巳 | |||
| 13 | Fire Rat丙子 | Creek water澗下水 | 43 | Fire Horse丙午 | Sky water天河水 | Water |
| 14 | Fire Ox丁丑 | 44 | Fire Goat丁未 | |||
| 15 | Earth Tiger戊寅 | Fortress earth城頭土 | 45 | Earth Monkey戊申 | Stage station earth大驛土 | Earth |
| 16 | Earth Rabbit己卯 | 46 | Earth Rooster己酉 | |||
| 17 | Metal Dragon庚辰 | Pewter metal白镴金 | 47 | Metal Dog庚戌 | Jewellery metal釵釧金 | Metal |
| 18 | Metal Snake辛巳 | 48 | Metal Pig辛亥 | |||
| 19 | Water Horse壬午 | Willow wood楊柳木 | 49 | Water Rat壬子 | Mulberry wood桑柘木 | Wood |
| 20 | Water Goat癸未 | 50 | Water Ox癸丑 | |||
| 21 | Wood Monkey甲申 | Stream water泉中水 | 51 | Wood Tiger甲寅 | Rapids water大溪水 | Water |
| 22 | Wood Rooster乙酉 | 52 | Wood Rabbit乙卯 | |||
| 23 | Fire Dog丙戌 | Roof tiles earth屋上土 | 53 | Fire Dragon丙辰 | Desert earth沙中土 | Earth |
| 24 | Fire Pig丁亥 | 54 | Fire Snake丁巳 | |||
| 25 | Earth Rat戊子 | Lightning fire霹靂火 | 55 | Earth Horse戊午 | Sun fire天上火 | Fire |
| 26 | Earth Ox己丑 | 56 | Earth Goat己未 | |||
| 27 | Metal Tiger庚寅 | Conifer wood松柏木 | 57 | Metal Monkey庚申 | Pomegranate wood石榴木 | Wood |
| 28 | Metal Rabbit辛卯 | 58 | Metal Rooster辛酉 | |||
| 29 | Water Dragon壬辰 | River water長流水 | 59 | Water Dog壬戌 | Ocean water大海水 | Water |
| 30 | Water Snake癸巳 | 60 | Water Pig癸亥 |
Thewuxing schema is applied to explain phenomena in various fields.
The five phases are around 73 days each and are usually used to describe the transformations of nature rather than their formative states.
The art of feng shui (Chinesegeomancy) is based onwuxing, with the structure of the cosmos mirroring the five phases, as well asbagua (the eighttrigrams). Each phase has acomplex network of associations with different aspects of nature (see table): colors, seasons and shapes all interact according to the cycles.[23]
An interaction or energy flow can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive, depending on the cycle to which it belongs. By understanding these energy flows, a feng shui practitioner attempts to rearrange energy to benefit the client.[c]
| Movement | Metal | Wood | Water | Fire | Earth | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trigramhanzi | 乾 | 兌 | 震 | 巽 | 坎 | 離 | 艮 | 坤 |
| Trigrampinyin | qián | duì | zhèn | xùn | kǎn | lí | gèn | kūn |
| Trigrams | ☰ | ☱ | ☳ | ☴ | ☵ | ☲ | ☶ | ☷ |
| I Ching | Heaven | Lake | Thunder | Wind | Water | Fire | Mountain | Field |
| Planet (Celestial Body) | Venus | Jupiter | Mercury | Mars | Saturn | |||
| Color | White | Green | Black | Red | Yellow | |||
| Day | Friday | Thursday | Wednesday | Tuesday | Saturday | |||
| Season | Autumn | Spring | Winter | Summer | Intermediate | |||
| Cardinal direction | West | East | North | South | Center | |||
According to the Warring States period political philosopherZou Yan (c. 305–240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified virtue (德;dé), which indicates the foreordained destiny (運;yùn) of a dynasty; hence the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that theMandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual color (white, green, black, red, and yellow) that matches the element of the new dynasty (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of the Five Elements to legitimize their reign.[25]
The interdependence ofzangfu networks in the body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the ancient Chinese doctors onto categories of syndromes and patterns called the five phases.[26][27]
In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners use the Five Elements theory to classify the human body's endogenous influences on organs, physiological activities, pathological reactions, and environmental or exogenous (external, environmental) influences. This diagnostic capacity is extensively used in traditional five phase acupuncture today, as opposed to the modern Confucian styledeight principles based Traditional Chinese medicine.[28][29][30]
TheHuainanzi and theYueling chapter (月令;Yuèlìng) of theBook of Rites make the following correlations:
| Movement | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color | Qing (green and blue) | Red | Yellow | White | Black |
| Arctic Direction | east | south | center | west | north |
| BasicPentatonic Scale pitch | 角 | 徵 | 宮 | 商 | 羽 |
| BasicPentatonic Scale pitch pinyin | jué | zhǐ | gōng | shāng | yǔ |
| solfege | mi or E | sol or G | do or C | re or D | la or A |
Wuxing being an influential philosophical concept, there are several Chinese martial arts and a few other east Asian styles that incorporate five phases concepts into their systems.
Tai chi trains and focuses on five basic qualities as part of its overarching strategy.[25]
The Five Steps (五步;wǔ bù) are:
These five steps are not mutable states in tai chi.
Xingyi Quan uses the five elements metaphorically to represent ideally five different energies, but energy work is subtle, so normally one starts out learning five basic techniques with complementary footwork to teach the basic concepts behind the energies. Ideally one can use any technique with any kind of energy, but there are different levels of skill one must go through.
In Xingyi Quan, realization of the five energies has three basic levels: Obvious power, subtle power, mysterious power.
| Movement | Fist | Chinese | Pinyin | Direction | Shape | Subtle Action | Energy | Feeling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metal | Splitting | 劈 | Pī | Downward | Fist or palm chopping forward, hand pulling down and back, spine rolling downward | dragging down | condensing power | Dropping (jerking down) |
| Water | Drilling | 鑽 / 钻 | Zuān | Upward | Fist drilling upward like water under pressure, hand down and back | spiraling | relaxing power | Shocking (jerking up and down simultaneously) |
| Wood | Crushing | 崩 | Bēng | Forward | Fist shooting straight forward | wedging | linear power | Penetrating (expanding through) |
| Fire | Pounding | 炮 | Pào | Backward | Fist being propelled forward by body flinging open | flinging | reciprocal power | Launching (uprooting and countering) |
| Earth | Crossing | 橫 / 横 | Héng | Horizontal | Fist crossing horizontally and turning over to plough through | turning | torque power | Colliding (turning into a strike, falling onto a strike) |
TheFive Animals in Shaolin martial arts are an extension of theWuxing theory as their qualities are the embodiment and representation of the energetic qualities of the five phases in the animal kingdom. They are the,
Wuxing Heqidao, (GogyoAikido 五行合气道) is a life art with roots in Confucian, Taoists and Buddhist theory. It centers around applied peace and health studies rather than defence or physical action. It emphasizes the unification of mind, body and environment using the physiological theory ofyin and yang as well as five-elementTraditional Chinese medicine. Its movements, exercises, and teachings cultivate, direct, and harmonise theqi.[25][34]
The Japanese term isgogyo (Japanese:五行,romanized: gogyō). During the 5th and 6th centuries (Kofun period),[35] Japan adopted various philosophical disciplines such asTaoism,Chinese Buddhism andConfucianism through monks and physicians from China helping to evolve theOnmyōdō system. As opposed to theory ofGodai that is a form based philosophy that was introduced to Japan through India and Tibetan Buddhism.[36] These theories have been extensively practiced in Japaneseacupuncture and traditionalKampo medicine.[37][38]
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