Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)

Xíng (行) of wǔxíng (五行) means moving; a planet is called a 'moving star' (行星 xíngxīng) in Chinese. Wǔxíng originally refers to the five major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus) that create five dimensions of earth life.[4] Wǔxíng is also widely translated as "Five Elements" and this is used extensively by many including practitioners of Five Element acupuncture. This translation arose by false analogy with the Western system of the four elements.[5] Whereas the classical Greek elements were concerned with substances or natural qualities, the Chinese xíng are "primarily concerned with process and change," hence the common translation as "phases" or "agents".[6] By the same token, Mù is thought of as "Tree" rather than "Wood".[7] The word element is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine with a different meaning to its usual meaning.

It should be recognized that the word phase, although commonly preferred, is not perfect. Phase is a better translation for the five seasons (五運 wǔyùn) mentioned below, and so agents or processes might be preferred for the primary term xíng. Manfred Porkert attempts to resolve this by using Evolutive Phase for 五行 wǔxíng and Circuit Phase for 五運 wǔyùn, but these terms are unwieldy.

Some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts (no later than 168 BC) also present the wǔxíng as "five virtues" or types of activities.[8] Within Chinese medicine texts the wǔxíng are also referred to as wǔyǔn (五運) or a combination of the two characters (五行運 wǔxíngyǔn) these emphasise the correspondence of five elements to five 'seasons' (four seasons plus one). Another tradition refers to the wǔxíng as wǔdé (五德), the Five Virtues.

The five phases are around 73 days each and are usually used to describe the state in nature:

• Wood/Spring: a period of growth, which generates abundant wood and vitality
• Fire/Summer: a period of swelling, flowering, brimming with fire and energy
• Earth: the in-between transitional seasonal periods, or a separate 'season' known as Late Summer or Long Summer – in the latter case associated with leveling and dampening (moderation) and fruition
• Metal/Autumn: a period of harvesting and collecting
• Water/Winter: a period of retreat, where stillness and storage pervades

The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles, a generating or creation (生 shēng) cycle, also known as "mother-son", and an overcoming or destruction (剋/克 kè) cycle, also known as "grandfather-grandson", of interactions between the phases. Within Chinese medicine the effects of these two main relations are further elaborated:

• Inter-promoting (相生 xiāngshēng): the effect in the generating (生 shēng) cycle
• Weakening (相洩/相泄 xiāngxiè): the effect in a deficient or reverse generating (生 shēng) cycle
• Inter-regulating (相剋/相克 xiāngkè): the effect in the overcoming (剋/克 kè) cycle
• Overacting (相乘 xiāngchéng): the effect in an excessive overcoming (剋/克 kè) cycle
• Counteracting (相侮 xiāngwǔ or 相耗 xiānghào??): the effect in a deficient or reverse overcoming (剋/克 kè) cycle

Another illustration of the cycle.

According to wuxing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a complex series of associations with different aspects of nature, as can be seen in the following table. In the ancient Chinese form of geomancy, known as Feng Shui, practitioners all based their art and system on the five phases (wuxing). All of these phases are represented within the trigrams. Associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes; all of which are interacting with each other.[9]

Based on a particular directional energy flow from one phase to the next, the interaction can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive. A proper knowledge of each aspect of energy flow will enable the Feng Shui practitioner to apply certain cures or rearrangement of energy in a way they believe to be beneficial for the receiver of the Feng Shui Treatment.

According to the Warring States period political philosopher Zou Yan 鄒衍 (c. 305–240 BCE), each of the five elements possesses a personified "virtue" (de 德), which indicates the foreordained destiny (yun 運) of a dynasty; accordingly, the cyclic succession of the elements also indicates dynastic transitions. Zou Yan claims that the Mandate of Heaven sanctions the legitimacy of a dynasty by sending self-manifesting auspicious signs in the ritual color (yellow, blue, white, red, and black) that matches the element of the new dynasty (Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water). From the Qin dynasty onward, most Chinese dynasties invoked the theory of the Five Elements to legitimize their reign.[10]

Five Elements – diurnal cycle

The interdependence of zang-fu networks in the body was said to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by the Chinese doctors onto the five phases.[11][12]

In order to explain the integrity and complexity of the human body, Chinese medical scientists and physicians use the Five Elements theory to classify the human body's endogenous influences on organs, physiological activities, pathological reactions, and environmental or exogenous influences.This diagnostic capacity is extensively used in traditional five phase acupunture today, as opposed to the modern eight principal based Traditional Chinese medicine.[13][14]

The Yuèlìng chapter (月令篇) of the Lǐjì (禮記) and the Huáinánzǐ (淮南子) make the following correlations:

• The Chinese word 青 qīng, has many meanings, including green, azure, cyan, and black. It refers to green in wuxing.
• In most modern music, various five note or seven note scales (e.g., the major scale) are defined by selecting five or seven frequencies from the set of twelve semi-tones in the Equal tempered tuning. The Chinese "lǜ" tuning is closest to the ancient Greek tuning of Pythagoras.

T'ai chi ch'uan uses the five elements to designate different directions, positions or footwork patterns. Either forward, backward, left, right and centre, or three steps forward (attack) and two steps back (retreat).[10]

The Five Steps (五步 wǔ bù):

• Jìn bù (進步, in simplified characters 进步) – forward step
• Tùi bù (退步) – backward step
• Zǔo gù (左顧, in simplified characters 左顾) – left step
• Yòu pàn (右盼) – right step
• Zhōng dìng (中定) – central position, balance, equilibrium

Xingyiquan uses the five elements metaphorically to represent five different states of combat.

Wuxing heqidao, Gogyo Aikido (五行合气道-Chinese) is an art form with its roots in Confucian, Taoists and Buddhist theory. This art is centralised around applied peace and health studies and not that of defence or material application. The unification of mind, body and environment is emphasised using the anatomy and physiological theory of yin, yang and five-element Traditional Chinese medicine. Its movements, exercises and teachings cultivate, direct and harmonise the QI.[10]

There are spring, summer, fall, and winter teas. The perennial tea ceremony includes four tea settings (茶席) and a tea master (司茶). Each tea setting is arranged and stands for the four directions (North, South, East, and West). A vase of the seasons' flowers is put on the tea table. The tea settings are:

• Earth, 香 (Incense), yellow, center, up and down
• Wood, 春風 (Spring Wind), green, east
• Fire, 夏露 (Summer Dew), red, south
• Metal, 秋籟 (Fall Sounds), white, west
• Water, 冬陽 (Winter Sunshine) black/blue, north

The theory of Wuxing in Japanese culture is known as Gogyo-五行. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the principles of yin-yang and the Five Phases were transmitted to Japan from China, along with Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism by Monks and medical physicians. Today the Theory of Gogyo is extensively used in the practice of Japanese Acupunture and traditional Kampo medicine.[16][17][18]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wu Xing.

• Classical element
• Color in Chinese culture
• Flying Star Feng Shui
• Humorism
• Qi
• Wu Xing painting
• Zang Fu
• Yin and yang

• Feng Youlan (Yu-lan Fung), A History of Chinese Philosophy, volume 2, p. 13
• Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, volume 2, pp. 262–23
• Maciocia, G. 2005, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 2nd edn, Elsevier Ltd., London
• Chen, Yuan (2014). "Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China". Journal of Song-Yuan Studies. 44: 325–364. doi:10.1353/sys.2014.0000.

• Wuxing (Wu-hsing). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002.