Daoist Cosmology
The foundational Daoist understanding of cosmogony (emergence of the cosmos) and
cosmology (underlying principles and patterns of the cosmos) centers on "correlative
cosmology" or "systematic correspondences," on a worldview based on yin-yang interaction
and the Five Phases. Etymologically speaking, yin 陰 depicts a hill (fu 阜) overed
by shadows (yin 侌), while yang 陽 depicts a hill (fu 阜) covered by sunlight (yang
昜) ). At the root-meaning level, yin and yang are ways of speaking about the same
place at different times/moments of the day. Yin and yang are not "polar opposites"
or antagonistic substances; they are, in fact, complementary principles, aspects,
or forces. As the characters suggest, yin and yang are used to represent different
dimensions of the same phenomenon or situation. By extension, there are various associations:
yin/female/earth/dark/heavy/turbidity/rest and yang/male/heavens/light/ light/clarity/activity.
At times, "yin" is also used to designate negative or harmful aspects of life more
generally (immorality, ugliness, disease, etc.), while "yang" becomes related to
positive or beneficial aspects of life (morality, beauty, health, etc.). What must
be emphasized is that these are relative associations, not absolute characteristics.
Just because women are considered "yin" in one respect or in one context, it does
not follow that they are also "immoral" or "turbid." There are also varying degrees
of yin and yang in every phenomenon, in each moment or experience, and in every being.
Because the universe is understood as a transformative process (zaohua 造化), this
also means that any negative or harmful pattern or manifestation may be transformed
into a positive or beneficial pattern or manifestation.
Daoist cosmology also employs, emphasizes, and systematizes Five Phase (wuxing 五行)
cosmology. Conventionally rendered as "Five Elements," wuxing literally means something
like "five activities" or "five movements." This dynamic and process-orientated aspect
becomes more satisfactorily rendered in the designation of "Five Phases." The Five
Phases are Wood (mu 木), Fire (huo 火), Earth (tu 土), Metal (jin 金), and Water (shui
水). While these five do, in fact, relate to actual substances as well as related
phenomena and energetic qualities of the "phases," the system is much more complex
and dynamic than "elements" would lead one to believe. The Five Phases are the centerpiece
of the so-called "system of correspondences" or "systematic correspondence." This
system of correspondences consists of the following associations (phase/season/emblem/direction/life-stage/orientation/climate/orbs/spiritual
dimension/color/flavor/odor/sound/beneficial emotion/injurious emotion/ sense organ/grain/planet/tissue):
(1) Wood: spring: Azure Dragon: east: birth: outward: wind: liver/gall bladder: ethereal
soul (hun 魂): azure: sour: rancid: shouting: kindness (ren 仁): anger (nu 怒): eyes:
wheat: Jupiter: ligaments.
(2) Fire: summer: Vermillion Bird: south: adolescence: upward: heat: heart/small
intestine: spirit (shen 神): red: bitter: scorched: laughing: respect (li 禮): excessive
joy (xi 喜): tongue: beans: Mars: arteries;
(3) Earth: late summer: —: center: adulthood: centering: dampness: spleen/stomach:
intention (yi 意): : yellow: sweet: fragrant: singing: honesty (xin 信): worry (si
思): mouth: rice: Saturn: muscles;
(4) Metal: autumn: White Tiger: west: maturation: inward: dryness: lungs/large intestine:
corporeal soul (po 魄): white: pungent: rotten: weeping: discernment (yi 義): grief
(ku 苦): nose: oats: Venus: skin and hair;
(5) Water: winter: Mysterious Warrior: north: old age: downward: cold: kidneys/bladder:
vital essence (jing 精): black: salty: putrid: groaning: wisdom (zhi 志): fear (kong
恐): ears: millet: Mercury: bones.
The Five Phases, including their various associations, are, in turn, understood to
relate to each other in patterns of dynamic interaction. The so-called "production
cycle" is as follows: Wood>Fire>Earth>Metal> Water>Wood>. Then there is the "destruction
cycle": Wood>Water> Metal>Earth>Fire>Wood>. Finally, there is the "control cycle":
Wood>Earth>Water>Fire>Metal>Wood>. These sequences may be represented as a circle
(the production cycle) with a pentagram inside (the control cycle).
