Yin yang
Passive and active principles, respectively, of the universe, or the female, negative force and the male, positive force, always contrasting but complimentary. Yang and yin are expressed in heaven and earth, man and woman, father and son, shine and rain, hardness and softness, good and evil, white and black, upper and lower, great and small, odd number and even number, joy and sorrow, reward and punishment, agreement and opposition, life and death, advance and retreat, love and hate, and all conceivable objects, qualities, situations, and relationships.
The Two Modes (i — — and — in trigram, or kua, symbols) of the Great Ultimate (T’ai Chi), from the interplay of which all things are engendered.
A system constituted by the Five Agents or Elements (wu hsing) of Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth, which in turn constitute the Great Ultimate. (Chou Lien-hsi, 1017-1073).
The two forces of ch’i, or the vital force which is the material principle of the universe. (Neo-Confucianism).
Name of a school (400-200 B.C.) headed by Tsou Yen, which advocated that all events are manifestations of the passive or female force and the active or male force of the universe, and which was closely associated with popular geomancy, astrology, etc. — W.T.C.