What is Wu Xing?

Wu xing as an important part of traditional Chinese culture, have a long history and far-reaching influence. Based on the five basic substances of wood, fire, earth, gold and water, it has constructed a theoretical system that covers everything in the universe, explains natural phenomena and guides human life. In this article, we will take you into the world of the five elements and explore its connotation and wisdom.

Origin and Basic Concepts of Wu xing

• Origin: The doctrine of the five elements was first seen in Shangshu – Hongfan, and gradually became a systematic philosophical system through the development of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
• Basic Concepts: The Five Elements, i.e. wood, fire, earth, gold and water. They represent a substance, a function, an orientation, a season, etc. respectively.

Relationship between Wu Xing

• Generative relationship: the five elements have a relationship of mutual generation and mutual restraint. The relationship between the five elements is one of mutual generation, i.e. wood begets fire, fire begets earth, earth begets gold, gold begets water, and water begets wood.
• Five Elements Cycle: The five elements form a closed cycle between them, week after week, reflecting the law of growth and extinction of all things in nature.
• Balance of the Five Elements: The balance of the Five Elements is the basis for harmonious coexistence in nature. When there is a relative balance between the five elements, everything can prosper; on the contrary, an imbalance will lead to frequent disasters.

Five Elements in Chinese Medicine

Wu Xing are widely used in Chinese medicine, and they form one of the foundations of the theoretical system of Chinese medicine. The following are the main ways in which the Five Elements are used in TCM:

• Human organs: the five elements and human organs correspond to each other, wood corresponds to the liver and gallbladder, fire corresponds to the heart and small intestine, earth corresponds to the spleen and stomach, gold corresponds to the lungs and large intestine, water corresponds to the kidneys and bladder.

• Pathological Analysis: Chinese medicine analyzes the causes and development of diseases based on the interactions between the five elements. For example, high Liver Fire may lead to excessive Heart Fire (Wood generates Fire), while insufficient Kidney Water may affect the nourishment of Liver Wood (Water generates Wood).

• Nutrition and health care: The Five Elements theory guides people to regulate their diet, living and emotions according to seasonal changes and personal constitution. For example, spring nourishes the liver, summer nourishes the heart, long summer nourishes the spleen, fall nourishes the lungs, and winter nourishes the kidneys. People can choose the right food according to their physique and seasonal changes in order to achieve the purpose of health care!

• Emotional adjustment: Chinese medicine believes that emotions correspond to the five elements, such as anger belongs to wood, joy belongs to fire, thought belongs to earth, sadness belongs to gold, and fear belongs to water. By adjusting the mood, you can prevent and treat the corresponding visceral diseases.

Wu xing in life

1. Architectural Feng Shui: The Five Elements are widely used in architectural Feng Shui, such as the orientation of the house, furniture placement, etc., all follow the Five Elements principle.

2. Color matching: The five elements correspond to colors, such as green for wood, red for fire, yellow for earth, white for gold, and black for water. In clothing, home, etc., people can according to the five elements color matching, to create a harmonious atmosphere.

3. Culture and art: The idea of the five elements permeates poetry, calligraphy, painting, music and other cultural and artistic fields, such as five-character poetry, five-line fonts, five tones and so on.

Päätelmä

Wu xing as the crystallization of China’s ancient wisdom, philosophy reveals the law of interconnection and mutual constraints of everything in the universe. Today, we can still draw wisdom from it to guide our life and realize the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, man and society. The in-depth study of the five elements philosophy is of great practical significance for us to inherit the excellent traditional culture and build a modern harmonious society.