YIN AND YANG: THE FOUR LAWS The Tao, in its dualistic, perceivable form is represented by the symbol known as ‘Taiji’:
THE TAIJI
The wholeness is represented by the circle, the Tao. It is divided into two portions, their colours fundamentally contrasting. In the example above, black and white. Yin is black and Yang is white.
The first law:The total contrast between Yin and Yang determines their polarity within the circle. This turns them into complementary opposites and, consequentially, simultaneously repulsed by and attracted to each other.
The second law:In the Yin there is a portion (seed) of Yang and in the Yang there is a portion (seed) of Yin.They are indivisible, they contain each other and found one on the seed of the other, giving shape to the Tao.
The third law:The dividing line between Yin and Yang is curved, where the Yin aspect increases the Yang one decreases and vice versa. This represents the motive, dynamic and self-regulating force of continuing alternation between Yin and Yang, but their quantity and ratio within the circle remains invariably equal.
The fourth law:Yin begins where Yang reaches its apex. Yang begins where Yin reaches its apex. It can be said that Yin fulfils its growth in the birth of Yang and vice versa. This is the ‘fundamental law of mutation/change’ of the Taoist tradition, relative to the mutual Yin-Yang transformation: ‘Come to its extreme, necessarily it inverts itself’’. Extreme cold generates heat. Extreme heat generates cold.