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What Are The Difference Between Yin And Yang And Taoism

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Chinese culture is largely surrounded by the idea of balance. We see this in Yin and Yang, and a balance between light and dark, or tall and short. While the Americanized version of this concept is the difference between the two, the original concept looks at how yin and yang balance each other and work together. This idea of balance is integrated in the idea of the five seasons and the elements that represent those seasons. The five elements are also related to Taoism in many ways. Yin and Yang is also part of the Chinese world creation myth. They believed that there was Wu Chi and then there was Tai Chi, or nothing and then something. That something was Yin and Yang, or in balance. For example “When people find one thing beautiful another consequently becomes ugly.”(Tzu, Pg.2) While this is explaining Taoism, it also incompases the idea of Yin and Yang and how they complement each other creating balance. From this something the World was born and Taoism came into being. Taoism is the idea of man when he was connected to the earth and all it’s creatures. This was known as “The age of perfect Virtue.”((Hoff, Pg.20). This idea was was originally introduced by Chuang-Tse who was a Chinese philosopher in around the 4th century B.C.E. He said “In the Age of Perfect Virtue,men lived among the animals and birds as members of one large family. There were no distinctions between “superior” and “Inferior” to separate one man or species from another. All retained their natural virtue and lived in the state of pure simplicity…” We were once able to communicate with the creatures of the earth, but then man became greedy and was cast out by the creatures losing its connections with the beings. We became independent and killed animals for food. Some still remember our connection to nature and teach it to those around them. From this came practices such as maintaining that balance through the five seasons. The five seasons are spring, summer, late summer, autumn, and winter correspond with the five elements and each has its own things that are unique to it. The idea of the five elements originally came from the idea of yin and yang. The idea of how natural elements interact to create a balance. “Ancient Chinese medical

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