The
T’ai Chi and the Cycle of
Chinese Months by Dr. Mark Shackelford
1. The T'ai Chi (TaiJi)
The T’ai Chi symbol represents
the endless cycle of Yin and Yang,
and how each contains the seed
of the other. The T’ai Chi
and Yin/Yang are one of the central
ideas of Taoist philosophy, symbolic
of the Eastern view of opposites
being two halves on the one entity,
such as Heaven and Earth, Light
and Dark, Male and Female, Good
and Evil.
The White part of the symbol
represents Yang, with a small
circle of Yin within it, whilst
the Black section represents Yin.
The symbol shows how the strength
of Yang increases only to be replaced
by the growth of Yin. This symbology
is used within Taoism to reflect
the cycles of Seasons, Months,
Hours, as well as how opposites
are not in opposition, but are
merely two parts of the one thing.
2. The Trigrams
The Taoist universe is described
by a wide range of symbols, including
5 elements, 5 planets, 8 trigrams,
10 Heavenly Stems, 12 Earthly
Branches, 60 year cycles and the
64 Hexagrams of the I Ching. Everything
is linked to everything else in
elegant numerological formulae.
The Trigrams are developed from
the Yin and the Yang which are
represented as lines - Yin consisting
of two broken lines, Yang as a
single unbroken line. The Yin
and the Yang are combined in pairs
to produce 4 items, and these
are then combined again to create
the Trigrams - all the possible
combinations of three lines of
Yin and Yang.
Each trigram is related to various
aspects of the Taoist world, such
as the Elements, the Seasons and
Compass Directions. They also
each have an Archetype or link
to a natural phenomena.
Trigram
Icon
Archetype
Element
Compass
Season
Ch’ien
Heaven
Metal
North West
Early Winter
K’un
Earth
Earth
South West
Early Autumn
Chen
Thunder
Wood
East
Spring
Hsun
Wind
Wood
South East
Early Summer
K’an
Moon
Water
North
Winter
Li
Sun
Fire
South
Summer
Ken
Mountain
Earth
North East
Early Spring
Tui
Lake
Metal
West
Autumn
3.
The Hexagrams
The next stage
in the development of the Taoist
philosophy is the I Ching, or Book
of Changes, used for Divination.
This develops 64 Hexagrams (sets
of 6 lines of Yin and Yang) made
up from all the possible combinations
of pairs of the Trigrams. Each Hexagram
has a specific interpretation which
is used to determine the likely
effect of different choices and
changes in the life of the diviner.
In particular the
Chinese link 12 of the Hexagrams
(The Sovereign Hexagrams) to the
12 months of the year. These hexagrams
reflect the cycle of Yin and Yang
as they increase and decrease during
the year. The hexagrams are as follows
(numbers in brackets are from the
I Ching) :
Icon
Hexagram
Name
Character
Trigrams
Number
Month
24
Fu
Returning
Kun
(Earth) Chen (Thunder)
11
December
19
Lin
Advance
Kun
(Earth) Tui (Lake)
12
January
11
T'ai
Tranquility
Kun
(Earth) Ch'ien (Heaven)
1
February
34
Ta
Chuang
Great
Strength
Chen
(Thunder) Ch'ien (Heaven)
2
March
43
Kuai
New
Outcome
Tui
(Lake) Ch'ien (Heaven)
3
April
1
Ch'ien
The
Creative
Ch'ien
(Heaven) Ch'ien (Heaven)
4
May
44
Kou
Meeting
Ch'ien
(Heaven) Sun (Wind)
5
June
33
Tun
Withdrawal
Ch'ien
(Heaven) Ken (Mountain)
6
July
12
P'i
Stagnation
Ch'ien
(Heaven) K'un (Earth)
7
August
20
Kuan
Contemplation
Sun
(Wind) K'un (Earth)
8
September
23
Po
Splitting
Apart
Ken
(Mountain) K'un (Earth)
9
October
2
K'un
The
Receptive
K'un
(Earth) K'un (Earth)
10
November
4.
The Months
When the hexagrams
are laid out in order of their associated
months, we can begin to see the
sequence of increase and decrease
of Yin and Yang through the year:
Note:
The Chinese consider that this sequence
starts with month 11 (the Winter
Solstice), when the roots of the
trees (Wood) are beginning to start
their growth beneath the ground
(Earth).
The sequence of
hexagrams represents the increase
of Yang (solid lines) up to the
4th month when it is full, and then
the increase of Yin up to the 10th
month when the Yin is full.
This
sequence of increasing Yang and
Yin can be shown in outline as below:
The shading indicates the areas
of increasing Yin. Yin represents
the cold, wet, Winter months whilst
Yang is associated with the warm,
dry, sunny Summer.
5. The Cycle
The horizontal lines shown above
only represent a single year.
As with all things to do with
Yin and Yang, the months are really
part of an endless cycle of the
seasons and years. This is much
better represented by a circle,
as shown in the diagram on the
right:
In the diagram, the hexagrams
are shown in sequence going round
the circle. The Yang lines are
shown as White boxes, the Yin
lines as shaded (Grey) boxes.
I have chosen the 4th Month (full
Yang) to be placed at the top
of the circle and the 10th month
(full Yin) to appear at the bottom
of the circle.
I
have also chosen to draw the cycle
in an anti-clockwise direction,
which concurs with the Taoist idea
that Earthly things are only a mirror
of the perfection of the Heavens,
and therefore are a mirror image
of "Reality".
6. The Spiral
Where the White and Grey areas
meet are the boundaries between
Yin and Yang. These outlines can
be traced to create a spiral from
the centre of the circle to the
outer edges at the position of
maximum Yin and maximum Yang.
We now see the diagram shown
on the right, with the spiral
drawn in red:
If
we now remove the shading of the
Hexagrams, this leaves just the
spiral outline against the 12 segments
of the circle:
This can then
be tidied up to give a new style T’ai
Chi, already looking rather familiar:
7.
The Missing Trigrams
In the Monthly Cycle only 6 of
the 8 Trigrams are used to create
the Sovereign Hexagrams - the
two missing trigrams are Moon
and Sun.
K’an
- The Moon : Two Yin
lines surrounding a Yang line
Li
- The Sun : Two Yang
lines surrounding a Yin line.
As the final piece of symbolism
I have chosen to add these symbols
to the new T’ai Chi.
The K’an (Moon) trigram
represents Yang surrounded by
Yin, so I will place it on the
4th Month - full Yang with Yin
increasing on both sides. I will
use a Black (Yin) circle for the
Moon.
Similarly with the Li (Sun) trigram
(Yin surrounded by Yang) which
is placed within the 10th Month
- full Yin. A White (Yang) circle
is used for the Sun.
This completes the new version
of the T’ai Chi - which
looks remarkably similar to the
original well-known version (two
fishes).
8.
Afterthought…
Perhaps the ancient Chinese philosophers
3000 years ago went through the
same thought process to come up
with the original T’ai Chi
…. Who knows.
K’an
- The Moon : Two Yin
lines surrounding a Yang line
Li
- The Sun : Two Yang
lines surrounding a Yin line.
