Brief introduction of five elements

The theory of five elements first appeared in the theories of Huang Lao and Taoism, aiming at describing the movement form and transformation relationship of things. The five elements theory is China's ancient theory of material composition, which is similar to the four elements theory of earth, water, fire and wind in ancient western countries. It is a theory integrating philosophy, divination, calendar, traditional Chinese medicine and sociology.

The five elements mean that the ancients divided everything in the universe into five things: wood, fire, earth, gold and water, which are called "five elements". As early as "Shang Shu Hong Fan", it was recorded: "Five elements: water, fire, wood, gold and earth. Water is moist, fire is inflamed, wood is straight (curved and loose), gold is leather (dense and well divided), and soil loves crops (meaning sowing and harvesting). Moisturizing is salty, inflammation is bitter, straight is sour, leather is spicy, and farming is sweet. " This paper not only classifies everything in the universe, but also defines the properties and characteristics of each category. Based on the understanding of the five elements, later generations created the theory that the five elements generate each other and resist each other, which is mainly reflected in the law of "the five elements generate power".

Mutual development refers to the relationship between two things with different attributes that help and promote each other; Specifically: wood fire, fire produces soil, native gold, gold produces water, aquatic wood. Restraint, on the contrary, means that the relationship between two different things belonging to the five elements is mutually restrained; Specifically: Mu, Tuke water, water, Huo, Jin Kemu. Gold-metal;

Woody plants;

Water-liquid;

Hot energy;

Soil-land; Cai Wu theory

Coexistence of five elements: wood → fire → earth → gold → water.

Wood fire, fire produces soil, natural gold, gold produces water, aquatic wood.

Wood fire: wood dry warm fire; Fire-born soil: burning wood-born soil; Primary gold: primary gold;

Golden raw water: golden needle melts raw water;

Aquatic wood: Water moistens trees.

Compatibility of five elements: gold → wood → earth → water → fire (extremes meet)

Jin Kemu, Muketu, Tukeshui, Shuihuoke and Huojinke.

Just wins softness, so Jin wins wood; Because knives can cut down trees; (Don't put weapons and scissors on the bedside)

Specializing in scattering, so wood beats soil; Because wooden stakes can be inserted into the soil; wood

Reality is better than emptiness, and homeland is better than water; Because the dam can stop the water flow; stone material

The public wins the minority, so water wins the fire; Because floods can put out flames; Spring wins strength, so fire wins gold; Because fire can melt metal.

It looks almost the same, but it is almost the same. Wood can make a fire, and water can make a fire. (Ice) Damn water.

The relationship between heavenly stems, five elements and orientation: A is a wooden pillar, and the East. B is the tree of flowers and fruits, the East. C is the fire of the sun, south. Ding is the fire of lamps and candles, Nan. E is the soil of the city wall, China. I am an idyllic land, China. Gengzi is axe gold, western. Xin is the gold in western jewelry. Ren is the water of the northern rivers. The deck is rain and dew, north. The relationship between the five elements and orientation, heavenly stems, colors, animals: wood: East: A, B: Green: Qinglongjin: West: Geng Xin: White: White Tiger Fire: South: Bingding: Red: Suzaku Water: North: Gui Ren: Black: Xuanwu Earth: Middle: Wuji: Yellow: Huang Lin The corresponding relationship between the five elements and the eight diagrams-fire. Wood-earthquake, Xun: earthquake is thunder, Xun is wind; Water-Kan: Kan is water; Tu-Gen and Kun: Gen is a mountain and Kun is a land. The correspondence between the five elements and the earthly branches (1) is earthly branch: Zi (mouse), Chen (dragon) and Shen (monkey); Si (snake), you (chicken) ugly (cow) alloy bureau; Yin (tiger), Wu (horse) and Xu (dog) combined fire bureau; Hai (pig), Mao (rabbit) and Wei (sheep) combined wood bureau. (2) Ground-branch Liuhe: the son (mouse) and the ugly (cow) merge into earth, the yin (tiger) and the sea (pig) merge into water, the rabbit (rabbit) and the dog (dog) merge into fire, the Chen (dragon) and the unitary (chicken) merge into gold, and the snake (snake) and Shen. (3) The relationship between the earthly branch and the five elements and directions: the son (mouse) belongs to the sunny water, and the north; Hai (pig) belongs to yin water, north. Yin (tiger) belongs to poplar, oriental; Wool (rabbit) belongs to the shade wood, oriental. The fourth (snake) belongs to yin fire, south; Noon (horse) belongs to yang fire, which is in the south. Shen (monkey) genus, western regions; You (chicken) belongs to Yin Jin, the Western Region. Chen (Dragon) and Xu (Dog) belong to Yangtu, and China; Ugliness (cattle) but not (sheep) belongs to the earth, China.

Five elements astronomy

Five stars, called five latitudes in ancient times, are five planets in the sky. Wood is called the old star, fire is called the twinkling star, earth is called the town star, gold is called the white star and water is called the morning star. Five elements of operation, divided into 28 dormitories. Because its orbit is not far from the sun road, the ancients used it to mark the sun. The five stars generally appear in the Arctic sky in the order of wood, fire, earth, gold and water. Each star has a 72-day line, and the five stars circle 360 degrees. The river map drawn according to the five-star astronomical phenomena is also the source of the five elements. Because mercury can be seen in the north before the winter solstice of 1 1 every year, when the winter weather comes, everything is dormant, and there are only ice, snow and water on the ground. This is how the concept of water travel was formed. After the summer solstice in July, Mars was seen in the south. It was summer weather and the ground was very hot, so the concept of fire line was formed. At the vernal equinox in March, Jupiter appeared in the east. Just as spring came, plants sprouted and grew. The so-called "spring comes to the world to know the vegetation", and this is how the concept of wooden walking is formed. In September and the autumnal equinox, Venus appears in the west. In ancient times, weapons were represented in many ways to show the season of autumn war, and everything was old and withered, which led to Jin Xing. See Saturn in May, which means that the wet soil atmosphere is in the long summer season, and the wood, fire and gold water all take this as the midpoint. Observing the four seasons climate change caused by wood fire and gold water from the ground, the concept of soil travel is formed in this way.

Geography of five elements

In the Five Elements Theory, the south belongs to fire, the east belongs to wood, the north belongs to water, the west belongs to gold, and the center back belongs to earth, which helps Jin Mu to balance fire and water.

Seasonal relationship

The five elements refer to the five movement modes of gas.

Spring belongs to wood, which represents the movement mode of qi spreading around. In spring, flowers and trees flourish, the branches of trees spread around, and nutrients are transported to the branches, so spring belongs to trees.

Summer belongs to fire, which means that qi moves upward. The characteristic of fire is upward. In summer, all kinds of plants grow upward and rapidly, so summer belongs to fire.

Long summer belongs to the soil, which is the transitional period of summer and autumn. The weather is hot and humid, and the crops are maturing, so the long summer belongs to the soil.

Autumn belongs to gold, which means that qi contracts inward. Gold is characterized by stability, harvest in autumn, people save food for winter and leaves fall, so autumn belongs to gold.

Winter belongs to water, which means that qi moves downward. Water flows downwards, and everything sleeps in winter, saving nutrients for spring, so winter belongs to water.

The ancients thought that a year can be subdivided into five seasons, corresponding to the five elements of wood, fire, earth, gold and water respectively. The trunk calendar is a calendar marked with 60 different heavenly stems and earthly branches, which is a unique solar calendar in China. It takes beginning of spring as the first year of the year, which means the year of its return when it is old. It is divided into 12 months, with 24 solar terms and no leap month. The dry calendar can reflect the climate change all the year round.

Therefore, the calendar month is divided into five parts:

Yin, hair, genus wood, the main spring, representing the east;

Fourth, noon and the moon belong to the fire, dominating the summer and representing the south;

Shen, you and the full moon belong to gold, dominating autumn and representing the west;

Hai, Zi and Ugly Moon belong to the water, which is the main winter and represents the north.

Chen, Wei, Xu and Ugliness belong to the soil respectively, which is the land of four directions, and the last month of the main four seasons.

Solar term song

Spring rain (overcast) startled spring (hairy) cleared valley (old),

Summer is full (fourth), summer (afternoon) and summer (not yet).

Autumn (Shen) dew autumn (especially) cold frost autumn (Xu),

Winter snow (sea) snow winter (child) slight cold (ugly).

The solar term Song, every two words is a month, which begins with the solar term and is based on qi. (The first word is festival, and the second word is spirit) Summer, autumn, winter, month, month, hair, noon, ugly festival of Haizi, beginning of spring's fright, Qingming, mango in long summer, white dew in beginning of autumn, cold dew, heavy snow in beginning of winter, slight cold rain, vernal equinox, little summer in Grain Rain, summer and autumn equinox. Since the HarmonyOS system chaos, the world has been created and people are standing in it. Heaven and earth stand alone, and everything is achieved. The pure float in the sky, the turbid descend to the ground, and the sage stands between heaven and earth, looking up at astronomy and geography, regulating yin and yang and reconciling everything. Heaven is heavy, tunnel is ugly, and human nature is heavy. Therefore, taking silver moon as the beginning of the year and beginning of spring as the beginning of New Year's Day is the way to support the solar calendar.

Wood began in Yin (beginning of spring), flourished in Mao (vernal equinox) and rooted in Chen (Qingming). Saint legislates, taking wood as a human being, living in shade and emphasizing, and taking beginning of spring as New Year's Day. Speaking of Qingming, its popularity is buried with Chen Yue, which is a symbol of its declining popularity. The world mourned it, so it was buried for its vulgarity, and Tomb-Sweeping Day was set up to pay homage to it. Wood burial, Jewish burial, willow folding, fire ban, moonlight.

Fire begins in the long summer, reaches its peak at noon (summer solstice) and is grounded in summer (summer). Although the sun is extremely hot, it takes time to roast the earth and react with it to produce summer effect. When it is not in the month (summer), the sun is grounded, the summer is formed, and the world is hot.

Born in the four seasons, at the end of the four seasons: Chen, Wei, Xu and Ugly are all soil. Although man is one of the three talents, he is ultimately made of earth, born, established, made and returned to the earth. People can't live without soil. Chen, Wei, Xu and Zhou are all four earth months in which the earth's atmosphere and the sun's yang react violently.

Gold, which began in Shen (beginning of autumn) and flourished in Unitary (autumnal equinox pole), is cold dew when grounded, crisp in autumn, cold when grounded, and condensed into dew.

Water, which started in early winter, flourished in Zi (extreme winter solstice), rooted in ugliness (slight cold), frozen in cold weather, rooted in cold weather and frozen in the ground, is ugly moon (slight cold).