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Wu Xing

the Five States of Change

Whereas Western thought developed the idea of elements as subtsances, and Indian thought as emenations, Chinese philosophy conceived of the five elements, or Wu Xing, as dynamic states of change.

The concept of Wu Xing is central to all elements of Chinese thought, including science, philosophy, medicine, astrology, andFengshui.

Although the term is generally translated as "five elements", this is incorrect. The word Wu does indeed mean "five". But there is no simple translation for Xing. Translations such as "five elements", "five agents", "five qualities", "five properties" "five states of change", "five courses", "five phases" and "five elementals", are all used. As Master Joseph Yu explains

"Wu Xing" is actually the short form of "Wu zhong liu xing zhi chi" or "the five types of chi dominating at different times". Water dominates in winter, wood in spring, fire in summer, metal in autumn. At the intersection between two seasons, the transitional period is dominated by earth. It is customary in Chinese writing to summarize a longer phrase into a couple of characters. Sometimes the meaning is completely lost in the abbreviated form if the original phrase is not referred to. Wu Xing is one such example.

and

The names "water", "wood", "fire", "metal" and "earth" are only substances whose properties resemble the respective chi in the closest possible way. They do help us understand the properties of the five types of chi but they also mislead us if we take everything in the literal sense.

The following table gives but a few of the many correspondences associated with Wu Xing.

Wu Xing	number and polarity	Colour	Season	weather	Direction	yin and yang organs	emotion	taste	shape	movement	quality
Earth	5/10 - Tao	yellow, brown	late summer	humid	center	Spleen and Stomach	meditation	sweet	cubic	attracts and concentrates	stable
Metal	4/9 - senior yang	white, Golden, Silver	autumn	dry	west	Lungs and Large Intestine	worry, sorrow	pungant	Spherical	pierce inwards	sharp and pointing.
Wood	3/8- junior yin	green or blue	spring	windy	east	Liver and Gall Bladder	anger	sour	Rod like or beam like	grows upwards	enduring
Fire	2/7 - junior yang	red, Orange, Purple, Pink	summer	hot	south	Heart and Small Intestine	joy	bitter	Triangular	spreads in all directions,	radiant and hot
Water	1/6 senior yin	black, dark blue	winter	cold	north	Kidney and Bladder	fear	salty	wavy	runs downwards	liberal

Note that qualities such as winter, cold and north only apply to the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere winter and cold would be associated with the south (antarctic)

Because these five qualities are dynamic, they interact in various ways. There are three cycles in traditional Chines ethought:

cycle	relationship with wood on top	relationship represented clockwise	description
The Creative or Producing or Enhancing cycle			Moving clockwise from the top: Water produces wood. When a tree is watered, it grows better. When wood burns, we get fire. Fire reduces things to ashes which becomes part of the earth. Earth is mined for metal, which then changes to liquid (water) under heat. Finally, water provides nourishment for trees to grow, producing wood
The Weakening Cycle			e.g. Wood is burned by fire and hence weakened (reduced to ashes)
Destroying or Controlling Cycle			e.g., a metal knife can cut wood and shape or control it

Books and Web Links

Chinese Five Elements - great site

Chinese Five Elemenst - neat site, includes Five Phases Complete Overview, Introduction to Zang Fu Theory, Twelve Primary Channels, Eight Extraordinary Vessels, The Three Dantians, and The Seven Chakras

Introduction to oriental medicine - the five phases or elements by Master Joseph Yu

The Theory of the Five Elements - by Karel Koskuba - this page also has some material on is Wuxingquan , a type of martial art that can be translated as Five Element Boxing.