Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
The one can never be the absence of the other. If you say yin, you automatically imply yang. You can only name something yin if you compare it to something else. That 'something else' must be yang. We call the night dark because the day is light. If there wouldn't be 'day' we would never call the night 'dark' - we just wouldn't know any better. In other words, when you say yin there must be yang. Somewhere.
I mean, is saying X is Yin identical to saying X is not Yang (and, by extension, meaning that only Yang need be defined)?
No, it does not work like that, because hardly ever is something only yin or yang, in most cases it is a mixture, just as in the Yijing: there are only two hexagrams which are pure yin or yang, the other 62 are a mixture of yin and yang.
Again, though, isn't saying 'X is 40% Yang and 60% Yin', for example, identical to saying 'X is 40% Yang', therefore Yin is merely a measure of how 'Yang deficient' something is?
Is Yin the absence of Yang (or vice-versa), or are they entities in their own right?
If you focus on one limited aspect of something I think you could say that. But let's take a black marble. Marbles are round, and 'round' is an aspect of yang. But the colour is black, and 'black' is an aspect of yin. So, is a black marble yin or yang?
A black marble is partly Yang?
I think the earth's tides express the nature of Yin and Yang. We can get our heads around the fact that the tide rises here because of the absence of it there, and vv. Likewise, the moon waxes and wanes according to the measure of each other...
Yin - Hex. 2
Before the beginning was space for creation.
It doesn't answer your question, it just presents it in a different way. How can each be measure but by the absence of the other?
How can there be something before the beginning?
The earth is also round. But isn't the earth Yin and heaven Yang?![]()
By the way mankind standing on the Earth is yang compared to Earth, however since also under Heaven mankind is yin in relationship to Heaven.
The earth is also round. But isn't the earth Yin and heaven Yang?![]()
Is a black marble less Yang when surrounded by white marbles?
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).