Tao meditations

each contains a speck of the other within it, and thus the seed for the growth of the opposite force. So, winter is deepest yin, but has within it the seed of spring, which is yang. Likewise, summer is deepest yang, but contains within it the seed of autumn, which brings yin round once again.
THE FIVE ELEMENTS
In Greek and early Buddhist thought, there were only four elements: earth, fire, air and water. The Chinese development of the five elements (first written down in the fourth century bce) is unique, and seems to have arisen from the experimental nature of early Chinese religion, which was driven by the quest for the Pill of Immortality. It was believed that if the right concoction of materials was prepared in the correct way, a pill bestowing long life – or even the ability to live forever – could be manufactured. Some emperors spent unbelievable sums of money in pursuit of this goal, and this funded religious explorers to investigate all kinds of strange mixtures and to test the properties – indeed, the very elements of Nature – in search of this elusive pill. Thus the five elements of water, fire, earth, metal and wood were born – the five building blocks of the physical world.

水
WATER is the first of the five elements and is, of course, fundamental to life. No water, no life. Our bodies are some 75–80 per cent water. Water was also seen in most cosmologies as the first element in existence.

道
TAO We have already explored the character of ). In essence, it is the ultimate force of the universe, the Origin of the Origin. Its roots lie in the word for ‘road’ or ‘path’, and this came to symbolize, or stand for, the True Path, the real Way of life.

陰
YIN represents the female, the intuitive, winter and autumn, the cold and wet nature of life. It stands in complete contrast to yang. But it is important to stress that neither yin nor yang is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. They simply are. They are not divine forces so much as the building blocks of life itself, for it is through their dynamic interaction that life is generated and the life-force kept spinning.

陽
YANG represents the male, the instructive, summer and spring, the hot and dry nature of existence. It is often seen as the dominant force in popular mythology.
Thus, for example, the sun is yang while the moon is yin and, because of the perceived greater power of the sun, yang is thought to be more powerful. This is not the case; both yin and yang are equally balanced in their influences. And, of course, the ultimate truth of both yin and yang is that, as the symbol shows,

signs interpreted to give a reading – a response from the deities to the question asked.

To do this you need to abandon all attempts at logic and reason and instead allow the greater wisdom of the Tao – of Nature itself – to break through.