| The Yin-Yang symbol or Taijitu, with black representing | | | | 4. Yin and yang consume and support each other. |
| yin and white representing yang. It is a symbol that | | | | Yin and yang are usually held in balance—as one |
| reflects the inescapably intertwined duality of all things | | | | increases, the other decreases. However, imbalances |
| in nature, a common theme in Taoism. No quality is | | | | can occur. There are four possible imbalances: Excess |
| independent of its opposite, nor so pure that it does not | | | | yin, excess yang, yin deficiency, and yang deficiency. |
| contain its opposite in a diminished form: these | | | | During the switch to Daylight saving time, for example, |
| concepts are depicted by the vague division between | | | | there is more ‘yin’ than ‘yang’. They can |
| black and white, the flowing boundary between the | | | | again be seen as a pair: by excess of yin there is a |
| two, and the smaller circles within the large regions. | | | | yang deficiency and vice versa. The imbalance is also |
| Everything can be described as both yin and yang. | | | | a relative factor: the excess of yang “forces” |
| 1. Yin and yang are opposites. | | | | yin to be more “concentrated”. |
| Everything has its opposite—although this is never | | | | 5. Yin and yang can transform into one another. |
| absolute, only relative. No one thing is completely yin or | | | | At a particular stage, yin can transform into yang and |
| completely yang. Each contains the seed of its | | | | vice-versa. For example, night changes into day; |
| opposite. For example, winter can turn into summer; | | | | warmth cools; life changes to death. However this |
| “what goes up must come down”. | | | | transformation is relative too. Night and day coexist on |
| 2. Yin and yang are interdependent. | | | | Earth at the same time when shown from space. |
| One cannot exist without the other. For example, day | | | | 6. Part of yin is in yang and part of yang is in yin. |
| cannot exist without night. Light cannot exist without | | | | The dots in each serve as a reminder that there are |
| darkness. | | | | always traces of one in the other. For example, there |
| 3. Yin and yang can be further subdivided into yin and | | | | is always light within the dark (e.g., the stars at night) |
| yang. Any yin or yang aspect can be further | | | | these qualities are never completely one or the |
| subdivided into yin and yang. For example, temperature | | | | other.as a reminder that absolute extreme side |
| can be seen as either hot or cold. However, hot can | | | | transforms instantly into the opposite, or that the labels |
| be further divided into warm or burning; cold into cool | | | | yin and yang are conditioned by an observer’s |
| or icy. Within each spectrum, there is a smaller | | | | point of view. For example, the hardest stone is |
| spectrum; every beginning is a moment in time, and | | | | easiest to break. This can show that absolute |
| has a beginning and end, just as every hour has a | | | | discrimination between the two is artificial. |
| beginning and end. | | | | |