Yin and Yang are the two opposing and complementary principles whose indissoluble play and constant metamorphosis represent the roots, indeed the very core of the universe in action.
They represent the eternal opposites
Enclosed within the circle forming the T'ai Chi symbol.
| YIN | YANG | |
| No | Yes | |
| Black | White | |
| Night | Day | |
| Empty | Full | |
| Passive | Active | |
| Feminine | Masculine | |
| Centrifugal | Centripetal | |
| Separation | Gathering | |
| Moon | Sun | |
| Space | Time | |
| Cool | Heat | |
| Dependent | Independent | |
| Flexible | Stubborn | |
| Insecure | Adventurous |
and so on...
Each contains within itself the germ of the other. That is why the man (Yang) bears within himself a feminine component (Yin), and the woman (Yin) a masculine one (Yang).
The Yin-Yang coupling is both indissoluble and changeable, each of the two terms being also its opposite and complementary term.
At the moment when the Yang (white, active) is at its apogee — the bulging, enlarged part — the Yin (black, passive) imperceptibly takes its place — the tapering part — and vice verse.
The Yin and the Yang have no 'moral' character, neither is superior nor inferior to the other. Their antithesis is as necessary and as little in conflict as that of the left hand and the right hand striking together to applaud.
