Yin-Yang is the symbol that represents difference yet unity in life.
Yin is associated with darkness, femininity, mystery, passivity, the night sky, or the old.
Yang is associated with lightness, energy, activity, clarity, the sun, or youth.
Daoism
Daoism, is about harmony and balance. Things go wrong when we tip the scales too far one way.
Yin and Yang only appears in one line of the central Daoist book, Daodejing.
Lao Tzu is the semi-mythical founder of Daoism (or Taoism). His name means “Old Master,” and it is unclear if he was a single person or a title given to a collection of sages and their combined works.
The Dao translates as “The Way” and is often compared to the flow of a river. Like a river, the Dao moves and directs all things, and we are like boats floating along its path. To be happy is to let the Dao carry us on. To row against the current is hard, and Daoism is the simple call to “go with the flow” of the universe.
Martial Arts
In the martial arts, it is important to be hard, strong, and fit (Yang), but these are nothing without being calm, focused, and adaptable (Yin).
Relationships
In a relationship, we can party and laugh (Yang), but we must also cry and share secrets (Yin).
No person is one thing. The kindest person you know has a tiny recess of cruelty in them. The happiest person you have ever met will have their depressive moments. The gentlest person you can think of can be filled with rage by one particular thing. There is no purity of any kind; life is a messy cocktail of things.
Why yin and yang are essential
Neither Yin nor Yang are superior in any way, in that neither is “right” or “wrong.” While the Yin is associated with the negative, this does not come attached with a value judgement but is better thought of as the negative terminal of a battery, perhaps. Right living comes not from being either one thing or another but in finding that balance — the Dao not only to our life but to all existence. It is the feeling that we have found our right path.
And to do this, both Yin and Yang are essential. The symbol expresses the idea that balance and harmony are necessary for all things. In the martial arts, for instance, it is important that we be hard, strong, and fit (Yang), but these are nothing without being calm, focused, and adaptable (Yin). In a relationship, we can party and laugh (Yang), but we must also cry and share secrets (Yin).
