The Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang, something I never fully understood…until now. I grew up hearing this ‘saying’ or seeing images almost as it was a phrase you would say to someone talking about a certain topic, for example, “dog eat dog world” or just throwing up a peace sign. Anyways, prior to the reading of Yin and Yang, I thought the symbol had to do with light and darkness, bad and evil, or something to do with balance. I perceived this idea of the symbol when I was young from watching the TV show “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” One of the episodes plot deals with two Koi fish, one white (Tui-moon spirit) with a black spot on top of its head, and the other black (La-ocean spirit) with a white spot on top its head. The moon spirit idealized the waterbenders of the world, however, the enemy, who were firebenders, wanted to corrupt this balance. During a battle seen, a firebender struck the white fish with fire and killed it, leaving the black fish alone. This created an eclipse (imbalance) and made all waterbenders not able to bend water. Fast forward, with a rightful chosen spiritual sacrifice a new white fish was restored and reunited with the black fish. Thus, balance was restored amongst the elements (waterbenders), and yin and yang were back together. Although, this was an American tv show, it still gave me some thought into Chinese culture when I was younger, dealing with Yin and Yan and how it correlates to balance. In the reading, as stated above, yin which is the receptive side and yang the active, both of which contain a small circle of the opposite color showing they are within one another. Moreover, as stated a “mountain” is used to discuss yin and yang, one-side being shaded and the other Sunny. In addition, the symbol is curved creating a constant flow between the two in the shape of a circle, which enhances into the t’ai chi symbol (contains the yin and yang). Furthermore, this t’ai chi symbol has trigrams surrounding the outside of it, containing the six main building blocks of I Ching.  These building blocks are the principles of yin and yang, which also relate to Confucianism, a system of philosophical and ethical teachings. I had no idea that this symbol holds so much power and meaning to it, till now. In conclusion, yin and yang is way more than just a phrase/symbol thrown around, and I am so pleased that America incorporated this in a children’s show. I believe if we continue to educate other cultures about one another (mentioning other culture tradition or beliefs) in today’s modern entertainment this would help educate, and even persuade children to want to learn about other cultures. They may even be surprised just as I was.