陰陽離合論篇

Yin Yang Li He Lun

(The Individual Activities and the Mutual Functionings of Yin and Yang)

黃帝問曰：余聞天為陽，地為陰，日為陽，月為陰，大小月三百六十[《太素》“六十”有“五”字]日成一歲，人亦應(yīng)之。今三陰三陽，不應(yīng)陰陽，其故何也?岐伯對曰：陰陽者，數(shù)之可十，推之可百，數(shù)之可千，推之可萬，萬之大不[按《素問玄機原病式》引無“大”字]可勝數(shù)，然其要一也。

Yellow Emperor asked: "I was told that the heaven is Yang and the earth is Yin, the sun is Yang and the moon is Yin. The year of 365 days is formed by the lunar months of 29 and 30 days, and man is corresponding with the change of the Yin and Yang of the four seasons. But now the three Yins and Yangs of human body do not tally with the Yin and Yang of

heaven and earth, and why is it so?"

Qibo answerd:"Yin or Yang is only a name which has no shape. It can be applied to everything, can be counted from one to ten, can be inferred from ten to one hundred, can be counted from one hundred to one thousand, and inferred from one thousand to ten thousand and even to inriumerrable number. Although its change is infinite, but the process of Yin and Yang developement which is the unity opposites of things in the course of developement being one.

天覆地載，萬物方生，未出地者，命日陰處，名日陰中之陰;則出地者，命日陰中之陽。陽子之正，陰為之主。故生因春，長因夏，收因秋，藏因冬，失常則天地四塞。陰陽之變，其在人者，亦數(shù)之可數(shù)[《太素》“數(shù)”作“散”，楊注:“散，分也”]。

"With the ceiling of heaven above and the load of earth below, all living things survive by the descending of heaven energy and the ascending of earth energy. The heaven is Yang which associates with movement, the earth is Yin which associates with motionless. All things that concealed under earth are in the position of static Yin, they are called the component parts of Yin in Yin; all things that appear above the ground level are of Yin that reveal outside. they are called the component parts of Yang in Yin.

"Yang is to spread the healthy energy of coldness and warmness, Yin is to take charge of the vitality of all things. So the birth of all things is owning to the warmness of the spring energy, the growth of all things is a result of the hotness of summer energy, the harvesting of all things is due to the elimination and kill of the autumn energy, and the shut and hiding

of all things are by the virtue of the coldness of winter energy. These are the regular pattern of the four seasonal weather change and the birth, growth, harvesting and hiding of all things. If this normal condition is diverged, the heaven and earth will not be harmonious and the Yin and Yang will be obstructed from each other. The change of a human body can also be inferred from the phenomena of nature."