The Origin of Five Elements Theory

Five elements: refers to five substances (movement and change of elements): gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Ancient thinkers in China tried to explain the origin of everything in the world with these five substances. Traditional Chinese medicine uses five elements to explain various physiological and pathological phenomena. Superstitious people use the five elements to calculate people's fate.

The theory of five elements first appeared in Taoism. It emphasizes the whole concept and describes the structural relationship and movement form of things. If Yin and Yang are an ancient theory of unity of opposites, the five elements can be said to be a primitive general system theory. The theory of five elements is China's ancient theory of material composition, which is similar to the western theory of water, fire, soil and gas. However, with the development of modern chemistry, the theory of material composition of these two theories has been rejected.

At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty in China, there was a simple materialistic "Five Things Theory". From Yu Zheng's "Earth is mixed with Jin Mu's fire, water and soil to form everything" to Zuo Zhuan's "Five natural things are used by the people, and nothing can be discarded", and then to Shang Shu Hong Fan's "Five elements: water, fire, wood, gold and earth", which are moist, inflamed, straight, golden and fertile. It is salty when wet, bitter when inflamed, sour when straight, spicy when leathered and sweet when cultivated. "Record, began to abstract the attributes of the five elements, deduction to other things, constitute a fixed combination. In the late Warring States period, the idea that the five elements win each other (grams) was put forward, which fixed the order of victory (grams) and fate, formed a model of the interconnection between things, and spontaneously reflected the internal structural relationship of things and their overall grasp. During this period, Neijing applied the theory of five elements to medicine, which played an important role in studying and sorting out a large number of clinical experiences accumulated by the ancients and forming a unique theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine.

The five elements are born together: gold begets water, aquatic wood, wood makes fire, fire begets soil, and soil begets gold.

Wood fires: Because the fire is fueled by wood, when the wood burns out, the fire will automatically go out.

Fire produces soil: because after fire burns an object, the object becomes ashes, and ashes are soil;

Natural gold: Because soil and stone contain gold, it is extracted after smelting.

Gold produces water: because if gold is burned, it will dissolve into liquid, and the liquid belongs to water; Water is channeled and dredged by iron.

Aquatic wood: Because water irrigates trees, trees can flourish.

The five elements coexist: Jin Kemu, Muketu, Tuke Water, Fire, Water and Fire.

The public wins the minority, so water wins the fire; Because fire goes out when it meets water.

Fine wins strength, so fire wins gold; Because fire can dissolve metal.

Just wins softness, so Jin wins wood; Because metal casting cutting tools can saw trees.

Specializing in scattering, so wood beats soil; Because roots and seedlings are powerful, they can break through the obstacles of soil.

Reality is better than emptiness, and homeland is better than water. Because the soil can be waterproof.

Five elements of mathematics: Golden Seven, Wood Eight, Water Six, Fire Nine and Earth Five.

Through long-term contact and observation, the ancient working people realized that the five elements had different performances. "Straight wood is straight" means that wood has the characteristics of growth and rising; "Fire is said to get angry", which means that fire has the characteristics of heating up; "Soil-made crop wall" means that the soil has the characteristics of planting crops and biochemical substances; "Gold says that it changes with leather" is that gold has the characteristic of killing change; "Moisturizing" means moistening downward. Based on this understanding, the ancients classified all kinds of things in the universe into five elements, so conceptually, they are not wood, fire, earth, gold and water, but a large class of abstract attributes that can be compared with various things and phenomena in characteristics.