Watching the "change" between light and dark, seeing the waxing and waning of the sun's light on the moon, and the sun/moon traveling across the sky's, i.e. the light of day and the dark of night told the Ancients of Change and how it oscillates from one extreme to the other with equilibrium at the mean of both changes.
Darkness is danger or difficulty so the sun's light reflecting on the moon shows us the path to take in overcoming the dangers or difficulties encountered in the dark or the darkness of life that ascends on us in times of trouble.
The sun rises and overcomes the darkness much like the changes we take to find balance so that we can overcome all of lifes tribulations through the changes we perceive and understand.
Many things in our fighting/striking arts practice mirrors this basic premise of change or yin and yang. In regards to physical fitness we provide parrallels by discussing how blood, life of the body, circulates through out the body. How it does this is similar or the same as the changes of the moon and sun. The cycles of the moon and sun as the blood cycles through out the body.
Our practice is hard and soft much like the sun (hard-yang) and the moon (soft-yin). This takes a good deal of study and contemplation.
The I Ching:
Kan is the moon with reference to the "ears" for "hearing."
Li is the sun with reference to the "eyes" for "seeing."
Sun:
- The symbol for heat and light.
- Brightness.
- Intelligence and Wisdom.
- Sheds light to distinguish between right and wrong.
- Eyes, The pheasant, East, Image of clinging.
- Sun signifies the image of fire, of electricity and lightning, of armor, of a knife and spear, of a turtle, of a crab, of a snail, of a mussel, of a tortoise.
- I respect to trees, it is the hollow ones with tops withered.
When the sun goes, then the moon comes, and when the moon goes, then the sun comes. The sun and the moon drive each other on, and brightness is generated in this process. What has gone is in contraction, and what is to come is an expansion. Contraction and expansion impel each other on, and benefits are generated in this process.
Moon:
- Symbol for danger or difficulty.
- Interpreted as falling into darkness.
- Represents water-moon.
- Ears, Pig, West
- Moon signifies the image of water, of channels and ditches, of hidden or lying concealed, being now straight and now crooked, of a bow, of a wheel.
- Gua of Blood.
- In respect to man, it is the increasingly anxious, the sick at heart, etc.
- It refers to horses especially those who put their "hearts" into it.
- In respect to trees, it is those that are strong with dense centers.
The moon does not radiate heat and light, so it is attributed to the symbol of water, because water is cold and its attributes is the opposite of fire.
The cycles of the moon and sun represent "rest" and "action." This means one who practices must find balance by knowing when to practice and when to rest. Rest and practice drive one another and proficiency is generated in this process, and benefits are generated through this process. The means of rest and activity generate equilibrium in the physical allowing generation of "Chi" which powers the spirit and benefits the mind so the body receives its benefits.
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