The 5 Elements

structure |
health

The

Five Elements (Wu Xing)

The Five Elements are Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth. "Wu" means five and "Xing" means movement. The five elements are considered to be phases of a cycle of change.

Interrelationships of the Five Elements

There are many different relationships between the Five Elements and some common relationships are shown below.

The Generating Sequence (also known as Sheng cycle, generating cycle, creative cycle, nourishing cycle)

Each Element generates another and each Element is generated by one.

Eg: Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water and Water generates Wood.

The Mother and Son relationship applies to the generating sequence. As an example this can be expressed as "Fire is the child of Wood and the mother of Earth."

The Controlling Sequence (also known as Ko cycle, controlling cycle, restraining cycle)

Each Element controls another Element and is controlled by one.

"Fire controls Metal, Earth controls Water, Metal controls Wood, Water controls Fire, Wood controls Earth".

Put another way, "Fire controls Metal but is controlled by Water".

The Overacting Sequence (also known as overacting cycle)

When the balance maintained in the generating sequence is disrupted this causes an Element to become excessive and "overcontrol" another Element.

The Insulting Sequence (also known as rebellious cycle, insulting cycle)

This sequence operates in reverse to the controlling sequence, in that when the balance is broken between two elements the Element usually being controlled will Insult the controlling Element.

"Fire insults Water, Water insults Earth, Earth insults Wood, Wood insults Metal, Metal insults Fire".

	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Season	Spring	Summer	Late Summer	Autumn	Winter
Direction	East	South	Centre	West	North
Colour	Green	Red	Yellow	White	Black
Taste	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Pungent	Salty
Yin Organ	Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lungs	Kidney
Yang Organ	Gall Bladder	Small Intestine	Stomach	Colon	Urinary Bladder
Sense Organ	Eyes	Tongue	Mouth	Nose	Ears
Tissues	Sinews	Vessels	Muscles	Skin	Bones
Sound	Shuu	Haa	Whoo	Tsss	Fuu
Finger	Index	Middle	Thumb	Ring	Pinky

5 Elements Cycle

For example: I Liq Chuan uses the five elements to metaphorically represent five different applications.

Element	Movement Quality
Metal	Splitting, Opening up and out
Water	Supporting, Suck and Lift
Wood	Piercing and Squeezing, Closing in
Fire	Covering and Spreading, Closing down
Earth	Center, Round and Pivoting

From various sources, mostly Wikipedia. Thanks Ashe Higgs for the diagram. The last is directly from Master Sam FS Chin.

Login or register to post comments

What Students Say About UCB Program & Everyday Life

Kalama Sutta (Kalama Sutra)

Do not simply believe what you hear just because you have heard it for a long time.
Do no follow tradition blindly merely because it has been practiced that way for many generations.
Do not be quick to listen to rumors.
Do not confirm anything just because it agrees with your scriptures.
Do not foolishly make assumptions.
Do not abruptly draw conclusions by what you see and hear.
Do not be fooled by outward appearances.
Do not hold on tightly to any view or idea just because you are comfortable with it.
Do not accept as fact anything that you yourself find to be illogical.
Do not be convinced of anything out of respect and deference to your spiritual teachers.

You should go beyond opinion and belief. You can rightly reject anything which when accepted, practiced and perfected leads to more aversion, more craving and more delusion. They are not beneficial and are to be avoided. Conversely, you can rightly accept anything which when accepted and practiced leads to unconditional love, contentment and wisdom. These things allow you time and space to develop a happy and peaceful mind. This should be your criteria on what is and what is not the truth; on what should be and what should not be the spiritual practice.