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Capítulo 19 de 35
周易参同契
🌙 At dawn on the first day of the lunar month, the Yang energy (life-generating vitality) between heaven and earth begins to flow freely. This Yang energy is like a newly sprouted shoot, coming and going without obstruction. Measured by instruments, one can see the faint Yang force just beginning to establish itself. The musical pitch Huangzhong corresponds to the Zi month (eleventh month), when the signs of all living things beginning to grow become manifest. Heaven and earth spread gentle, warm Yang energy like a spring breeze, and all people and all things find their proper place and abide in the natural way.
⛰ Yang energy continues to grow, like laying branches and opening paths beside a furnace, facing the arriving light. The radiance gradually increases, and the days grow longer day by day. In the Chou month, the pitch corresponds to Dalu. Yin and Yang unite here in proper balance, above and below intermingle, thus forming the Tai hexagram - strength and gentleness flourish together. Yang energy travels far and wide, connecting with all things. The small retreats, the great arrives, like spokes converging on a hub, moving in accordance with heaven's timing.
🌱 Gradually passing through the Dazhuang hexagram, when Yang energy is at full strength and arrays at the Mao gate (spring equinox). At this time, elm pods fall, returning to their roots. Punishment and grace balance each other; day and night become equal. Yin energy recedes while Yang advances. Like a bird washing its wings, shaking off old dust. The Qian hexagram represents strength and bright brilliance; Yang energy broadly covers all neighboring regions. Yang energy reaches its endpoint in the Si month, reaches its peak and enters the center, where Yin energy begins to interact with it.
🍂 The Gou hexagram begins its sequence - one Yin line appears at the start, like stepping on frost and knowing that bitter winter will soon arrive - this is the earliest sign. Cold springs surge from the depths of a well; the Wu month corresponds to the pitch Ruibin. Yang energy becomes a guest submitting below Yin energy; Yin becomes the host over the guest. The noble person withdraws from the world, retreats from position, and gathers his essence and vitality. Cherishing virtue while awaiting the right time, dwelling in darkness and obscurity. The Pi hexagram symbolizes blockage and obstruction; sprouts no longer grow. Yin expands while Yang contracts; Yang becomes hidden, even its "name" disappears.
Contemplate the measure of Yin and Yang, observe the conditions of all things in autumn. Allow small lives to be nourished; let withered old trees flourish anew. Shepherd's purse and wheat sprout seedlings, growing because of Yin's covering. The Bo hexagram symbolizes limb stripping, diminishing the bodily form. Since Yang energy has been exhausted, even its mysterious and subtle functions seem to be lost.
🌌 Yet the course of the Dao is that when it reaches its extreme, it returns. Yang energy returns to Kun Yuan (the most original pure Yin state of the earth). Constantly complying with the principle of earth, receiving heaven's way and spreading transformation far and wide. Mysterious, profound, distant, and faint - though Yin and Yang are separated, they remain eternally connected. According to measure and degree, they nurture and transform - this is the origin of Yin and Yang. Vast and open, vague and obscure - no one can know its beginning or end.
"First it loses the track, later it becomes lord and master" - at first it seems to have lost the path, but later it takes the leading role. There is no path that is perpetually flat without slopes - this is the natural law of the Dao. Changes and alternations, flourishing and declining depend on each other. Ending in Kun, then beginning again with Fu, linked ring upon ring in unending cycle. If a sovereign can receive this heaven's way and thereby guide the myriad people, he may endure for a thousand generations.
This chapter uses the twelve sovereign hexagrams (Fu, Lin, Tai, Dazhuang, Guai, Qian, Gou, Dun, Pi, Guan, Bo, Kun) as its framework, paired with the twelve pitch-pipes (Huangzhong, Dalu, Ruibin, etc.) and the twelve months, painting a complete picture of the cyclical waxing and waning of Yin and Yang.
Its core principles have three layers:
First, the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang is the fundamental rhythm of cosmic operation. From the first Yang line emerging in Fu, to Yang reaching its extreme in Qian, to one Yin line arriving in Gou, and finally returning to pure Yin in Kun - this is not simple recurrence, but "mutual causation of waxing and waning": within waning there is waxing, within waxing there is waning. Extreme prosperity leads to decline, and extreme decline leads to return. Yin and Yang have never been isolated existences but rather a dynamic equilibrium in which each depends on the other, rising and falling in turn.
Second, lunar phases and inner cultivation share the same structure. "At the beginning of the month is Fu" indicates that the new moon corresponds to the return of one Yang line. The Cantong Qi uses lunar waxing and waning as an analogy for the rhythm of Yin and Yang rise and fall within the human body - this is not astronomy but rather the nature and life-mandate's rhythm in synchrony with the Dao of heaven.
Third, "when the Dao is exhausted, it returns" is the ultimate consolation. When Yang has been completely stripped away and it seems that "even divine function is lost," exactly that is the turning point. When Bo reaches its extreme, Fu necessarily follows; when Kun reaches its extreme, one returns to Qian. This is the Dao's inherent "reset mechanism." So the darkest moment is precisely the moment when light is about to return.
The greatest inspiration this text offers modern people may be its provision of a new perspective on low points and high points of life.
🌑 Modern people are accustomed to linear progressive thinking - always feeling that life should go upward, feeling anxious when frustrated, panicked when stagnated. But the Cantong Qi makes it very clear: "No path is perpetually flat - this is the naturalness of the Dao." There is no eternally flat road. After every uphill comes a downhill, and after every downhill comes an uphill. This is not a malfunction of life but the very rhythm of the Dao itself.
Think about it: have you ever experienced a "limbs being stripped" moment - energy depleted, creativity dried up, feeling that everything has "lost its divine function"? The modern psychological term is burnout. The Daoist response is: this is not the end, but rather Kun Yuan - a deep, potent "zeroing" state poised to release energy. Like winter soil, appearing lifeless, yet pregnant with the next spring.
🌗 The phrase "first it loses the track, later it becomes lord and master" deserves deep reflection. Often when you feel you have lost your direction, it simply means the old path has been completed and the new path has not yet unfolded. That "lost period" is precisely the necessary transition. Don't rush to "return" while in the Kun stage; rather, "embrace virtue and await the right time" - tranquilly nourish yourself and wait for the rhythm to naturally turn.
The wisdom of wu wei (not forcing, complying with the Dao) is perfectly demonstrated here: it is not about not acting at all, but about doing what is appropriate for the season. Sow in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn, hibernate in winter. The modern person's problem is often: when winter has come, they are still forcing themselves to "sow seeds."
1. Identify your current "hexagram position." The twelve sovereign hexagrams provide a "map of life's solar terms." You can ask yourself: Am I currently in the flourishing period of "Dazhuang," or the retreating period of "Dunshi"? Am I in the unobstructed period of "Tai," or the blocked period of "Pi"? Only by recognizing the season can you choose the proper course of action - retreating when it is time to retreat is not failure but wisdom.
2. Reserve surplus in times of prosperity; preserve faith in times of decline. "That Qian is strong and brilliant, broadly covering the four neighbors" is certainly glorious, but immediately after comes "Yang reaches its end in Si, and entering the center, interactions begin." At the peak of prosperity, Yin energy has already begun to grow in the shadows. The Daoists remind us: at the peak, there should be a self-conscious awareness of "knowing when to stop." Conversely, when you are in a state of "blocked and unreachable, sprouts no longer growing," know that "when the Dao is exhausted, it returns" is an iron law - maintain faith, do not do destructive things, calmly wait for the turning point.
3. Rename your "low point." "Returning to Kun Yuan" is not a failed zero, but a return to the bosom of Mother Earth. This is an extremely gentle expression. When you feel you don't want to do anything and can't do anything, try a different understanding: you are "constantly complying with the principle of earth" - returning to the root, preserving essence, energy, and spirit (the three foundational vital substances of life). This is not uselessness; it is nourishment.
Are Yin and Yang one or two?
This chapter repeatedly describes the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang, seemingly suggesting they are diametrically opposed. But the four words "separated yet connected" reveal the heavenly secret: on the surface, Yin and Yang are "separated," but essentially they are "connected." They are not two things fighting each other but the same thing breathing.
The emergence of Yang in Fu and the hosting of Yin in Gou are not two different stories but two chapters of the same story. The "small goes, great comes" of Tai and the "great goes, small comes" of Pi are opposite descriptions of the same movement. The Daoist attitude toward dualistic opposition is far more profound than we imagine: Yin and Yang are not struggles between opposites but the rhythmic undulation of a unity.
This directly echoes Zhuangzi's insight of "making all things equal": discriminating consciousness is a product of cognition, not of actual reality. When you feel "Yang," Yin is already present; when you feel "Yin," Yang is already on its way back.
This content is based on a classical Daoist text and is provided for traditional cultural learning and life reflection only. It does not constitute religious, medical, or investment advice.