This section talks about the Yin-Yang and Bagua. These are abstract symbols created to visually represent the evolution of the world and human life, and to help guide the path of Daoist cultivation.
The construction of this system began with the legendary emperor Fuxi, who lived during prehistoric times. Fuxi constructed the Innate Bagua (先天八卦) which used Yin(- -) and Yang(—) lines to describe the eight phenomena of the world: Sky, Earth, Sun, Moon, Wind, Thunder, Mountain, River. These eight phenomena are represented by eight trigrams of Yin and Yang lines.
Then, during the Zhou Dynasty (12th century B.C.), Zhou Wen Wang (周文王) evolved the Innate Bagua into the Acquired Bagua (后天八卦), arranging the same eight trigrams in different positions. Furthermore, out of the eight trigrams he constructed the 64 trigrams to provide further descriptions of different worldly phenomena.
Also during the Spring-Autumn period The Yin Yang school, one of the main intellectual schools during the time of Confucius and Laozi, theorized and formalized the structure of Yin Yang Bagua, including their relationship with each other and to the world.
Confucius summarized the findings of Laozi, Fuxi, Zhou Wen Wang, and The Yin-Yang School (阴阳家) into the Annex of YiChing (易经 – 系辞), which describes the various representation of the world as: (易有太极, 是生两仪, 两仪生四象, 四象生八卦)
– Change consists of Taiji (The grand ultimate. It symbolizes the oneness and unity of all opposites, the original state of our life and the world)
– Taiji gives birth to Two Opposites
– Two Opposites gives birth to Four Phenomena (the four-fold manifestation of Yin and Yang, sometimes refered to as the 4 directions or 4 seasons)
– Four Phenomena gives birth to Eight Trigrams
– Eight Trigrams divide into 64 Trigrams.
If we combine the findings from Laozi and Confucius, we arrive at the Daoist/Confucius view of the universe (Daoism and Confucianism were not separated at the time of Laozi and Confucius), which is described numerically as follows: 0: nothingness (wuji); 1: existence (taiji); 2: opposites (liangyi); 4: phenomena (sixiang); 8: trigram (bagua); 64 trigrams. Based on this system, ChenTuan (陈抟) and later scholars constructed the Taiji Diagram (太极图) which summarized the Daoist/Confucius view of the universe as follows:
On top is Fuxi’s Innate Bagua, below is ZhouWenWang’s Acquired Bagua. In both diagrams, Yin-Yang represent the core elements in the centre, with white represents Yang and black represents Yin. Despite of being opposite, Yin and Yang are rotating into each other, and within Yang is a spot of Yin and vice versa, illustrating the ever-changing nature of the phenomenal world. If we further divide Yin-Yang in the center, we get Four Phenomena/Direction and then we get Eight Trigrams in the peripheral, which represents the different phenomena observable in the world. If we return inward to the center, from eight trigrams to four directions to Yin-Yang and transcend them, we arrive at Taiji/Dao, which represents the transcendence of all opposites/duality, the ultimate state in Daoist cultivation as described by Laozi in his book DaoDeJing.
本节讨论阴阳八卦。这些是抽象的符号，它们代表了外在的世界和人类内在生命的演变和法则，认识它们会帮助我们认识自己和世界。
相传在史前时期伏羲氏，就建立了先天八卦系统（先天八卦），用阴（- -）和阳（ — ）线来描述世界的：天，地，日，月，风，雷，山，泽八个现象。
然后，在周朝（公元前12世纪），周文王演变出后天八卦，在不同的位置定立相同的八卦。 此外，他从八卦广建到了六十四卦去对世界和人生中不同的现象作进一步的解释和说明。
600年后，在秋春时期（公元前6世纪），“老子”发现并描述了变化现象背后的不变现实。这不变的现实是，产生二元虚在的源头。
另外，在春秋时期孔子和老子的同一时期，阴阳家将阴阳八卦的理论化，指出了他们之间和世界的相互关系。
孔子在”易经 – 系辞“中总结了伏羲，老子，周文王，和阴阳家的发现为：易有太极 ，是生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦
– 易生太极（太极， 超越对立的统一状态，世界和我们的最原始状态）
– 是生两仪 – 太极生了两个对立面
– 两个对立面生出了四种现象（阴阳的儿女，可代表四个方向或者是四个赛季）
– 四种现象生出八卦
– 八卦分为六十四卦
如果我们将孔子和老子的结果结合起来，我们会到达道家和儒家对宇宙的看法（道家和儒家在孔子和老子之前是一家的，都属于中国文化）。数字说明如下：0：虚无（无极）1：存在（太极），2：对立面（两仪），4：现象（四象），8卦 ，64卦。 基于这系统，陈抟和后来的学者构建了太极图（如下），它总结了道家和儒家对宇宙和人生的看法如下：
上边是伏羲的先天八卦，下边是周文王的后天八卦。 在两幅图中，中心阴阳代表了核心的元素，白色代表阳，黑色代表阴。 尽管是相反的，阴阳旋转到对方，阳中有阴，阴中有阳，说明物质，现象世界是不断变化的。 如果我们再把中心的阴阳分开，我们便可得到四个现象/方向，再往外分，便会变成外围的八卦，代表着世界和人生的不同现象。如果我们从外向中心回转，从八卦到四象到阴阳，我们最终会回到中心的太极。 孔子曰：一阴一阳为之道。当我们超越了所有的分开和对立，我们便会回到世界和我们最初的状态，老子所描述的：道。