Taijitu is still. In stillness it generates "yin"; yet at the limit of stillness it is also active. Activity and stillness alternate; each is the basis of the other. In distinguishing "yin" and "yang", the Two Modes are thereby established. The alternation and combination of "yang" and "yin" generate water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. With these five [phases of] "qi" harmoniously arranged, the Four Seasons proceed through them. The Five Phases are simply "yin" and "yang"; "yin" and "yang" are simply the Supreme Polarity; the Supreme Polarity is fundamentally Non-polar. [Yet] in the generation of the Five Phases, each one
Yin and yang yang are represented by broken and solid lines: yin is broken (⚋) and yang is solid (⚊). These are then combined into trigrams, which are more yang ("e.g." ☱) or more yin ("e.g." ☵) depending on the number of broken and solid lines ("e.g.", ☰ is heavily yang, while ☷ is heavily yin), and trigrams are combined into hexagrams ("e.g." ䷕ and ䷟). The relative positions and numbers of yin and yang lines within the trigrams determines the meaning of a trigram, and in hexagrams the upper trigram is considered yang with respect to the lower trigram, yin, which allows