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 with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime. The yin-yang symbol, having no "officially standardized" rendition, has been the basis of much artistic variation, most of it "frivolous" (that is, "merely" artistic, with no philosophical/mystical meaning, e.g., tattoos). Yin and yang also applies to the human body. In traditional Chinese medicine good health is directly related to the balance between yin and yang qualities within oneself. If yin and yang become unbalanced, one of the qualities is considered deficient or has vacuity. In the "I Ching", originally a divination manual of the Western Zhou period (c. 1000–750 BC), yin and