The Yin Yang symbol

This is a well known Taoist / Daoist symbol.

  "It represents the balance of opposites in the universe. When they are equally present, all is calm. When one is outweighed by the other, there is confusion and disarray." ₁

  A source explains that it was derived from astronomical observations which recorded the shadow of the sun throughout a full year. ₃

  The two swirling shapes inside the symbol give the impression of change -- the only constant factor in the universe. One tradition states that Yin (the dark side) represents the breath that formed the earth. Yang (the light side) symbolizes the breath that formed the heavens.

A source states:  "The most traditional view is that "yin"represents aspects of the feminine: being soft, cool, calm, introspective, and healing... and "yang" the masculine: being hard, hot, energetic, moving, and sometimes aggressive. Another view has the 'yin' representing night and 'yang' day. "₃ 

  Another source offers a different definition: A common misconception in the west is that "...yin is soft and passive and yang is hard and energetic. Really it is yang that is soft and yin that is hard, this is because yang is energetic and yin is passive.  Yin is like a rock and yang is like water or air, rock is heavy and hard and air is soft and energetic." ₄

 
  Allan Watts, describes the yin and yang as negative and positive energy poles: "The ideograms indicate the sunny and shady sides of a hill....They are associated with the masculine and the feminine, the firm and the yielding, the strong and the weak, the light and the dark, the rising and the falling, heaven and earth, and they are even recognized in such everyday matters as cooking as the spicy and the bland." _5,6
 
  However, since nothing in nature is pure black or purely white, the symbol includes a small black spot in the white swirl, and a corresponding white spot in the black swirl.

  Ultimately, the 'yin' and 'yang' can symbolize any two polarized forces in nature.  I and the other Taoists  believe that humans often intervene in nature and upset the balance of Yin and Yang.

Source:  http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism2.htm

1. "Taoism," at: http://ssd1.cas.pacificu.edu/
2. Arthur P. Wolf, "Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors," Pages 131-182; as quoted in Judith A. Berling, "Taoism, or the Way," at: http://www.askasia.org/
3.  "Where does the Yin Yang Symbol come from?" Chinese Fortune Calendar, at: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/
4. From a personal Email to ReligiousTolerance.org
5. Alan Watts, "Tao - The Watercourse-Way", Pantheon Books, (1975), Page 21.
6. "Tao te Ching, "The Nature of Polarity by Alan Watts," DivineTao.com, at: http://divinetao.com/
7. "The Ying Yang symbol: What does it mean?" at: http://www.mvkarate.com/

Canan AKTAŞ