In Chinese philosophy, which stresses an organic universe, Yin (shadow) and Yang (brightness) are opposite energies that interact in such a Way as to produce wuxing, or the five elements, bringing about the material world and space and time. Yin and Yang are the opposite boundaries of the absolute source of being, taiji (see Taiji). The famous Yinyang symbol represents the intermingling of the opposites that led to what is essentially the creation of the universe. The interaction is continuous, as is indicated by the dark spot in the light Yang and the light spot in the dark Yin. Each contains the seed of the other and creates a renewed version of the other. In keeping with this sense of necessary interacting opposites, Yin is that which is feminine, passive, and accommodating—the moon, the earth, and wetness; Yang is masculine, active, and firm—the sun, the heavens, and dryness. The Yinyang model is first mentioned in the first millennium BCE (see Yijing).
