BY FRANK FIEDELER
TRANSLATED BY GABRIEL WEISS
This original translation is the introduction and first chapter from the volume Yin und Yang (Yin and Yang), by the late Prof. Frank Fiedeler, one of the best modern interpreters of the Yijing, and is one of the few scholars who have made the symbolic methodology of Han and pre-Han dynasty thought accessible for the field of Chinese medicine.
BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF
The qi of earth ascends, the qi of heaven descends. In this fashion, yin and yang grind against each other, and heaven and earth merge in undulating embrace. If this setting is vibrated by thunder, excited by wind and rain, moved by the flow of the four seasons, and fondled by the germinating light of sun and moon, the world’s myriad processes of transformation become aroused.
FROM BOOK OF RITES (LI JI), FL. 2ND CENTURY B.C.E.
GERMAN TRANSLATION BY MARKUS GOEKE
BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF
The heart is the ruler of the five organ networks. It commands the movements of the four extremities, it circulates the qi and the blood, it roams the realms of the material and the immaterial, and it is in tune with the gateways of every action. Therefore, coveting to govern the flow of energy on earth without possessing a heart would be like aspiring to tune gongs and drums without ears, or like trying to read a piece of fancy literature without eyes.
FROM THE DAOIST CLASSIC, CONTEMPLATIONS BY THE HUAINAN MASTERS (HUAINAN ZI) FL.110 B.C.