The meaning of the five elements includes five basic trends in the evolution of Yin and Yang: water (moistening the lower part), fire (burning the upper part), gold (converging), wood (prolonging) and earth (neutralizing).
Ancient philosophers in China used the theory of five elements to explain the formation of all things in the world and their relationships. It emphasizes the whole and aims to describe the movement form and transformation relationship of things. Yin and Yang are ancient theories of unity of opposites, and the five elements are primitive system theories.
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The Taoist theory of five elements was the earliest, aiming at describing the movement form and transformation relationship of things.
The theory of five elements is an analogy theory in ancient China. It is not the five elements, but all things belong to five elements according to the nature of moistening, inflammation, straightness, culture and cultivation. It is different from the theory of earth, water, fire and wind in ancient western countries, and it is a theory that integrates philosophy, divination, fortune telling, calendar, traditional Chinese medicine and sociology.
The five elements mean that the ancients divided everything in the universe into five things: wood, fire, earth, gold and water, which are called "five elements"
As early as "Shang Shu Hong Fan", it was recorded: "Five elements: water, fire, wood, gold and earth. Water is moist, fire is inflamed, wood is straight (curved and loose), gold is leather (dense and well divided), and soil is fertilizer (meaning sowing and harvesting). Moisturizing is salty, inflammation is bitter, straight is sour, leather is spicy, and farming is sweet. "
According to the understanding of the five elements, later generations established the theory of mutual generation and mutual resistance of the five elements, mainly based on the law of "mutual generation and mutual resistance of the five elements".
Reference Baidu Encyclopedia-Five Elements