Yinyang Cosmology and the Baha'i Faith
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew, Yinyang Cosmology and the Baha'i Faith, bahai-library.com.
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Yínyáng Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith 1

Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew

Abstract

The yín-yáng concepts are a pivotal theory in traditional
Chinese thought, influencing many aspects of Chinese
civilization, government, architecture, personal relationships
and ethics. The literacies of this paradigm has astounding
similarities with the literacies of the Bahá’í faith, especially with
regards to the origin of matter, historical perspective, gender
relationships and practices related to health and healing. This
paper will set out to discuss the impact of these similarities in
the modern encounter between the Chinese culture and the
Bahá’í Faith.

Introduction
From its earliest expression in myth, legend and verse over
3,000 years ago, the yínyáng (阴阳) cosmology has remained
central to the Chinese way of viewing things and can be said to
be the primal polarity in Chinese thought. Cosmology here
refers to a framework of ideas and beliefs through which an
individual, group or culture interprets the world and interacts
with it. It is defined in this paper as a “worldview” or a network
of presuppositions which may or may not be verified by the
procedures of natural science but in terms of which every
believer’s experience is interpreted and understood. Yínyáng is
able to account for many natural phenomena and while the
cosmic individual, Chinese or otherwise, does not “control”
nature, his or her knowledge of how to “align” the human with
the natural will immeasurably enlarge the ability to control his
or her life processes.
2                                       Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

Yínyáng cosmology is essentially “Chinese” as it is a concept
which informs many branches of classical Chinese science and
philosophy and has penetrated deeply into the popular culture
and dominated the language of medicine, geomancy, and other
accepted “sciences” without major challenge. The earliest
Chinese characters for yín and yáng are found in inscriptions
made on “oracle bones,” which are skeletal remains of various
animals used in ancient Chinese divination practices as early as
the 14th century BCE. Its origin is not linked to the vision of
any single individual or to any single text and remains a matter
of great dispute. Its earliest literary reference is in the Yì Jíng
(Book of Changes c.700 BCE), which is constructed around sixty-
four hexagrams (gua 卦 word), each of which is made of six
parallel broken or unbroken line segments (yao 爻).2 Here, yín
and yáng are represented by broken and solid lines. Some tri-
grams are more yáng: ☰ is heavily yáng, while ☷ is heavily yín.
Yín and yáng, which literally means the polar opposites of
“shadow” and “light,” is often symbolized by the following
symbol: Yáng is the white side with the black dot on it, and yín
is the black side with the white dot on it.

The Yín-Yáng symbol
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                           3

Like its cosmology, no one knows the person who created
this symbol. What is important is to understand the textual and
visual history behind this symbol. Here, a circle is drawn to
uphold the idea of a timeless creation with no beginning and
end. The curve of yín and yáng is a little like a kaleidoscope and
therefore implies that they are mutually arising, interdependent
and continuously transforming one into the other. Notice too
that there are smaller circles nested within each half of the
symbol and this is a reminder once again of the interdependent
nature of the black/white opposites and the fact that relative
existence is in constant flux and change. The smaller circles also
symbolize the possibility that yínyáng can be divided into
further yínyáng ad infinitum. In other words, within each yín
and yáng category, another yín and yáng category can be
distinguished.
The next section will further elaborate on the ideas behind
this symbol though four conceptual lenses, namely, relativity,
unity, complementarity, and balance.

Relativity
The first notion of yínyáng is its relativity, which in essence,
expresses a relationship that one notion is the opposite of the
other. For example, the son is both yín and yáng; yín because he
is believed to be inferior to his father and yáng because he is
believed to be superior as male. In other words, nothing is
absolute — only more yín compared to something, or more yáng
compared to something else. The Chang Huang T’u-shu pien
(图书编), an encyclopedia edited by Zhang Huang 章潢 （1527-
1608） in Ming Dynasty (Forke, The World Conception 214–15),
describes it in the following manner:

Heaven and the sun, spring and summer, east and south
are yáng, the earth and the moon, autumn and winter,
west and north are yín. But during the day heaven and
earth are both yáng, and at night they are both yín. In
spring and summer, heaven and earth, the sun and the
moon are all yáng, in autumn and winter they are all
yín. In the east and the south the four seasons are
4                                      Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

always yáng, in the west and the north they are always
yín. The left hand is yáng, the right one yín, in this no
change is possible, but raise both hands, then they are
both yáng, and put them down, and they are both yín,
and no matter whether you raise them or put them
down, when they are hot they are both yáng, and when
they are cold they are both yín.

Therefore, although it is possible to distinguish yín and yáng,
it is impossible to separate them since they depend on each
other for definition. For example, one cannot speak of
temperature apart from its yín and yáng aspects — for example,
dark and light, female and male, low and high, cold and hot,
hotness and coldness, water and fire, etc. They are
complementary forces (hidden, feminine) and seen (manifest,
masculine), that combine to form a greater whole as part of a
dynamic system. Each side always contains the others just as
night contains day, or a mother “contains” the infant that she
will, in time, give birth to. They give rise to each and in turn
affect each other.
This notion of relativity as suggested throughout the Dao-te
ching (c. 450 BC), a small (about 5,000 characters) but
extraordinary work on Chinese life and culture written by one
called Lao-tze (“old man” or “teacher”):

For what is and what is not beget each other;
Difficult and easy complete each other;
Long and short show each other;
High and low place each other;
Noise and sound harmonize each other;
Before and behind follow each other.
— Dao-te ching, (Maurer) ch. 2.

Su Shih (苏轼 960–1279 CE), a scholar from the Sung dynasty
indicates the importance of perspectives. When there is a shift
in our position, the objects appear to change. Therefore, we can
no longer be so naive as to assume that what we see constitutes
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                              5

all there is to see. As in much Chinese classical poetry, the
notion of relativity is subtly emphasized:

From the side, a whole range; from the end, a single
peak:
Far, near, high, low no two parts alike. Why can’t I tell
the true shape of Lu Shan?
Because I myself am in the mountain.
— Watson, Selection from a Sung Dynasty, 101

This principle of perspective or relativity is remarkably in tune
with modern science and eplains why Yínyáng cosmology
continues to hold relevance today.

Unity
The second characteristic to note in the discussion of the
yínyáng correlates is their essential unity. Yínyáng is a
“completing” rather than a “competing” theory. For example,
“heads” and “tails” are different sides of the coin. The circle is
like the coin and the coin contains the two halves and it is what
the two sides have in common that makes them the same. In
order to get heads or tails, one may flip the coin but whether
the coin lands on its head or tail, in terms of the essence of the
coin, the answer will always be the same. Hence, instead of the
principle of duality and opposition so common in western
philosophy, there are instead the theories of succession, e.g.,
day follows night, night follows day, small becomes big, big
becomes small, slow changes to fast, fast slackens to slow, what
goes up comes down and vice versa. No entity can ever be
isolated from its relationship to the center of our metaphorical
“coin,” and if it is detached from the center, it will cease to exist.
This center which it originates from is commonly known as
the Dao (道), the life-giving power or principle. It is called
Brahman in Hinduism, Dharmakaya in Buddhism, and Dao in
Daoism. Because it transcends all concepts and categories, the
Buddhist also calls it Tathata or Suchness. This idea may also
have been borrowed by the Greek philosophers of the Ionian
6                                      Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

School (c. 585–540 BCE) e.g., Thales, Anaximander, and
Anaximenes, who argued that orderliness could only be
explained though the existence of a single unifyíng substance
which were in control of all the parts. This also bears some
similarity to the Bahá’í idea of the “first will” or what the
ancient philosophers termed the “First Mind.” According to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the first will is an emanation which is “not limited
by time or place; it is without beginning or end — beginning and
end in relation to God are one” [SAQ 203].
Zhuangzi (庄子), an influential Chinese philosopher in the 4th
century BCE explains that the manifestation of this first
principle in each created being is called te (virtue 德) and that
Dao and te are actually of one essence, the former being the
universal essence, and the latter the share of the former
deposited in every individual being, what in most world
religions is referred to as “God” and “the soul.” In short, Daoist
philosophy is to “return to Dao,” namely to align or balance
oneself to the “Primeval One,” the “Divine Intelligence,” or the
“Source” of all things, which most religions call “heaven” or
“the afterlife.” As Zhuangzi puts it:

In the beginning there was non-being. It had neither
being nor name. The One originates from it: it has
oneness but not yet physical form. When things obtain
it and come into existence, that is called virtue (德)
(which gives their individual character). That which is
formless is divided into yín and yáng and from the
beginning going on without interruption is called
destiny (ming 命). Through movement and rest, it
produces all things. When things are produced in
accordance with the principle (li 理) there is a physical
form, and when these follow their own specific
principles, that is what we call “nature”. By cultivating
one’s nature one will return to virtue. When virtue is
perfect, one will be one with the beginning. Being one
with the beginning, one becomes vacuous (thus,
receptive to all) and being vacuous, one becomes great.
One will then be united with the sound and breath of
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                              7

things. When one is united with the breath of things,
one is then united with the universe. (Chan, Sourcebook 202)

Similarly, in Bahá’í cosmology, form and substance arise
simultaneously and they are interdependent:

They have said that the potentialities (qábiliyyát) and
the recipients of the potentialities (maqbúlát) came into
being and were created simultaneously. For example, it
has been stated that all things are composed of two
elements: the “Fashioner” (qábil) and the “Fashioned
(maqbúl). By “Fashioned” is meant substance (mádda)
and primary matter (huyúlá), and by Fashioner is meant
form and shape, which confines and limits the primary
matter from its state of indefiniteness and freedom to
the courtyard of limitation and definite form.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Makátíb 2:35; provisional translation by Moojan
Momen and quoted in Brown 26)

This “life-giving force” is given the actual name of “God” or
“Creator” in prophetic religions such as Islam and Christianity.
In the Bahá’í faith, it is stated that “the Word of God ... is the
Cause of the entire creation, while all else besides His Word are
but the creatures and the effects thereof” [TB 140]. For
Zhuangzi, the Dao is the all-pervading principle that exists prior
to the existence of the universe, and it is to be found in
everything, no matter how trivial or base (Chuang-tzu, chapter 2).

Complementarity
Complementarity refers to the phenomena that in any yín
phenomenon there is a little yáng; and in every yáng
phenomenon there is a little yín. In other words, the night is
never completely dark because there is always some yáng light
(from the moon, stars, fireflies), and the yáng day has some
darkness (shadows for instance). Yín and yáng transform each
other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is
complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.
It is an irretrievable inter-relatedness. Thus, a seed will sprout
from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky — an
8                                      Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

intrinsically yáng movement. Then, when it reaches its full
potential height, it will fall.
We see this same idea illustrated from the Ts’an-t’ung-chi3
(参同契) a classic by Wei Boyang 魏伯阳 from the Eastern Han
Dynasty (147–167 AD):

Within light there is darkness, but do not try to
understand that darkness.
Within darkness there is light, but do not look for that
light.
Light and darkness are a pair, like the foot before and
the foot behind in walking.
Each thing has its own intrinsic value and is related to
everything else in function and position.

This intricate complementarity embodies a belief that
everything, however small, in some sense reflects it. Just as the
cells of the body imply the whole, so every part of creation
implies the cosmos.
In reference to animals and vegetables, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes:
“... the animal, as to its body, is made up of the same
constituent elements as man” [SWAB 153]. “All the elements that
are combined in man exist also in vegetables” [SAQ 258]. In
addition, quoting Imam Ali, Bahá’u’lláh writes “Dost thou
reckon thyself only a puny form/When within thee the universe
is folded?” [SVFV 34].
The essence of this inter-relatedness reinforces once again the
idea of the cosmic whole as interdependent and inseparable. A
famous poem by Zháng Zǎi (张载, 1020–77 CE), a Neo-
Confucian philosopher and cosmologist, writes:

Heaven is my father and Earth is my mother, and even
such a small creature as I find an intimate place in their
midst. Therefore that which fills the universe I regard as
my body and that which directs the universe I consider
as my nature. All people are my brothers and sisters,
and all things are my companions. (Chan, Sourcebook 497)
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                            9

Similarly, the Bahá’í scriptures points to the significance of
complementarity. Members and elements are interconnected and
influence one another spiritually and materially:

This limitless universe is like the human body, all the
members of which are connected and linked with one
another with the greatest strength.... In the same way,
the parts of this infinite universe have their members
and elements connected with one another, and influence
one another spiritually and materially. [SAQ 245–46]

Balance
Balance is needed if complementary opposites are to interact
elegantly. A deficiency of one aspect implies an excess of the
other. Thus, if yín is excessive, the yáng will be too weak. For
example, summer is considered as yáng and isolated as such; it
may seem “excessive,” but not so if the whole of the four
seasons are taken into account. Another example is that if it is
too hot, then there is not enough coolness and vice versa. If the
temperature is neither too cold nor too hot, then both cold and
hot aspects are mutually controlled and held in check. In human
relationships as in a marriage, one can say that here the extent
to which one partner can be aggressive depends on the extent to
which the other is passive. They exert mutual control over each
other. Thus, in a relationship in which yín and yáng are
unbalanced for a long periods of time, the resulting
transformation may be drastic.
Western philosophies have tended to be lopsided by
glorifying one pole at the expense of the other, e.g., the mind is
considered to be better than the body, and logic preferable to
intuition, the yín–yáng paradigm emphasizes the equality of
proportions. When Confucius (551–479 BCE) wrote The
Doctrine of the Mean (中庸), he meant that both excess and
inadequacy were extremes and that only by understanding the
“Mean” and holding on to it could harmony be achieved
[Doctrine of the Mean, ch. 27]. Hence for Confucius, “To go beyond
is as wrong as to fall short” [Analects, 11:15]. Likewise,
Bahá’u’lláh said that “In all matters moderation is desirable. If a
thing is carried to excess, it will prove a source of evil” [TB 69].
10                                     Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

This notion of “balance” has significant implications on
moral values and has been used to explain the relationship
between good and evil. For Zhuangzi, nothing can be said to be
absolutely right (e.g., the notions of right and wrong do not
exist, since right is right only because of the existence of
wrong).4 Zhuangzi believes that conflict arises when a person
departs from Dao and tries to act contrary to nature. This
concept of balancing both yín and yáng forces and of being at
one with Dao has been used to teach morality throughout
Chinese history. Lao-tzu illustrates this paradox within a set of
correspondences:

On tiptoe you don’t stand.
Astride you don’t walk.
Showing yourself, you don’t shine,
Asserting yourself, you don’t show,
Boasting yourself won’t get you credit.
Vaunting yourself won’t let you endure.
In Dao, these things are called
Tumors and dregs, which all things abhor.
Whoever has Dao does not dwell on them.
— Dao-te ching, ch. 24

There is, however, a distinct difference between the concept
of balance in the Chinese psyche and that of other prophetic
religions with a holy book. While keeping to the mean is
imperative for harmony, what exactly is the mean with regards
to moral and social behavior is not made explicit, since it is the
theoretical mean which is referred to. For other religionists such
as the Bahá’ís, the book itself is “the unerring Balance
established amongst men” [KA 22].
With these four essential characteristics of Yínyáng
cosmology in hand, I will now proceed to a preliminary
exploration of four areas, namely, the origin of creation,
historical perspective, the relationship of man and woman, and
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                         11

health and healing, and examine their remarkable relationship
across time and space with the Bahá’í Faith.

The Dao of Creation
The idea of causation so central to Western thinking is
almost entirely absent in Chinese thought. Indeed, no Chinese
thinker who discusses the subject admits the possibility of an
initial conscious act of creation since in Yínyáng cosmology
things were connected, rather than caused, and things influence
each other not mechanically but by a kind of induction. Hence,
unlike the ancient Greeks who believed that the essence of
knowledge is to grasp the “why” or to prove the existence of the
primary cause, the Chinese were most interested in
understanding the interrelationships. As Ronan and Needham
argues:

The fundamental difference was that in Europe, there
was a need to think of God as the creator or the prime
mover behind the machine. Not the Chinese. To them
the parts of a living body as the universe could account
for the observed phenomena by a kind of will: co-
operation of the component part was spontaneous,
even involuntary and this alone was sufficient. There
were thus two traditions of the universe and each went
their separate ways. [Ronan and Needham 163]

The word “cause” implies a direct dependency with the
effects in much the same way that attributes of knowledge
requires the existence of objects of knowledge. Similarly, the
term “Creator” assumes its counterpart, the created, in order to
be comprehensible. There was therefore no reason to debate on
cause and effect since this was already implied or understood.
As the first chapter of the Dao-te ching reiterates:

If Dao can be Daoed, it is not Dao.
If its name can be named, it is not its name.
Has no name: precedes heaven and earth;
Has a name: mother of ten thousand things
12                                     Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

The First Cause or the Creator is not the focus here and only a
description rather than an exploration will suffice. There is an
implied acceptance that it exists, and no effort is made to
postulate the “hows” or “whys” of its existence. Like other
world religions, the Bahá’í Faith, explicitly indicates that while
God is the creator of all things, but unlike them, it elaborates
that God exists, only outside the order of His creation and like
the Dao, is completely unknowable:

Lauded by Thy Name, O Lord my God! I testify that
Thou wast a hidden Treasure wrapped within Thine
immemorial Being and an impenetrable Mystery
enshrined in Thine own Essence. Wishing to reveal
Thyself, Thou didst call into being the Greater and the
Lesser Worlds. [PM 48–49]

In the above, the Greater and Lesser world may be interpreted
as the hereafter and this world. It follows then in Bahá’í
cosmology that without the limiting constraints of time and
space, “the latter world hath neither beginning nor end” [TB 187],
something not incomparable with Zhuangzi’s notion of heaven
as “one of ceaseless revolution, without beginning or end” [Fung
133].

Nevertheless, while not embroiled in the “who’s who” of
creation, China’s ancient philosophers were keen to understand
the hows. They postulated the origin of the cosmos as a series of
progressions from the T’ai Chi (太极” the one great ultimate”)
to the two principles Yínyáng ; the three sources; heaven, earth
and humankind; and the five elements represented symbolically
by wood 木, fire 火, earth 土, metal 金, and water 水.5 The Wu
Xing (五行 “five phases”) is a fivefold conceptual scheme used
in many fields of Chinese thought both past and present such as
feng shui (风水, astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, music,
military strategy and martial arts. While the ancient Greeks had
recognized the five elements as early as the 6th century BCE,
they looked on them as substances or natural qualities, unlike
the Chinese which viewed them as “process” or “change.”
Interestingly, Bahá’u’lláh [TB 140] also explains the cause of
creation through “two poles” — the active force and its
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                           13

recipient or the “even” and the “odd,” which by their
interaction generates a “heat” or life-giving energy that creates
and orders the innumerous beings in the universe:

The world of existence came into being through the
heat generated from the interaction between the active
force and that which is its recipient. These two are the
same, yet they are different.”

Bahá’u’lláh calls that which first results from the active force
and its recipient prior to the generation of the world, al-failayn,
the twin active agents, and al-munfa’il, the twin passive agents,
and affirms that they “are indeed created through the irresistible
Word of God” [TB 140]. In other tablets, He identifies them
with the four elements of “fire,” “air,” “water,” and “earth,”
[Brown 28, 35–36], two of which are identified as active while the
other two as passive, something not quite unlike the Chinese
“five phases.”
These four elements are described in the Lawh-i-Ayiy-i-Nur in
the following manner:

Know ye that the first tokens that emanated from the
pre- existent Cause in the worlds of creation are the
four elements: fire, air, water, and earth... Then the
natures (ustuqusat) of these four appeared: heat,
moisture, cold and dryness — those same qualities that
ye both reckon and know. When the elements interacted
and joined with one another, two pillars became evident
for each one: for fire, heat and dryness, and likewise for
the remaining three in accordance with these rules, as ye
are aware. By them God created all that there is in the
worlds of creation, whether of the higher or lower
realms. In whatsoever things these natures came into
equilibrium that thing endured the passage of time, as
ye behold with the sun and the moon; and in whatsoever
thing these natures came not into balance, that thing
passed quickly into extinction, even as ye observe to be
the case with the creatures of the lower worlds. [Brown
35–36]
14                                     Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

This quotation suggests, in synchrony with Chinese beliefs,
the gradual development of life on earth.6 The Yì Jíng 易经, for
instance, views civilization as a systematic and progressive
development from simple undifferentiated beginnings towards a
complex structure, and the development of the individual as
following a parallel course from ignorance to enlightenment and
from an unwitting identity with Dao to knowing the Dao. There
is a traditional story accounting for the gradual creation of the
universe and although caution must be exercised in putting
implicit faith in such traditional stories, I am including the
following for its popular anecdotal value:

A period of 2,267,000 years was computed to have
intervened from the beginning of heaven and earth to
the year 480 BC. This period was divided into great
sections, each with its own characteristics. Proceeding
that period were countless ages of one unbroken black
night and the profoundest gloom. The universe
consisted of Breath or Gas which was a homogeneous
unit without form. Out of this limitless chaos came the
Great Limit, or Beginning. Then the grosser particles of
the universal gas fell down and became Earth, the finer
ascended and became heaven. This was the beginning of
heaven and earth. These two in the course of many
thousands of years produced the four great Bodies —
sun, moon, planets and constellation; and the four less
Bodies — water, fire, earth and stone. Then was the
eternal stillness terminated. The interactions of these
various bodies produced transformations, first of a
simple then of a more complex kind till they finally
culminated in the reproduction of man.

Though man was the most intelligent of all beings,
many ages elapsed before the earliest rudiments of
civilization appeared. Some of the remote ancestors of
the Chinese dwelt in caves, and wandered without fixed
abode till one of their numbers devised a kind of
dwelling, which put an end to cave homes. People of
another tribe were naked, except for a small covering
of plants before and another behind. One of them was a
sage who cut wood into slices so thin that they could
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                         15

cover the body like fish scales and protect it from the
winds and the frosts. He taught them to plait their hair
so that the heaviest rain would drop off their
head... [Ross 1–3]7

Such a mythological foundation enabled the Chinese to align
relatively easily with later scientific theories such as Darwin’s
theory of evolution or current concept of cosmology such as
those expounded by Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time)
where the universe was formed from the dust of space after a
“Big Bang.” Abdu’l Bahá himself suggests that creation unfolds
in a sequential gradual manner, tending towards higher and more
complex forms:

That it is clear that original matter, which is in the
embryonic state, and the mingled and composed
elements which were its earliest forms, gradually grew
and developed during many ages and cycles, passing
from one shape and form to another, until they
appeared in this perfection, this system, this
organization and this establishment, though the
supreme wisdom of God. [SAQ 182–83, 199]

The Dao of Historical Perspective
With relativity as a key embedded principle, it is not
surprising that religious conflict has been less of an issue in
Chinese culture.8 According to a Chinese saying, “同源共流” —
the presence of great religious teachers at different periods of
history may be likened to tributaries branching out from the
same river — they may start off at different sites and carry
different names but the water which each receives is the same.
Another Chinese four-word collocation, “殊途同归,” visualizes
different paths towards the same destination. So too the
classical quotation “致化归一，分教斯五.” written by 刘勰 (Liu
Xie) in c.501-502 CE indicates that while the teaching is from
the same source and for the same purpose, it may develop
into different branches.9 In addition, The Chinese language
shows that “religion” has been treated synonymously as
“education,” and “religious personnel” as “teachers” of
16                                       Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

particular schools. Religion is called Chiao (教) or “teaching” or
“Education,” (育), and the founders of religions as Chiao Tsu
(主) or “Teaching Master.”
Although there were occasional polemics and religious
persecution in China’s long history, the traditional attitude was
generally one of tolerance rather than dogmatic discrimination
and ideological opposition, as the existence of strong Buddhist
and Daoist elements in Neo-Confucianism make plain. If there
was persecution, it was more often a result of a struggle for
power rather than a denial of the essential truth of the other’s
philosophical view.10 This relative tolerance is also a likely result
of the perspective of time as relative, a sharp contrast to
religions such as Christianity and Islam, where time “stops”
around one revelatory event: the appearance of Christ and the
revelation of the Quran. In other words, Chinese and Bahá’í
cosmology adopts the “Eastern” view that time is cyclical with
no beginning and end, a sharp contrast to “Western” dualist
concept of time as historical with a start and end-point.
This sense of wholeness has always led the Chinese mind
towards the sense of relativity of particulars within the
universal totality, and it was not surprising that the Chinese
were among of the first to envisage a future society of world
brotherhood and unity. Arnold Toynbee, a philosopher of
history, included Chinese civilization among the five survivors
of a number of ancient and medieval civilizations that once
existed.11 Toynbee found that the Chinese civilization was the
only one that aimed to eliminate war by establishing a world
government of Great Unity (or Great Harmony) guided by the
humanistic precepts of Confucius. While the search for an ideal
Commonwealth has been a feature of other civilizations,12 it
was only in China that it formed part of the psyche, not just of
the scholar class but also of the common people.
As early as 5th century BCE, the Chinese people have
entertained the lofty thought of the “pacification of the world”
(Ta-tung 天下大同), bringing to mind ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s point that
“[t]he most important principle of divine philosophy is the
oneness of the world of humanity, the unity of mankind” [PUP
31]. Throughout the history of Chinese religion, such calls have
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                         17

come from its charismatic leaders and visionary prophets.
Confucius dreamt of a united world, which he termed “the
Great Unity” (大同 or ta t’ung). He urged his disciples to strive
to produce a paradise covering the whole world. His ideas have
been a motivating force to many Chinese legislators, scholars,
and authors, especially to reformers and revolutionaries such as
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic in 1912.
Another influential philosopher who was fascinated with the
utopian idea of the Great Unity was Mozi (墨子, 479–381 BCE),
who developed a concept called “all-embracing love” (Chien-ai
兼爱), which emphasized a love of all humankind rather than
just the love of the family. Then there was Mao Zedong, the
founder-president of the Peoples’ Republic of China whose aim
it was to establish the “Great Harmony” (世界大同). Although
Mao was much influenced by Marx and Lenin early in life, much
of his philosophy is interestingly, often in tune with the
principles of traditional Chinese philosophy.13
While this ideal, a united world characterized by world
solidarity, has not been in keeping with actual practice, as
reported in historical accounts of European traders and
diplomats who were more often regarded as “barbarians” rather
than as co-equals in the “middle kingdom,” such isolated
individual accounts, most of which occurring in the time of
Western imperial expansion, should be better interpreted in the
context of the existing political–social situation and do not
represent the essential spirit of Chinese thought.

The Dao of Man and Woman
Yín is normally characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse,
cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the
moon, femininity and the night. Yáng, by contrast, is fast, hard,
solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive; and is associated with
fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime. In the Yì Jíng, there
are many references to male–female relations in both verbal and
nonverbal symbols. It begins with the two hexagrams, Ch’ien
and K’un, which stand for heaven and earth, yáng and yín, as
well as male and female. In particular, Hexagram 31, Hsien,
(咸)with the lake above the mountain, refers to the mutual
18                                      Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

influence and attraction between the two natural forces.14 In
addition, Part II of the Yì Jíng also begins with reference to
male and female.
Interestingly, in one of his tablets, ‘Abdu’l–Bahá explains the
story of Adam and Eve as a metaphor for one being the “active”
force and the other its “recipient.” This might be said to be
related to the two principles inherent in the Primal Will
mentioned by Bahá’u’lláh as al-fa’il, the active force, and al-
munfa’il, its recipient:

Adam signifieth that reality which is pervasive,
effulgent and active, that is the manifestation of God’s
names and attributes, and the evidences of His mercy.
Whereas Eve is that reality which is the seeker and the
recipient of the force, the grace, the message and the
influence — that reality which receiveth the impact of
all God’s Names and Attributes. [Nakhjavani 72]

In Chinese cosmology, while heaven may be spoken in some
social-political interpretations as the “powerful male force” and
earth as “the weak female force,” the two are theoretically equal
since Heaven can accomplish nothing unless Earth responds.
Both men and women go through yín and yáng phases, and the
personality of each man and women is not a static entity but a
dynamic phenomenon resulting from the play within masculine
and feminine phenomena. Yínyáng are correlates which may also
serve to delineate different stages in life, for example, the first
half of life, led by yáng, is a time of differentiation, during
which we understand ourselves and the world by dividing it into
pieces. The second half is characterized by yín or the tendency
to make whole, to see and experience the connections between
things, to replace separateness with harmony.
However, with time this concept was modified to establish a
rigid order in which men were supposed to be masculine and
women feminine. The patriarchal bias of succeeding dynasties
also saw yín and yáng become associated with moral values, and
the correlates were subsequently used to explain the polarity of
light and darkness, and good and bad. Good deeds, for instance,
stemmed from the principle of yáng, which through the
patriarchal eyeglass represented principles such as benevolence,
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                          19

righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith, and which added to
the spiritual bank of merit. Conversely, bad deeds stemmed
from the principles of yín and such principles as passion, anger,
sorrow, likes, dislikes, desires, and violence and anything that
caused punishment in the afterlife in the other world. Such an
interpretation was later symbolized into script so that the
character for yín (阴) meant the shady side of a slope and is
associated with qualities such as cold, rest, responsiveness,
passivity, darkness, interiority, downwardness and inwardness.
On the other hand, the character of yáng (阳) stood for the
sunny side of a slope and all that was bright and creative.
Yínyáng cosmology was also utilized to portray prototypes
of the human social order e.g., “The ruler is yáng, the subject
yín; the father is yáng, the son yín; the husband is yáng, the wife
yín.” Later writers such as Tung Chung-shu (179–104 BCE), a
major representative of the New Text School,15 taught that
“Heaven has trust in the yáng but not in the yín” (Bodde 619). The
patrilineal bias in Chinese culture therefore transformed the
original theory by elevating the yáng principle at the expense of
the yín. Not surprisingly, practices such as female infanticide
and foot-binding, and sale of daughters, have shown the status
of women in traditional Chinese societies to be unenviable.
The patriarchal bias to equate yín with passivity and yáng
with activity is also evident in Western culture. The attempt to
portray women as passive and receptive and men as active and
creative goes back to Aristotle’s theory of sexuality and has
been used throughout the centuries as a “scientific” rationale
for keeping women in a subordinate role, subservient to men. It
should be noted that the symbolism of yín as passivity is not a
problem; the problem is when passivity comes to be viewed as
undesirable.
Interestingly, in Bahá’í scripture the feminine principle is
depicted both as a passive and an active one, which creates,
empowers, rears, and nourishes. It is not a fixed condition of
sexuality applied to objects in the created world. Mothering
images, for example, are used to suggest the divine creative
principle of the word of God:
20                                    Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

Every single letter proceeding out of the mouth of God
is indeed a mother letter, and every word uttered by
Him Who is the Well Spring of Divine Revelation is a
mother word, and His Tablet a Mother Tablet. [GWB
142]

The mothering images are used to suggest the divine creative
principle of the Word of God. Bahá’u’lláh himself identifies the
feminine powers of God with the word “Fashioner”:

No sooner is this resplendent word uttered, than its
animating energies, stirring within all created things,
give birth to the means and instruments whereby such
arts can be produced and perfected. All the wondrous
achievements ye now witness are the direct
consequences of the revelation of His name. [GWB 142]

The theme of masculine-feminine complementarity and
interaction is manifested in the Tablet of Carmel.16 Drewek
(1992) refers to this tablet as an instance of the divine
dramatization of two forces coming together, the Ancient of
Days as the Manifestation and a feminine personification of the
Mountain of God, the Queen of Carmel, the site of the
Manifestation’s holy seat or throne. She describes a kind of
courtship dance with feelings of separation and longing for
reunion followed by a kind of consummation between heaven
and earth. This consummation results in the appearance of “the
people of Bahá.” In a long-awaited reunion, the feminine
principle is now ready to shift from a competitive to a
complementary opposite.
Unity or harmony does not mean a merging of the two in
which one is subordinated or sacrificed but rather the
complementary combination of the two to produce a more
aesthetically satisfyíng whole. It also does not mean a blurring
of differences to become an undifferentiated one. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
has explained the concept of complementarity in a manner
reminiscent of the yín–yáng principle:

The world of humanity consists of two parts: male and
female. Each is the complement of the other. Therefore
if one is defective, the other will necessarily be
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                            21

incomplete and perfection cannot be attained.... Just as
physical accomplishment is complete with two hands, so
man and woman, the two parts of the social body, must
be perfect. It is not natural that either should remain
undeveloped; and until both are perfected, the
happiness of the human world will not be realized. [PUP
134]

This is reminiscent of Lao-tzu’s teachings 2,500 years ago:

Know the masculine;
Keep to the feminine.
Be beneath-heaven’s ravine
To be beneath-heaven’s ravine
Is to stay with unceasing virtue
And return to infancy

Know the white; (yáng)
Keep to the black (yín)
Be beneath-heaven’s model.
To be beneath-heaven’s model
Is to stay with unerring virtue
And return to the limitless.
— Dao-te ching, ch. 28

It is impossible to read the above without realizing where Lao-
tzu, living in a patriarchal age, placed his true priorities.
Replete with yín symbols, it teaches that the sage should adopt
the yín qualities. Balance is once again stressed as the essential
condition for harmony. If so, the equality of status between
men and women is subtly raised.17
22                                       Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

The Dao of Health and Healing
Influenced by Yínyáng cosmology, Chinese medicine is based
on the premise that the part can only be understood in relation
to the whole. Unlike Western medicine where cause and effect is
paramount, for the Chinese physician, it is not so much what x
is causing to y but rather the relationship of x to y. A symptom
therefore is not traced back to a cause but is looked at as part
of a totality. If a person has a symptom, Chinese medicine
wishes to discover how the symptom fits into the patient’s
entire bodily pattern. A person who is well or “in harmony” has
no distressing symptoms and expresses mental, physical, and
spiritual balance. When the person is ill, the symptom is only
one part of a complete bodily imbalance that can be seen in
other aspects of his or her life and behavior. Interestingly,
Hippocrates (ca 460-600 BCE) also viewed the body as a
balanced system, able to heal its disorders form within. This
idea is also embodied in the concept of the Hindu-Buddhist
karma where the effects of spirit and matter acts on one
another.
In contrast, Western medicine is concerned with disease
categories or agents of disease, which it isolates and tries to
change, control, or destroy. The Western physician usually
starts with a symptom and then searches for an underlying
mechanism that may be a possible cause for a disease. There
appears to be a foundational belief that a disease is a relatively
well-defined self-contained phenomenon, although it may affect
different parts of the body. Hence, there is a penchant for
precise diagnostic frames of narrow areas so the cause may be
isolated (Edward & Bouchier, Davidson’s Principles and Practice of
Medicine).

However, the basic premise for Chinese medicine rests in its
orientation in finding imbalances and “righting” it. Balance or
moderation is the key to the preservation of life. This makes it a
more likely candidate for “the medicine of the future,” as
outlined by Abdu’l-Bahá:

The outer, physical causal factor in disease, however, is a
disturbance in the balance, the proportionate equi-
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                          23

librium of all those elements of which the human body
is composed. To illustrate: the body of man is a
compound of many constituent substances, each
component being present in a prescribed amount,
contributing to the essential equilibrium of the whole.
So long as these constituents remain in their due
proportion, according to the natural balance of the
whole — that is, no component suffereth a change in its
natural proportionate degree and balance, no
component being augmented or decreased — there will
be no physical cause for the incursion of disease.
[Compilation 1: 465–67]

Biological rhythms go out of synchronization when there has
been some violation of natural law, such as the practice of
harmful habits, repression of emotions, or incorrect diet.
Unbalance will result in cessation of the ch’i (气), a force or
energy which may be equivalent to what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá calls the
“mind force”:

The mind force — whether we call it pre-existent or
contingent — doth direct and coordinate all the
members of the human body, seeing to it that each part
or member duly performeth its own special function. If
however, there be some interruption in the power of
the mind, all the members will fail to carry out their
essential functions, deficiencies will appear in the body
and the functioning of its members, and the power will
prove ineffective. [SWAB 48]

In addition, ill health is not only a result of imbalance within
parts of the body or of disharmony between the mind and the
body but also something that can be brought about by an
imbalance between the individual and the environment. The
Yellow Emperor’s Classic (黄帝内经 300 and 100 BCE), the
Chinese equivalent of the Hippocratic corpus, taught that the
winds and seasons have marked effects on the human body,
certain physical conditions being the response to terrestrial
forces. It was therefore crucial for human beings to act in
accordance with the seasons so as to avoid disharmony, for each
person breathes the breath of the universe, tastes its
24                                      Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

atmosphere, and reflects its rhythm. Interestingly, modern
medicine is now beginning to investigate the effect of
atmospheric and meteorological conditions on the human
organism, and it has been shown that the number of breaths
each person draws varies according to the time of the year.
Much like animals and insects, human beings also respond to a
circadian rhythm of sunlight. Humans also experience annual
rhythms, and these have been observed in regular changes of
bodyweight as well as in seasonal hair loss.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains this inter-dependency:

For all beings are connected together like a chain; and
reciprocal help, assistance and interaction belonging to
the properties of things are the causes of the existence,
development and growth of created beings. It is
confirmed through evidences and proofs that every
being universally acts upon other beings, either
absolutely or through association. [SAQ 178–79]

Since the primary objective of Chinese medicine is to restore
the balance in the body and since each body is different,
individualized treatment, therefore, becomes one of its
distinguishing features. As in the Ayurvedic tradition, treatment
is tailored to the needs of the individual so as to maximize
immunity to diseases and to achieve balance. Chinese diagnostic
technique does not turn up a specific disease entity or a precise
cause, but, rather, renders an almost poetic, yet workable,
description of the whole person. The therapy then attempts to
bring the configuration into balance, to restore harmony to the
individual. In an attempt to discover a pattern of imbalance or
disharmony in a patient’s body, all relevant information,
including the symptoms as well as the patient’s other general
characteristics, are gathered and woven together.
The validity of individualized treatment of a patient, rather
than the uniform treatment of a disease, is acknowledged by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá:

The skillful physician does not give the same medicine
to cure each disease and each malady, but he changes
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                           25

remedies and medicines according to the different
necessities of the disease and constitution. [SAQ 94]

While the Yellow Emperor’s Classic dealt with acupuncture,
moxibustion, and surgery as a means of restoring balance, one
major way in which much healing is done is through herbal
medicine or food. The Chinese have thus developed a complex
classification of foods which range from cold, cooling and
neutral, to warming and hot.18 Things are also classified not
only directly as a yín or yáng in nature but also relative to each
other. Seaweeds, for example, are yín because they are passive
plants that grow in the sea. Fish might also be considered yín
because they live in the sea, but compared to seaweed, they are
classified as yáng because they are active animals.
The importance of food as a means of curing illnesses is
verified in the Bahá’í scriptures:

When highly-skilled physicians shall fully examine this
thoroughly and perseveringly, it will be clearly seen that
the incursion of disease is due to a disturbance in the
relative amounts of the body’s component substances,
and that treatment consisteth in adjusting these relative
amounts, and that this can be apprehended and made
possible by means of foods. [Abdu’l Baha, Compilation
1:465–67]

Because “medical science appears to be in its infancy” [Abdu’l
Baha, Compilation 1:473–74], not least because many major diseases
are treated by invasive surgery, Bahá’ís are meanwhile
encouraged to “develop the science of medicine to such a high
degree that they will heal illnesses by means of foods” [Abdu’l
Baha, Compilation 1:468]. The Faith, however, advices their
adherents to refer to qualified doctors and mainstream practices
since an alternative medical paradigm is not yet in place.
Despite some promising similarities between Chinese and
Bahá’í perceptions on health and healing, there is one essential
difference: for the Bahá’í, while medical treatment and a skilled
doctor may cure a patient, the actual healer, in reality, is God
[Abdul Baha, Compilation 1:468]. For the Chinese, as long as the
patient is healed, this is not a relevant consideration. In Chinese
26                                     Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

medicine, there is therefore little or less emphasis on the
spiritual or prayerful aspect of healing, since the existence of
God is not considered a worthwhile debatable subject. The
Chinese philosophers have traditionally played down the
importance of metaphysics and Confucius has gone as far as to
refuse to answer such questions. Their focus has been to
emphasize processes, relationships and ethics, rather than the
concept of the Absolute.

Conclusion
The four principles inherent in yín–yáng cosmology —
relativity, unity, complementarity, and balance — have gone a
long way in influencing Chinese ideas where the origin of
creation, historical perspective, gender relationships, and that
of health and healing are concerned. There is a striking
similarity of Yínyáng principles with the tenets of the Bahá’í
Faith despite its separation in time and place. In both the
Chinese cosmological worldview and the Bahá’í Faith, the idea
of the unknowability of the Creator and the evolutionary
development of life on earth is unfolded. Yín-yáng concepts
have also endowed the Chinese with a capacity to interpret
events in a larger historical or geographical perspective in terms
of comparative religion and world unity. Again in both
worldviews, gender relationships are represented symbolically as
creative forces which, when in complete balance, results in
harmony and prosperity. Last but not least, yín-yáng cosmology
has left its mark on Chinese medicinal theory which,
corresponding to Bahá’í beliefs, is based on the premise of
righting imbalances. Perhaps the most profound discovery is the
fact that Yínyáng has enabled the Chinese to be focused on the
processes and the relationships rather than an Absolute or a
single revelatory event. This perspective is propelled by the
Chinese language which does not differentiate between
education and religion. In this way, both education and religion
are foregrounded as the bedrock of civilization since they are
indivisible. The stress on relationships or ethics puts it in
profound similarity with Bahai literature which has centrally
emphasize deeds over words and the fact that actions and
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                         27

intentions must and should match, irrespective of our
affiliations to any religious teacher.
Meanwhile, the yín–yáng paradigm remains a useful one to
explain socio-political, cultural, and economic imbalances at the
beginning of the new millennium. In the past, yáng has been
favored over yín, and the present world seems to have reached a
point of great social, ecological, moral, and spiritual imbalance.
It has, for instance, favored self-assertion rather than
integration, rational knowledge rather than intuitive wisdom,
analysis rather than synthesis, science rather than religion,
competition rather than cooperation and expansion rather than
conservation. Despite being the parent of Yínyáng cosmology,
present day China has not been spared from a currently
disjointed view of human life, which has attempted to divorce
faith from reason and which has departed from the traditional
attitude of tolerance to one of dogmatic discrimination and
ideological opposition. Since the last 30 years, China has shown
a preference for materialism over spirituality and for
individualism over the common good, an extremely yáng
condition.
Nevertheless, we may take heart in the fact that yáng, having
reached its peak, will eventually retreat since among the laws
governing change and nature for the Chinese, the most
fundamental is the one which states that “When a thing reaches
one extreme, it reverts from it” (物极必反).19
“New age” ideas are gaining popularity, and there is, for
instance, the rising concern with ecology, the strong interest in
mysticism, the growing feminine awareness, and the rediscovery
of holistic approaches to health and healing. This phenomenon
was elucidated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at the beginning of the 20th
century, when he explained that the “new age” will be “an age in
which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will
be more properly balanced” [Compilations II:99]. In other words,
“while the world in the past has been ruled by force, the balance
has already begun to shift and force appears to be losing its
dominance to mental alertness, intuition, and service” [ibid.]. It
is, prophetically, a new age where Yínyáng is once again in
balance.
28                                       Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

B IBLIOGRAPHY

* The translations of the Analects and The Doctrine of the Mean
which I have used is by J. Legge. The translation of the Dao-te
ching is by Maurer, that of Chuang-tzu is by Fung Yu Lan, and that
of the Yì Jíng is by Richard Wilhelm.

Bodde, Derk. “Harmony and Conflict in Chinese Philosophy.” In
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University of Chicago Press, 1953. 19–67.
Brown, Keven. “A Bahá’í Perspective of Matter.” The Journal of
Bahá’í Studies 2:1 (1989–1990): 15–44.
Chan, Wing- tsit, ed. Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963.
Chew, Phyllis Ghim Lian. The Chinese Religion and the Bahá’í Faith.
Oxford: George Ronald, Publishers, 1993.
Chew, Phyllis Ghim-Lian. Life, Death and Immortality: the Daoist
Religion in Singapore and the Bahá’í Faith. The Singapore Bahá’í
Studies Review, 2, 1, 67-90. 1997
Chew, Phyllis Ghim-Lian. Brothers and sisters: Buddhism in the Family
of Chinese Religion. The Singapore Bahá’í Studies Review, 5,1,
2000. 1-32.
Compilation of Compilations. The two volumes prepared by the
Universal House of Justice, 1963-1990. Vols. 1 & 2. Australia:
Bahá’í Publications Australia, 1991.
Drewek, Paula. “Feminine Forms of the Divine in Bahá’í Scriptures.”
The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 5.1 (1992): 13–23.
Edward, Christopher R. W and Jan A. D. Bouchier. Eds. Davidson’s
Principles and Practice of Medicine. 16th edition, Hong Kong:
ELBS Books, 1992.
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Commercial Press, 1933.
Giles, H. A. Chuang Tzu: Daoist Philosopher and Chinese Mystic.
London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1980. (First published 1889)
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                               29

Girardot, N. J. Myth and Meaning in Early Daoism. The Theme of
Chaos. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983.
Hawking, Stephen. H. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to
Black Holes. New York: Bantam Books, 1988.
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University Press, 1960.
Magill, F. N., ed. Masterpieces of World Philosophy in Summary
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Nakhjavani, Bahiyyih. Response. Oxford: George Ronald, Publishers,
1981.
Needham, Joseph. The Grand Titration, Science and Society in East
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Ronan, C. A., and J. Needham. The Shorter Science and Civilization
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Ross, John. The Origin of the Chinese. Malaysia: Pelanduk
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Toynbee, A. A Study of History. London: Oxford University Press,
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of the World Futures Studies Federation).
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1934 (Translated by Y. S. Tsao)
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30                                                 Lights of ‘Irfán Book Fourteen

N OTES
This paper was presented at the Irfan Colloquium at the Centre for Bahai
Studies, Acuto Italy, July 2012.
The oldest manuscript that has been found, although incomplete, dates
back to the Warring States period (circa 475–221 BC) (Balkin 2002).
Harmony of difference and sameness by Ts’an-t’ung chi, as translated by
Ch’an Master Shih-t’ou Hsi-ch’ien (石头希迁禅师) Retrieved on 10
October 2012 from http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zen/sandokai.htm
Fung, Chuang Tzu 50. See also Magill, Masterpieces of World Philosophy 187.
Within Chinese medicine texts the Wu Xing are also referred to as Wu Yun
(五运 wŭ yùn) or a combination of the two characters (Wu Xing-Yun)
(五行) these emphasize the correspondence of five elements to five
‘seasons’ (four seasons plus one). Another tradition refers to the wu xing
as wu de 五德, the Five Virtues (:五德始终说 五德終始說).
This contrasts with the literal interpretations of the Bible that the earth is
only around 6,000 years old. Bahá’u’lláh states: “The learned men, that
have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed,
throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the
number or the age of the other planets” (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 163).
7.
See also Girardot, Myth and Meaning, and the Huai-nan Tzu (淮南子180–
122 BCE).
See Chew, Brothers and Sisters.
This quotation is taken from the book 《文心雕龙·∙宗经》. 文心雕龙
(Wenxindiaolong) is a great book on literary critique theories. 宗经
(Zongjing) is one volume of it talking about ideas of ancient saints
(confucius and others).
There was a persecution in 845 AD where more than 4,600 monasteries and
40,000 smaller ones were destroyed. The issues were basically political and
economic e.g. not too many able-bodied men had joined monasteries and
thus became unavailable for agricultural production and army or labour
conscription, or too much land belonged to Buddhist church and thus
became tax exempt. Significantly, confiscated images of bronze were
made into currency, those of iron into agricultural implements, those of
gold and silver turned to the Treasury and images of wood, clay and stone
left untouched. Hence, we may argue that the persecution was not quite
anti-religious. See Chew, Brothers and Sisters, p. 17.
The other four are the Indian civilization of Asia the Islamic civilization,
the Greek Orthodox in Greece, Russia, etc. and Western Christianity in
Western Europe and America. See Toynbee, A Study of History.
Yinyang Cosmology and the Bahá’í Faith                                       31

Plato’s Republic is for example, a model for many. A utopian island also
occurs in the Sacred History of Eluthemerus (c 300 BC).
See Chew, Chinese Religion, Chapter 7.
See Rosemont, Explorations. Also the Yì Jíng.
The New Text School is the Han Dynasty form of Confucianism which
were heavily influenced by the five phases and yínyáng theory.
See Drewek, “Feminine Forms of the Divine” 18.
Similarly, while Confucius did not have much to say directly about women-
men relationships, it must be remembered that he placed great emphasis on
being humane and contributed to basic human rights with his depiction of
the superior person, the development of the original concept of jen,
(“every man can cultivate his nature into loving man and embracing all
men with benevolence”), his belief in the original goodness of human
beings, his teachings on love and the golden rule. Women are included in
the Chinese concept of jen or “person.”
In general, foods which grow or live in ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, seas
and oceans are colder or more cooling than those which grow on land.
Watercress, seaweeds, fish and all kinds of seafood, e.g. have cold or
cooling natures, while carrots, leeks, eggs, chicken and red meats have
warm or hot natures. The natures of all foods can be changed by the way
they are cooked. If watercress is stir-fried for example, it is less cooling
than when it is boiled in a soup. And when chicken is steamed it is less
“heating” than when it is grilled.
See Rene Wadlow, “Are we on the threshold of a New Age?” Light Voices,
4, 2, 1999, 7-8. In addition, there is a common Chinese saying, which may
probably be derived from Lao-tzu “returning is the motion of Dao” and
“to be far is to return.” The idea is that if anything develops certain
extreme qualities, those qualities invariably change into their opposites.
-- Yinyang Cosmology and the Baha'i Faith (Used by permission of the curator)