五运行大论篇/Wu Yun Xing Da Lun

(On the Five Elements' Motion)

黄帝坐明堂，始正天纲，临观八极，考建五常，请天师而问之日:论言天地之动静，神明为之纪;阴阳之升降，寒暑彰其兆。余闻五运之数于夫子，夫子之所言，正五气之各主岁尔，首甲定运，余因论之。鬼臾区日:土主甲己、金主乙庚，水主丙辛，木主丁壬，火主戊癸。子午之上，少阴主之;丑未之上，太阴主之;寅申之上，少阳主之;卯西之上，阳明主之;辰戌之上，太阳主之，巳亥之上，厥阴主之。不合阴阳，其故何也?

Sitting in the bright hall (the Policy Proclaiming Hall), Yellow Emperor began to check the stars in the zodiac of heaven and surveyed the terrain of the eight orientations on earth to study the reasons of the Yin and Yang variations of the five elements' motion. 

He sent Qibo to him and asked him:"In some books, it is stated that the motion and the motionless of heaven and earth are regulated by the moving degree of the sun and moon, and the symptoms of the moving up and down of the Yin and Yang are manifested by the cold and heat of the seasons.

"I have heard the law of the five elements' motion you explained, as you have said: the energies of the five-element motions dominate the year respectively, and it begins in the Jia year. I discussed what you said with Gui Yuqu, but he said: the earth motion dominates the years of Jia and Ji, the metal motion dominates the year of Yi and Geng, the water motion dominates the years of Bing and Xin, the wood motion dominates the years of Ding and Ren, the fire motion dominates the years of Wu and Gui; in the two years of Zi and Wu, the Shaoyin controls the heaven, in the two years of Chou and Wei, the Taiyin controls the heaven, in the two years of Yin and Shen, the Shaoyang controls the heaven, in the two years of Mao and You, the Yangming controls the heaven, in the two years of Chen and Xu, the Taiyang controls the heaven, in the two years of Si and Hai, the Jueyin controls the heaven. What he said was not in comformity with the Yin and Yang you said, and what is the reason?"

岐伯曰:是明道也，此天地之阴阳也。夫数之可数者，人中之阴阳也，然所合，数之可得者也，夫阴阳者，数之可十，推之可百，数之可千，推之可万。天地阴阳者，不以数推，以象之谓也。

Qibo said:"The reason is evident, it is because the Yin and Yang. Gui Yuqu said are the Yin and Yang of the five elements' motion on earth and the six kinds of weather in heaven. The Yin and Yang in human body are countable, such as blood is Yin and energy is Yang; solid organs are Yin and hollow organs are Yang, the interior is Yin and the superficies is Yang. When the Yin and Yang of human body combine with that of the heaven and earth, it can be calculated by analogy, such as, it can be inferred from ten to one hundred or from one thousand to ten thousand, but the number of Yin and Yang in heaven and earth can not be counted with number, but can only be obtained by estimation."