(79) Yin, Yang and 5 Elements in Local Culture

By Janet Shin

Yin yang and the five elements are the hidden codes of Korean culture. They are well-known and ingrained in Korean's daily lives, instead of being learned as a difficult philosophical concept.

The principles originated with the mythical Fu Xi (Bok Hui in Korean) from the ancient days. They were adopted as a national religion during the Joseon Kingdom, and a lot of historical materials and books were found about people's daily practice in Yin yang and the five elements.

Day and night are considered as yang and yin, and circulate one after the other.

The seeds grow to blossom and to bear fruit and to return as seeds. The seeds wait for the spring to take root in the ground and to sprout from the frozen ground. In the summer, they blossom to bear fruits for people to harvest in the fall. Then they hide their seeds during the winter and wait for the coming spring. These are the circulation of yin and yang, and the five elements: from water (winter, seeds), wood (spring, sprout), fire (summer, blossom), metal (fall, fruits) and back to water (winter, seeds). The earth balances and sustains the circulation in each stage.

People considered the location and space where they live the yang place, while the grave where they enter after dying the yin place.

The King and wise men founded the nation's capital city considering all of yin yang and the five elements. Seoul, as a capital city of Korea, is a scrupulously planned city based on the best condition of yin yang and the five elements. It is surrounded by four major mountains, which protect the divine energy of the capital city.

• North Buk-ak (or Baek-ak) mountain

• East Nak mountain

• South Nam mountain

• West In-wang mountain

Then people built five major gates to fortify the city from foreign invasions.

• North Suk-jeong gate (North gate)

• East Heong-in gate (Dong-dae mun)

• South Sung-rae gate (Nam-dae mun)

• West Don-eui gate (Seo-dae mun)

• Center Bo-sin gak (Bosingak holds a bell-tolling ceremony every year)

They decided to name the east gate Heung-in-ji mun because they considered the energy from Nak mountain (East side) not strong enough to protect the city. By adding one more letter to the name of East gate, they hoped to strengthen the energy from the mountain.

On the other hand, the fire energy of Gwan-ak mountain located in the south of Seoul was regarded as too strong. So they placed the signboard of Sung-rae gate lengthwise to dispel the fire energy from the mountain, while others were put in widthwise. To reiterate, the south represents fire energy in terms of the five element aspects.

They also put Haetae, the god of water, in front of Gwang-wha mun to control the fire energy.

It is regretable that the Sung-rae gate was on fire in February 2008 despite all these efforts, after they removed Haetae.

If you look inside the general houses, the rooms (An-

chae) for women are in the west, Sarang-chae for men in the east, while the kitchen was located in the north (water energy), signifying the production and womb for pregnancy.

The wedding ceremony is the representative event showing the combination of yin and yang. It was usually held in the evening with brides wearing red clothes and grooms wearing blue clothes. The babies wore clothes with all five colors wishing their good health and longevity.

Food shows a very distinctive example of people's belief in the five elements.

Steamed rice served at everyday's meal has all five element energies in it. They pour ``water,'' then cook it in the furnace (``wood'' and ``fire''). The rice is steamed in the ``metal'' pot. Rice itself contains the best ``earth'' energy. By eating steamed rice, Koreans believed they received the five elements' energy in every meal.

On top of that, Koreans eat the five-grain rice with all different kinds of vegetables.

Bibimbap is a popular Korean dish, served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sauce and seasoned vegetables with a raw or fried egg on the top. If you have ever tried it, or even looked at the photo of it, you would realize how Koreans tried to put all healthy ingredients into one bowl with colors representing the

five elements.

The traditional Korean table is shaped round to represent the universe with four legs on the earth, while the spoon is the yin and chopsticks the yang.

People understood this truth and tried to supplement the lacking in everything. To maximize the satisfaction of the five elements, they have been adjusting the

place they live, building the house, selecting and cooking the food, and wearing the clothes.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea. She is the author of "Learning Four Pillars." She offers saju courses to all who are interested. For more information, visit her Web site (https://blog.naver.com/janet_shin) or email janetshin@hotmail.com.