Amazing Blog #3: The theory of five elements in Chinese fiction

[samsempere]

Welcome to the last Amazing Blog of 2020! Under normal circumstances, we'd say it makes us feel a little bit sad but the truth is these have been difficult times and we are eager to see how the pandemic comes to an end.

If you remember, we already talked about the idea of cultivation in traditional Chinese philosophy and how meditation, learning and physical work help disciples accumulate Qi until reaching enlightenment. The goal of achieving this physical and spiritual perfection is to earn the right to become immortal.

Today we are going to talk about the five elements of nature, which correspond to five phases of Qi: these are fire (huǒ), earth (tǔ), metal (jīn), water (shǔi) and wood (mù). They mutually generate and transform each other, creating a balance that cultivators must achieve.

The creative cycle (sheng) and the destructive cycle (ko) of these elements determine their synergies. They are two parts of a whole that disciples must know:

According to the sheng cycle, wood feeds fire, fire produces earth with its ashes, earth creates minerals, minerals enrich water, and water gives life to vegetation. The ko cycle shows that earth nourishes wood and retains water that serves to put out the fire, the fire melts the metal that we obtain from the minerals, which, in turn, cut the wood.

By mastering the theory of the five elements, cultivators also know the worst consequences of an imbalance between elements. For example, the fire we use to cook or heat a room can also cause significant damage. In the same way, the water that hydrates us also causes floods.

Wood creates, fire expands everything, earth stabilizes, metal contracts things and water conserves. In nature, they're also linked to seasons, meteorological phenomena and the Cardinal points. It's a vision that Chinese culture shared, for example, with Japanese mythology through the association of north, south, east and west to four celestial creatures.

Wood: Spring ─ Wind ─ East
Fire: Summer ─ Heat ─ South
Earth: Summer ─ Humidity ─ Center
Metal: Autumn ─ Dryness ─ West
Water: Winter ─ Cold ─ North

And if we continue to dig deeper, we will find that areas such as medicine (zàng-fǔ organs, acupuncture) and Chinese astrology (the four pillars of destiny) established much more profound relationships. Of course, they are widespread knowledge that doesn't have a scientific basis; its primary use is to serve as an inspiration to create worlds like the one in Amazing Cultivation Simulator.

Have you heard of these concepts somewhere? Let us know your concerns so we can incorporate them into new posts in 2021. Have a happy New Year's Eve! Don’t forget to visit the store page and join our conversation:
Twitter
Facebook[http//acehttps]
Also, you can join our community on Discord[discord.gg]!

[ahnkra]

very similiar to our western cultures portrayal of the 4 elements, with either spirit giving rise to them all, or in some systems the elements being used to entrap / dominate the spirit ( usually represented by the pentagram or an upside down pentagram) lots and lots of lore based on that in our culture too, with science having decided centuries ago it was all BS lol. Honestly though I think thats just because Science became our new religion. It was better able to produce, reproduceable results that the masses could use and understand. Hence the "magic" of electricity is everywhere. Everyone thinks they understand it, but if you actually compare what people think they know about it, with how it actually works ; )

[Foefaller]

Originally posted by ahnkra:

very similiar to our western cultures portrayal of the 4 elements, with either spirit giving rise to them all, or in some systems the elements being used to entrap / dominate the spirit ( usually represented by the pentagram or an upside down pentagram) lots and lots of lore based on that in our culture too, with science having decided centuries ago it was all BS lol. Honestly though I think thats just because Science became our new religion. It was better able to produce, reproduceable results that the masses could use and understand. Hence the "magic" of electricity is everywhere. Everyone thinks they understand it, but if you actually compare what people think they know about it, with how it actually works ; )

I disagree. The Four elements in western culture almost always show Fire/water and Earth/Air as opposites, with most fantasy works taking it further as being opposing materials/forces (even in settings that have wood and metal elements, like the Codex Alera series) where the element with the stronger presence would cancel out the other, which is very different from the sheng and ko cycles of the 5 Elements in Eastern works. Water may overcome Fire in Amazing Cultivation Simulator, but no amount of Fire overcomes Water.

Aristotle (the codifier of many of the ideas on the elements that influenced Western culture) in part defined the elements by their sensory experience; Fire is Hot and Dry, Air is Hot and Wet, Earth is Cold and Dry, and Water is Cold and Wet, meaning Fire invoked a completely different sensation to Water, and the same for Earth and Air. His idea of the fifth element, aether, was to explain the heavens; objects in the world made of the four elements were "corruptable," changing their state by the addition or subtraction of an element, but the stars and the Sun never changed from thier daily and yearly cycle, so they must be made of something *in*corruptable.

[Quisani Wordcaster]

I think both Eastern and Western view are interesting perspectives and understandings. Western views are interesting in how reductionist they are, but the little I've read feels simplistic. Eastern views are necessarily interested in atomizing and reducing everything, which (I think) leads to contemplation of more complex ideas.