{"id":770,"date":"2013-12-31T02:56:18","date_gmt":"2013-12-31T02:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/?p=770"},"modified":"2013-12-31T02:56:18","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T02:56:18","slug":"the-secret-of-the-yin-yang-symbol-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/2013\/12\/31\/the-secret-of-the-yin-yang-symbol-06\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Of The Yin Yang Symbol 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was the inspiration for, or the meaning of, the Yin Yang Symbol shown in the picture below?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-YinYangSymbol\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the best places to hide something is in plain sight. Like in the well known Yin Yang Symbol. After looking at the symbol every day for some period of time it would be natural to stop thinking about what the symbol might mean. There is a famous Sherlock Holmes story about a letter everyone was looking for. The letter was on a desk right in front of everyone for the entire movie. No one looked at it because it was right in front of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

What if the inspiration for the Yin Yang sign was the same? What if the inspiration for the Yin Yang sign was right in front of your face? How would you know?<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing that would need to be done would be to look at what is in front of your face. When you are performing Kung Fu, what is in front of your face? Your hands usually right? The hands are held up in front of the face in preparation for striking or defense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people would not think there was anything special about their hands held up in front of their face. They might think, \u201cI know my hands. I have been looking at them for years. There is nothing about the Yin Yang sign hidden in my hands\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you certain? What is it that you think you know about your hands held in front of your face? \u201cThey are in front of my face? They look like my hands? There is nothing related to the Yin Yang Symbol about my hands when they are held in front of my face?\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well there can be something related to the Yin Yang Symbol in your hands when they are in front of your face. The next series of pictures will demonstrate what that something is.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hands can be held in many different configurations when they are held in front of the face during Kung Fu practice. The next picture shows the hands held with the palms facing up. This odd looking hand position was used by a well known American boxer in the early 1900’s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-HandsHeldPalmUp\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t that look odd? It seems like it would be hard to punch like that. Try holding your own hands like that to see what it feels like.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does anything in that picture of hands in front of the face seem related to the Yin Yang Symbol to you? No? What if the configuration of the hands in front of the face is changed to the more traditional \u201cknukle up\u201d orientation shown in the next picture?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-HandsHeldKnucklesUp\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Does that configuration of the hands in front of the face present anything that makes you think of the Yin Yang Symbol? Nope? Let\u2019s try another punching configuration.<\/span><\/p>\n

In some more sophisticated Kung Fu styles intended for people with years of experience in Kung Fu, the hands are held so the inside of the hand points up while the outside of the hand points down as demonstrated in the next picture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-HandsHeldThumbUp\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The inside of the fist is pointing upwards. The thumb is held on the outside of the index finger. Does this configuration of hands in front of the fist provide any clues to \u201ca secret meaning\u201d or an inspiration for the design of the Yin Yang Symbol? No? Then we have to keep looking don\u2019t we?<\/span><\/p>\n

There is one more possible configuration for the hands to be held in front of the face. It is a variation of the hand configuration shown above. As can be seen in the next picture the hand is still held with the inside pointed up and the outside pointed down,<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-ThumbInsideFist\"<\/a><\/p>\n

but in this configuration the thumb is held inside of the fingers<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-HighlightThumbInsideFist\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

instead of resting on the outside of the index finger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-HighlightThumbOutsideFist\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

As this is one of the hand configurations used in higher level martial arts, it would be reasonable to believe this hand configuration might be related to \u201ca secret meaning of\u201d or the inspiration for the design of the Yin Yang Symbol. The reasoning behind that statement being that as the practice of Kung Fu changed the body over years of practice, it would in some become closer to whatever it is the Yin Yang Symbol is meant to represent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you see anything in this picture,<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-ThumbInsideFist\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

that makes you think about the Yin Yang Symbol? No? Look at the picture some more. There is something in that picture that is related to the Yin Yang Symbol. It will benefit you if you can determine what it is on your own instead of reading on and having it told to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is necessary to be independent and creative when puzzling through these problems. You have been told there is a connection between the hands in the picture above and the Yin Yang Symbol shown below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-YinYangSymbol\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Do not feel bound and constricted by what you have been given in these situations. As an independent Kung Fu man you can do whatever you want. One thing an independent thinking Kung Fu man might do in an attempt to solve the puzzle, would be to break the Yin Yang Symbol along it\u2019s internal boundary into the two identical shapes shown below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-SplitYinYangSymbolTwoHalves\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Does comparing the split Yin Yang Symbol to the fists with the thumb inside,<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-HandsYinYangHalves\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

inspire any idea about what the connection between the Yin Yang Symbol and the fists could be?<\/span><\/p>\n

Take a look at the next picture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-OutlinedHalvesOnHands\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An outline of the shape of half of the Yin Yang Symbol has been drawn on top of the fists. The tail of each half is aligned on the index finger. The wide end of each half is aligned on the fist so the hole in the center of the symbol is aligned with the hole in the fist.<\/span><\/p>\n

The outlines are colored in on the next picture to accentuate the similarity between their shape and the shape of this particular configuration of the fists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Secret_Of_Yin_Yang_Symbol_006-SolidHalvesOnHands\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Could that picture be the inspiration for the creation of the Yin Yang sign? Some man doing Kung Fu way back in time had his hands in front of his face as shown in the picture above, and thought what he saw was important enough to create a symbol based on it? A symbol that he told everyone was so important that it managed to be passed down over thousands of years to the present?<\/span><\/p>\n

That explanation qualifies as something hidden in plain sight. The hands are frequently held in plain sight in front of the face when practicing Kung Fu, and the shape of a Yin Yang half is right there on top of the fists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe some 80 year old Kung Fu practitioner\u2019s mind wandered while he was doing his form for the ten thousand and first time, and he noticed the the Yin Yang half shape formed by his fists. Then he realized something about the shape was important enough that it should be immortalized by putting it into the Yin Yang Symbol?<\/span><\/p>\n

That could be the inspiration for the creation of the Yin Yang sign.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the sixth in a series of blog entries that ponders the possible inspiration for the invention of the Yin Yang Symbol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yin-yang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.happehtheory.com\/HappehKungFu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}