The Interactions of the Five Elements: Generating and Overcoming
The Five Elements (Wu Xing) exhibit a relationship of mutual generation and overcoming. Without generation, there can be no occurrence and growth of phenomena; without overcoming, the balance and coordination of development and change cannot be maintained. Within any phenomenon and between phenomena, there exist inseparable aspects of generation and overcoming, where generation contains overcoming, and overcoming contains generation, mutually causing and complementing each other, thus promoting and maintaining the normal occurrence, development, and change of things.
The law of mutual generation among the Five Elements is: Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, and Water generates Wood.
The law of mutual overcoming among the Five Elements is: Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Metal, and Metal overcomes Wood.
(1) Mutual Generation and Overcoming. Mutual generation refers to the promoting, enhancing, and nourishing effect one phenomenon has on another; mutual overcoming refers to the inhibiting and restricting effect one phenomenon has on the growth and function of another. In the theory of the Five Elements, mutual generation and overcoming are considered normal phenomena in nature; they also represent normal physiological phenomena in the human body. It is precisely because there exists a connection of mutual generation and overcoming between phenomena that the ecological balance of nature is maintained, and the physiological balance of the human body is sustained, hence the saying “control leads to transformation”.
The sequence of mutual generation among the Five Elements is: Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, and Water generates Wood.
The sequence of mutual overcoming among the Five Elements is: Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Metal, and Metal overcomes Wood.
Due to the relationship of mutual generation and overcoming among the Five Elements, from the perspective of any single “element”, there exist four aspects of connection: “generating me”, “I generate”, “overcoming me”, and “I overcome”.
”Generating me” and “I generate” are metaphorically referred to as the relationship of “mother” and “child” in the “Nanjing” (Classic of Difficult Issues). The one that generates is the “mother”, and the one that is generated is the “child”. Therefore, the mutual generation relationship among the Five Elements can also be called the “mother-child” relationship. For example, in the case of Fire, since Wood generates Fire, Wood is the “mother”; since Fire generates Earth, Earth is the “child”. Thus, Wood is the “mother” of Fire, and Earth is the “child” of Fire; in other words, Wood and Fire are “mother and child”, and Fire and Earth are also “mother and child”.
”Overcoming me” and “I overcome” are referred to in the “Neijing” (Inner Canon) as “the one that cannot be overcome” and “the one that overcomes”. That is, the one that overcomes is “the one that cannot be overcome”, and the one that is overcome is “the one that overcomes”. Again, taking Fire as an example, since Fire overcomes Metal, Metal is the “one that is overcome”; since Water overcomes Fire, Water is the “one that overcomes”.
Mutual generation and overcoming are inseparable aspects. Without generation, there can be no occurrence and growth of phenomena; without overcoming, the normal coordinated relationships of change and development cannot be maintained. Only through sequential mutual generation and sequential mutual overcoming, like an endless loop, can transformation continue without cease, maintaining the dynamic balance between phenomena.
(2) Mutual Riding and Mutual Insult. The mutual riding and mutual insult of the Five Elements refer to abnormal overcoming phenomena that occur when the normal generating and overcoming relationships among the Five Elements are disrupted.
The Five Elements and Directions
East: Wood, South: Fire, Center: Earth, West: Metal, North: Water
Detailed Explanation
Mutual Riding: Riding means to overpower the weak. The mutual riding among the Five Elements refers to a situation where one “element” excessively overcomes the “element” that it is supposed to overcome, leading to a series of excessive overcoming reactions.
When one “element” in the Five Elements is overly strong, it can cause the “element” that it overcomes to be excessively restrained, leading to abnormal generating and overcoming reactions among the Five Elements. For example, if Wood is overly strong, it excessively overcomes Earth, resulting in a deficiency of Earth, which is termed “Wood riding Earth”. On the other hand, if one “element” in the Five Elements is weak, the overcoming of the “element” that it is supposed to overcome appears relatively enhanced, causing it to become even weaker. For instance, if Wood is not overly strong, its overcoming of Earth remains within normal limits. However, if Earth is deficient, the power of Wood overcoming Earth appears relatively enhanced, leading to further deficiency of Earth, termed “Earth deficiency, Wood riding”.
Mutual Insult: Insult here refers to “counter-insult”. The mutual insult among the Five Elements refers to a situation where one “element” is overly strong and counter-insults the original “element” that was supposed to overcome it, which is also known as counter-overcoming. For example, Wood is originally overcome by Metal, but when Wood is particularly strong, it not only does not succumb to Metal’s overcoming but instead counter-insults Metal (i.e., counter-overcomes), termed “Wood insulting Metal”, or one aspect of the counter-insult. Conversely, if Metal is particularly weak, it cannot overcome Wood and instead is counter-insulted by Wood, termed “Metal deficiency, Wood insulting”.
Significance
Mutual riding and mutual insult are both abnormal overcoming phenomena. There are distinctions and connections between the two; the main difference is that mutual riding occurs due to excessive overcoming according to the sequence of mutual overcoming among the Five Elements, leading to abnormal overcoming relationships; while mutual insult occurs in the opposite direction of the sequence of mutual overcoming, leading to abnormal overcoming relationships. The connection between the two is that when mutual riding occurs, mutual insult can also simultaneously occur; when mutual insult occurs, mutual riding can also simultaneously occur. For example, when Wood is overly strong, it can both ride Earth and insult Metal; when Metal is deficient, it can be counter-insulted by Wood and also be ridden by Fire.