Chinese Science Overview
Yin and
Yang
Five
Classical Elements
Sun
Tzu's Five Elements
Mapping
the Elements
The Bagua
(Eight Ways)
Sun
Tzu's Diagrams
Mapping the Elements
The
ancient
Chinese developed several systems for mapping their
five
elements to
illustrate the key relationships among them. Ancient diagramming started with
divination, which was the main purpose of the I Ching (Yijing), or "book
of changes." The I Ching created a special way to
decipher the universe that incorporated three parts: xiang
(images), shu (numbers), and li (meanings). The
original diagrams for divination were called yao. These methods
of diagramming were later known in the Xiangshu (image numbers) school as tu (diagrams).
The most basic diagram comes from the points of
the compass. The five elements are
associated with the four cardinal points plus the center of the compass.
Sun Tzu used this same compass arrangement, but the center of
his system was "mission" rather than "earth." (Note: This
diagram shows today's "After Heaven" arrangement while Sun Tzu used the
"Before Heaven" arrangement explained in other articles on
this site.)
The
Five Elements were also arranged in a circle to show the "Creation
Cycle" as a pentagram. Water creates wood by growing trees. Wood
creates fire. Fire creates earth by transforming wood to ash. Earth
creates metal, which is why metal is mined from the earth. Metal creates
water, as we can see by condensation on metal surfaces. Sun Tzu
used different elements, but he adopted this same pattern of one element
creating or transforming from one to another.
There
is another common mapping of the Five Elements that is important in Sun
Tzu's work. This is the "Destruction Cycle" as a five-pointed star
pattern. Water destroys fire. Fire destroys metal by melting it. Metal
destroys wood by cutting it. Wood destroys earth by transforming it to
wood through its roots. Earth destroys water by absorbing it. When Sun
Tzu's elements are arranged in the Creation Cycle, as similar star
emerges when you create the cycle whereby one element destroys or
controls another.
Interestingly, Sun Tzu use the
previous two maps in other ways. The "creation" map is used to show to
flow of resources and costs from one element to another and it reverse
to show the flow of rewards. The "destruction" map is used to show the
flow of information (and the types of "spies") and its reverse to show
the most common mistakes in using the elements.
Except for the flow of
information, which is covered in detail in his chapter on "Using Spies,"
most of these patterns are referenced only generally because Sun Tzu
expected his readers to be familiar with them and their use.
