In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified
into the Five Elements : wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. These
elements were used for describing interactions and relationships
between phenomena. Five phases is another way of translating wǔxíng
— literally, "five goings". Traditional Taijiquan schools
relate them to footwork and refer to them as five "steps".
The doctrine of five phases describes both a generating cycle and
an overcoming cycle of interactions between the phases. In the generating
cycle, wood generates fire; fire generates earth; earth generates
metal; metal generates water; water generates wood. In the overcoming
cycle, wood overcomes earth; earth overcomes water; water overcomes
fire; fire overcomes metal; metal overcomes wood.
The doctrine of five phases was employed in many fields of early
Chinese philosophy, including seemingly disparate fields such as
music, medicine, and military strategy.
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