[Roy Collins]

Excerpts from one of Herman Aihara’s last articles
written on George Ohsawa’s 102 Birthday (Oct. 18. 1995)

Note: The following excerpts are from an 18 page essay written in response to Don Matesz who was critical of the yin/yang concept used in macrobiotics:

Rectification of Terms:

DM tells Herman (HA) that: It is necessary to rectify words whenever the use of primary scientific terms causes confusion of the Tao of common sense and nature. The
transliteration of the central terminology of the Oriental sciences into the notoriously mutable alphabetical languages greatly increases the chances for loss of ancient Oriental knowledge. Furthermore, there are well-intentioned teaches who are using key Oriental terms that might confuse the traditional definitions.

HA replies: I agree with you. In ancient China, some confused scholar changed the common natural word for SKY to the religious/metaphysical word HEAVEN and called it YANG because heaven is the source of all energy and matter. However, Heaven, Heaven is not a name in nature. Look at the Unabridged Webster Dictionary. It says “Heaven is the last place where the blessed go after death.” You know heaven is the place only the blessed go. You and I cannot go there. Why is such an exclusive place yang? In my opinion, those words are not the original words of Fu Hsi but a Confucian scholar’s rectification of the word Chien (or T’ien) whose characters mean sky above people (and earth). Therefore the later idea of Heaven is different from the original meaning.

On Yin and Yang:

DM: The original Chinese character for yang depicts the sunny, southern side of a mountain, which is under the influence of Chien..

HA: The word YANG does not mean southern, or mountain under heaven. The Chinese character for yang is (OB script). This word is made from of two sections. The left side means HILL but not mountain and the right side means changing sun. Sun changes from morning to night. Therefore yang means sunny hill that receives warm sunshine and is constantly changing.

A hill has no shade because there is no high point such as a mountain which makes shade against the sun. Therefore it is a mistake to say that the northern side of a mountain is under the influence of yin. The Chinese character for yin depicts a hill on the left side which is covered by a cloud.

I agree with you that a flame is yang because it is bright, hot and dry. However, I do not agree because it expands outward, outward and centrifugal that this is also yang. You as well as Westerners forget that SPACE is the greatest YIN. The flame expands and ascends into space because flame is yang and space is yin. They are attracted to each other, therefore yin space attracts yang flame. As flame expands into space it becomes
colder (yin).

In your traditional Oriental yin and yang list, you said CONTRACTION is yin therefore causes coldness. This makes no sense and is against modern scientific principle. Do you know how a car engine works? In the four stroke engine, it works by compression, expansion, emission and inhalation. This mixture of air and gasoline vapor is delivered by the cylinder by the carburetor and is compressed by the first stroke of the piston. This heats the gas, and the higher pressure will create a quick combustion by ignition of the spark. Compression creates heat and pressure of the gas inside of the cylinder. It becomes extremely yang and when combined with the spark created by the electricity which is also yang, this creates explosion of the mixture of gasoline, vapor and air.

This is the principle of the car engine. In other words, compression creates heat and pressure which is yang. Therefor compression is yang but not expansion. This heat and pressure occurs inside a closed space like a cylinder. If you try this in open space no matter how much heat and pressure you apply nothing will happen because het and pressure go up and spreads into yin space.

You said in your article that “It must be emphasized that the traditional conceptions of
yin and yang are not arbitrary” Then I must add they are relative and there is no absolute yin nor yang. For example, we say hot is yang and cold is yin but we cannot say that above 0 degrees C. temperature is yang and below is yin. This is Einstein’s Relativity Theory. According to him, all values in the world are relative such as yin and yang. Then what is absolute yin and absolute yang? In your article you declared energy is yang and matter is yin. By modern science this is not so easy to determine. According to “Matter” written by Ralph E. Lapp and the Editors of Life Magazine, “for all we have learned about matter, some of its fundamental mysteries persist. The more scientists probe, the greater complexities they encounter. They now know , for instance that almost nothing, even the hardest diamond, is rarely solid; that the atom itself – the heart of matter—is mostly space; and it each atom were collapsed into a sphere no bigger than its own core, or nucleus, then all the bulk of the Washington Monument could be crammed into a space smaller than the eraser on a pencil.”

What is matter?

Whatever occupies space says the dictionary; that which is considered to constitute the substance of the universe. That is to say, the earth,m seas, the breeze, the sun, the stars, -- everything that man surveys, can touch or feel, is matter. Because we can touch and feelmatter, then the opposite of matter is yin – something we can not touch or feel. Is there anything in existence that is such a thing? Yes, that is SPACE. Therefore space is the opposite concept of yang matter. Therefoere, in my opinion, space is yin but not energy. According to modern science matter is energy, and energy is matter. They are the same thing and viewd from different points of view…..

More later….