Featured Article 4th of 9 Articles Series for Dajiyuan in Korea

Excerpts from the Article Translated to English:

Deep happiness that begins with moderation, the sixth energy (相和, 祥和)

In China’s ancient system of thought of the Yin-Yang Five Elements, all the substances in the Three Realms are composed of Tree, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, and these five are called Five Elements.  At the energy level, the Five Elements manifest as softness, divergence, solidity, tightness, and smoothness. Moral manifestation is the highest in the spiritual manifestation of the Five Elements. This appears as benevolence (仁) learned from the softness of the tree, propriety (禮) learned from fire that illuminates the world, sincerity (信) learned from honesty of the earth, righteousness(義) learned from tightness of metal, and wisdom learned from water that changes into any shape (智).

Since human beings are also composed of the Five Elements, matter and spirit are unified, it is possible to predict the health status of the human body, which is a material manifestation, by seeing this moral lack in spiritual manifestation. In addition, when making up for the lack of virtue, the reason that it helps to restore human body health is established. Therefore, my East Asian ancestors, including ancient Chinese and Koreans, who were influenced by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements thought system, knew how to look back on the phenomena revealed in the human body in connection with their spiritual state, whether good or bad.

The material (Yin)-spirit (Yang)-energy (Zhong) manifestation of the Five Elements exists in harmony and balance. As an example of a material, Earth can block water, so it can be formed into an irrigation ditch withsoil that blocks water and guides it  to irrigate the crops. At this time, farming is done well only when the ratio of soil and water is balanced. As an example of spiritual expression, the energy of fire is diverse but the energy of metal is tightly bound. However, the spiritual manifestation of fire and metal corresponding there to, ‘propriety (禮)’ and ‘righteousness(義)’, can be balanced with each other. In this way, there is the sixth energy that plays a role in harmony and balance between the Five Elements.

Like the Five Elements, there are Yin, Yang, and Middle(Zhong) in the 6th energy. The material Manifestation (Yin) of the 6th energy is the harmony of the Five Elements. In other words, it means that Tree, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water coexist beautifully in an appropriate ratio. Spiritual and Moral Manifestation (Yang) is an peace and divine(祥) that has both ‘the foresight of humanity’ in a balanced way, and a person who has all of them is praised as a saint. Since the sixth energy must be in charge of the harmony and balance of all the Five Elements, it is not from the Three Realms composed of the Five Elements, but is considered to be higher than the Five Elements and connected to the microscopic universe. This sixth energy manifestation of energy level(medium) is moderation, which consists of unbiased moderation.

Moderation, a manifestation of energy in the 6th energy, was emphasized in several ‘Cultivation-Practice-Disciplining’ processes in which humans try to get closer to a higher level of existence. Most of the beginning of moderation comes from the moderation of desire or pursuit, but the more difficult thing is the moderation of emotions. The ive emotions in the Five Elements are anger (怒), happiness (喜), thought (思), sadness (悲), and fear (恐). They responds to each

Elements; Tree, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water in order.

Barun Maek Research utilizes a correlation that morally sublimates emotions, which are spiritual manifestations of the Five Elements, through supplementation of the Five Elements and moderation from the 6th energy. In other words, it supplements the soft energy of the tree, restrains anger and sublimates it into ‘benevolence’. It supplements the warm radiating energy of fire, and gently sublimates happy emotions with propriety. It supplements the honest energy of Earth to moderate from unnecessary thoughts and build a ‘belief’ that there is a reason why heaven has given. It supplements the tension of the metal and protects the ‘ righteousness’ with moderating sadness. It supplements the flow of water and the energy of inclusion, moderates fear and seeks wisdom even in crisis.

When faced with difficulties, people with much the sixth energy, act with the harmony and balance of the five virtues, which starts from selflessness, rather than following the five emotions which tends to become self-centered. The emotional state, such as peace from moderation, love and mercy, calmness of the mind through meditation, and awe of divine beings, strengthens the 6th energy and allows us to bear a deep sense of happiness connected to the energy of the microscopic and higher universe.