Barun Maek is featured in a Column Series in the Chinese and Korean language publication Dajiyuan based out of Korea. This is an English translation of parts of the 3rd article.
3rd column on June 16th in the Chinese Language Epoch Times in Korea
Excerpts from the Article Translated to English:
Rules of the Five Elements and Health Preservation-Wisdom
Chinese ancient science believes that all matters in the Three Realms are composed of Five Elements, namely, tree, fire, earth, metal, and water. We mentioned beforehand that Yin and Yang exist in each and every matter of the Three Realms, therefore, everything has its Yin material manifestation and Yang spiritual manifestation. Each of the Five Elements has its corresponding material (Yin), energy (Zhong), and spiritual/moral (Yang) manifestations.
At the material level, the Five Elements manifest as tree, fire, earth, metal, and water. The sequence of tree, fire, earth, metal, and water represents a cycle. We typically treat trees as the first stop of the cycle. Water is the end of one cycle and the point of regeneration of the next.
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).
The five virtues; benevolence, propriety, sincerity, righteousness, and wisdom is also a representative moral manifestation in human life. If the human body, which is the material manifestation in the human level, balances the Five Elements of energy, the human body will be in a healthy state. At this time, all moral manifestations are also embodied in harmony. Conversely, if the energy of the Five Elements of ours is not in balance and harmony, the insufficient elements of the Five Elements will be revealed in the moral expression (Yang) faster than in the human body, which is the material expression (Yin). In other words, if the Tree energy is insufficient, people become nervous and lose their benevolence. Lack of Fire energy leads to loss of courtesy, such as not being polite to words and actions and not being dressed formally. Lack of Earth energy makes it difficult to keep promises, trust oneself well with others, and maintain a steady relationship. If there is a lack of Metal energy, it is difficult to keep the righteousness to an end by meeting the standards. If there is a lack of Water energy, one will not be able to gently embrace differences from others and lack wisdom (智).
If human beings are also one unity in which Yin and Yang- matter and spirit meet each other, the change of matter can change the spirit, and the change of spirit can also change matter. This change is achieved through the energy of the Five Elements. Since matter and spirit are unified, it is possible to predict the state of human body health through the lack of spiritual virtues, and when compensating for the lack of those virtues, the reason that it has a great impact on the restoration of human body health is established. If you understand the principles of circulation and control of the Five Elements, you can see the current energy status of five elements. If you can realize that human beings are the unity of matter (Yin), mind (Yang), and energy (Zhong), the ‘moral and ethical life’ that ancient ancestors valued is accepted as the wisdom of well-being(養生). Therefore, ‘Aligning of virtues’ is also being practiced in Body Cultivation (修身) projects of Barun Maek Research, related to personal health.
Korean