Page 393 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 386
Water Water

shui

Water is one of the five elements or ‘permutations’; it is associated with the North
and with the colour black, and also with the moon which causes the dew to fall at
night. Water also symbolises yin, the primeval female principle, the counterpart
of yang, the male principle which is the element of fire and of the South. In the old
Chinese cosmology, fire and water arise from the ‘Great One’ ( Tai-ji): ‘water
moistens and strives downward, fire blazes and strives upward’ (Section 1 of the Hong-
fan). From the sexual union of these two principles the five elements arise, and these
engender the ten thousand things. Thus, water belongs to night as fire to day; sexual
activity appertains to the first part of the night, and many expressions denoting sexual
intercourse have to do with water.
Water is soft, yielding and pliant, as a woman should be. ‘Weak overcomes strong,
soft overcomes hard’ runs a celebrated passage in the Dao de jing. For Lao-zi water
was an exemplar of proper behaviour, by means of which the weak can overcome the
strong, just as a woman overcomes a man.
The phrase ‘water poured out’ refers to a well-known story which has also been turned
into a play. Zhu Mai-chen was very poor, as he did nothing but study and never earned
any money; so his wife, unable to put up with it any longer, left him and married a well-
to-do butcher. Against all expectation, however, Zhu finally passed his state examination
and became an illustrious official. One day as he was passing through his native village,
his former wife ran out to him and begged him to take her back. Without even

Confucius and his disciples on the shore