Hi Pamela:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I was thinking, the bishop, horse and rook as the offspring of the yin/yang...the arms...(one straight, one curved, one a mix~the trio)</font>
Interesting thought. I had never thought of the knight as a combination of rook and bishop.
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I realize trigrams are made from two/emptyfull</font>
Is "empty/full" the same as "yin/yang"? I did not realize the terms "empty/full" were applied to the hexagram lines.
When I first glanced at your post, I was surprised that you analyzed the five different types of pieces, rather than the eight actual pieces that begin the game on the first rank. In other words, where you decided to look at the qualities of the "bishop," my mind immediately considered the queen-side bishop and the king-side bishop as potentially different. I was thinking in terms of matching the eight pieces to the eight diagrams (
bagua).
Perhaps you could also match each of the 64 squares on the chess board to one of the hexagrams. Each square does tend to play a consistently different role in the game.
Your post also reminded me of speculations I have recently had about the game of Go (
weiqi or
wei ch'i). I have been reading up on it and experimenting a little and have been rather amazed at how many of its concepts seem to match up with what I think of as Yin/Yang theory.
The basic rules of Go are quite simple. The object of the game is to surround and control territory. The territory is both the object of how you place your stones (Go playing pieces are called "stones."), but it is also what allows your stones to survive. Dynamic balance is everything.
The game does not seem to have been designed to reflect Chinese philosophy on purpose, but many of the concepts reflect it anyway. Subtle duality is everywhere. "Thick" and "light" are good qualities for play. "Heavy" and "thin" are bad. The difference between these pairs is quite subtle, at least to beginners like me.
Go stones do not move, but many approaches to the game focus on movement imagery. Stones make "jumps," and groups of stones can "escape into the center." Bulky groups of stones are "unwieldy." Good shapes are "flexible."
A territory is only stable if within it, it has the potential for at least two
separate "eyes" of territory. A territory with only one source of support--i.e., one "eye"--is doomed to capture.
Go is usually played on a grid of 19 by 19 undifferentiated intersecting lines. There is no hint of a multiple of 2, 8, or 64. And yet, the board can easily be analyzed according to 8 regions: the 4 corners and the 4 sides. The center is arguably, however, a distinct region with its own properties.
Each stone is the same as any other stone, but through its position, it can be the key to a game. In other words, stones display configurational power (i.e., shi4).
Stones draw power from their neighbors, and connections are supremely important. Unconnected stones are vulnerable and weak, but mere quantity does not confer the best power.
The death star ("ponnuki" in Japanese and "kai hua" ("open flower") in Chinese ) draws its power from its empty center, and the way it is formed, not merely from its external shape.
If you really want to have fun with Yin and Yang, try studying Go.
Take care,
Audi
