Mid-Autumn Festival confusion

[yuuichi]

Hello everyone,

 

there is an interesting thread on this forum which I recently commented on. It depicts a rabbit and a rooster opposite it.

 

I thought a rabbit represents yin and a rooster represents yang. 

 

But I researched it further recently because it’s Chinese mid-autumn festival so I want to learn, and Chinese people call that rabbit (who is from the moon, which is yin) the Gold Rabbit or Jade Rabbit (I think gold and jade are yang). Or it is depicted as a male deity.

 

But isn’t the rabbit yin and its opposite, the rooster, yang? Why is it named the Gold Rabbit or the Jade rabbit if gold and jade are yang?

I’m confused.

[Wu Ming Jen]

2017 was the year of the rooster.

 

There is a traditional legend about the festival.  There are different versions, 

A long time ago, the sun god had ten children.  Each day one of the children would take turns lighting the sky.  One day when the sun god was away, all of the children went out to play together.  Their combined light was too strong, and it scorched the Earth. Plants, animals, and people were dying.  An archer named Hou Yi (后羿) climbed to a high mountain and shot down all but one of the children.  As a reward, he was given the elixir of immortality.  Before Hou Yi had a chance to drink the potion, his wife Chang E (嫦娥) took it.  The potion caused Chang E to fly up to the moon.  When she landed the elixir fell out of her mouth and became a rabbit.  Chang E and the rabbit remain on the moon to this day.

How to celebrate: Check out different versions of Hou Yi and Chang E legend.  Which version do you like best?  Was Hou Yi a good man?  Why did Chang E take the elixir?  And where did that frog come from?

 

 

 

On the mid-autumn festival, people thank the moon for her light.  In some parts of China, the moon is personified as the Moon Spirit (月神) or the Moon Lady (月姑娘).  She represents the moon itself.  This is different from Chang E, who just lives there.  Families would build an altar in the moonlight and make offerings.  Because of the moon’s powerful Yin energy, only the women in the family would take part in this ritual.

Taoists celebrate the mid-autumn festival as the birthday of a deity called the Heavenly Ruler of Great Yin (太阴星君).  In each temple, an altar would be set up with her image or a wooden placard with her name carved into it. Incense, moon cakes, and 3 or 5 plates of fruit offerings are placed on the table.  In some temples, other things like rice, oil, alcohol, and tea are given as offerings. 

How to celebrate: Find a spot where you can admire the full moon.   You can climb a mountain alone, or find a rooftop patio where you can drink wine in the moonlight with friends.  Enjoy the light the moon provides.

[yuuichi]

That was an interesting copy and paste, but it did not address my question, is the lunar rabbit in Daoism yin or yang?

 

I assumed that because i thought the rabbit is yin, the rooster is yang. But now i don’t know. I think the animals of Daoism are important to know because of the 12 animals of the chinese calender.

Edited September 19, 2018 by yuuichi

[Kar3n]

The rabbit appears to be yin as part of the Chinese zodiac.

[Gerard]

Rabbit ---> Yin Wood

Rooster ---> Yin Metal

 

5 yang animals

6 yin animals

1 yin-yang animal ---> Dog

 

Read less, practice more. Third sentence of our daily mantras.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Gerard

[yugenphoenix]

19 hours ago, Gerard said:

Rabbit ---> Yin Wood

Rooster ---> Yin Metal

 

5 yang animals

6 yin animals

1 yin-yang animal ---> Dog

 

Read less, practice more. Third sentence of our daily mantras.

 

Every single time you say “pratice more”  its like gold my friend. It might be the best thing ever said on this forum 🙏 🙇‍♂️

[Nintendao]

21 hours ago, Gerard said:

Rabbit ---> Yin Wood

Rooster ---> Yin Metal

 

Aha! So both these critters are actually yin, they must be part of a mystery.  @yuuichi's initial intuition still checks out, since metal chops wood. Thus the rabbit assumes the submissive position, when this particular interaction is now considered on the octave of wu xing. Don't forget though, that wood can get back at metal by bursting into fire, which melts metal. And now i'm dizzy.  

Maybe the yangness of identifying the moon rabbit as gold/jade is to show that it is in fact so much yin that it is ushering in the yang (the white dot in the black half of the taichitu). In other words, even though the moon is the lesser of two lights, it is still a light. 

Either way it was neat learning about the festival!!

[yuuichi]

On 19/09/2018 at 12:44 PM, Wu Ming Jen said:

Because of the moon’s powerful Yin energy, only the women in the family would take part in this ritual.

 

Since moonlight is Yin, and women are supposedly Yin, does that mean women’s qi is Yin and men’s qi is Yang?

 

if so, doesn’t that mean women may be affected negatively by the sunlight, which is very yang?

[Wu Ming Jen]

We are all yin and yang chi, women outside are yin but internally very strong, yang, men are the opposite. We all carry the energies of yin and yang. The female ritual is done by females that is all that is mean by that.

 

men have an extreme point of yang and woman have an extreme point of yin. keeping yin and yang energies in balance and in harmony is the goal.

[Gerard]

On 22/09/2018 at 4:13 AM, Nintendao said:

 

Aha! So both these critters are actually yin, 

 

Yrs they are. I'm constantly observing and analysing people in real life and I can tell you that both Rabbit and Roosters are Yin. Switch to Horse and Dragon people and you'll quickly see the other side of the spectrum, haha.

 

Btw, the animals are reflected on people's faces but this subtlety will be only obvious to those who se able to 'see' (psychics). The ancient Chinese/Taoists developed the whole animal system because of this; it's part of the art of physiognomy as well.

 

 

 

 

[Gerard]

Btw, I was meditating early this morning after a 8 h hike in a nearby mountain (click here for view). And let me tell you this 2018 Year of the Earth Dog is so strong that I detected a subtle canine smell in me! How is this possible if I don't have any dogs with me. I live alone and the rest of the neighbours where I live don't own dogs either. I believe the mountain itself opened the Earth Dog energy we all carry as infinite and eternal beings that we are.

 

Needless to say about a month ago, I had to help a lost dog (English Pointer) who came up to me on my way home from the supermarket. I saw him, I knew it was lost, whistled at him and saw she (female dog) had a tag with a phone number. There was anothe guy who saw what happened and offered his place to shelter the dog since the owner was unable to pick up the dog as she was at work during that time.

 

 

 

 

[Gerard]

Can you see the Rat and the Tiger in the following female faces (and also their respective energies, body type, demeanour Yang Water & Yang Wood?

 

Patty Pravo (Rat) - La Bambola 

Taylor Dayne (Tiger) - Tell It To My Heart

 

An good example of a Metal Dragon (female). Dragon is Yang Wood like the Tiger but their ability to 'fly' (high, noble ideals) is what differs between the two.

 

Mina - Amor Mio

 

This stuff is incredible. The influence of the animal energies in us!

Yin (animal soul) - Earth - Human (rat, dragon, monkey, pig, snake, etc) ---> 12 animals

On the other hand - Yang (higher soul) - Heaven - Human (aries, taurus, gemini, cancer, leo, etc.) ---> 12 star signs

 

Human ---> Between Heaven and Earth.