Hi,
May be I am wrong, a panda do eat shoots and roots.
actually, the sequence of the 5 phases is specific: wood (mok) --> fire (fo) --> earth (deih) --> metal (gam) --> water (seuih) (and back to wood) ; this is the creation / facilitation / nurturing cycle; the destruction / inhibition cycle is wood --> earth --> water --> fire --> metal (and back to wood);
the mythological creatures that are attributed to each phase are:
azure dragon - wood (liver);
vermillion sparrow (similar to a phoenix) - fire (heart);
yellow dragon - earth (spleen);
white tiger - metal (lungs);
black tortoise - water (kidney);
based on that, a proposed correspondance of the Five Animals typically seen in southern family forms could be:
dragon - wood (liver);
crane - fire (heart);
leopard - earth (spleen);
tiger - metal (lungs);
snake - water (kidney);
obviously it doesn't quite correspond vis a vis the crane, leopard and snake, so I am not 100% sure - I mean crane to sparrow I can see, the snake could be a water snake; leopard, that's a bit of a stretch perhaps; I need to consult the oracle...
finally, why start with wood phase in particular? wood represents new life, springtime (an azure / green dragon is a young dragon); kidneys represent winter, darkness, the north (sometimes called Dark Warrior as opposed to black tortoise); so in fact the order of the sequence is important as well - there are other systems that will start with different elements for different reasons: for example, in the taiji form I practice we begin with lung / metal, and proceed through the sequence from there
Last edited by cjurakpt; 05-24-2008 at 05:08 PM.
I agree with you on both. Sometimes is ok to say the phrase / words in different order, most of the time it sounds awkward. I think Hung Ga put Phor before Shui, still sound good; but reverse yin yan to yan yin is not. In your opinion, does one knowing this intellectual/philosophical/clinical knowledge helps or necessarily in CLF or any kf training in general. I came across one of the CLF stance “Gee Ng Ma”(1st pix) and it has to do with the Chinese 24 cardinal direction (2nd pix). What do you think of all that for just one stance?
Sorry taking the subject off the thread title.