Reflections on Yang Ming

Naming of Yang ming

阳明

Yang Ming

Yang ming is translated as follows

·        阳 (yáng) – yang, sunlight, outward, active

·        明 (míng) – bright, luminous, clear, shining

So Yang Ming means Yang that is at its brightest or fullest expression.

This does not make much sense considering that Yang ming is associated with the West. The West is where the Yang sun sets. This is a cool, dry, and descending nature. Consider the following.

The naming of the Tai yang, Shao yang, Tai yin and Shao yin are pretty easy to understand. Tai meaning great, utmost and grand. Shao meaning not yet big. The naming of Yang ming can have many different meanings, and understanding the different meanings brings clarity to what they represent.

In chapter 74 of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic Yang ming and Jue yin are described in terms of brightness and darkness.

Huang Di, What about the darkness and brightness?

Qi Bo, Both yin qi are equally exhausted. Hence one speaks of darkness.

The two yang qi unite their brilliance. Hence one speaks of brilliance.

Zhang Jiebin commented on this text. Darkness and brightness are the images of extreme abundance of yin and yang qi.

Exhausted is referring to the time periods of Tai yin and Shao yin, which when completed are considered exhausted. The Utmost Yin changes into Yang. Yin grows and reaches a high point called exhaustion because after the high point the Yang returns.

Jue yin closes the two Yin of Tai yin and Shao yin, so we speak of darkness because it is the extreme abundance of Yin. Jue yin closes Yin and gives birth to Yang.

Yang ming unites the two Yang of Shao yang and Tai yang, so we speak of brilliance or brightness. Yang ming closes and unites. When the growing Yang reaches a high point the Yang ming starts out as Utmost Yang but thereafter starts its descent into the Yin realm.

Jue yin is considered darkness and Yang ming brightness.

In chapter 49 of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic there is another explanation.

The yang ming is wu. The fifth month is the yin of the abounding yang. When the yang weakens in the fifth month and when the first yin qi rises it starts to struggle with the yang. At this time the yang abounds and yin qi is added to it.

The fifth month corresponds with the hexagram Wu. This hexagram give us a visual idea of the amount of Yang and Yin qi in Yang ming.

Yang ming, Gou Hexagram, Wu branch, the fifth month 

In the commentary about the above text Yang Shangshan has this to say.

Yang Shangshan, The yang ming is the head of the three yang. Wu is the fifth month, that is the time when the yang abounds and when it is extensive and brilliant.

He is calling the Yang ming extensive and brilliant, but why?

The Yang ming is a combination of the rising Shao yang that turns into the Tai yang. So the Yang has reached its full glory in Yang ming. That is why it is called brilliant or bright. But, remember that Yang ming is also the descending and cooling of the Yang qi. It is associated with the autumn and the West so it must be cooler that Tai yang. Otherwise it could not go into storage.

The one broken Yin line in the Gou hexagram illustrates the descending nature of yang ming.

Wang Bing, The yang qi descends and the yin qi rises. Hence, the text states, the yang abounds and the yin qi is added to it.

Tai yang represents all the Yang in the body. The Yang channels come together on the surface in the upper back. Tai yang ensures that Yang qi opens which supports function on the surface and in the interior. Yang ming represents this Yang qi in the interior.

The ancient Chinese medical text Shang Han Lun provides an interesting insight about Yang ming disease through a simple question and answer. When asked why someone's aversion to cold spontaneously stops, the text explains that this happens because Yang ming resides in the center of the body and governs Earth. It notes that all things converge here and go no further, which is why the initial aversion to cold will naturally stop after two days in Yang ming disease.

184 Question: Why does aversion to cold cease spontaneously? Answer: Yang ming resides in the center and governs earth. All things converge here and nothing passes further. Although at the beginning there is aversion to cold in two days it will spontaneously cease, indicating yang ming disease.

To understand this better, we should look at what Yang ming actually is in the body. It represents what Chinese medicine calls the "hollow realm" - essentially the body's main passageways and organs including the Lungs, Stomach, Intestines, Bladder, and Uterus. The Stomach system, or Stomach family, is particularly important in this hollow realm, as it forms the main pathway through our bodies.

Yang ming has a special relationship with Earth in Chinese medicine. While it's physically located in what's called the middle burner of the body, its influence extends much further. The Stomach and Spleen are the main organs associated with Earth, and they work together like a pivot - the Stomach's energy moves downward while the Spleen's energy moves upward.

When Chinese medicine talks about Earth in this context, it means more than just these organs. Earth represents our entire physical body, especially its ability to grow, nourish itself, and contain energy (Qi). Yang ming plays a crucial role by helping bring Yang energy into the body's Yin areas, which is necessary for producing energy and maintaining circulation. It also helps ensure that Yang energy properly settles down at night.

Yang ming is often described as the body's "sea" because it's where all the body's vessels connect, like rivers flowing into an ocean. It acts as the final station before substances leave the body and manages how fluids are discharged. This role of Yang ming as both the center and Earth is just as important as the traditional connection between Earth and the Spleen in Chinese medicine.

Summary: Reflections on Yang Ming

Yang Ming (阳明), often translated as “Bright Yang,” refers to Yang at its fullest and most luminous expression. While this seems paradoxical given its association with the West, autumn, and descending movement, classical sources clarify that brightness does not mean expansion alone, but the unification and completion of Yang before its descent into Yin.

Unlike Tai Yang and Shao Yang, whose names clearly describe stages of Yang growth, the term Yang Ming carries layered meanings. In the Huang Di Nei Jing, Yang Ming is paired with Jue Yin and described in terms of brightness and darkness. Yang Ming represents the convergence of the two Yangs (Tai Yang and Shao Yang), resulting in brilliance, while Jue Yin represents the closure and exhaustion of Yin, hence darkness. As Zhang Jiebin explains, brightness and darkness are images of extreme abundance, not simple opposites.

Yang Ming marks the moment when Yang reaches its peak and begins to descend. This is illustrated in the Gou (Wu) hexagram of the fifth month, where abundant Yang is already joined by the first rising Yin. Classical commentators such as Yang Shangshan and Wang Bing emphasize that Yang Ming is extensive and brilliant precisely because it unites and contains Yang, while simultaneously initiating its cooling and inward movement. This descending nature allows Yang to enter storage, aligning Yang Ming with the West and autumn.

Physiologically, Yang Ming represents the interior expression of Yang qi. While Tai Yang governs the opening of Yang on the surface, Yang Ming governs Yang within the body, particularly through the Stomach and Intestinal systems. The Shang Han Lun describes Yang Ming as residing in the center and governing Earth, where all things converge and go no further. This explains why aversion to cold naturally resolves in Yang Ming disease. In Yang ming channel disease there is aversion to heat.

Yang Ming corresponds to the body’s “hollow realm,” encompassing the major passageways and viscera, especially the Stomach, which serves as the central pathway through the body. Its relationship with Earth extends beyond the Spleen and Stomach to include the entire physical body’s capacity for nourishment, containment, and transformation. As the “sea” of the channels, Yang Ming gathers, distributes, and ultimately discharges substances, playing a vital role in circulation, fluid regulation, and the settling of Yang into Yin.

In this way, Yang Ming is both the bright culmination of Yang and the gateway through which Yang returns inward, making it a pivotal conformation in both cosmology and clinical medicine.