Compare the Chinese concept of balance as expressed in the yin-yang symbol to the Hindu concept of balance expressed in the worship of Devi. Answer: The ideal response would include the following:

Question

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer 1

1. Ancient Chinese wisdom, as expressed in the Yi Jing, or Book of Changes, is based on the principle that order derives from balance. This philosophy holds that the universe is based on the union of Qian (at once heaven and the creative male principle) and Kun (the earth, or receptive female principle), symbolized by the symbol of yin-yang. Yin is soft, dark, moist, and cool; yang is hard, bright, dry, and warm. The two combine to create the endless cycles of change, from night to day, across the four seasons of the year, and they balance the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) and the five powers of creation (cold, heat, dryness, moisture, and wind). The yin-yang sign, then, is a symbol of harmonious integration, the perpetual interplay and mutual relation among all things. Each side contains a circle of the same values as its opposite—neither side can exist without the other.
2. The concept of balance embodied in the yin-yang symbol bears many similarities to Hindu thought, and, in particular, in the worship of the goddess Devi. Devi is the female aspect without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the primordial cosmic energy, and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe. Shaktism, a particular brand of Hindu faith that regards Devi as the Supreme Brahman itself, believes that all other forms of divinity, female or male, are themselves simply forms of Devi’s diverse manifestations.