Y

Ya evam veda: (Skr.) "He who knows this", a common Upanishadic (q.v.) refrain suggesting compensation of some nature for one conversant with philosophic truth. -- K.F.L.

Yajna: (Skr.) Sacrifice, a Vedic (q.v.) institution which became philosophically interpreted as the self-sacrifice of the Absolute One which, by an act of self-negation (nisedha-vyapara) became the Many. -- K.F.L.

Yajnavalkya: One of the foremost teachers in the classic age of Upanishads (q.v.). -- K.F.L.

Yama: (Skr.) Restraint, particularly moral restraint as the first condition for attaining the object of Yoga (q.v.), including ahimsa (q.v.) and brahmacarya (q.v.), relinguishing theft and desire for gratuities. -- K.F.L.

Yang: (a) The active, male cosmic principle or force. See: yin yang.

(b) The school of Yang Chu (c 440 - c 360 B.C.) and his followers, whose main doctrines are neither hedonism as Lieh Tzu seerns to represent him, nor egoism as Mencius interpreted him, but rather the Taoist doctrines of following nature, of "preserving life and keeping the essence of our being intact and not injuring our material existence with things," of "letting life run its course freely," and of "ignoring not only riches and fame but also life and death." -- W.T.C.

Yang ch'i: (a) Nourishing one's vital force, the basis of the human body, by the practice of benevolence, righteousness, and uprightness, and the obedience of the moral law (tao) so that the vital force may be most great and most strong "to the extent of filling up all between Heaven and Earth" See: hao jan chih ch'i. (Confucianism).

(b) Nourishing life through breath control. (Taoism). -- W.T.C.

Yang Chu: (c. 440-360 B.C.) Was a great Taoist whose teachings, together with those of Mo Tzu, "filled the empire" and strongly rivaled Confucianism at the time of Mencius (371-289 B.C.) His main doctrines of following nature and preserving life and the essence of being have been distorted as hedonism and egoism in the work bearing his mme (Ch. VII of Lieh Tzu, c. 300 A.D.; Eng. tr. by A. Forke: Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure). -- W.T.C.

Yang-hsing: 'Nurturing the bodily frame', by which some early Taoists implied an attitude towards life rather than a system of hygiene. -- H.H.

Yang sheng: "Nurturing life," conserving one's vital powers, by which later Taoists understood sex life, breath control, the physical exercises and diet. -- H.H.

Yeh ch'i: The "air of the night," i.e., the strength or force obtained through the rest and recuperation during the night, suggestive of the moral invigoration from the calmness and repose of the mind which is necessary for the realization of one's good nature. (Mencius, 371-289 B.C.). -- W.T.C.

Yi: Change. See: i.

Yin yang:

Passive and active principles, respectively, of the universe, or the female, negative force and the male, positive force, always contrasting but complimentary. Yang and yin are expressed in heaven and earth, man and woman, father and son, shine and rain, hardness and softness, good and evil, white and black, upper and lower, great and small, odd number and even number, joy and sorrow, reward and punishment, agreement and opposition, life and death, advance and retreat, love and hate, and all conceivable objects, qualities, situations, and relationships.
The Two Modes (i -- -- and -- in trigram, or kua, symbols) of the Great Ultimate (T'ai Chi), from the interplay of which all things are engendered.
A system constituted by the Five Agents or Elements (wu hsing) of Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth, which in turn constitute the Great Ultimate. (Chou Lien-hsi, 1017-1073).
The two forces of ch'i, or the vital force which is the material principle of the universe. (Neo-Confucianism).
Name of a school (400-200 B.C.) headed by Tsou Yen, which advocated that all events are manifestations of the passive or female force and the active or male force of the universe, and which was closely associated with popular geomancy, astrology, etc. -- W.T.C.

Yo: Music, or the social and cosmic principle of harmony. See: li (propriety). -- W.T.C.

Yoga: (Skr. "yoking") Restraining of the mind (see Manas), or, in Patanjali's (q.v.) phrase: citta vrtti nirodha, disciplining the activity of consciousness. The object of this universally recommended practice in India is the gaining of peace of mind and a deeper insight into the nature of reality. On psycho-physical assumptions, several aids are outlined in all works on Yoga, including moral preparation, breath-control, posture, and general toning up of the system. Karma or kriya Yoga is the attainment of Yoga ends primarily by doing, bhakti Yoga by devotion, jnana Yoga by mental or spiritual means. The Yogasutras (q.v.) teach eight paths: Moral restraint (see yama), self-culture (see niyama), posture (see asana), breath-control (see prandyama), control of the senses (see pratyahara), concentration (see dharana), meditation or complete surrender to the object of meditation (see samadhi). See Hathayoga. -- K.F.L.

Yogacara: A Mahayana (q.v.) Buddhist school which puts emphasis on Yoga (q.v.) as well is acara, ethical conduct. Believing in subjective idealism, it is also designated as Vijnana-vada (q.v.). Since we know the world never apart from the form it has in consciousness, the latter is an essential to it. All things exist in consciousness, they cannot be proven to exist otherwise. -- K.F.L.

Yogasutras: Famous work by Patanjali (q.v.) on which is founded Yoga, one of the great systems of Indian philosophy (q.v.). It is essentially a mental discipline in eight stages (see Yoga) for the attainment of spiritual freedom without neglecting physical and moral preparation. In philosophic outlook, the sutras (q.v.) and most commentaries on them are allied to the Sankhya (q.v.), yet not without having theistic leanings. -- K.F.L.

Yogin, Yogini: (Skr.) The man, the woman, practicing Yoga (q.v.). -- K.F.L.

Yoni: (Skr. womb) Source, origin, matrix, first cause. See garbha. -- K.F.L.

Yu: Being, existence, the mother of all things, which comes from Non-Being (wu). Both Being and Non-Being are aspects of Tao. -- W.T.C.

Yu: Space, or "what extends to different places" and "covers the four directions." (Neo-Mohism) -- W.T.C.

Yu: Desire, which the Taoists regard as detrimental to a good life and the understanding of Tao, but which the Confucians accept as natural and reasonable if under control. "The nature of man is tranquil, but when it is affected by the external world, it begins to have desires . . . When the likes and dislikes are not properly controlled and our conscious minds are distracted by the material world, we love our true selves and the principle of reason in Nature is destroyed . . . The people are therefore controlled through the rituals and music instituted by the ancient kings." As Tai Tung-yuan (1723-1777) puts it, "Man and creatuies all have desires, and desires are the functionings of their nature . . . If functionings and operations do not err, they are in harmony with the characteristics of Heaven and Earth . . . Goodness is nothing but the transformation of Heaven and Earth and the functionings and capabilities of nature . . . We should not be without desires, but we should minimize them. -- W.T.C.

Yu: "Eternal being" refers to the function of the metaphysical principle Tao. It is no mere zero or nothingness, having as fiist principle brought all things into being. (Lao Tzu, Taoists). -- H.H.

Yuan:

The beginning. For the One Prime, see: i yuan.
The beginning of number, one.
The beginning of the material principle or the vital force (ch'i).
The originating power of the Heavenly Element (chien) in the system of the Eight Elements (pa kua), "being attentive to the fundamentals -- the first and the chief quality of goodness," one of the four virtues (ssu te).
The great virtue of Heaven and Earth which expresses itself in production and reproduction .

-- W.T.C.

Yuan: The method of analogy in argumentation. See pien. -- W.T.C.

Yuan ch'i: The primal fluid or the Prime-Force, the product of the cosmos. Its pure and light portion collected to form Heaven and its impure and heavy portion, Earth. (Huai-nan Tzu, d. 122 B.C.). -- W.T.C.

Yung: Courage, one of the universally recognized moral qualities of man (ta te), especially of the superior man. -- W.T.C.

Yung: (a) Harmony.

(b) What is common, ordinary, universal.

To the Confucians this is "the eternal law of the universe." See chung yung. To Chuang Tzu (between 399 and 295 B.C.) "the common and the ordinary are the natural function of all things, which expresses the common nature of the whole. Following the common nature of the whole, they are at ease. Being at ease, they are near perfection. This is letting nature take its course, without being conscious of the fact. This is Tao." -- W.T.C.