A Study on Mutual Aid and Mutual Contention of the Ten Celestial Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches

Abstract

As perhaps already know, in East Asian thought there are two aspects of all things such as light and darkness coexist and are called Yin-Yang ( 陰陽 ). The initial concept of Yin-Yang was just a simple expression meant to depict natural phenomena, but it gradually became the central concept in explanations of creation and the changes that undergo all things in the universe. The study of the ordering principle of nature that was known as Myeongli ( 命理 ) also examined the interrelation between the sky and the earth and divided the two into Ten Celestial Stems ( 天干 cheongan) and the Twelve Earth Branches ( 地支 jiji) based on Yin-Yang theory. This thesis analyzed contents of the relationship between Ten Celestial Stems and the Twelve Earth Branches in terms of the patterns of Mutual Aid ( 相助 sangjo) and Mutual Contention ( 相剋 sanggeuk) through a literature review and exploration of their common features and differences. it only in terms the Celestial Stems destroying the Earthly Branches. But, the vast majority of scholars think that the Celestial Stems weakens the role of the roots by destroying the Earthly Branches. Jeolgak, the reverse concept of Gaedu, weakens the spirit of the Celestial Stems as the Earthly Branches destroy them, and this is associated with the strong possibility that one is fated to experience disharmony.