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Old page wikitext, before the edit (old_wikitext ) | '{{About|uses of four elements|uses of 5 elements|Five elements (disambiguation){{!}}Five elements}}
{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}}
[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire). [[Robert Fludd]]. 1617.]]
Many [[philosophy|philosophies]] and [[worldview]]s have a set of '''classical elements''' believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, ''classical elements'' refer to [[#Ancient classic element systems|ancient beliefs]] inspired by natural observation of the [[phases of matter]]; with the classical elements: earth is equivalent to solid, water is equivalent to liquid, air is equivalent to gas and fire is equivalent to plasma. [[History of science|Historians]] trace the evolution of [[#Modern elements|modern theory]] pertaining to the [[chemical element]]s, as well as [[chemical compound]]s and [[mixture]]s of [[chemical substance|natural substances]] to [[#Medieval classic element systems|medieval]], and Greek models. Many concepts once thought to be analogous, such as the Chinese [[Wu Xing]], are now understood more figuratively.
==Ancient==
{{anchor|Ancient classic element systems}}
In classical thought, the four elements [[Earth (classical element)|Earth]], [[Water (classical element)|Water]], [[Wind (classical element)|Air]], and [[Fire (classical element)|Fire]] frequently occur; sometimes including a fifth element or ''quintessence'' (after "quint" meaning "fifth") called [[Aether (classical element)|Aether]] in ancient Greece and India. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In Hinduism, particularly in an [[Esotericism|esoteric]] context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element describes that which was beyond the [[material]] world. Similar lists existed in ancient [[China]] and [[Japan]]. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of [[sensory experience]].
===Classical elements in Babylonia===
The concept of the five classical elements in the Western tradition may originate from [[Babylonian mythology]]. The ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries BC, describes five personified cosmic elements: the [[Water (classical element)|sea]], [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Aether (classical element)|sky]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Air (classical element)|wind]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography of science|author=Francesca Rochberg|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|date=December 2002|pages=661–684|doi=10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5|postscript=.}}</ref>
==Greece==
{{anchor|Classical elements in Greece}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Democritus]] -->
<div style="font-size:80%;float:right;clear:left;margin-left:1em;">
{|align="center" class="toccolours" style="width:220px; float:center; margin:1em 1em 1em 1em;"
| style="background:#c9b59d; text-align:center;" |
'''Aristotelian physics'''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" |
[[File:Four elements representation.svg|center|200px|Four Classical Elements]]
<br style="clear:both;">
''<u>Empedoclean elements<u>''
<br style="clear:both;">
[[File:Alchemy fire symbol.svg|20px]]
[[Fire (classical element)|fire]] {{·}}
[[File:Alchemy earth symbol.svg|20px]]
[[Earth (classical element)|earth]] {{·}}
[[File:Alchemy air symbol.svg|20px]]
[[Air (classical element)|air]] {{·}}
[[File:Alchemy water symbol.svg|20px]]
[[Water (classical element)|water]]
|}
</div>
The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] classical elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether) date from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and into the [[Renaissance]], deeply influencing [[Europe]]an thought and culture. The Greek five elements are sometimes associated with the five [[platonic solid]]s.
[[Plato]] characterizes the elements as being [[The Presocratics|pre-Socratic]] in origin from a list created by the [[Magna Graecia|Sicilian]] philosopher [[Empedocles]] (ca. 450 BC). Empedocles called these the four "roots" (ῥιζὤματα, rhizōmata). Plato seems to have been the first to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, ''stoicheion'')" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Tim.+48b |author=Plato|title=Timaeus|at=48b
}}</ref> The ancient Greek word for element, ''stoicheion'' (from ''stoicheo'', "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed.
In his ''On Generation and Corruption'', Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities:
* '''[[Fire (classical element)|Fire]]''' is primarily hot and secondarily dry.
* '''[[Air (classical element)|Air]]''' is primarily wet and secondarily hot.
* '''[[Water (classical element)|Water]]''' is primarily cold and secondarily wet.
* '''[[Earth (classical element)|Earth]]''' is primarily dry and secondarily cold.
One classic diagram (above) has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot — cold" and "dry — wet".
[[Aristotle]] added [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]] as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.<ref>{{cite book|author=G. E. R. Lloyd |title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought |location=Cambridge Univ. Pr. |year=1968 |pages=133–139 |isbn=0-521-09456-9}}</ref><br style="clear:left;"/>
The [[Neoplatonic]] philosopher, [[Proclus]], rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and immobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:<ref>{{citation|author=Proclus|title=Commentary on Plato’s ''Timaeus'' | at= 3.38.1–3.39.28}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:240px; height:120px;"
|-
! Fire
| style="background: pink" | Sharp || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile
|-
! Air
| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile
|-
! Water
| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: pink" | Mobile
|-
! Earth
| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: lightgreen" | Immobile
|}
===Medieval alchemy===
{{anchor|Elements in Medieval alchemy}}
[[File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg|thumb|Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classical elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima on the central triangle.]]
The elemental system used in Medieval [[alchemy]] was developed primarily by the [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Persian alchemist]] [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] and rooted in the classical elements of Greek tradition.<ref>{{cite journal
|last1=Norris
|first1=John A.
|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science
|journal=Ambix
|volume=53
|pages=43
|year=2006
|doi=10.1179/174582306X93183}}</ref> His system consisted of the four Aristotelian elements of air, earth, fire, and water in addition to two philosophical elements: [[Sulfur|sulphur]], characterizing the principle of combustibility; "the stone which burns", and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the [[universe]]<ref>{{cite book
|last=Clulee
|first=Nicholas H.
|title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy
|publisher=Routledge
|year=1988
|pages=97
|isbn=978-0-415-00625-5}}</ref> and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy.
The three metallic principles: sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]] to solidity. became the ''tria prima'' of the Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. He reasoned that Aristotle’s four element theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus saw these principles as fundamental and justified them by recourse to the description of how wood burns in fire. Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving flames described flammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash described solidity (salt).<ref>Strathern, 2000. Page 79.</ref>
==Egypt==
{{anchor|Classical elements in Egypt}}
A Greek text called the ''Kore Kosmou'' ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god [[Thoth]]), names the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. As described in this book: "And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with ''fire'', and some with ''water'', some with ''air'', and some with ''earth'', and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things--love--water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher--love--the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four."
According to [[Galen]], these elements were used by [[Hippocrates]] in describing the [[human body]] with an association with the [[Humorism|four humours]]: yellow [[bile]] (fire), [[Melancholia|black bile]] (earth), [[blood]] (air), and [[phlegm]] (water).
==India==
{{anchor|Classical elements in India}}
{{classic element}}
===Hinduism===
{{anchor|Classical elements in Hinduism}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Akasha]] -->
{{Refimprove section|date=August 2007}}
===The 5 Elements of Nature in Hindu Mythology===
{{anchor|The 5 Elements of Nature}}
[[File:The 5 Elements of Nature (PanchaMahabhuta).jpg|thumb|This image includes graphical representation of 5 elements of nature which is known as Panchamahabhuta in Sanskrit.]]
{{Main|Mahabhuta}}
The existence of the five elements can also be found in India, predating their use in Greece. The ''pancha mahabhuta,'' or "five great elements", of [[Hinduism]] are ''[[kshiti]]'' or ''[[bhūmi]]'' ([[earth (classical element)|earth]]), ''[[Ap (water)|ap]]'' or ''jala'' ([[water (classical element)|water]]), ''[[agni|tejas]]'' or ''[[agni]]'' ([[fire (classical element)|fire]]), ''[[maruts|marut]]'' or ''pavan'' ([[air (classical element)|air]] or [[wind]]), ''vyom''; or ''shunya'' or ''akash'' ([[Aether (classical element)|aether]] or [[Aether (classical element)|void]]). Hindus believe that all of creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.
According to one of the principal texts of Hindu philosophy, the Tattwa Kaumudi authored by [[Vacaspati Misra|Vacaspati]] in the 9th century A.D., the [[Creator deity|Creator]] used akasha (aether), the most "subtle" element, to create the other four traditional elements; each element created is in turn used to create the next element, each less subtle than the last. The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses — hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is the medium of sound but is inaccessible to all other senses.
===Buddhism===
{{anchor|Buddhist elements}}
{{Refimprove section|date=September 2007}}
{{Main|Mahābhūta}}
In the [[Pali literature]], the ''[[mahabhuta]]'' ("great elements") or ''catudhatu'' ("four elements") are earth, water, fire and air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for understanding suffering and for liberating oneself from suffering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the four primary material elements are the sensory qualities solidity, fluidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, fire, and air, respectively, is declared an abstraction—instead of concentrating on the fact of material existence, one observes how a physical thing is sensed, felt, perceived.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Dan Lusthaus]] |title=What is and isn't Yogacara |url=http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro-uni.htm}}</ref>
The [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "[[kalapas]]" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries.
The Buddha's teaching of the four elements does predate Greek teaching of the same four elements.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} This is possibly explained by the fact that he sent out 60 [[arahant]]s to the known world to spread his teaching; however it differs in the fact that the Buddha taught that the four elements are false and that form is in fact made up of much smaller particles which are constantly changing.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}
[[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (1997) renders an extract of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s from Pali into English thus:
{{quote|Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body — however it stands, however it is disposed — in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'<ref>{{cite web|title=''Kayagata-sati Sutta'' |author=[[Majjhima Nikaya]] |page=119 |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html |accessdate=2009-01-30}}</ref>}}
===Seven chakras===
In the philosophy of the seven [[chakras]] there are correspondences to the five elements as shared by both Hinduism and Buddhism as well as two other elements:
*Sahasrara (Crown): Time/Space
*Ajña (Third Eye): Light/Dark
*Vishuddhi (Throat): Aether/Life/Lightning/Electricity
*Anahata (Heart): Air/Wind
*Manipura (Navel): Fire/Heat/Flame
*Svadhisthana (Sacral): Water/Ice/Steam/Fog/Mist
*Muladhara (Root): Earth
Indian literature is mentioned about panch mahabhuta.
==Tibet==
{{anchor|Bön elements}}
In [[Bön]] or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the five elemental processes of [[earth]], [[water]], [[fire]], [[air]] and [[space]] are the essential materials of all existent [[phenomena]] or [[skandha|aggregate]]s. The elemental processes form the basis of the [[calendar]], [[astrology]], [[medicine]], [[psychology]] and are the foundation of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[traditions]] of [[shamanism]], [[tantra]] and [[Dzogchen]].
[[Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche]] states that
{{quote|physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; fire is temperature; air is motion; and space is the spatial dimension that accommodates the other four active elements. In addition, the elements are correlated to different emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types, illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From the five elements arise the five senses and the five fields of sensory experience; the five negative emotions and the five wisdoms; and the five extensions of the body. They are the five primary ''pranas'' or vital energies. They are the constituents of every physical, sensual, mental, and spiritual phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |title=Healing with Form, Energy, and Light |page=1 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=1-55939-176-6 |year=2002}}</ref>}}
The names of the elements are analogous to categorised experiential sensations of the natural world. The [[name]]s are [[symbol]]ic and key to their inherent qualities and/or modes of action by [[analogy]]. In [[Bön]] the elemental processes are fundamental [[metaphor]]s for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All five elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in the [[mindstream]] and link the [[trikaya]] and are aspects of primordial energy. As [[Herbert V. Günther]] states:
{{quote|Thus, bearing in mind that thought struggles incessantly against the treachery of language and that what we observe and describe is the observer himself, we may nonetheless proceed to investigate the successive phases in our becoming human beings. Throughout these phases, the experience (''das Erlebnis'') of ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a "god", lha) setting up its own spatiality (imaged and felt as a "house" ''khang'') is present in various intensities of illumination that occur within ourselves as a "temple." A corollary of this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting itself in various "frequencies" or colors. This is to say, since we are beings of light we display this light in a multiplicity of nuances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herber V. Günther |year=1996 |title=The Teachings of Padmasambhava |pages=115–116 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |edition=Hardcover}}</ref>}}
In the above block quote the [[trikaya]] is encoded as: [[dharmakaya]] "god"; [[sambhogakaya]] "temple" and [[nirmanakaya]] "house".
==China==
{{anchor|Chinese elements}}
{{Main|Wu Xing}}
{{Refimprove section|date=May 2009}}
The Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material.
Although it is usually translated as "element", the Chinese word ''xing'' literally means something like "changing states of being", "permutations" or "metamorphoses of being".<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolfram Eberhard |title=A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols |pages=93, 105, 309 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |location=London |year=1986|isbn=0-7102-0191-5}}</ref> In fact [[Sinologists]] cannot agree on one single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever changing and moving—one translation of ''wu xing'' is simply "the five changes".
The Wu Xing are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with five stages; hence the preferred translation of "movements", "phases" or "steps" over "elements."
In the [[bagua]], [[Metal (Wu Xing)|metal]] is associated with the divination figure 兌 ''Duì'' (☱, the lake or marsh: 澤/泽 ''zé'') and with 乾 ''Qián'' (☰, the sky or heavens: 天 ''tiān''). [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] is associated with 巽 ''Xùn'' (☴, the wind: 風/风 ''fēng'') and with 震 ''Zhèn'' (☳, the arousing/thunder: 雷 ''léi''). In view of the durability of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the [[aether (classical element)|aether]], which is sometimes conflated with [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[pneuma]], as both terms originally referred to air (the former being higher, brighter, more fiery or celestial and the latter being merely warmer, and thus [[vitalism|vital]] or [[abiogenesis|biogenetic]]). In [[Taoism]], ''[[qi]]'' functions similarly to pneuma in terms of a prime matter (a basic principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for both biological and inanimate phenomena.
In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and earth. The five major [[planet]]s are associated with and even named after the elements: [[Jupiter]] 木星 is Wood ([[wikt:木#Han_character|木]]), [[Mars]] 火星 is Fire ([[wikt:火#Han_character|火]]), [[Saturn]] 土星 is Earth ([[wikt:土#Han_character|土]]), [[Venus]] 金星 is Metal ([[wikt:金#Han_character|金]]), and [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] 水星 is Water ([[wikt:水#Han_character|水]]). Also, the [[Moon]] represents [[Yin and yang|Yin]] ([[wikt:陰#Han_character|陰]]), and the [[Sun]] 太陽 represents [[Yin and yang|Yang]] ([[wikt:陽#Han_character|陽]]). Yin, Yang, and the five elements are associated with themes in the [[I Ching]], the oldest of Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system of [[cosmology]] and [[philosophy]]. The five elements also play an important part in [[Chinese astrology]] and the Chinese form of [[geomancy]] known as [[Feng shui]]
The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles of balance, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destruction (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases.
''Generating''
* Wood feeds fire;
* Fire creates earth (ash);
* Earth bears metal;
* Metal collects water;
* Water nourishes wood.
''Overcoming''
* Wood parts earth;
* Earth absorbs water;
* Water quenches fire;
* Fire melts metal;
* Metal chops wood.
There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cycle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu).
==Japan==
{{anchor|Japanese elements}}
{{Main|Five elements (Japanese philosophy)}}
[[Japan]]ese traditions use a set of elements called the {{lang|ja|五大}} (''godai'', literally "five great"). These five are [[earth (classical element)|earth]], [[water (classical element)|water]], [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[wind (classical element)|wind]]/air, and [[Aether (classical element)|void]]. These came from Buddhist beliefs; the classical Chinese elements ({{lang|ja|五行}}, ''wu xing'') are also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the influential Neo-Confucianists during the [[Edo period]].
*'''Earth''' represented things that were solid.
*'''Water''' represented things that were liquid.
*'''Fire''' represented things that destroy.
*'''Air''' represented things that moved.
*'''Spirit''' '''(also referred to as [[Quintessence (classical element)|Quintessence]]''') represented things not of our everyday life.
==Western astrology and tarot==
{{anchor|Elements in western astrology and tarot}}
{{Main|astrology and the classical elements|divinatory tarot}}
Western [[astrology]] uses the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] in connection with [[natal chart|astrological chart]]s and [[horoscopes]]. The twelve [[Astrological signs|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] are divided into the four elements: [[Fire signs]] are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, [[Earth signs]] are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, [[Air signs]] are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and [[Water signs]] are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.
In [[divinatory tarot]], the suits of cups, swords, batons/wands, and discs/coins are said to correspond to water, air, fire, and earth respectively.
==Modern==
{{anchor|Modern elements}}
{{See also|Chemical element#History}}
The [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian tradition]] and medieval [[Alchemy]] eventually gave rise to modern scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], for example, a [[History_of_the_periodic_table#Antoine-Laurent_de_Lavoisier|list of elements]] would no longer refer to classical elements.<ref>[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/lavtable.html Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)], in [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/index.html Classic Chemistry], compiled by Carmen Giunta</ref> The classical elements correspond more closely to four of the states of matter: [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]] and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]].
[[Image:neon orbitals.JPG|right|thumb|300px|{{nowrap|'''1s, 2s, 2p<sub>x</sub>,2p<sub>y</sub>, and 2p<sub>z</sub>'''.}}<br>The [[Standing wave|shapes]] of the first five [[Quantum number#Traditional nomenclatures|atomic orbitals]] using [[Flavour (particle physics)#Definition|color]] to depict the [[phase (waves)|phase]] of the [[wave function]].]]Modern science recognizes classes of [[elementary particle]]s which have no substructure (or rather, particles that aren't made of other particles) and [[composite particle]]s having substructure (particles made of other particles).
==See also==
*[[Alchemy]]
*[[Classical elements in popular culture]]
*[[Elemental|Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)]]
*[[Wu Xing|Five elements (Chinese ''wǔ xíng'')]]
*[[Mahabhuta|Five elements (Hindu ''mahābhūta'') and Four elements (Buddhist ''mahābhūtāni'')]]
*[[Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Five elements (Japanese ''godai'')]]
*[[Arche|First principle (Pre-Socratic ''arche'' and Aristotelian substratum)]]
*[[Qi|First principle (Chinese ''qì'' and Japanese ''ki'')]]
*[[Prima materia|First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)]]
*[[Periodic table|Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)]]
*[[Philosopher's stone|Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance alchemy)]]
*[[Phlogiston theory|Phlogiston theory (History of science)]]
*[[Quantum mechanics|Quantum mechanics (Modern science)]]
*[[Table of correspondences|Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)]]
==References==
{{Wikipedia books|Classical elements}}
;General information
* Paul Strathern (2000). [http://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9sjTkAC Mendeleyev’s Dream – the Quest for the Elements]. New York: Berkley Books.
* The film The Fifth Element (1997) [[The Fifth Element]] is a science fiction film focused on the "fifth element" with the other four elements referenced in the film.
;Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Four elements}}
*[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khin/wheel231.html Section on 4 elements in Buddhism]
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe07.htm The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World - www.sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Classical Element}}
[[Category:Classical elements| ]]
[[Category:Natural philosophy]]
[[Category:Esoteric cosmology]]
[[Category:History of astrology]]
[[Category:Numerology]]
[[Category:Technical factors of astrology]]
[[Category:Ancient philosophy]]' |
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-{{About|uses of four elements|uses of 5 elements|Five elements (disambiguation){{!}}Five elements}}
-{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}}
-[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire). [[Robert Fludd]]. 1617.]]
-Many [[philosophy|philosophies]] and [[worldview]]s have a set of '''classical elements''' believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, ''classical elements'' refer to [[#Ancient classic element systems|ancient beliefs]] inspired by natural observation of the [[phases of matter]]; with the classical elements: earth is equivalent to solid, water is equivalent to liquid, air is equivalent to gas and fire is equivalent to plasma. [[History of science|Historians]] trace the evolution of [[#Modern elements|modern theory]] pertaining to the [[chemical element]]s, as well as [[chemical compound]]s and [[mixture]]s of [[chemical substance|natural substances]] to [[#Medieval classic element systems|medieval]], and Greek models. Many concepts once thought to be analogous, such as the Chinese [[Wu Xing]], are now understood more figuratively.
-
-==Ancient==
-{{anchor|Ancient classic element systems}}
-In classical thought, the four elements [[Earth (classical element)|Earth]], [[Water (classical element)|Water]], [[Wind (classical element)|Air]], and [[Fire (classical element)|Fire]] frequently occur; sometimes including a fifth element or ''quintessence'' (after "quint" meaning "fifth") called [[Aether (classical element)|Aether]] in ancient Greece and India. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In Hinduism, particularly in an [[Esotericism|esoteric]] context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element describes that which was beyond the [[material]] world. Similar lists existed in ancient [[China]] and [[Japan]]. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of [[sensory experience]].
-
-===Classical elements in Babylonia===
-The concept of the five classical elements in the Western tradition may originate from [[Babylonian mythology]]. The ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries BC, describes five personified cosmic elements: the [[Water (classical element)|sea]], [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Aether (classical element)|sky]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Air (classical element)|wind]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography of science|author=Francesca Rochberg|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|date=December 2002|pages=661–684|doi=10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5|postscript=.}}</ref>
-
-==Greece==
-{{anchor|Classical elements in Greece}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Democritus]] -->
-
-<div style="font-size:80%;float:right;clear:left;margin-left:1em;">
-{|align="center" class="toccolours" style="width:220px; float:center; margin:1em 1em 1em 1em;"
-| style="background:#c9b59d; text-align:center;" |
-'''Aristotelian physics'''
-|-
-| style="text-align:center;" |
-[[File:Four elements representation.svg|center|200px|Four Classical Elements]]
-<br style="clear:both;">
-''<u>Empedoclean elements<u>''
-<br style="clear:both;">
-[[File:Alchemy fire symbol.svg|20px]]
-[[Fire (classical element)|fire]] {{·}}
-[[File:Alchemy earth symbol.svg|20px]]
-[[Earth (classical element)|earth]] {{·}}
-[[File:Alchemy air symbol.svg|20px]]
-[[Air (classical element)|air]] {{·}}
-[[File:Alchemy water symbol.svg|20px]]
-[[Water (classical element)|water]]
-|}
-</div>
-The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] classical elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether) date from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and into the [[Renaissance]], deeply influencing [[Europe]]an thought and culture. The Greek five elements are sometimes associated with the five [[platonic solid]]s.
-
-[[Plato]] characterizes the elements as being [[The Presocratics|pre-Socratic]] in origin from a list created by the [[Magna Graecia|Sicilian]] philosopher [[Empedocles]] (ca. 450 BC). Empedocles called these the four "roots" (ῥιζὤματα, rhizōmata). Plato seems to have been the first to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, ''stoicheion'')" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Tim.+48b |author=Plato|title=Timaeus|at=48b
-}}</ref> The ancient Greek word for element, ''stoicheion'' (from ''stoicheo'', "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed.
-
-In his ''On Generation and Corruption'', Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities:
-* '''[[Fire (classical element)|Fire]]''' is primarily hot and secondarily dry.
-* '''[[Air (classical element)|Air]]''' is primarily wet and secondarily hot.
-* '''[[Water (classical element)|Water]]''' is primarily cold and secondarily wet.
-* '''[[Earth (classical element)|Earth]]''' is primarily dry and secondarily cold.
-
-One classic diagram (above) has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot — cold" and "dry — wet".
-
-[[Aristotle]] added [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]] as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.<ref>{{cite book|author=G. E. R. Lloyd |title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought |location=Cambridge Univ. Pr. |year=1968 |pages=133–139 |isbn=0-521-09456-9}}</ref><br style="clear:left;"/>
-
-The [[Neoplatonic]] philosopher, [[Proclus]], rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and immobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:<ref>{{citation|author=Proclus|title=Commentary on Plato’s ''Timaeus'' | at= 3.38.1–3.39.28}}</ref>
-
-{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:240px; height:120px;"
-|-
-! Fire
-| style="background: pink" | Sharp || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile
-|-
-! Air
-| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile
-|-
-! Water
-| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: pink" | Mobile
-|-
-! Earth
-| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: lightgreen" | Immobile
-|}
-
-===Medieval alchemy===
-{{anchor|Elements in Medieval alchemy}}
-[[File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg|thumb|Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classical elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima on the central triangle.]]
-The elemental system used in Medieval [[alchemy]] was developed primarily by the [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Persian alchemist]] [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] and rooted in the classical elements of Greek tradition.<ref>{{cite journal
-|last1=Norris
-|first1=John A.
-|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science
-|journal=Ambix
-|volume=53
-|pages=43
-|year=2006
-|doi=10.1179/174582306X93183}}</ref> His system consisted of the four Aristotelian elements of air, earth, fire, and water in addition to two philosophical elements: [[Sulfur|sulphur]], characterizing the principle of combustibility; "the stone which burns", and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the [[universe]]<ref>{{cite book
-|last=Clulee
-|first=Nicholas H.
-|title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy
-|publisher=Routledge
-|year=1988
-|pages=97
-|isbn=978-0-415-00625-5}}</ref> and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy.
-
-The three metallic principles: sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]] to solidity. became the ''tria prima'' of the Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. He reasoned that Aristotle’s four element theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus saw these principles as fundamental and justified them by recourse to the description of how wood burns in fire. Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving flames described flammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash described solidity (salt).<ref>Strathern, 2000. Page 79.</ref>
-
-==Egypt==
-{{anchor|Classical elements in Egypt}}
-A Greek text called the ''Kore Kosmou'' ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god [[Thoth]]), names the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. As described in this book: "And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with ''fire'', and some with ''water'', some with ''air'', and some with ''earth'', and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things--love--water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher--love--the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four."
-
-According to [[Galen]], these elements were used by [[Hippocrates]] in describing the [[human body]] with an association with the [[Humorism|four humours]]: yellow [[bile]] (fire), [[Melancholia|black bile]] (earth), [[blood]] (air), and [[phlegm]] (water).
-
-==India==
-{{anchor|Classical elements in India}}
-{{classic element}}
-
-===Hinduism===
-{{anchor|Classical elements in Hinduism}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Akasha]] -->
-{{Refimprove section|date=August 2007}}
-
-===The 5 Elements of Nature in Hindu Mythology===
-{{anchor|The 5 Elements of Nature}}
-[[File:The 5 Elements of Nature (PanchaMahabhuta).jpg|thumb|This image includes graphical representation of 5 elements of nature which is known as Panchamahabhuta in Sanskrit.]]
-
-
-{{Main|Mahabhuta}}
-
-The existence of the five elements can also be found in India, predating their use in Greece. The ''pancha mahabhuta,'' or "five great elements", of [[Hinduism]] are ''[[kshiti]]'' or ''[[bhūmi]]'' ([[earth (classical element)|earth]]), ''[[Ap (water)|ap]]'' or ''jala'' ([[water (classical element)|water]]), ''[[agni|tejas]]'' or ''[[agni]]'' ([[fire (classical element)|fire]]), ''[[maruts|marut]]'' or ''pavan'' ([[air (classical element)|air]] or [[wind]]), ''vyom''; or ''shunya'' or ''akash'' ([[Aether (classical element)|aether]] or [[Aether (classical element)|void]]). Hindus believe that all of creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.
-
-According to one of the principal texts of Hindu philosophy, the Tattwa Kaumudi authored by [[Vacaspati Misra|Vacaspati]] in the 9th century A.D., the [[Creator deity|Creator]] used akasha (aether), the most "subtle" element, to create the other four traditional elements; each element created is in turn used to create the next element, each less subtle than the last. The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses — hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is the medium of sound but is inaccessible to all other senses.
-
-===Buddhism===
-{{anchor|Buddhist elements}}
-{{Refimprove section|date=September 2007}}
-{{Main|Mahābhūta}}
-In the [[Pali literature]], the ''[[mahabhuta]]'' ("great elements") or ''catudhatu'' ("four elements") are earth, water, fire and air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for understanding suffering and for liberating oneself from suffering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the four primary material elements are the sensory qualities solidity, fluidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, fire, and air, respectively, is declared an abstraction—instead of concentrating on the fact of material existence, one observes how a physical thing is sensed, felt, perceived.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Dan Lusthaus]] |title=What is and isn't Yogacara |url=http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro-uni.htm}}</ref>
-
-The [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "[[kalapas]]" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries.
-
-The Buddha's teaching of the four elements does predate Greek teaching of the same four elements.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} This is possibly explained by the fact that he sent out 60 [[arahant]]s to the known world to spread his teaching; however it differs in the fact that the Buddha taught that the four elements are false and that form is in fact made up of much smaller particles which are constantly changing.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}
-
-[[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (1997) renders an extract of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s from Pali into English thus:
-{{quote|Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body — however it stands, however it is disposed — in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'<ref>{{cite web|title=''Kayagata-sati Sutta'' |author=[[Majjhima Nikaya]] |page=119 |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html |accessdate=2009-01-30}}</ref>}}
-
-===Seven chakras===
-In the philosophy of the seven [[chakras]] there are correspondences to the five elements as shared by both Hinduism and Buddhism as well as two other elements:
-
-*Sahasrara (Crown): Time/Space
-*Ajña (Third Eye): Light/Dark
-*Vishuddhi (Throat): Aether/Life/Lightning/Electricity
-*Anahata (Heart): Air/Wind
-*Manipura (Navel): Fire/Heat/Flame
-*Svadhisthana (Sacral): Water/Ice/Steam/Fog/Mist
-*Muladhara (Root): Earth
-Indian literature is mentioned about panch mahabhuta.
-
-==Tibet==
-{{anchor|Bön elements}}
-In [[Bön]] or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the five elemental processes of [[earth]], [[water]], [[fire]], [[air]] and [[space]] are the essential materials of all existent [[phenomena]] or [[skandha|aggregate]]s. The elemental processes form the basis of the [[calendar]], [[astrology]], [[medicine]], [[psychology]] and are the foundation of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[traditions]] of [[shamanism]], [[tantra]] and [[Dzogchen]].
-
-[[Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche]] states that
-{{quote|physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; fire is temperature; air is motion; and space is the spatial dimension that accommodates the other four active elements. In addition, the elements are correlated to different emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types, illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From the five elements arise the five senses and the five fields of sensory experience; the five negative emotions and the five wisdoms; and the five extensions of the body. They are the five primary ''pranas'' or vital energies. They are the constituents of every physical, sensual, mental, and spiritual phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |title=Healing with Form, Energy, and Light |page=1 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=1-55939-176-6 |year=2002}}</ref>}}
-
-The names of the elements are analogous to categorised experiential sensations of the natural world. The [[name]]s are [[symbol]]ic and key to their inherent qualities and/or modes of action by [[analogy]]. In [[Bön]] the elemental processes are fundamental [[metaphor]]s for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All five elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in the [[mindstream]] and link the [[trikaya]] and are aspects of primordial energy. As [[Herbert V. Günther]] states:
-{{quote|Thus, bearing in mind that thought struggles incessantly against the treachery of language and that what we observe and describe is the observer himself, we may nonetheless proceed to investigate the successive phases in our becoming human beings. Throughout these phases, the experience (''das Erlebnis'') of ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a "god", lha) setting up its own spatiality (imaged and felt as a "house" ''khang'') is present in various intensities of illumination that occur within ourselves as a "temple." A corollary of this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting itself in various "frequencies" or colors. This is to say, since we are beings of light we display this light in a multiplicity of nuances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herber V. Günther |year=1996 |title=The Teachings of Padmasambhava |pages=115–116 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |edition=Hardcover}}</ref>}}
-
-In the above block quote the [[trikaya]] is encoded as: [[dharmakaya]] "god"; [[sambhogakaya]] "temple" and [[nirmanakaya]] "house".
-
-==China==
-{{anchor|Chinese elements}}
-{{Main|Wu Xing}}
-{{Refimprove section|date=May 2009}}
-The Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material.
-
-Although it is usually translated as "element", the Chinese word ''xing'' literally means something like "changing states of being", "permutations" or "metamorphoses of being".<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolfram Eberhard |title=A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols |pages=93, 105, 309 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |location=London |year=1986|isbn=0-7102-0191-5}}</ref> In fact [[Sinologists]] cannot agree on one single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever changing and moving—one translation of ''wu xing'' is simply "the five changes".
-
-The Wu Xing are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with five stages; hence the preferred translation of "movements", "phases" or "steps" over "elements."
-
-In the [[bagua]], [[Metal (Wu Xing)|metal]] is associated with the divination figure 兌 ''Duì'' (☱, the lake or marsh: 澤/泽 ''zé'') and with 乾 ''Qián'' (☰, the sky or heavens: 天 ''tiān''). [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] is associated with 巽 ''Xùn'' (☴, the wind: 風/风 ''fēng'') and with 震 ''Zhèn'' (☳, the arousing/thunder: 雷 ''léi''). In view of the durability of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the [[aether (classical element)|aether]], which is sometimes conflated with [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[pneuma]], as both terms originally referred to air (the former being higher, brighter, more fiery or celestial and the latter being merely warmer, and thus [[vitalism|vital]] or [[abiogenesis|biogenetic]]). In [[Taoism]], ''[[qi]]'' functions similarly to pneuma in terms of a prime matter (a basic principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for both biological and inanimate phenomena.
-
-In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and earth. The five major [[planet]]s are associated with and even named after the elements: [[Jupiter]] 木星 is Wood ([[wikt:木#Han_character|木]]), [[Mars]] 火星 is Fire ([[wikt:火#Han_character|火]]), [[Saturn]] 土星 is Earth ([[wikt:土#Han_character|土]]), [[Venus]] 金星 is Metal ([[wikt:金#Han_character|金]]), and [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] 水星 is Water ([[wikt:水#Han_character|水]]). Also, the [[Moon]] represents [[Yin and yang|Yin]] ([[wikt:陰#Han_character|陰]]), and the [[Sun]] 太陽 represents [[Yin and yang|Yang]] ([[wikt:陽#Han_character|陽]]). Yin, Yang, and the five elements are associated with themes in the [[I Ching]], the oldest of Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system of [[cosmology]] and [[philosophy]]. The five elements also play an important part in [[Chinese astrology]] and the Chinese form of [[geomancy]] known as [[Feng shui]]
-
-The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles of balance, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destruction (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases.
-
-''Generating''
-* Wood feeds fire;
-* Fire creates earth (ash);
-* Earth bears metal;
-* Metal collects water;
-* Water nourishes wood.
-
-''Overcoming''
-* Wood parts earth;
-* Earth absorbs water;
-* Water quenches fire;
-* Fire melts metal;
-* Metal chops wood.
-
-There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cycle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu).
-
-==Japan==
-{{anchor|Japanese elements}}
-{{Main|Five elements (Japanese philosophy)}}
-[[Japan]]ese traditions use a set of elements called the {{lang|ja|五大}} (''godai'', literally "five great"). These five are [[earth (classical element)|earth]], [[water (classical element)|water]], [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[wind (classical element)|wind]]/air, and [[Aether (classical element)|void]]. These came from Buddhist beliefs; the classical Chinese elements ({{lang|ja|五行}}, ''wu xing'') are also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the influential Neo-Confucianists during the [[Edo period]].
-
-*'''Earth''' represented things that were solid.
-*'''Water''' represented things that were liquid.
-*'''Fire''' represented things that destroy.
-*'''Air''' represented things that moved.
-*'''Spirit''' '''(also referred to as [[Quintessence (classical element)|Quintessence]]''') represented things not of our everyday life.
-
-==Western astrology and tarot==
-{{anchor|Elements in western astrology and tarot}}
-{{Main|astrology and the classical elements|divinatory tarot}}
-Western [[astrology]] uses the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] in connection with [[natal chart|astrological chart]]s and [[horoscopes]]. The twelve [[Astrological signs|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] are divided into the four elements: [[Fire signs]] are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, [[Earth signs]] are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, [[Air signs]] are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and [[Water signs]] are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.
-
-In [[divinatory tarot]], the suits of cups, swords, batons/wands, and discs/coins are said to correspond to water, air, fire, and earth respectively.
-
-==Modern==
-{{anchor|Modern elements}}
-{{See also|Chemical element#History}}
-The [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian tradition]] and medieval [[Alchemy]] eventually gave rise to modern scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], for example, a [[History_of_the_periodic_table#Antoine-Laurent_de_Lavoisier|list of elements]] would no longer refer to classical elements.<ref>[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/lavtable.html Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)], in [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/index.html Classic Chemistry], compiled by Carmen Giunta</ref> The classical elements correspond more closely to four of the states of matter: [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]] and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]].
-
-[[Image:neon orbitals.JPG|right|thumb|300px|{{nowrap|'''1s, 2s, 2p<sub>x</sub>,2p<sub>y</sub>, and 2p<sub>z</sub>'''.}}<br>The [[Standing wave|shapes]] of the first five [[Quantum number#Traditional nomenclatures|atomic orbitals]] using [[Flavour (particle physics)#Definition|color]] to depict the [[phase (waves)|phase]] of the [[wave function]].]]Modern science recognizes classes of [[elementary particle]]s which have no substructure (or rather, particles that aren't made of other particles) and [[composite particle]]s having substructure (particles made of other particles).
-
-==See also==
-*[[Alchemy]]
-*[[Classical elements in popular culture]]
-*[[Elemental|Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)]]
-*[[Wu Xing|Five elements (Chinese ''wǔ xíng'')]]
-*[[Mahabhuta|Five elements (Hindu ''mahābhūta'') and Four elements (Buddhist ''mahābhūtāni'')]]
-*[[Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Five elements (Japanese ''godai'')]]
-*[[Arche|First principle (Pre-Socratic ''arche'' and Aristotelian substratum)]]
-*[[Qi|First principle (Chinese ''qì'' and Japanese ''ki'')]]
-*[[Prima materia|First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)]]
-*[[Periodic table|Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)]]
-*[[Philosopher's stone|Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance alchemy)]]
-*[[Phlogiston theory|Phlogiston theory (History of science)]]
-*[[Quantum mechanics|Quantum mechanics (Modern science)]]
-*[[Table of correspondences|Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)]]
-
-==References==
-{{Wikipedia books|Classical elements}}
-;General information
-* Paul Strathern (2000). [http://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9sjTkAC Mendeleyev’s Dream – the Quest for the Elements]. New York: Berkley Books.
-* The film The Fifth Element (1997) [[The Fifth Element]] is a science fiction film focused on the "fifth element" with the other four elements referenced in the film.
-;Footnotes
-{{Reflist}}
-
-==External links==
-{{Commons category|Four elements}}
-*[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khin/wheel231.html Section on 4 elements in Buddhism]
-*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe07.htm The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World - www.sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements]
-
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Classical Element}}
-[[Category:Classical elements| ]]
-[[Category:Natural philosophy]]
-[[Category:Esoteric cosmology]]
-[[Category:History of astrology]]
-[[Category:Numerology]]
-[[Category:Technical factors of astrology]]
-[[Category:Ancient philosophy]]
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1 => '{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}}',
2 => '[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire). [[Robert Fludd]]. 1617.]]',
3 => 'Many [[philosophy|philosophies]] and [[worldview]]s have a set of '''classical elements''' believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, ''classical elements'' refer to [[#Ancient classic element systems|ancient beliefs]] inspired by natural observation of the [[phases of matter]]; with the classical elements: earth is equivalent to solid, water is equivalent to liquid, air is equivalent to gas and fire is equivalent to plasma. [[History of science|Historians]] trace the evolution of [[#Modern elements|modern theory]] pertaining to the [[chemical element]]s, as well as [[chemical compound]]s and [[mixture]]s of [[chemical substance|natural substances]] to [[#Medieval classic element systems|medieval]], and Greek models. Many concepts once thought to be analogous, such as the Chinese [[Wu Xing]], are now understood more figuratively.',
4 => false,
5 => '==Ancient==',
6 => '{{anchor|Ancient classic element systems}}',
7 => 'In classical thought, the four elements [[Earth (classical element)|Earth]], [[Water (classical element)|Water]], [[Wind (classical element)|Air]], and [[Fire (classical element)|Fire]] frequently occur; sometimes including a fifth element or ''quintessence'' (after "quint" meaning "fifth") called [[Aether (classical element)|Aether]] in ancient Greece and India. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In Hinduism, particularly in an [[Esotericism|esoteric]] context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element describes that which was beyond the [[material]] world. Similar lists existed in ancient [[China]] and [[Japan]]. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of [[sensory experience]].',
8 => false,
9 => '===Classical elements in Babylonia===',
10 => 'The concept of the five classical elements in the Western tradition may originate from [[Babylonian mythology]]. The ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries BC, describes five personified cosmic elements: the [[Water (classical element)|sea]], [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Aether (classical element)|sky]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Air (classical element)|wind]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography of science|author=Francesca Rochberg|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|date=December 2002|pages=661–684|doi=10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5|postscript=.}}</ref>',
11 => false,
12 => '==Greece==',
13 => '{{anchor|Classical elements in Greece}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Democritus]] -->',
14 => false,
15 => '<div style="font-size:80%;float:right;clear:left;margin-left:1em;">',
16 => '{|align="center" class="toccolours" style="width:220px; float:center; margin:1em 1em 1em 1em;"',
17 => '| style="background:#c9b59d; text-align:center;" |',
18 => ''''Aristotelian physics'''',
19 => '|-',
20 => '| style="text-align:center;" |',
21 => '[[File:Four elements representation.svg|center|200px|Four Classical Elements]]',
22 => '<br style="clear:both;">',
23 => '''<u>Empedoclean elements<u>''',
24 => '<br style="clear:both;">',
25 => '[[File:Alchemy fire symbol.svg|20px]]',
26 => '[[Fire (classical element)|fire]] {{·}}',
27 => '[[File:Alchemy earth symbol.svg|20px]]',
28 => '[[Earth (classical element)|earth]] {{·}}',
29 => '[[File:Alchemy air symbol.svg|20px]]',
30 => '[[Air (classical element)|air]] {{·}}',
31 => '[[File:Alchemy water symbol.svg|20px]]',
32 => '[[Water (classical element)|water]]',
33 => '|}',
34 => '</div>',
35 => 'The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] classical elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether) date from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and into the [[Renaissance]], deeply influencing [[Europe]]an thought and culture. The Greek five elements are sometimes associated with the five [[platonic solid]]s.',
36 => false,
37 => '[[Plato]] characterizes the elements as being [[The Presocratics|pre-Socratic]] in origin from a list created by the [[Magna Graecia|Sicilian]] philosopher [[Empedocles]] (ca. 450 BC). Empedocles called these the four "roots" (ῥιζὤματα, rhizōmata). Plato seems to have been the first to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, ''stoicheion'')" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Tim.+48b |author=Plato|title=Timaeus|at=48b',
38 => '}}</ref> The ancient Greek word for element, ''stoicheion'' (from ''stoicheo'', "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed.',
39 => false,
40 => 'In his ''On Generation and Corruption'', Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities:',
41 => '* '''[[Fire (classical element)|Fire]]''' is primarily hot and secondarily dry.',
42 => '* '''[[Air (classical element)|Air]]''' is primarily wet and secondarily hot.',
43 => '* '''[[Water (classical element)|Water]]''' is primarily cold and secondarily wet.',
44 => '* '''[[Earth (classical element)|Earth]]''' is primarily dry and secondarily cold.',
45 => false,
46 => 'One classic diagram (above) has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot — cold" and "dry — wet".',
47 => false,
48 => '[[Aristotle]] added [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]] as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.<ref>{{cite book|author=G. E. R. Lloyd |title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought |location=Cambridge Univ. Pr. |year=1968 |pages=133–139 |isbn=0-521-09456-9}}</ref><br style="clear:left;"/>',
49 => false,
50 => 'The [[Neoplatonic]] philosopher, [[Proclus]], rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and immobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:<ref>{{citation|author=Proclus|title=Commentary on Plato’s ''Timaeus'' | at= 3.38.1–3.39.28}}</ref>',
51 => false,
52 => '{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:240px; height:120px;"',
53 => '|-',
54 => '! Fire ',
55 => '| style="background: pink" | Sharp || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile',
56 => '|-',
57 => '! Air ',
58 => '| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile',
59 => '|-',
60 => '! Water ',
61 => '| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: pink" | Mobile',
62 => '|-',
63 => '! Earth ',
64 => '| style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: lightgreen" | Immobile',
65 => '|}',
66 => false,
67 => '===Medieval alchemy===',
68 => '{{anchor|Elements in Medieval alchemy}}',
69 => '[[File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg|thumb|Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classical elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima on the central triangle.]]',
70 => 'The elemental system used in Medieval [[alchemy]] was developed primarily by the [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Persian alchemist]] [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] and rooted in the classical elements of Greek tradition.<ref>{{cite journal',
71 => '|last1=Norris',
72 => '|first1=John A.',
73 => '|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science',
74 => '|journal=Ambix',
75 => '|volume=53',
76 => '|pages=43',
77 => '|year=2006',
78 => '|doi=10.1179/174582306X93183}}</ref> His system consisted of the four Aristotelian elements of air, earth, fire, and water in addition to two philosophical elements: [[Sulfur|sulphur]], characterizing the principle of combustibility; "the stone which burns", and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the [[universe]]<ref>{{cite book',
79 => '|last=Clulee',
80 => '|first=Nicholas H.',
81 => '|title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy',
82 => '|publisher=Routledge',
83 => '|year=1988',
84 => '|pages=97',
85 => '|isbn=978-0-415-00625-5}}</ref> and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy.',
86 => false,
87 => 'The three metallic principles: sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]] to solidity. became the ''tria prima'' of the Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. He reasoned that Aristotle’s four element theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus saw these principles as fundamental and justified them by recourse to the description of how wood burns in fire. Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving flames described flammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash described solidity (salt).<ref>Strathern, 2000. Page 79.</ref>',
88 => false,
89 => '==Egypt==',
90 => '{{anchor|Classical elements in Egypt}}',
91 => 'A Greek text called the ''Kore Kosmou'' ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god [[Thoth]]), names the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. As described in this book: "And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with ''fire'', and some with ''water'', some with ''air'', and some with ''earth'', and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things--love--water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher--love--the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four."',
92 => false,
93 => 'According to [[Galen]], these elements were used by [[Hippocrates]] in describing the [[human body]] with an association with the [[Humorism|four humours]]: yellow [[bile]] (fire), [[Melancholia|black bile]] (earth), [[blood]] (air), and [[phlegm]] (water).',
94 => false,
95 => '==India==',
96 => '{{anchor|Classical elements in India}}',
97 => '{{classic element}}',
98 => false,
99 => '===Hinduism===',
100 => '{{anchor|Classical elements in Hinduism}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Akasha]] -->',
101 => '{{Refimprove section|date=August 2007}}',
102 => false,
103 => '===The 5 Elements of Nature in Hindu Mythology===',
104 => '{{anchor|The 5 Elements of Nature}}',
105 => '[[File:The 5 Elements of Nature (PanchaMahabhuta).jpg|thumb|This image includes graphical representation of 5 elements of nature which is known as Panchamahabhuta in Sanskrit.]]',
106 => false,
107 => false,
108 => '{{Main|Mahabhuta}}',
109 => false,
110 => 'The existence of the five elements can also be found in India, predating their use in Greece. The ''pancha mahabhuta,'' or "five great elements", of [[Hinduism]] are ''[[kshiti]]'' or ''[[bhūmi]]'' ([[earth (classical element)|earth]]), ''[[Ap (water)|ap]]'' or ''jala'' ([[water (classical element)|water]]), ''[[agni|tejas]]'' or ''[[agni]]'' ([[fire (classical element)|fire]]), ''[[maruts|marut]]'' or ''pavan'' ([[air (classical element)|air]] or [[wind]]), ''vyom''; or ''shunya'' or ''akash'' ([[Aether (classical element)|aether]] or [[Aether (classical element)|void]]). Hindus believe that all of creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.',
111 => false,
112 => 'According to one of the principal texts of Hindu philosophy, the Tattwa Kaumudi authored by [[Vacaspati Misra|Vacaspati]] in the 9th century A.D., the [[Creator deity|Creator]] used akasha (aether), the most "subtle" element, to create the other four traditional elements; each element created is in turn used to create the next element, each less subtle than the last. The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses — hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is the medium of sound but is inaccessible to all other senses.',
113 => false,
114 => '===Buddhism===',
115 => '{{anchor|Buddhist elements}}',
116 => '{{Refimprove section|date=September 2007}}',
117 => '{{Main|Mahābhūta}}',
118 => 'In the [[Pali literature]], the ''[[mahabhuta]]'' ("great elements") or ''catudhatu'' ("four elements") are earth, water, fire and air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for understanding suffering and for liberating oneself from suffering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the four primary material elements are the sensory qualities solidity, fluidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, fire, and air, respectively, is declared an abstraction—instead of concentrating on the fact of material existence, one observes how a physical thing is sensed, felt, perceived.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Dan Lusthaus]] |title=What is and isn't Yogacara |url=http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro-uni.htm}}</ref>',
119 => false,
120 => 'The [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "[[kalapas]]" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries.',
121 => false,
122 => 'The Buddha's teaching of the four elements does predate Greek teaching of the same four elements.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} This is possibly explained by the fact that he sent out 60 [[arahant]]s to the known world to spread his teaching; however it differs in the fact that the Buddha taught that the four elements are false and that form is in fact made up of much smaller particles which are constantly changing.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}',
123 => false,
124 => '[[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (1997) renders an extract of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s from Pali into English thus:',
125 => '{{quote|Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body — however it stands, however it is disposed — in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'<ref>{{cite web|title=''Kayagata-sati Sutta'' |author=[[Majjhima Nikaya]] |page=119 |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html |accessdate=2009-01-30}}</ref>}}',
126 => false,
127 => '===Seven chakras===',
128 => 'In the philosophy of the seven [[chakras]] there are correspondences to the five elements as shared by both Hinduism and Buddhism as well as two other elements:',
129 => false,
130 => '*Sahasrara (Crown): Time/Space',
131 => '*Ajña (Third Eye): Light/Dark',
132 => '*Vishuddhi (Throat): Aether/Life/Lightning/Electricity',
133 => '*Anahata (Heart): Air/Wind',
134 => '*Manipura (Navel): Fire/Heat/Flame',
135 => '*Svadhisthana (Sacral): Water/Ice/Steam/Fog/Mist',
136 => '*Muladhara (Root): Earth',
137 => 'Indian literature is mentioned about panch mahabhuta.',
138 => false,
139 => '==Tibet==',
140 => '{{anchor|Bön elements}}',
141 => 'In [[Bön]] or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the five elemental processes of [[earth]], [[water]], [[fire]], [[air]] and [[space]] are the essential materials of all existent [[phenomena]] or [[skandha|aggregate]]s. The elemental processes form the basis of the [[calendar]], [[astrology]], [[medicine]], [[psychology]] and are the foundation of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[traditions]] of [[shamanism]], [[tantra]] and [[Dzogchen]].',
142 => false,
143 => '[[Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche]] states that',
144 => '{{quote|physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; fire is temperature; air is motion; and space is the spatial dimension that accommodates the other four active elements. In addition, the elements are correlated to different emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types, illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From the five elements arise the five senses and the five fields of sensory experience; the five negative emotions and the five wisdoms; and the five extensions of the body. They are the five primary ''pranas'' or vital energies. They are the constituents of every physical, sensual, mental, and spiritual phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |title=Healing with Form, Energy, and Light |page=1 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=1-55939-176-6 |year=2002}}</ref>}}',
145 => false,
146 => 'The names of the elements are analogous to categorised experiential sensations of the natural world. The [[name]]s are [[symbol]]ic and key to their inherent qualities and/or modes of action by [[analogy]]. In [[Bön]] the elemental processes are fundamental [[metaphor]]s for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All five elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in the [[mindstream]] and link the [[trikaya]] and are aspects of primordial energy. As [[Herbert V. Günther]] states:',
147 => '{{quote|Thus, bearing in mind that thought struggles incessantly against the treachery of language and that what we observe and describe is the observer himself, we may nonetheless proceed to investigate the successive phases in our becoming human beings. Throughout these phases, the experience (''das Erlebnis'') of ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a "god", lha) setting up its own spatiality (imaged and felt as a "house" ''khang'') is present in various intensities of illumination that occur within ourselves as a "temple." A corollary of this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting itself in various "frequencies" or colors. This is to say, since we are beings of light we display this light in a multiplicity of nuances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herber V. Günther |year=1996 |title=The Teachings of Padmasambhava |pages=115–116 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |edition=Hardcover}}</ref>}}',
148 => false,
149 => 'In the above block quote the [[trikaya]] is encoded as: [[dharmakaya]] "god"; [[sambhogakaya]] "temple" and [[nirmanakaya]] "house".',
150 => false,
151 => '==China==',
152 => '{{anchor|Chinese elements}}',
153 => '{{Main|Wu Xing}}',
154 => '{{Refimprove section|date=May 2009}}',
155 => 'The Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material.',
156 => false,
157 => 'Although it is usually translated as "element", the Chinese word ''xing'' literally means something like "changing states of being", "permutations" or "metamorphoses of being".<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolfram Eberhard |title=A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols |pages=93, 105, 309 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |location=London |year=1986|isbn=0-7102-0191-5}}</ref> In fact [[Sinologists]] cannot agree on one single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever changing and moving—one translation of ''wu xing'' is simply "the five changes".',
158 => false,
159 => 'The Wu Xing are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with five stages; hence the preferred translation of "movements", "phases" or "steps" over "elements."',
160 => false,
161 => 'In the [[bagua]], [[Metal (Wu Xing)|metal]] is associated with the divination figure 兌 ''Duì'' (☱, the lake or marsh: 澤/泽 ''zé'') and with 乾 ''Qián'' (☰, the sky or heavens: 天 ''tiān''). [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] is associated with 巽 ''Xùn'' (☴, the wind: 風/风 ''fēng'') and with 震 ''Zhèn'' (☳, the arousing/thunder: 雷 ''léi''). In view of the durability of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the [[aether (classical element)|aether]], which is sometimes conflated with [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[pneuma]], as both terms originally referred to air (the former being higher, brighter, more fiery or celestial and the latter being merely warmer, and thus [[vitalism|vital]] or [[abiogenesis|biogenetic]]). In [[Taoism]], ''[[qi]]'' functions similarly to pneuma in terms of a prime matter (a basic principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for both biological and inanimate phenomena.',
162 => false,
163 => 'In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and earth. The five major [[planet]]s are associated with and even named after the elements: [[Jupiter]] 木星 is Wood ([[wikt:木#Han_character|木]]), [[Mars]] 火星 is Fire ([[wikt:火#Han_character|火]]), [[Saturn]] 土星 is Earth ([[wikt:土#Han_character|土]]), [[Venus]] 金星 is Metal ([[wikt:金#Han_character|金]]), and [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] 水星 is Water ([[wikt:水#Han_character|水]]). Also, the [[Moon]] represents [[Yin and yang|Yin]] ([[wikt:陰#Han_character|陰]]), and the [[Sun]] 太陽 represents [[Yin and yang|Yang]] ([[wikt:陽#Han_character|陽]]). Yin, Yang, and the five elements are associated with themes in the [[I Ching]], the oldest of Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system of [[cosmology]] and [[philosophy]]. The five elements also play an important part in [[Chinese astrology]] and the Chinese form of [[geomancy]] known as [[Feng shui]]',
164 => false,
165 => 'The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles of balance, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destruction (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases.',
166 => false,
167 => '''Generating''',
168 => '* Wood feeds fire;',
169 => '* Fire creates earth (ash);',
170 => '* Earth bears metal;',
171 => '* Metal collects water;',
172 => '* Water nourishes wood.',
173 => false,
174 => '''Overcoming''',
175 => '* Wood parts earth;',
176 => '* Earth absorbs water;',
177 => '* Water quenches fire;',
178 => '* Fire melts metal;',
179 => '* Metal chops wood.',
180 => false,
181 => 'There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cycle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu).',
182 => false,
183 => '==Japan==',
184 => '{{anchor|Japanese elements}}',
185 => '{{Main|Five elements (Japanese philosophy)}}',
186 => '[[Japan]]ese traditions use a set of elements called the {{lang|ja|五大}} (''godai'', literally "five great"). These five are [[earth (classical element)|earth]], [[water (classical element)|water]], [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[wind (classical element)|wind]]/air, and [[Aether (classical element)|void]]. These came from Buddhist beliefs; the classical Chinese elements ({{lang|ja|五行}}, ''wu xing'') are also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the influential Neo-Confucianists during the [[Edo period]].',
187 => false,
188 => '*'''Earth''' represented things that were solid.',
189 => '*'''Water''' represented things that were liquid.',
190 => '*'''Fire''' represented things that destroy.',
191 => '*'''Air''' represented things that moved.',
192 => '*'''Spirit''' '''(also referred to as [[Quintessence (classical element)|Quintessence]]''') represented things not of our everyday life.',
193 => false,
194 => '==Western astrology and tarot==',
195 => '{{anchor|Elements in western astrology and tarot}}',
196 => '{{Main|astrology and the classical elements|divinatory tarot}}',
197 => 'Western [[astrology]] uses the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] in connection with [[natal chart|astrological chart]]s and [[horoscopes]]. The twelve [[Astrological signs|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] are divided into the four elements: [[Fire signs]] are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, [[Earth signs]] are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, [[Air signs]] are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and [[Water signs]] are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.',
198 => false,
199 => 'In [[divinatory tarot]], the suits of cups, swords, batons/wands, and discs/coins are said to correspond to water, air, fire, and earth respectively.',
200 => false,
201 => '==Modern==',
202 => '{{anchor|Modern elements}}',
203 => '{{See also|Chemical element#History}}',
204 => 'The [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian tradition]] and medieval [[Alchemy]] eventually gave rise to modern scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], for example, a [[History_of_the_periodic_table#Antoine-Laurent_de_Lavoisier|list of elements]] would no longer refer to classical elements.<ref>[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/lavtable.html Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)], in [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/index.html Classic Chemistry], compiled by Carmen Giunta</ref> The classical elements correspond more closely to four of the states of matter: [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]] and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]].',
205 => false,
206 => '[[Image:neon orbitals.JPG|right|thumb|300px|{{nowrap|'''1s, 2s, 2p<sub>x</sub>,2p<sub>y</sub>, and 2p<sub>z</sub>'''.}}<br>The [[Standing wave|shapes]] of the first five [[Quantum number#Traditional nomenclatures|atomic orbitals]] using [[Flavour (particle physics)#Definition|color]] to depict the [[phase (waves)|phase]] of the [[wave function]].]]Modern science recognizes classes of [[elementary particle]]s which have no substructure (or rather, particles that aren't made of other particles) and [[composite particle]]s having substructure (particles made of other particles).',
207 => false,
208 => '==See also==',
209 => '*[[Alchemy]]',
210 => '*[[Classical elements in popular culture]]',
211 => '*[[Elemental|Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)]]',
212 => '*[[Wu Xing|Five elements (Chinese ''wǔ xíng'')]]',
213 => '*[[Mahabhuta|Five elements (Hindu ''mahābhūta'') and Four elements (Buddhist ''mahābhūtāni'')]]',
214 => '*[[Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Five elements (Japanese ''godai'')]]',
215 => '*[[Arche|First principle (Pre-Socratic ''arche'' and Aristotelian substratum)]]',
216 => '*[[Qi|First principle (Chinese ''qì'' and Japanese ''ki'')]]',
217 => '*[[Prima materia|First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)]]',
218 => '*[[Periodic table|Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)]]',
219 => '*[[Philosopher's stone|Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance alchemy)]]',
220 => '*[[Phlogiston theory|Phlogiston theory (History of science)]]',
221 => '*[[Quantum mechanics|Quantum mechanics (Modern science)]]',
222 => '*[[Table of correspondences|Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)]]',
223 => false,
224 => '==References==',
225 => '{{Wikipedia books|Classical elements}} ',
226 => ';General information',
227 => '* Paul Strathern (2000). [http://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9sjTkAC Mendeleyev’s Dream – the Quest for the Elements]. New York: Berkley Books.',
228 => '* The film The Fifth Element (1997) [[The Fifth Element]] is a science fiction film focused on the "fifth element" with the other four elements referenced in the film.',
229 => ';Footnotes',
230 => '{{Reflist}}',
231 => false,
232 => '==External links==',
233 => '{{Commons category|Four elements}}',
234 => '*[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khin/wheel231.html Section on 4 elements in Buddhism]',
235 => '*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe07.htm The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World - www.sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements]',
236 => false,
237 => '{{DEFAULTSORT:Classical Element}}',
238 => '[[Category:Classical elements| ]]',
239 => '[[Category:Natural philosophy]]',
240 => '[[Category:Esoteric cosmology]]',
241 => '[[Category:History of astrology]]',
242 => '[[Category:Numerology]]',
243 => '[[Category:Technical factors of astrology]]',
244 => '[[Category:Ancient philosophy]]'
] |
Whether or not the change was made through a Tor exit node (tor_exit_node ) | 0 |
Unix timestamp of change (timestamp ) | 1380330677 |