The Yang and the Yin are the matching Chinese symbols of creation, together forming the symbol of the Tao. They correspond to the masculine and feminine principle. The masculine principle of nature is the initiator, the actor, the force for change. The feminine principle has to do with acceptance, gestation, and finally birth. It is also the force or principle of inertia, or the holding of form.
Don't get these masculine and feminine principles mixed up with our notions of men and women. These are meant to be treated as pure principles, and they exist everywhere in nature, and in men and women alike.
Here's how it works.
The world remains the same, unless it is changed. It takes a force to produce any change. However, nothing is created if there is constant change; things must take a final form before anything is created. A canvas that never dries never makes a painting. The male principle, or Yang, is the force that creates the movement; the female Yin principle is our acceptance, our willingness to forego final judgment a bit, while we work with these strange new things, then finally let them settle into usable form, and freeze them there.
The Tao symbol, the circle, represents completion. It is made up of the two principles interacting or intertwined, but with each having a spot of the other within it.
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