Wake Forest University
Patrick Edwin Moran
Traditional:
火中有黑，陽中陰也；水外黑洞洞地，而中卻明者，陰中
之陽也。故水謂之陽，火謂之陰，亦得。
伯羽。
Simplified
火中有黑，阳中阴也；水外黑洞洞地，而中却明者，阴中
之阳也。故水谓之阳，火谓之阴，亦得。
伯羽。
big5:
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]CGפAפAoC
BСC
GB:
кڣҲˮڶأȴߣ
֮Ҳˮν֮ν֮á
Translation:
In the center of fire there is blackness, and that is the yin within yang.
On the outside, water it black as a cave, and yet there is brightness within it, that is the
yang that is within yin. So it is also correct to say that water is yang
and that fire is yin.
Bo-yu
Commentary:
If you light a wooden kitchen match and look at the flame from the side, you will notice that the volume nearest the head and shaft of the match is clear (or "black" if the background is dark), around that layer is a layer of blue flame, which is the hottest part of the flame, but which does not give out as much visible light as the outer layer. The outer layer is bright yellow. This phenomenon explains Zhu Xi's first idea, that there is blackness in the center of a flame. Large volumes of water absorb light. In addition, their bottoms and/or sides may be dark, and so absorb even more light. So, seen from a distance, a pond or a well will generally appear dark. When the surface appears bright, it will generally be easy to tell that light is reflecting off the surface of the water. On the other hand, sometimes a beam of light will be observed by the light it scatters as it penetrates into the depths, and sometimes light will be refracted or reflected by something within the water and so may appear to the observer to be originating in the water.
Most of what has been recorded in the Zhu Zi Yu-lei so far has been the idea that yin and yang are two phases of a single cycle. Sometimes another idea appears in Chinese philosophy, the idea of the intercourse between Heaven and Earth (conceived as "emblems" of Yin and Yang). But in this passage we see another kind of duality, a duality between the inside and the outside of something. He seems to be making some kind of analogy according to which the inside of the flame is to the outside of the flame as the warm half of the year is to the cold half of the year. But the analogy seems to be very strained.
) -- PEM