五行의 원시적 배속과 상호관계 - 『左傳』과 『國語』를 중심으로

Abstract

In this paper, based on previous studies, the primitive assignment and interrelationships of the five elements reflected in the representative literature of the Spring and Autumn period were reviewed. First, the relationship between yin and yang and the five elements in the spring and autumn period basically contains the characteristics of two contrasting and interconnected categories: time and space, and sky and earth. Interestingly, according to the literature, “five directions” (space) and “four times” (time) are associated with "heaven" (yin and yang) or “earth” (five elements). This can be evaluated as a clue to the combination of yin and yang and the five elements. Second, the distribution of the five elements in the Spring and Autumn Period is materialized in terms of content and form when compared with the content shown in “Shangseo Hongbeom”, and it contains almost everything refiected in Guanzi and Lushichunqiu. In particular, since the distribution of the five elements is also linked to the “right and left”, “disease” and “five organs” of the human body, it is worthy of evaluation as providing a clue to the establishment of the later “Huandi Neijing” Third, although not all terms are explicitly shown in the interrelationships of the five elements in the Spring and Autumn Period, the so-called “creation order”, “intergrowh”, and “mutual decrease” relationships of later generations are all implied. In addition, there is a tendency to deny harmonious mutual relations in political institutions and fixed mutual relations in special situations such as war. This suggests that the categories and interrelationships of the classification of all things can be replaced or superior and inferior according to time and space. In short, the consistent characteristics reflected in the data on the distribution and interrelationships of the five elements in the spring and autumn period came from realistic needs such as politics and war. This is thought to have had a direct or indirect influence on the “Theory of Relations between Heaven and Humanity” of the Hundred Schools in the Warring States period, including Confucianism.