Center for Buddhist Studies

Wood Element (shing)

• One of the five elements according to the system of elemental divination. The wood element is symbolised by a green tree, numerically represented by the number one, and located in the east of the turtle divination chart, along with the trigram Zin, the tiger and hare signs, Jupiter and the six eastern constellations. Wood is described as growing straight and unright, and its function is one of lightness and mobility, inherent in a diet of fruit and cooked vegetables, while within the body it is represented by the blood-vessels, nerves, and liver. Socially, wood relates to the priestly class, the kingly type, and to paternal uncles. If the hour of a person's birth is governed by the wood destiny element, it is predicted that he or she will be an aristocrat, though possibly without heirs, tall in stature, long-haired, and with enemies in the west and friends in the east. Vocally, wood is said to cause velar and guttural sounds to be articulated, and those with a preponderance of wood may characteristically have bald-headedness or goitre. In cases of ill-health an imbalance of wood is indicated by the agitation of plague causing spirits (gnyan) and malign goblins (the'u brang), and by paralysis of the nervous system. GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)