Dear cecil,
The white lions are displayed on the outside of the outside of the main gate. Why white lions are considered yang and tiger yin since both belong to the same feline family. Thanks.

Dear Anon,
Basically Dragon is Yang and it belongs to the earth element. Earth is one of the strongest elements because it always occurs in between each season.
Sorry, I like to elaborate that there are two interpretations of Tiger. Tiger belongs to the wood element.
1. Under the Four Symbolic Animal Concept,
One view is that Tiger (any tiger) but particularly a white tiger is considered Yin because it is actually the West cardinal point. (A yin location)
2. A tiger under Chinese Astrology
Here, the Tiger is a wood element and under time or two hourly timing it falls under the Yang time of 0300 to 0459 am.
It depends on what we are `talking' about.
Since, placing a statute is not constrained by just placing at West, and if it is also not a white tiger, we can use Para 2 and consider it a Yang `animal'.
However, it is not recommended to use a Tiger because it is the wood element. Between wood and `Earth', earth is `stronger'. Here, the dragon is interpreted as being a Stronger Yang animal.
No matter how, a dragon is the first choice for a `cure'.
For guarding the gate, it is advised not to use a dragon or two dragons side by side as it is considered too much Yang energy.
Other more complex theories include, for example generally too much Yin can become Yang and vice versa. This is more `advanced' Feng Shui.
For example, my elder brother's Pillars of Destiny, has too many Yin elements and therefore, becomes Yang.
As the lion is not one of the 12 animals, it is not stated it is Yang or Yin. But there are other methods to determine Yin or Yang e.g. counting of the strokes of the letters to see if comes out positive (yang) or negative(yin). (Counting strokes of Chinese characters is the common method to determine if a character is yin or yang.)

Warmest Regards,
Cecil

Quote

On 1/26/00 12:19:32 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear cecil,
The white lions are displayed
on the outside of the outside
of the main gate. Why white
lions are considered yang and
tiger yin since both belong to
the same feline family.
Thanks.