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| Taiji | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 太極 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 太极 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Supreme pole/goal" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Thái cực | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 太極 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 태극 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 太極 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 太極 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kana | たいきょく | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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InChinese philosophy,taiji (Chinese:太極;pinyin:tàijí;Wade–Giles:tʻai chi;trans. "supreme ultimate") is acosmological state of the universe and its affairs on all levels, including the mutually reinforcing interactions between the two opposing forces ofyin and yang, (adualistic monism),[1][2] as well as that among theThree Treasures, the fourcardinal directions, and theFive Elements—which together ultimately bring about the myriad things, each with their own nature. Thetaiji concept has reappeared throughout the technological, religious, and philosophical history of theSinosphere, finding concrete application in techniques developed inacupuncture andtraditional Chinese medicine.
Taiji (太極) is acompound oftai (太 'great', 'supreme') andji (極 'pole', 'extremity'). Used together,taiji may be understood as 'source of the world'. Common English translations oftaiji in the cosmological sense include "Supreme Ultimate",[3] "Supreme Pole",[4] and "Great Absolute".[5]
Scholars Zhang and Ryden explain theontological necessity oftaiji.
Any philosophy that asserts two elements such as theyin-yang of Chinese philosophy will also look for a term to reconcile the two, to ensure that both belong to the same sphere of discourse. The term 'supreme ultimate' performs this role in the philosophy of theBook of Changes. In the Song dynasty it became a metaphysical term on a par withthe Way.[6]
Taiji is understood to be the highest conceivable principle from which existence flows. This is very similar to theDaoist idea "reversal is the movement of the Dao". The "supreme ultimate" creates yang and yin. Movement generates yang, and when its activity reaches its limit, it becomes tranquil. Through tranquility the supreme ultimate generates yin. When tranquility has reached its limit, there is a return to movement. Movement and tranquility, in alternation, become each the source of the other. The distinction between the yin and yang is determined and the two forms (that is, the yin and yang) stand revealed. By the transformations of the yang and the union of the yin, the 4 directions then the 5 phases (wuxing) of wood, fire, earth, metal and water.[citation needed]
Taiji is often translated as "polar", with polarity, revealing opposing features as in expanding/contracting, rising/falling, clockwise/ anticlockwise. However,taiji has sometimes been thought of as amonistic concept similar towuji, as in theWujitu diagram.[7]Wuji literally translates as "withoutroof pole", but means without limit, polarity, and/or opposite. Compared withwuji,taiji describes movement and change wherein limits do arise. Whilewuji is undifferentiated, timeless, absolute, infinite potential,taiji is often wrongly portrayed as conflictual, differentiated and dualistic, where as the core to this philosophy is their harmonious, relative and complementary natures.[citation needed]
Yin and yang are reflections and originate fromwuji to becometaiji.[citation needed]
The Daoist classicZhuangzi introduced thetaiji concept. One of the (ca. 3rd century BCE) "Inner Chapters" contraststaiji (here translated as "zenith") with theliuji (六極).Liuji literally means "six ultimates; sixcardinal directions", but here it is translated as "nadir".
The Way has attributes and evidence, but it has no action and no form. It may be transmitted but cannot be received. It may be apprehended but cannot be seen. From the root, from the stock, before there was heaven or earth, for all eternity truly has it existed. It inspirits demons and gods, gives birth to heaven and earth. It lies above the zenith but is not high; it lies beneath the nadir but is not deep. It is prior to heaven and earth, but is not ancient; it is senior to high antiquity, but it is not old.[8]
The 2nd century BCEHuainanzi mentions azhenren ("true person; perfected person") and thetaiji that transcends categories likeyin and yang, exemplified with thefusui andfangzhu mirrors.
Thefu-sui夫煫 (burning mirror) gathers fire energy from the sun; thefang-chu方諸 (moon mirror) gathers dew from the moon. What are [contained] between Heaven and Earth, even an expert calculator cannot compute their number. Thus, though the hand can handle and examine extremely small things, it cannot lay hold of the brightness [of the sun and moon]. Were it within the grasp of one's hand (within one's power) to gather [things within] one category from the Supreme Ultimate (t'ai-chi太極) above, one could immediately produce both fire and water. This is becauseYin andYang share a commonch'i and move each other.[9]
Taiji also appears in theXici, a commentary to theI Ching. It is traditionally attributed toConfucius but more likely dates to about the 3rd century BCE.[10]
Therefore there is in the Changes the Great Primal Beginning. This generates the two primary forces. The two primary forces generate the four images. The four images generate the eight trigrams. The eight trigrams determine good fortune and misfortune. Good fortune and misfortune create the great field of action.[11]
This sequence ofpowers of two includestaiji → yin and yang (two polarities) →Sixiang (Four Symbols) →Bagua (eight trigrams).
The fundamental postulate is the "great primal beginning" of all that exists,t'ai chi – in its original meaning, the "ridgepole". Later Indian philosophers devoted much thought to this idea of a primal beginning. A still earlier beginning,wu chi, was represented by the symbol of a circle. Under this conception,t'ai chi was represented by the circle divided into the light and the dark, yang and yin,
. This symbol has also played a significant part in India and Europe. However, speculations of a Gnostic-dualistic character are foreign to the original thought of theI Ching; what it posits is simply the ridgepole, the line. With this line, which in itself represents oneness, duality comes into the world, for the line at the same time posits an above and a below, a right and left, front and back – in a word, the world of the opposites.[12]
In theNeo-Confucianism philosophy that developed during theSong dynasty,taiji was viewed "as amicrocosm equivalent to the structure of the human body."[13] The Song-era philosopherZhou Dunyi (1017-1073 CE) wrote theTaijitushuo (太極圖說) "Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate", which became the cornerstone of Neo-Confucianist cosmology. Zhou's brief text synthesized aspects ofChinese Buddhism and Daoism with the metaphysical discussions in theI Ching. Zhou's opening lines are:
Non-polar (wuji) and yet Supreme Polarity (taiji)![a] The Supreme Polarity[b] in activity generatesyang; yet at the limit of activity it is still. In stillness it generatesyin; yet at the limit of stillness it is also active. Activity and stillness alternate; each is the basis of the other. In distinguishingyin andyang, the Two Modes are thereby established. The alternation and combination ofyang andyin generate water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. With these five [phases of]qi harmoniously arranged, the Four Seasons proceed through them. TheFive Phases are simplyyin andyang;yin andyang are simply the Supreme Polarity; the Supreme Polarity is fundamentally Non-polar. [Yet] in the generation of the Five Phases, each one has its nature.[15]
The martial art tai chi draws heavily on Chinese philosophy, especially the concept of thetaiji. TheChinese name of tai chi,taijiquan, literally translates as "taiji boxing" or "taiji fist".[16] Early tai chi masters such asYang Luchan promoted the connection between their martial art and the concept of thetaiji.[17][18][19][20] The twenty-fourth chapter of the "Forty Chapter" tai chi classic thatYang Banhou gave toWu Quanyou says the following about the connect between tai chi and spirituality:
If the essence of material substances lies in their phenomenological reality, then the presence of the ontological status of abstract objects shall become clear in the final culmination of the energy that is derived from oneness and the Real. How can man learn this truth? By truly seeking that which is the shadow of philosophy and the charge of all living substances, that of the nature of the divine.[citation needed]
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