Taiji

Another Taijitu attributed to Zhou Dun-yi. The red-colored areas are colored (whereas the traditional version leaves them white) to show that both circles represent the Taiji. The Taiji "falls into immanence" first as the Yin and Yang, and then as further levels of differentiation culminating with the myriad creatures, which are represented by the bottom circle.

:Not to be confused with T'ai Chi Ch'üan.

The Taiji (Traditional Chinese characters: 太極, the 'Supreme Ultimate'; Pinyin: tàijí; Wade-Giles: T'ai Chi; Cantonese IPA: [tɑɪ3gɪk6] Jyutping: tai3gik6; Japanese: Taikyoku; Korean: Taeguk, Taegeuk or T'aegŭk) is a Chinese concept introduced in the Zhuang Zi and so has an early connection with Taoism (pronounced "Daoism"). However, it also appears in the Xì Cí (Great Appendix) of the I Ching, (Yì Jíng or Book of Changes). The Taiji is understood to be the highest conceivable principle, that from which existence flows. In contemporary terms, the Taiji is the infinite, essential, and fundamental principle of evolutionary change that actualizes all potential states of being through the self-organizing integration of complementary existential polarities. More simply, it is the co-substantial union of yin and yang, the two opposing qualities of all things. In order for 'hot' to exist, so must 'cold'. This applies in Taoist philosophy to all such contrasting systems, including good and evil. From their mutual existence a state of dynamic equilibrium comes into being, which is the expression of the Taiji.

When Confucianism came to the fore again during the Song Dynasty, it synthesized aspects of Chinese Buddhism and Taoism, and drew them together using threads that traced back to the earliest metaphysical discussions in the appendices to the Book of Changes.

Taiji

See also