Overview
- The Earliest Known Explanation of Tàijí
- Tàijí as Energy
The Earliest Known Explanation of Tàijí
Tài, 太, means, “highest; greatest, extremely.” It combines the ideogram for “big” and adds an extra dot to emphasize the biggest. Jí, 極, means “extremely; utmost; top.” The ideogram, shows the sign for tree, 木, on the left, and 亟, a depiction of a person, 人, struggling between two extremes, 二, with mouth, 口, and hand, 又. Simply put, Tàijí means the greatest extreme. The word implies the totality of the full extent of all phenomena.
The earliest known use of the term Tàijí comes from the Yìjīng (I Ching; Book of Change; dates from before eleventh century BCE). This means that the idea of Tàijí was in use centuries earlier before it was borrowed as the name of a boxing system. Here is the passage in the Yijing:
“Change has Tàijí. It generates the Two Forms. The two forms generate the Four Images. The Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams set good and bad fortune. Good and bad fortune produce the Great Undertaking.”
—Yijing, “Great Treatise” I, 11
Absorbing the wisdom of these lines is of great importance, so let’s look at them more closely.
Change, yì, 易 Everything is change. From the smallest atomic particle to the largest galaxy, everything is constantly changing. It might be movement, it might be alteration of shape, it might be growth or decay, but all is change.
Tàijí, 太極 “Change has Tàijí.” That means that the change can be comprehended. One way to think of Tàijí is that it is everything. When we look at an alternate translation, Grand Limits, it isn’t the limit we should scrutinize. It’s the idea that all is contained and can be categorized within Tàijí. In particular, that way of categorization is binary.
Two Forms, liǎngyì, 兩意 The dictionary defines liǎng yì as “heaven and earth,” and “yīn and yáng.” Tàijí encompasses everything in existence. It can be further divided by grouping phenomena according to yīn or yáng.
Four Images, sìxiàng, 四象 These are the four possible combinations of yīn and yáng: yīn and yáng; yīn with yīn , yáng with yáng, and yáng and yīn .
Eight Trigrams, bāguà, 八卦These are the eight symbols of the Yijing. Each one is a combination of yīn and yáng lines, representing the eight possible (23) ways to combine the binary forms of yīn and yáng.
Good and bad fortune, jíxiōng, 吉凶 This means whether we experience favorable or unfavorable events. Whenever there’s a disaster, people often ask why. This shows that we try to place the events in our lives into some sort of understandable scheme.
Great undertaking, dàyè, 大業 The great undertaking is us getting on with our lives. Interestingly enough, yè, 業, also means “karma” in Buddhism.
These ideas are summarized in the illustration below.
Tàijí as Energy
Another valuable concept of what Tàijí means is: “Tàijí is the origin of qi .” (Book of Han, “Luliji, 1”)
That means that qigong is integral to Tàijíquán, and that Tàijíquán not only circulates our energy, but it integrates us with the cosmic energy of heaven and earth. Where the Yijing gives us philosophical analysis, this line from the Book of Han points out the physical aspect of Tàijí. That fits with a revealing text from the Liezi. It also begins from the point of view of change, yi, 易, then leads into a discussion of energy, or qi, 氣.
“The ancient sages said that heaven and earth were controlled by yīn and yáng, and that form came from the formless. So where did heaven and earth come from?
“There was a great transformation (易). There was a great origin. There was a great beginning. There was a great root.
“Before the great transformation, there was no energy (氣) yet. Then came the great origin and the beginning of energy (氣). That great beginning produced great form. That led to the great root—and the start of all matter. . . .
“Change has no form or limit. Change and transformation are one. A single change leads to seven. A change of seven leads to nine. Investigating further into a change of nine, we return again to the fact that all is one transformation. In that one transformation comes form, change—and beginning. . .
“Pouring force, harmonized into subtle energy, becomes people. Thus heaven and earth contain all the essence and all things develop and flourish.”
—Liezi, “Heavenly Fortune,”
When we practice Tàijíquán, we re-enact this entire sequence.
Diagram of Taiji, 1623
Zhang Huang (1527–1608)
Woodblock, ink on paper
26.3 × 15.5 cm
The University of Chicago Library, East Asian Collection
The illustration is an earlier, more elaborate version of the yīn-yáng symbol. Similar diagrams depict a celestial map of days and nights throughout a year with the solstices and equinoxes being the four cardinal points of the circle. The eight ideographs around the rim are the names of the Eight Trigrams of the Yijing.