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Wuji–Ultimate Emptiness

Wuji first appeared in the Daodejing, symbolizing the emptiness of words and the limitations of Intellectual knowing. For Laozi, psychological identity occurred through a connection to the infinite, returning to one’s nature and the primordial universe before taiji, the oneness before duality. The ancient Chinese meaning of the ultimate emptiness is space beyond the senses, invisible, the “One” that is nameless between matter and spirit. The empty circle symbolizes wuji and one’s true nature. The symbol reminds us that to seek one’s nature, one needs to be like an empty circle, connected to the infinite and the “One,” an experience beyond words but part of the natural order. Words can never define the true nature of an individual.

Wuji (無極)) -“No polarity.” It is the “One”. It is sometimes considered a state of chaos; it is undivided, whole, a state where everything is mixed. This potential, undifferentiated primordial state

Subsequently, a movement akin to a breath, an inhale and exhale, manifested within the undifferentiated substance. This movement represented the primordial Qi/Breath. The Taiji (太極), often translated as the “Supreme Ultimate,” symbolizes an expanding universe as the energy field spirals outward, oscillating in a spiral motion. Taiji comprises the characters tai 太 “great; grand; supreme; extreme” and ji 極 “pole; roof ridge; highest/utmost point; extreme; earth’s pole.”

The lighter transparent Qi rises, and the heavier opaque Qi sinks down, creating the polarity of Heaven and Earth. Heaven is yang, and Earth is yin.