angelo Posted May 10, 2011 Hello. I would love to hear what your guys' thoughts are on how wuji differs from the Tao itself. I've been pondering it myself and I have tied my mind in many knots. Is the Tao all of creation, and Wuji is just one polarity of it? Or does all of the Tao exist in Wuji? Cheerio -∆ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted May 10, 2011 Hello. I would love to hear what your guys' thoughts are on how wuji differs from the Tao itself. I've been pondering it myself and I have tied my mind in many knots. Is the Tao all of creation, and Wuji is just one polarity of it? Or does all of the Tao exist in Wuji? Cheerio -∆ Might it be that wuji goes more to the state of the possibility of the limitless (the thing before the manifestation); whereas Dao would include all which has manifested? I'm taking a totally uneducated guess here. Would wuji possibly be describing the actual movement of the Dao in action in creating the 10,000 things? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted May 10, 2011 I also think that different concepts in Daoism refer to different possible aspects, explanations, or states of the system. I think the Daoist philosophers realized that they can't capture the reality of the thing in words and concepts (ref: 1st chapter of Dao De Jin). Nevertheless, they did come up with a (wholly inadequate but very insightful) approximation of reality that can be comprehended by the mind. So the wuji/taiji distinction is somewhat reminiscent of the Buddhist concept of dependent origination. Wuji is the void in which all things exist and out of which all things arise. Perhaps wuji is even the state that all things remain in whereas the antennae we call human senses tune in certain frequencies that creates taiji (mutual arising of complimentary opposites). Wuji is everything and nothing. It is inherently paradoxical, not meant to be entirely rational as existence is not entirely rational - thought simply expects it to be and tries to force the irrational to have a rational explanation. Dao, to me, is a more active concept. Something in motion - the way of things, the way of looking at things, the way to move through this life, etc... Ultimately it's all just words - the Daoist would suggest to just be, not think too much. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
angelo Posted May 10, 2011 (edited) Wuji --------------------------------------- Tao ------------------------------------------------------------------- Wuji ? [nothing] ---------------------------------------------[everything in between]-------------------------------------------[everything] ? Thanks for the replies. Maybe wuji is more like the source / universe / creation and Tao is the way it unfolds itself? It's totally just mental shit but Im enjoying it. Edited May 10, 2011 by angelo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
