Wuji and Zero

[mYTHmAKER]

It occurred to me that there is a correlation between wuji and zero.

Wuji is before taiji. Before the beginning, before the formation of this universe.

This state of nothing contains everything.

In the same way the zero - nothing - contains everything 0 - 10 - 100 - 1000 - 10000 etc.

 

Therefore in relation to the 64 hexagrams of the IChing, which describe our known world,

we might refer to wu wei as zero.

 

Any thoughts.

Edited June 29, 2008 by mYTHmAKER

[Taomeow]

It occurred to me that there is a correlation between wu wei and zero.

Wu wei is before taiji. Before the beginning, before the formation of this universe.

This state of nothing contains everything.

In the same way the zero - nothing - contains everything - 10 - 100 - 1000 - 10000 etc.

 

Therefore in relation to the 64 hexagrams of the IChing, which describe our known world,

we might refer to wu wei as zero.

 

Any thoughts.

You mean wuji, right? rather than wu wei?

[Wun Yuen Gong]

Yes, just as emptiness manifest the 10,000 things! The whole reason why in Taoist meditation is to return back to the one /source and why most real Taoist meditation is only emptiness and not visualizing Micro Orbits and such. When true emptiness is attained all things will come, no need to force the Tao its best to only flow with it!

 

WYG

[xenolith]

Find the Tao after a long road, maybe find it beside the road. Probably both.

[Wun Yuen Gong]

Agree!

 

We are all one with Dao, embrace it my friends!!!!

[mYTHmAKER]

You mean wuji, right? rather than wu wei?

 

Yep my error

[.broken.]

It occurred to me that there is a correlation between wu wei and zero.

Wuji is before taiji. Before the beginning, before the formation of this universe.

This state of nothing contains everything.

In the same way the zero - nothing - contains everything 0 - 10 - 100 - 1000 - 10000 etc.

 

Therefore in relation to the 64 hexagrams of the IChing, which describe our known world,

we might refer to wu wei as zero.

 

Any thoughts.

 

Many thoughts During a period of phenomonal amounts of energy shooting up my spine I spent much time examining the origins of all that is. From what I understand, the Chinese were quite correct in their theories about existence: wuji, taiji, yin and yang, then multiplicity.

 

Wuji is in itself a mind-boggling concept. Void, nothingness, emptiness, no-thing. Everything the intellect knows is a 'something'... it is simply indescribable to the intellect no matter how hard it tries to figure it out... much like how enlightenment seems indescribable to those who aren't enlightened. In fact, the intellect turns the concept of 'nothingness' into something by making it a concept in the first place. This is one of the many times in spiritual practice we can comprehend the limitations of intelligence.

 

The etymology of the word 'zero' itself can be traced through Venetian, to Italian, to Arabic, to Sanskrit. The sanskrit word is sunya meaning empty or void. This word is in fact also part of the Buddha's teaching as sunyata, meaning emptiness or voidness. To quote wikipedia: "In the Buddha's spiritual teaching, insight into the emptiness of phenomena is an aspect of the cultivation of insight that leads to wisdom and inner peace."

 

Form is impermanent; form stems from nothingness; nothingness lies within and beyond form.

 

It is in the balancing of polarities (yin and yang) that ultimately one will begin to realise that the polarities co-exist and are ultimately the cause each other. However, behind these two polarities are two things: taiji and wuji. Taiji is simply the manifestation of wuji - comparable to how Shiva is the manifestation of Shakti, the ultimate consciousness. Wuji is the 'void' out of which taiji was manifested; zero lead to one, if you will.

 

Nothingness is the cause of all that exists because, when manifested, it is everything.

 

The Chinese had an understanding of negative numbers, zero, and positive numbers. Cleverly, they did not have a symbol for zero, however, as this would cause one to conceptualise it... As the philosophical Greeks argued, how can nothing be something? Also, it is good to note that zero is the only number that is neither positive nor negative. Zero is also considered a 'positional value' as all other values derive their value by contrasting with other numbers - zero is therefore an absolute from which all other numbers are given meaning.

 

In contrast, the number 1 was first used to describe everything (an absolute), because all is one. It was all encompassing, infinite. Unlike the glyph we use these days for this number, it was originally thought to have originated in India as a horizantal line which is how the Chinese still write it. Practically, though, this concept did not last long as it had no practical use - particularly when we developed a sense of self and trade - so it was applied to microcosmic occurances. For example, one of your concubines for one of my nymphs. Other values quickly followed, as 'one' and another 'one' make something that isn't 'one'. In particular, note that numbers have great value when it comes to a matter of ownership of objects - the drive to have more than your fellow humans - the birth of materialism.

 

Yours humbly,

James

Edited June 29, 2008 by .broken.