What is Taiyi 太一?

Taiyi belongs to the category of ancient philosophy. In ancient China, "Tai" (太) was also written as "Da" (大) or "Tai" (泰), and "Yi" (一) could also be written as "Yi" (乙). "Tai" refers to the earliest and highest, while "Yi" denotes uniqueness without opposition and unity without differentiation.

Zhuangzi·Tianxia states that Laozi's doctrine "takes Taiyi as its core". Here, "Taiyi" is what Laozi called "Dao" (the Way), also referred to as "Wu" (Non-being). In Lüshi Chunqiu (Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals), "Taiyi" refers to the material origin of the world. Lüshi Chunqiu·Dayue (Great Music) says: "Dao is the most essential; it has no form, no name. If we must name it, we call it Taiyi." This "most essential" "Dao" or "Taiyi" is also "Jingqi" (essential qi), i.e., the fine primitive substance.

In The Book of Rites, Taiyi also refers to primordial qi. The Book of Rites·Liyun (On the Operation of Rites) states: "Rites must originate from Taiyi, which divides into heaven and earth, transforms into yin and yang, changes into the four seasons, and manifests as ghosts and spirits." Kong Yingda, a renowned Confucian scholar of the Tang Dynasty, believed that "Taiyi" here refers to "the undifferentiated primordial qi before heaven and earth separated".

The proposal of the category "Taiyi" reflects ancient Chinese philosophers' understanding of the unity of the world and the process of things developing from simplicity to complexity, and from lower to higher levels.