What is Dao-Qi in Taoism? 什么是道气
Paul PengWhat is Dao-Qi in Taoism?
Dao Qi is a pair of concepts used by Taoism to explain its theory of cosmic creation. The Daoist theory of the relation between Dao and Qi originated with Laozi.
Dao De Jing states:
“The Dao produces the One; the One produces the Two; the Two produces the Three; the Three produces all things.”
It is generally understood that the Dao is the nameless, formless, undifferentiated totality.
What is Dao-Qi in Taoism?
The Dao differentiates itself or internally generates the “One,” which is the unified Qi.
Scripture of Great Peace teaches:
All things begin from Primordial Qi;
Heaven, Earth, and the eight directions all receive this Qi to come into being.
Primordial Qi is dim and spontaneous, coalescing into unity called Heavenly One;
dividing to produce Yin and form Earth, called the Two;
Heaven above and Earth below, with Yin and Yang uniting to bring forth humans, called the Three.
The three systems arise together and nurture all things.
Primordial Qi and the derived Qi of Heaven, Earth, Yin, and Yang all possess intention.
Yang Qi “loves life”; Yin Qi “loves killing”;
when they combine, all things are generated.
Primordial Qi is born from the Dao.
Commentary on Laozi by Xiang’er develops the Dao‑Qi relation along another line:
The Dao is the One, a personal God beyond Heaven and Earth.
The One disperses its form to become Qi,
and gathers its form to become the Supreme Lord Lao,
who always governs Kunlun.
It is sometimes called non‑being, sometimes spontaneity, sometimes the nameless.
Later generations of Taoists mostly elaborated the Dao‑Qi relation through philosophical reasoning.
Wu Yun, On the Essentials of the Mystery, says:
“The Dao is the True One.
Before the Great Void, there was only silence and emptiness;
the subtle essence stirred, and the True One arose.
The True One moves spirit, and Primordial Qi transforms spontaneously.
Primordial Qi is being within non‑being, non‑being within being;
vast beyond measure, subtle beyond perception;
gradually becoming manifest as misty vapor, boundless and indistinct;
the beginnings of all phenomena appear here.
The clear, pure, and bright Qi floats upward to become Heaven;
the turbid, heavy, and obscure Qi accumulates to become Earth.”
Du Guangting held:
The Dao is Qi, also known as Essence Qi or Primordial Qi.
The Dao is originally formless and cannot be named;
it is the Void Qi, the ancestor of chaos, the origin of Heaven and Earth,
capable of being and non‑being, embracing all heaven and earth.
Chen Jingyuan, Annotations on Laozi, states:
Emptiness produces spontaneity;
spontaneity produces the Dao;
the Dao produces the One Qi;
the One Qi transforms to give rise to things.
The Dao is emptiness of emptiness, non‑being of non‑being, spontaneity of spontaneity;
chaotic and utterly without being, dark and still, deep and penetrating,
beyond name or description.
Yet in its dynamic emergence and transformation, it is called the Undifferentiated, namely the One.
The Undifferentiated One Qi separates to produce the three Qi of Clear, Turbid, and Harmonious,
which become the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.
Once the Three Powers are established, all things come into being.
Internal Alchemy adopts the Taoist cosmic creation theory as the foundation of its cultivation doctrine, and incorporates explanations of the Dao‑Qi relation.
Zhang Boduan, Understanding Reality, writes:
“From the Void, the Dao gives birth to the One Qi;
from the One Qi come Yin and Yang;
Yin and Yang unite to form the Three Bodies;
the Three Bodies regenerate to make all things flourish.”
The sequence from the Dao producing Qi to all things is the forward process of the cosmos.
The secret of attaining immortality through internal alchemy lies in “reversal”:
refining form into Qi, refining Qi into spirit, refining spirit back to emptiness,
returning to the origin and uniting with the Dao, thereby achieving eternal life and immortality.
