What is the Great Simplicity in Taoism? 什么是太易
Paul PengWhat is the Great Simplicity in Taoism?
It refers to the stage or state of "no vital energy yet manifesting" in the process of cosmic evolution, essentially the primal chaotic state of the universe.
Yi Wei·Qian Zao Du (The Secret of the Dragon's Work in the I Ching Apocrypha) states: "All that has form is born from the formless; thus there is Taiyi, where no vital energy is yet manifest." Liezi·Tian Ruo (The Heavenly Omens) records: "There is Taiyi, there is Taichu, there is Taishi, there is Taisu. Taiyi is the state where no vital energy is yet manifest."
What is the Great Simplicity in Taoism?
Later Taoism inherited the predecessors' concepts of Taiyi, using it to denote the earliest stage in the cosmic evolution—the stage of "no vital energy yet manifesting". Volume 67 of Dao Fa Hui Yuan (The Compendium of Taoist Methods) says: "The beginning when the single vital energy has not yet sprouted is Taiyi. Taiyi is the state where Yin and Yang have not yet transformed, the great void is vast and boundless, with no light, no form, no shape, no name, silent and sparse—this is called Taiyi. Taiyi is the origin of the divine, where no vital energy is yet manifest." Wen Chang Da Dong Xian Jing (The Supreme Pervasive Immortal Scripture of Wen Chang) states: "The Supreme True Vital Energy of the Nine Emperors, inscribed with the Heavenly Stems Ren and Zi, generates the primary water of Heaven and Earth to form Taiyi, the state where the primordial Qi has not yet revealed itself."
