What is the Great Void in Taoism? 什么是太虚
Paul PengWhat is the Great Void in Taoism?
The term originates from Zhuangzi·Knowing the North Tour: "Thus, one does not pass beyond Kunlun, nor roam in Taixu", where "Taixu" refers to the vast and boundless firmament.
However, Cheng Xuanying of the Tang Dynasty interpreted it as "the profound and abstruse principle" in his Annotations on the Zhuangzi, a connotation closely related to the essence of The Dao.
What is the Great Void in Taoism?
Zhang Zai adopted it as a philosophical term and elaborated on Taixu significantly, regarding it as an invisible, pure and empty state of Qi: "Taixu is none other than Qi."Pure and empty yet not non-existent, heaven, earth, all things and humans are all transformed from Qi, which also serves as the noumenon of all beings. The rise and fall of Qi follow the law of Yin and Yang. In Zhengmeng·Harmony of the Supreme: "Taixu cannot be without Qi; Qi cannot but converge to form all things; all things cannot but disperse to return to Taixu." This is a cyclical movement, where Taixu, Qi and all things are different states of the same material entity.
