What is the Infinite in Taoism? 什么是无极

The boundless and limitless spatial realm.

The term originates from Chapter 28 of the Dao De Jing: "Be the model of the world, and your constant virtue will know no error, returning to Wuji." Here, Wuji describes the great The Dao where all things return to their origin, meaning infinite and boundless.

What is the Infinite in Taoism?

Zhuangzi·Free and Easy Wandering states: "Beyond the boundless, there is still the boundless", referring to the endless expanse of space. Taoism extended and evolved Wuji into a doctrinal concept with multiple meanings. He Shang Gong's Annotations on the Laozi expounded health cultivation theories through Wuji: if one can be the model of the world, constant virtue will abide in one's self, never to be lost, thus attaining longevity and eternal vision, and returning the body to the infinite and boundless. Later Taoist practitioners of Internal Alchemy mostly based their practice on this, regarding Wuji as the supreme goal of cultivation.

Xiang'er's Annotations on the Laozi interpreted Laozi's teaching of "knowing white and keeping black" as follows: essence is white, the kidney is black; storing essence in the kidney is called keeping black. Those who practice the methods of the Xuan Nu Jing and Rong Chengzi all borrow from outside the self, going against the ancestral Dao. Knowing white and keeping black, storing essence and abiding in the self, cutting off delusions and closing down random thoughts, and ultimately attaining the state of "Great Wuji" leads to immortality.

In the Tang Dynasty, scholars mostly discussed Wuji from a philosophical perspective. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's Imperial Commentary on the Dao De Jing regarded Wuji as the function of the Dao; knowing white and keeping black was called the complete virtue, the true and constant virtue. Responding to all things and acting without error ensures never being depleted or exhausted. Cheng Xuanying considered Wuji to be the Dao itself: if one constantly abandons brightness and keeps black, one's virtue will know no error, attaining the pure and empty realm and returning to the ultimate Dao.

In the early Song Dynasty, Chen Tuan's Diagram of Wuji integrated alchemy with cosmic evolution. The diagram, read from bottom to top, illustrates the alchemical method of reversal: first refining essence into Qi, then refining Qi into spirit, and finally refining spirit back to emptiness, returning to Wuji. Through these three stages, one can reproduce the entire process of cosmic generation and transformation, reaching the supreme realm of transcendence and immortality. This realm is called "Void" or "Perfect Brightness", represented by the symbol "O", signifying Wuji. Later internal alchemy classics mostly followed this theory, which was also absorbed by Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty.