What is the Lesser One in Taoism? 道教中 小一 是指什么

The Small Unity refers to the infinitesimal in the cosmos—that is, viewing the universe from the perspective of the infinitely small.

It appears in Zhuangzi · Under Heaven: “Among the propositions on things: ‘That which is infinitely great, with nothing outside it, is called the Great Unity; that which is infinitely small, with nothing inside it, is called the Small Unity.’”

What is the Lesser One in Taoism?

Huishi used this thesis to demonstrate the infinity of the cosmos. All things in the universe can be abstracted to the extreme from two directions: “great” and “small”. The Small Unity constitutes the opposite pole of the cosmos, characterized by “having no interior”.

As the infinitesimal of the cosmos, it is so small that it has no interior and cannot be further divided. The concepts of the Great Unity and the Small Unity raise the question of the relativity and mutability of things and their concepts. Yet by reducing both “the infinitely great” and “the infinitely small” to “Unity”, the magnitudes of cosmic space become relative: all things are small in comparison with the The Dao, and great in comparison with the Small Unity.

In this way, the qualitative differences and relative stability among things are dissolved. However, “having nothing outside” and “having nothing inside” at the same time function as boundaries, leading to a theory of the finitude of the cosmos. This is a core cosmological concept within Taoism.