The Simplest Concept Demands the Deepest Exploration

The origins of creation are explained by every culture. Whether it’s described as emanating from a creator or merely the arising of existence, creation emerges from a pre-creative impulse. The visible ebb and flow of form emanates from an invisible impulse. That same impulse gives birth to life, as we know it. Existence arises with contrasts. In an undifferentiated state, everything and nothing are the same. Only when distinction arises can you perceive what is. You might even call it the "God" factor. Words, however eloquent, cannot describe the indescribable.

In Chinese antiquity, the all-in-all is called Tao with the understanding that it cannot be named. Tao is the nameless, formless essence. It includes both existence and non-existence. Prior to existence, what might be called non-existence or undifferentiated chaos is named "Wuji." In Taijiquan, Wuji is both the stillness prior to movement and the stillness contained within movement. Tao is most often translated as the "Way" or "Path." The philosophy of Tao, known as Taoism, is a method for giving a handle to describe, explore, and understand the universe.

The Universe is Born

According to a Taoist description, creation originates with the principle that manifestation arises when the limitless, indefinable formless takes form, when stillness shifts into motion, when light illuminates the dark, when time closes the past and opens to the future—whenever the first distinction arises. The word to describe this initial manifestation is: Taiji—the birth of existence.

Taiji is made up of two distinct and interdependent opposites known as Yin and Yang. The universe's one constant is change, and so it is that Yin is always changing to Yang and Yang to Yin. Pure Yang is called creative. Pure Yin is known as receptive. The two need one another to exist even though they are opposites. What's more, within the most extreme version of Yin there lurks a tiny portion of Yang. And vice-versa. Yin/Yang involves the interplay between its diametrically opposite qualities. In this interplay, all possibilities can transpire.

The Power of Two

How do you progress from utter simplicity of two to the infinite possibilities? In the Yin/Yang theory, progress happens in a step-by-step progression. Like the cellular division from conception to the birth of a child. At conception two cells unite into one. Each cell brings half the necessary DNA for a new independent life. Once conjoined, the cells begin to multiply. Two divides into four. Four divides into eight, into sixteen and so on. Essentially each extension advances the number of divisions by a power of two. In the early phase of pregnancy, the cells haven’t differentiated. They are known as embryonic stem cells. About the time eight cells have formed, differentiation begins. The two became one. The one (Wuji) divided into two (Taiji) making up Yin and Yang. Then Yin divides in two. You have the former Yin (Greater Yin) and the latter Yin (Lesser Yin). Yang also divides into two, so that you now have four. These two pairs of Yin and Yang can combine into four possible variations. Two squared is four. When four divides, it becomes eight. Now that there are three pairs, the number of combinations is eight. Eight can be expressed as two to the third power.

Limits define life. Birth and death are its boundaries. You perceive using five senses. Your emotions—joy, fear, sadness, anger, etc., are universal and specific. Your body exists in time and space. At the same time there is the limitless within which everything exists.

Bagua: The Eight Symbols

In the world there are certain fundamentals that define the formation of matter and how aspects of it interact. The three pairs combine into eight trigrams known as Bagua. Bagua contains eight symbols that represent enduring, interrelated qualities or concepts about existence on earth.

Elemental things like fire and water are essential ingredients to existence on the earth. Certain geologic formations, such as mountains and lakes, make up the planet. Movements such as wind and thunder elicit changes in conditions. Functional principles, such as creativity and receptivity, are embedded into the fabric of the universe.

The attributes of the Bagua’s eight concepts distinguish fundamental differences that combine to form all that is. Taoists have a different way of describing the make-up of universe than western scientists do. Chemistry identifies different elements; physics follows laws; biology traces function; similarly, Taoism subdivides the complexity of the knowable universe into the different characteristics of core elements.

Eight variations is a considerable number. Music has the octave. On its side the Arabic number 8 is the sign for infinity. In navigation, eight directions define the compass. From the martial point of view, the maximum number of people that can attack a single person at one time is eight.

In Taijiquan, the Bagua describes the core expressions of energy: expansive (Peng), Condensing (Lu), Piercing (Ji), Compressing (An), Plucking (Tsai), Splitting (Lieh), Elbowing (Jou), and Bumping (Kao).

Sixty-four: Yin/Yang and Computer Technology

Computer technology starts with two states: on or off. This binary system makes it possible for computers to perform into increasingly complex tasks. Today, computers and mobile devices use 64-bit processors, a number that interestingly corresponds to the 64 hexagrams that make up I Ching, The Book of Changes.

Eight squared equals sixty-four. Sixty-four equals two to the sixth power. Combinations of six pairs of Yin (broken lines) or Yang (solid lines) form the hexagrams of the I Ching. Their possible combinations equal sixty-four. And since the I Ching is The Book of Changes, each hexagram can transform into any other hexagram. Changes are expressed when one or more lines change from broken to solid or from solid to broken thus increasing the variations to 64 squared or 4,096 permutations.

What Taoism endeavors to comprehend is how to blend with the rhythms and manifestations of Nature. The reason for it being known as The Book of Changes is that Nature's constant is change.