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New Compiled and Illustrated Expanded Encyclopedia of Categorized Matters: Forest of Affairs, Volume 1

Category: Astronomy

—— The Supreme Ultimate —— Astronomy

Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate

Before Heaven and Earth existed, the state of chaos was like a chicken’s egg. The vast mists began to stir, and the primordial soup began to divide. These phrases describe the Hundun (chaos) and Hongmeng (primordial world), traditional metaphors for the undifferentiated state of the universe before the creation of the world. The Record of the Five Virtues original: "Wude Ji" (五德記) says: The primordial life-force of the Supreme Ultimateoriginal: "Taiji" (太極). The fundamental source and guiding principle of the universe in Neo-Confucian philosophy. contains three elements within one. "Ultimate" refers to the center; "Primordial" refers to the beginning. This is derived from Master Zhou’s original: "Zhouzi" (周子). Referring to Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073), the philosopher who famously used this diagram to explain how the universe evolved from a single point of nothingness into the complex world we see. treatise on the Supreme Ultimate.

Yang in motion Yin in stillness

Fire Water

Earth

Wood Metal

The Way of the Creative forms the male The Way of the Receptive forms the female

original: "Qian" (乾) and "Kun" (坤). These represent the two fundamental hexagrams of the I Ching (Book of Changes), embodying the active masculine and passive feminine principles that drive creation.

The myriad things are transformed and born