Taiji

The 'Supreme Ultimate' or 'Great Pivot' in Chinese philosophy — the ultimate source and ground of all reality from which yin and yang arise. First articulated in the Yijing (I Ching) and systematically developed by Song dynasty Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhou Dunyi (周敦颐), Taiji is the undifferentiated unity that precedes the division into yin and yang, the 'ten thousand things,' and the entire phenomenal world. Zhou Dunyi's Taijitu (太极图 — 'Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate') visually represents this cosmology: from Nonpolar (Wuji) comes Taiji, from Taiji comes yin-yang, and from their interaction comes all existence.

Within the vast Chinese philosophical tradition, from the Hundred Schools of Thought to the classical texts that shaped East Asian civilization, Taiji represents a key concept that continues to inform philosophical thought and practice today.