Taoism’s Theory of the Creation of the Universe
There are three ultimate questions in the Eastern and Western philosophical systems: who am I, where do I come from, and where does my life go? On the surface, this is to explore the meaning of life. If you want to ask more macroscopically, the “I” here can represent all substances and existences in the past and present, four dimensions, and the extension of the meaning of life is the origin and return of the universe. place.
How did the universe come into being? Whether it is the creation theory, the big bang theory, or other viewpoints, after repeated scrutiny, you will find that there are places that cannot be justified. So, according to Taoism, how was our universe born?
Taoism believes that the universe is formed by the evolution of “Tao”. The Taoist “Chang Qing Jing Jing” said: “The great way is formless, it gives birth to the heaven and the earth; the great way is ruthless, it runs the sun and the moon; the great way is nameless, it grows all things.”
Dao generates all things, this is the most basic view of the creation of the universe in Taoism, and Tao not only generates and transforms all things, but also is contained in all things at the same time.
It is written in the “Wen Shi Jing”: “There is nothing that is not heaven, there is nothing that is not fate, there is nothing that is not god, and there is nothing that is not mysterious.” Here, heaven, destiny, god, and mystery are collectively called ” road”.
That is to say, everything in the world contains Taoism, and Tao is an existence that transcends time and space.
Then, some people also ask, what was the state of the world before Tao biochemical all things?
Taoism once described: the universe was in a state of chaos and chaos at the beginning, without beginning and end, all things were mixed into one, and life was attributed to one Qi, and all things had no obvious individual differences in the deep and diffuse.
Boundless, without inside and outside, without contradiction, without confusion, without birth and death, without right and wrong, without clear and turbid high and low, without four-dimensional up and down.
Hongmeng rotates on its own, all kinds of things are silent, keep a low profile, wisdom does not come out, only a little spiritual light and wisdom shine on the body, Tuoyi Xuanhuang Qi machine is faint, the spirit is concentrated, the emptiness is natural, there is an image of this chaotic state The metaphor of “chicken”, which is like an unbroken egg, everything we are today is biochemically derived from this egg.
Known as the “Xiaodao Zang”, the book “Yunji Qizhu” also divides the undifferentiated chaotic stage of the universe into three periods, namely the Hunyuan period, the Chaos hole period and the Chaos period.
Hunyuan Period: All existence is dominated by the original qi, everything is silent, rooted in the abyss of the beginning, invisible and formless, running in the secret of the Xuanzhu, the original ancestral qi travels freely in the source of the Dao, it is true and pure, containing Pu Buhua. This period corresponds to the tangible thought, which is the sub-hour in the twelve hours, which hides the opportunities of biochemical cosmic stars.
Hundong period: relying on Lingbao Zhenqi as the source. Everything is silent, rooted in the womb, formless and imageless, operating in the manifestation of spiritual silence. The ancestral qi of the Lingbao travels freely in the deep submergence of the Dao. It is true and pure, simple and unchanging. This period corresponds to the tangible thinking.
Chaotic Period: Executing for Taishang Yuanqi. Everything is silent, rooted at the moment of growth, formless and imageless, operating on the surface that is not manifested. Taishang Zu Qi walks freely on the Dao, waiting for form, to be true and pure, simple and undistorted. This period corresponds to the tangible thinking, that is, the Yin time among the twelve hours, which is full of news of biochemical and spiritual life.
Hunyuan, Chaos Hole, and Chaos have gone through a very long time, which cannot be counted, and the distance between them is also extremely long.
According to the “Seven Signs of Yunji”, the interval from Hunyuan to Hundong, and from Hundong to Chaos, if calculated in earth time, is 999999 billion billion years. After that, the phenomenon of polarization began to appear, that is, the “creation of nothing” in Taoism is a pole born from a void, which is called “Tai Chi” (Note: The meaning of “Tai Chi” here is not the figure of a yin and yang fish, but the culmination of the beginning).
Then this pole gradually differentiated into Yin and Yang and two Qi, and as Yin and Yang differentiated layer by layer and merged with each other, everything in the universe was gradually formed.
From the three periods of Hunyuan, Chaos, and Chaos to the division of Taiji, and then to the transformation of Yin and Yang into our present complicated universe, the whole process is essentially a natural phenomenon and the inevitable result of the operation of the Dao of Heaven. No one is deliberately controlling it or dominating it, and there is no external force acting on it. Its biochemical development is just a natural operation. The so-called “Tao follows nature”. On the level of “nature”, yin and yang are ebb and flow and transform each other of.
The “Book of Changes” mentions that “a solitary yin does not grow, and a solitary yang does not grow.” Tao gives birth to all things, and all things return to Tao. This is the only unchanging truth in the universe.
Therefore, although it is infinitely long from chaos to polarization, no matter how long it is, it is only a process rather than an eternity. According to its development law, we can know that the universe after polarization will go through another period. No matter how long this period is, it will inevitably change again. Back to the state of chaos, this is called “extreme things must be reversed”. After that, it will gradually differentiate from chaos again, and a brand new universe will be born.
In this way, the universe keeps running in the process of chaos—polarization, re-chaos—re-polarization, endlessly, and never stops. This is in line with the Taoist theory of yin and yang. “One yin and one yang are called Dao”, the cathode is yang, the anode is yin, and yin and yang are constantly transformed, thus constituting the endless life of our world.
At this time, it has become meaningless to ask the question of where it came from and where it went. What is more worth thinking about is how we can live this life in this world well. This is another big proposition.
