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Taiji
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taiji
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Wade-Giles romanization:
t’ai chi (Chinese: “Great Ultimate”)
Related Topics:
Chinese philosophy
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taiji
taiji Taiji depicting the opposed yet complementary forces of yin and yang.

Taiji

Chinese philosophy
Also known as: t’ai chi
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Taiji, in Chinese philosophy, the ultimate source and motive force behind all reality. In the Book of Changes (Yijing), the ancient philosophical text in which the concept is first mentioned, taiji is the source and union of the two primary aspects of the cosmos, yang (active) and yin (passive). The neo-Confucian philosophers of the Song dynasty (960–1279 ce) associated taiji with li (“principle”), the coherent structure of the changing world. Li engenders qi (life force; literally, “vital breath”), which is transformed through the yang and yin modes of development into the Five Phases (wuxing)—wood, earth, fire, metal, and water—which explain change and persistence in the cosmos.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan.