A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVEN
As gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE — CHAPTER TWO
On the Matter of Wuji — 無極
Before heaven, there was no heaven.
Before earth, there was no earth.
Before the ten thousand things, there were no ten thousand things.
Before the beginning, there was Wuji.
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Wuji is written with two characters.
The first character is Wu. It means: without. It means: not. It means: none. It cancels what follows it.
The second character is Ji. It means: the ridgepole. The highest beam of a roof. The point at the very top that everything leans against. It also means: the ultimate limit. The final boundary. The extreme.
Together they mean: without the ridgepole. Without the ultimate limit. Without the final boundary. Without extreme.
A roof without a ridgepole cannot stand. It has no form. It shelters nothing.
This is Wuji. Before form existed.
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It was not darkness.
Darkness is experienced by something with eyes. There were no eyes.
It was not silence.
Silence is what remains when sound stops. Sound had not begun.
It was not emptiness.
Emptiness is what remains in a vessel after the contents are removed. No vessel existed. No contents existed. No removal had occurred.
These words do not reach Wuji. They are recorded here because they are the closest words available. The closest words are not close.
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The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 25, records:
There is something formless and complete that existed before Heaven and Earth. Silent. Boundless. Standing alone without changing. Reaching everywhere without exhausting itself. It may be considered the Mother of all things. I do not know its name. I call it Tao.
Laozi calls it Tao because he must call it something.
This is not its name.
It has no name.
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The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 28, records:
Return to infinity.
The word used for infinity is Wuji.
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The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 1, records:
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth.
This is what Wuji is.
The nameless origin.
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There is a state called Wuwuji.
It is the state before Wuji.
The texts use this word rarely. Beyond it the texts say nothing. Beyond it language ends. This record also says nothing beyond it.
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There is a disagreement among the old records.
The first position: Wuji preceded Taiji. From Wuji came Taiji. As stillness precedes movement. As root precedes branch.
The second position: Wuji and Taiji are not two things in sequence. They are one thing in two conditions. The phrase used is: Wuji er Taiji. Wuji and yet Taiji. Not Wuji then Taiji. And yet. Wuji is the Tao in stillness. Taiji is the Tao in motion.
Both positions are recorded here. Neither is declared correct.
A third position exists. It holds that the disagreement itself cannot be resolved. Because resolution would require one position to be the ridgepole — the highest point. Wuji has no ridgepole. No argument about Wuji can be finally settled.
This position is also recorded.
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From Wuji came movement.
The movement had no cause that is recorded.
The movement produced the first distinction.
The first distinction was called Taiji.
From Taiji came two. The two became three. The three became the ten thousand things.
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The ten thousand things are what this record contains.
Every god recorded in this text came from Wuji.
Every demon came from Wuji.
Every creature of the Shanhaijing came from Wuji.
Every court of hell and every king who sits in judgment came from Wuji.
Every hero who gave fire and writing and shelter came from Wuji.
Every soul that crosses the Naihe Bridge came from Wuji.
Meng Po and her ladle came from Wuji.
The Jade Emperor on his throne came from Wuji.
Pangu, still sleeping in the egg at this point in the record, came from Wuji.
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All of them will return to Wuji.
Not one thing recorded in this text will escape this return.
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The return has not yet occurred.
What is recorded here is what happened between the leaving and the return.
The between is long.
The between is what this record contains.
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The next chapter concerns Hundun.
Hundun is what stirred within Wuji.
Two emperors came to visit it. They meant well.
END OF CHAPTER TWO