Wuji 無極 originally meant "ultimateless; boundless; infinite" in Warring States Period

Warring States Period

The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...

 (476-221 BCE) Daoist classics, but came to mean the "primordial universe" prior to the Taiji

Taiji

Taiji 太極 is a Chinese cosmological term for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potentiality, contrasted with the Wuji 無極 "Without Ultimate"...

太極 "Supreme Ultimate" in Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...

 (960-1279 CE) Neo-Confucianist cosmology. Wuji

Wuji

Wuji can refer to:*Wuji , pronounced in ancient times as "Moji or "Merjie", an ancient ethnic group in Manchuria*Wuji , concept in Chinese philosophy and Taoism, as opposed to Taiji...

is also a proper noun

Proper noun

A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...

 in Modern Standard Chinese usage, for instance, Wuji County

Wuji County

Wuji County is a county administered by Shijiazhuang prefecture in Hebei Province, China. It covers an area of 524 km², and has a population of 482,799. Wuji County has 6 towns, 4 townships and 1 Hui autonomous township, total 213 villages...

 in Hebei

Hebei

' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

.

The word Wuji

Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 wuji 無極 "limitless; infinite" is a compound

Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...

 of wu 無 "without; no; not have; there is not; nothing, nothingness" and ji 極 "ridgepole; roof ridge; highest/utmost point; extreme; earth's pole; reach the end; attain; exhaust". In analogy with the figurative meanings of English pole

Pole

-General:*Poles, people originating from inbitating or inhabiting the country of Poland*Pole -Fictional:*Jill Pole, a fictional character from C. S...

, Chinese ji 極 "ridgepole" can mean "geographical pole

Geographical pole

A geographical pole is either of the two points—the north pole and the south pole—on the surface of a rotating planet where the axis of rotation meets the surface of the body...

; direction" (e.g., siji 四極 "four corners of the earth; world's end"), "magnetic pole

Magnetic pole

Magnetic pole may refer to:* One of the two ends of a magnet* The magnetic poles of astronomical bodies, a special case of magnets, two special cases of which are the Geomagnetic poles:...

" (Beiji 北極 "North Pole" or yinji 陰極 "negative pole; anode"), or "celestial pole

Celestial pole

The north and south celestial poles are the two imaginary points in the sky where the Earth's axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the imaginary rotating sphere of stars called the celestial sphere...

" (baji 八極 "farthest points of the universe; remotest place").

Common English translations of the cosmological Wuji are "Ultimateless" (Fung and Bodde 1953, Robinet 2008) or "Limitless" (Zhang and Ryden 2002), but other versions are "the ultimate of Nothingness" (Chang 1963), "that which has no Pole" (Needham and Ronan 1978), or "Non-Polar" (Adler 1999).

Wuji in Chinese texts

Wuji 無極 references are found in Chinese classic texts

Chinese classic texts

Chinese classic texts, or Chinese canonical texts, today often refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Neo-Confucian titles of Four Books and Five Classics , a selection of short books and chapters from the voluminous collection called the Thirteen Classics. All of these pre-Qin texts...

 associated with diverse schools of Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...

, including Daoism, Confucianism

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

, and School of Names. Zhang and Ryden summarize the philosophical transformation of wuji "limitless".

The expression 'limitless' and its relatives are found in the Laozi and the Zhuangzi and also in writings of the logicians. It has no special philosophical meaning. In Song-dynasty philosophy, however, the same expression 'limitless' should be translated as 'ultimate of beinglessness,' for the negative element is no longer qualifying the word 'limit' but is rather qualified by the word 'limit,' here to be translated into Song philosophical jargon as 'ultimate'. (2002:71)

Daodejing

The term Wuji first appears in a (ca. 4th century BCE) Daodejing context about returning to one's original nature.

Know whiteness, Maintain blackness, and be a model for all under heaven. By being a model for all under heaven, Eternal integrity will not err. If eternal integrity does not err, You will return to infinity. (28, tr. Mair 1990:93)

Zhuangzi

The (ca. 3rd-2nd centuries BCE) Daoist Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...

uses wuji "limitless; infinity" four times.

I was astounded by his words, which were limitless as the Milky Way. They were extravagant and remote from human experience. (1, tr. Mair 1994:6)

Who can associate in non-association and cooperate in noncooperation? Who can ascend to heaven and wander in the mists, bounding through infinity, forgetting themselves in life forever and ever without end? (6, tr. Mair 1994:59)

To enter the gate of inexhaustibility And to roam in the fields of infinity. I shall mingle my light with that of the sun and moon, And will become eternal with heaven and earth. (11, tr. Mair 1994:97)

[He] would forget everything, yet he would possess everything. His tranquility would be unlimited, yet a multitude of excellences would follow in his wake. This is the Way of heaven and earth, the integrity of the sage. (15, tr. Mair 1994:145)

Wuji in Zhuangzi, say Zhang and Ryden (2002:72), "always refers to the infinite and the boundless."

This text also uses the related word wuqiong 無窮 "infinite; endless; inexhaustible" 25 times, for instance,

Supposing there were someone who could ride upon the truth of heaven and earth, who could chariot upon the transformations of the six vital breaths and thereby go wandering in infinity, what would he have to rely on? (1, tr. Mair 1994:6)

The Zhuangzi uses wuqiong quoting a relativistic theory from the School of Names philosopher Hui Shi

Hui Shi

Hui Shi , or Huizi , was a Chinese philosopher during the Warring States Period. He was a representative of the School of Names , and is famous for ten paradoxes about the relativity of time and space, for instance, "I set off for Yue today and came there yesterday."-Works mentioning Hui Shi:The...

; (tr. Mair 1994:344) "The southern direction is limitless yet it has a limit."

Xunzi

The (ca. 3rd century BCE) Confucianist Xunzi uses wuji "boundless" three times. One context describing a legendary horse parallels it with wuqiong "inexhaustible".

Qiji could cover 1,000 li in a single day, but if a worn-out nag takes the journey in ten stages, then it, too, can cover the distance. Are you going to try to exhaust the inexhaustible and pursue the boundless? If you do, then though you break your bones and wear out your flesh in the attempt, in the end it will be impossible to reach your goal. (2, tr. Knoblock 1988:155)

Huainanzi

The (2nd century BCE) Huainanzi

Huainanzi

The Huáinánzǐ is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author...

uses Wuji six times. One syntactically playful passage says a sage can qiong wuqiong 窮無窮 "exhaust the inexhaustible" (used in Xunzi above) and ji wuji 極無極 "[go to the] extreme [of] the extremeless".

It is only these men who know how to preserve the root from which all creation springs, and the causes, or antecedents, of all the affairs of life. Therefore they are all able to pursue their investigations without limit, and to reach that which has no end; they understand all things thoroughly, without any misconception or delusion; they respond to all requirements as the echo to a sound, and that untiringly; and this ability may be called the endowment of Heaven. (1, tr. Balfour 1884:86)

Liezi

The (ca. 4th century CE) Daoist Liezi

Liezi

The Liezi is a Daoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a circa 5th century BCE Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher, but Chinese and Western scholars believe it was compiled around the 4th century CE.-Textual history:...

uses wuji "limitless" eight times in a cosmological dialogue (with wuqiong "inexhaustible" once).

"Have there always been things?"

–"If once there were no things, how come there are things now? Would you approve if the men who live after us say there are no things now?"

"In that case, do things have no before and after?"

–"The ending and starting of things have no limit from which they began. The start of one is the end of another, the end of one is the start of another. Who knows which came first? But what is outside things, what was before events, I do not know"

"In that case, is everything limited and exhaustible above and below in the eight directions?"

–"I do not know" …It is Nothing which is limitless, Something which is inexhaustible. (2) How do I know this? [textual lacuna

Lacuna (manuscripts)

A lacunaPlural lacunae. From Latin lacūna , diminutive form of lacus . is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work...

] … (3) But also there is nothing limitless outside what is limitless, and nothing inexhaustible within what is inexhaustible. There is no limit, but neither is there anything limitless; there is no exhausting, but neither is there anything inexhaustible. That is why I know that they are limitless and inexhaustible, yet do not know where they may be limited and exhaustible". (5, tr. Graham 1980:94-5)

Taijitu shuo

The (11th century CE) Taijitu shuo 太極圖說 "Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate", written by the Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073 CE), was the cornerstone of Neo-Confucianist cosmology. His brief text synthesized Confucianist metaphysics of the Yijing with aspects of Daoism and Chinese Buddhism. In the Taijitu diagram, wuji is represented as a blank circle and taiji as a circle with a center point (world embryo) or with broken and unbroken lines (yin and yang).

Zhou's key terms Wuji and Taiji appear in the famous opening phrase wuji er taiji 無極而太極, which Adler notes could also be translated "The Supreme Polarity that is Non-Polar!".

Non-polar (wuji) and yet Supreme Polarity (taiji)! The Supreme Polarity in activity generates yang; yet at the limit of activity it is still. In stillness it generates yin; yet at the limit of stillness it is also active. Activity and stillness alternate; each is the basis of the other. In distinguishing yin and yang, the Two Modes are thereby established. The alternation and combination of yang and yin generate water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. With these five [phases of] qi harmoniously arranged, the Four Seasons proceed through them. The Five Phases are simply yin and yang; yin and yang are simply the Supreme Polarity; the Supreme Polarity is fundamentally Non-polar. [Yet] in the generation of the Five Phases, each one has its nature. (tr. Adler 1999:673-4)

Robinet explains the relationship.

The taiji is the One that contains Yin and Yang, or the Three (as stated in Hanshu 21A). This Three is, in Taoist terms, the One (Yang) plus the Two (Yin), or the Three that gives life to all beings (Daode jing 42), the One that virtually contains the multiplicity. Thus, the wuji is a limitless void, whereas the taiji is a limit in the sense that it is the beginning and the end of the world, a turning point. The wuji is the mechanism of both movement and quiescence; it is situated before the differentiation between movement and quiescence, metaphorically located in the space-time between the kun 坤, or pure Yin, and fu 復, the return of the Yang. In other terms, while the Taoists state that taiji is metaphysically preceded by wuji, which is the Dao, the Neo-Confucians says that the taiji is the Dao. (2008:1058)