Wuji (Internal Version)¶
Wuji
I. Overview and Definition
Wuji is the most fundamental starting concept in the Lifechanyuan cosmological system. It is the primordial state before the birth of the universe; the only mode of existence before all LIFE, time, space, matter, and consciousness appeared; and the key to understanding “Wuji gives birth to Taiji,” “the origin of the universe,” and the core meanings of the Diamond Sutra and the Dao De Jing.
Core definition (New Era Human 800 Concepts, Article 416, full original):
All objects within the range of time, including the celestial universe, have an origin, a birth time, and a process of development, and the universe is no exception. Before the universe was born there was “Wuji.” The state of “Wuji” is: no outside and no inside, no big and no small, no boundary and no edge, no emptiness and no solidity, no time, no space, no matter, no spirit; clear and bright, yet also chaotic; all being, and also all non-being.
Supplementary definition from The Eight Connotations of the Way of God (full original):
At the very beginning, the universe was emptiness, was Wuji, was chaos: boundless, no big and no small, formless and shapeless, no spirit and no soul, with only unordered movement of invisible energy.
II. The Essence of Wuji: the “Nothing” that Possesses Everything
Wuji is not “nothing” in the everyday sense, but an extremely special state of existence — the “nothing” that possesses everything.
Xuefeng gives the most complete explanation in Chanyuan Anthology · Universe-Time-Space Section · The Origin of the Universe:
The state of “Wuji” is: no outside and no inside, no big and no small, no boundary and no edge, no emptiness and no solidity, no time, no space, no matter, no spirit; clear and bright, yet also chaotic; all being, and also all non-being.
To explain this state in detail, even a book of a million words would still not explain it clearly.
So, “Wuji” is “nothing.” But this “nothing” is absolutely not the “nothing” of common-sense understanding, because it possesses everything. If you say it exists, it has nothing; if you say it does not exist, it possesses everything.
This is precisely why the Diamond Sutra is so profound and difficult to understand:
“Neither dharma-mark, nor non-dharma-mark.”
“What the Tathagata says as Dharma is all ungraspable, unsayable, neither dharma nor non-dharma.”
“What is called Buddhadharma is precisely not Buddhadharma.”
“What the Tathagata calls world is not world; therefore it is called world.”
If one does not understand the origin of the universe (Wuji), it is difficult to understand the above “Buddhadharma”; if one can fully understand the above “non-Buddhadharma,” one can know the origin of the universe.
Before all births, all are in “Wuji,” therefore “Wuji” is “being.”
III. Space in Wuji: Taking Form with Form, Beyond Description
Wuji has no fixed concept of space; it transcends all determinations of space.
Xuefeng uses the golden cymbal in Journey to the West as a metaphor for the space of Wuji:
Tang Monk and his disciples mistakenly entered Little Thunderclap Temple; Sun Wukong was trapped between the demon king’s golden cymbal — “The Pilgrim became anxious and used a spell to grow hundreds and thousands of zhang high, trying to break the cymbal, but the cymbal grew with him; he used another spell to become as small as a mustard seed, but the cymbal shrank with him as well.”
The space of “Wuji” before the birth of the universe is like this golden cymbal: if you say it is big, it is boundlessly big; if you say it is small, it is tracelessly small.
Traditional science believes space is like a box, and matter is a point placed in that box; when the point disappears, space still exists. But in fact, space is not like that: when the point disappears, space also disappears. Space depends on the distribution of matter itself; space warps, expands, shrinks, and even disappears with matter and the size of its energy.
— The space described in Einstein’s general relativity is this kind of space.
There is no matter in Wuji, therefore there is no space in Wuji — or, Wuji itself is an existence state beyond space.
IV. Time in Wuji: No Motion, No Time
Time is the “recorder” of states of material motion; time arises from motion; without motion there is no time. (Article 427)
Xuefeng uses daily-life examples in Chanyuan Anthology · Universe-Time-Space Section · The Origin of the Universe:
A person at age 40 is so because the cells of their body divide, move, and die; therefore they have reached 40 years old. If those bodily cells did not move or divide, they could not reach age 40.
A fresh piece of meat in hot weather rots and smells after a few days, but if placed in a refrigerator it may not rot for months — because the movement of its cells in the refrigerator slows or even stops. When motion stops, the time of that piece of meat disappears.
Suppose a person was never born — does that person have time?
Suppose Earth was never born — does Earth have time?
Suppose the universe was never born — does the universe have time?
No.
— This is the time of “Wuji.”
In addition, the core of quantum mechanics is “uncertainty.” Why “uncertainty”? Because time does not flow uniformly; time is changing. How can you “measure exactly”?
V. Energy in Wuji: Formless, Unordered Motion
Although Wuji has no matter, no time, no space, and no consciousness, Wuji is not absolute “nothingness” — energy exists in Wuji.
Xuefeng clearly points out:
In “Wuji” there exists invisible energy. This invisible energy (different from visible energy) has always been moving in an unruled way.
This is the key to understanding “Wuji gives birth to Taiji”: it is exactly these invisible energies moving without rules that, at some arbitrary point, accidentally arrange into a specific order, thereby triggering the birth of the universe.
Characteristics of Wuji-energy:
First, formless — invisible, intangible, formless and shapeless;
Second, unordered — moving without rules, with no order at all;
Third, without spirit — there is no spirituality in Wuji, so Wuji is not God;
Fourth, without consciousness — there is no consciousness in Wuji; consciousness is produced by structure, and in Wuji structure has not yet appeared.
VI. Three Major Clarifications of Wuji
(1) Wuji is not God
Xuefeng clearly states in Reply to Mr. 0’s Questioning:
“Wuji” is a chaotic state; there is no issue of time-generation; there is no spirituality in “Wuji,” so “Wuji” is not God; before “Wuji” there is no further “ji.”
In Reply to Question (6), Xuefeng also states:
Wuji is simply Wuji; there is no problem of how it is generated. What Laozi once sensed as “before the image of Di” refers to Wuji, that is, Wuji existed before God was born.
(Xuefeng adds: Laozi was therefore puzzled and did not clarify the relations among Dao, Di, and One. In fact, God came first, and only then did Dao come.)
In Reply to Question (4):
Wuji is simply Wuji, the state before cosmic consciousness; there is no issue of necessity vs. contingency.
(2) Wuji is not equal to nihilistic “nothing at all”
Wuji is the “nothing that possesses everything.” There is invisible energy moving without rules in it. Therefore, Wuji is not absolute nothingness in which there is truly nothing, but an energy-state not yet formed and not yet ordered.
(3) The relation between Wuji and Dao
Laozi in the Dao De Jing says “There is a thing mixedly formed, born before Heaven and Earth.” What he sensed was exactly the relation between Wuji and Taiji. But Laozi merged the substance and spirit of God and called it “Dao,” thus producing the expression “Dao is before Di.”
Xuefeng’s clarification: strictly speaking, Dao is God’s spirit, and appears only after God is born, not before God. Dao is like constitution and law, and God is like human society — it is not that constitution and law existed first and then human society was born; rather, human society existed first and then constitution and law were born.
VII. The Relation Between Wuji and Chaos
Wuji is exactly the chaotic state. (Xuefeng’s original words, Reply to Mr. 0’s Questioning)
But one must note the fundamental distinction between “混沌” and “浑沌” (Article 417, full original):
混沌 is an unordered state; 浑沌 is an ordered state. 混沌 is the state before the universe is formed; 浑沌 is the state after the universe is formed. 混 means confusion and disorder; 浑 means an integral whole, complete and indivisible; 沌 means a vast oceanic condition without edge. 混沌 has no Heaven, no Earth, no edge, no boundary, and no center; no yin, no yang, and no middle way. 浑沌 has Taiji, the “one” of opposites in unity; it has two poles and a middle way.
Therefore:
Wuji = 混沌 (before universe formation, unordered, without spirit, without consciousness);
Taiji = 浑沌 (after God’s birth, ordered, with spirit, with consciousness).
The core proposition of universe origin is exactly: Wuji gives birth to Taiji; chaos transforms into hundun-order. (Article 402)
VIII. Wuji Gives Birth to Taiji: The Mechanism from Wuji to Cosmic Birth
“Wuji gives birth to Taiji” is the only contingent event in cosmic history; afterward everything is necessity. (Article 520)
Complete process (from Chanyuan Anthology · Universe-Time-Space Section · The Origin of the Universe, full original):
In “Wuji” there exists invisible energy, and this invisible energy has always moved without rules. When this ruleless motion at an arbitrary point accidentally arranged into a specific order or symbol, the entire “Wuji” formed around that point a vortex-like potential arrow, like stars circling the moon. This potential-arrow vortex is “Taiji.” (Please note this vortex is only a tendency, only potential energy; it has not yet spun, and has no kinetic energy.) This is “Wuji” giving birth to “Taiji.”
Xuefeng’s most concise summary (from Reply to “Shengtie” on “Dao Gives Birth to One”, full original):
Wuji is unordered chaotic energy. By accidental ordering, structure is produced. Structure gives birth to consciousness. This consciousness is God. After God is born, Wuji-chaos evolves into Taiji-hundun. This Taiji-hundun is God’s spirit, that is what Laozi called Dao. God’s spirit permeates all space-time in the universe. Therefore Dao, “the net of Heaven is vast, with loose meshes yet nothing escapes.” Everything in all cosmic space-time runs within Dao. Whether material world or antimatter world, all evolve within Dao-One.
Expression from The Eight Connotations of the Way of God (full original):
At the beginning, the universe was emptiness, Wuji, chaos, boundless, no big no small, formless and shapeless, no spirit and no soul, only unordered movement of invisible energy. In its motion, invisible unordered energy accidentally arranged a sequence, producing a structure. With structure, there is xing (innate nature); this xing is God. This is “Wuji gives birth to Taiji.” … After the birth of the True Lord—Buddha Ancestor—God, Wuji became a life body, the life body had consciousness, and from then on everything unfolded according to God’s consciousness. Chaos became hundun-order. Two principles and four images formed. The universe was born. It gradually had 20 parallel worlds and 36-dimensional space. Time appeared due to material motion. Therefore, the universe is the product of God’s consciousness. To acknowledge this is to walk on God’s Way.
IX. Contrast Between Wuji and Taiji
Wuji and Taiji are the two most fundamental stages in cosmic history, forming a complete contrast:
Wuji: no outside/inside, no big/small, no boundary/edge, no emptiness/solidity, no time, no space, no matter, no spirit, no spirituality/no soul, unordered energy motion.
Taiji (after God’s birth): one, formless, non-oppositional unity, immense energy cluster, with consciousness, source of the universe.
Core change: chaos (unordered) → hundun-order (ordered); no consciousness → consciousness (God’s birth).
Taiji is such a state: one, formless, unity without opposition, and an immense energy cluster (like a reservoir containing countless Pacific Oceans but with the gate not yet opened). This “Taiji” is what we usually mean by “God.” (Chanyuan Anthology · Universe-Time-Space Section · The Origin of the Universe)
Wuji gives birth to Taiji; Taiji is God. Taiji arises naturally; therefore nature is God. (Article 503)
X. Relation Between Wuji and the Diamond Sutra
When one understands “Wuji,” one can understand Buddha and Buddhadharma; when one understands “Taiji,” one can understand “Dao” and “Dao-Dharma.” (Xuefeng’s original words)
The “nothing that possesses everything” of Wuji is exactly the cosmological basis for the Diamond Sutra’s “neither dharma nor non-dharma” and “what is called Buddhadharma is not Buddhadharma”: before all birth, all is in Wuji, therefore Wuji is “being”; and because there is no formed material in Wuji, Wuji is also “non-being.” This “both-being-and-non-being” state is the root reason the Diamond Sutra is difficult to grasp through pure rational logic, and why understanding Wuji is key to understanding the deepest meanings of Buddhadharma.
XI. Status of Wuji in the Theory of Cosmic Origin
Wuji occupies the most fundamental starting position in the Lifechanyuan cosmological system:
First, Wuji is the only state before cosmic birth. Without Wuji there is no Taiji; without Taiji there is no God; without God there is no universe and all things.
Second, Wuji is the container of the only contingency in cosmic history — in the universe there is only one contingency, the birth of God, and this contingency happened in the unordered motion of energy within Wuji. (Article 520)
Third, Wuji is the key to understanding the cosmological views of the Diamond Sutra and the Dao De Jing. By understanding Wuji, one can understand the source of Dao and the deepest principles of Buddhadharma.
Fourth, “Wuji gives birth to Taiji, chaos transforms into hundun-order” is one of the 80 New Concepts of Lifechanyuan (Article 50). It is the core original expression of Lifechanyuan on cosmic origin up to now, and a complete origin theory beyond Big Bang theory.
XII. Historical Significance
The concept of Wuji is Guide Xuefeng’s complete modern-language and cosmic-science interpretation of the classical Chinese wisdom “Wuji gives birth to Taiji” (Hetu-Luoshu, Yijing, Huangdi Neijing), and its integration with Biblical creation discourse, Quranic discourse on Allah, and Buddhist Dharma discourse:
First, for the first time, it precisely defines Wuji as the “nothing that possesses everything,” revealing why Wuji is both being and non-being.
Second, for the first time, it scientifically explains from two dimensions — physics (relation between space and matter) and time theory (relation between motion and time) — why there is no time and no space in Wuji.
Third, for the first time, it clearly states that invisible energy moves without rules in Wuji, revealing Wuji’s internal dynamic nature and explaining how Taiji’s birth becomes possible.
Fourth, for the first time, it clearly states that Wuji is not God and contains no spirituality, clarifying Laozi’s “before Di” confusion.
Fifth, for the first time, it connects Wuji with the Diamond Sutra’s “neither dharma nor non-dharma” framework, indicating that understanding Wuji is the key to understanding the deepest Dharma meanings.
Sixth, with one sentence — “Wuji gives birth to Taiji, chaos transforms into hundun-order” — it condenses cosmic origin theory into one of the most concise and powerful expressions in human history, includes it in Lifechanyuan’s 80 New Concepts (Article 50), and declares the fundamental limits of Big Bang theory.
Xuefeng’s most concise summary: Wuji is unordered chaotic energy; accidental ordering produces structure; structure gives birth to consciousness; this consciousness is God; after God is born, Wuji-chaos evolves into Taiji-hundun-order. (Reply to “Shengtie” on “Dao Gives Birth to One”)