太極只是一箇「理」字。

人傑。

Text from Wesleyan e-text project, checked against Zhu Zi Yu-lei Da-quan text.

[Zhu Xi] said: "Tai-ji is just the word Li." [Recorded by the

disciple Ren-jie. .]

To see the entire Wesleyan Chinese text of the first chapter of the Zhu Zi Yu-lei, click here .

PEM Commentary:

It is not clear whether or not Zhu Xi might be making the extraordinary claim that the Tai-ji is simply a word or a Chinese character. If we don't take the text that literally, then it would seem to mean either that "Tai-ji" is synonymous with "Li," or that "Li" explains everything there is to know about "Tai-ji."

I have capitalized "li" in the words above to indicate my belief that the word has to have a different explanation in this context from its other meaning as the pattern specific to an individual entity or event.

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