Page 100 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

60 T H E ENCYCLOPED IA OF TAO ISM VOL. 1

Numbers can be cardinal or ordinal. One, in the sense of "unique," is either
identified with the Dao or considered as an outcome of the Dao: it engenders
the world by its unfolding. In the sense of "first," it is associated with the
agent Water. The One splits into the Two to give rise to the fundamental and
dynamic bipolarity of the world. The Two in turn generate the Three, which
represent Primordial Unity and the joining of the two primordial entities. Five
is the matrix of the quinary order based on the four cardinal directions and the
center. As such it is the addition of Four plus One; but it also represents the
Center, which both separates and links the "generative" (sheng :1:) numbers
(from I to 5) and the "performative" (cheng JJX:) numbers (from 6 to 9). Six and
nine are the extreme numbers of Yin and Yang, the two complementary forces
of the world represented by Water (Yin) and Fire (Yang).
Since the world is the unfolding of the One to multiplicity, returning to the
Origin (*fan) means going back through time. The left-turning movement of
Yang is the normal direction of this unfolding (shun )I!J[, lit., "continuation"),
which aims at giving life to other beings (procreation) but ultimately leads
toward death. The right-turning movement of Yin is the direction of reversal
and decrease (ni ~, lit., "inversion"), the return to the Origin, the way to give
life to the inner immortal embryo (*shengtai, Embryo of Sainthood). Taoists
therefore assume a progression of numbers from the One to Multiplicity as
well as an inverse progression, the return to the One.
However, numbers are only metaphorical, as *neidan alchemists, who heavily
rely on them, often emphasize. Their role is limited by that which cannot be
measured, comprehended, or ordered: the infinitely great and the infinitely
small subtlety of movement and change.
Isabelle ROBINET

m Granet I934, I49- 299; Major I990; Major I984; Robinet I994a; Schipper
and Wang I986

* sanwu; Hetu and Luoshu; COSMOGONY ; COSMOLOGY ; MACROCOSM AND
MICROCOSM