ABSTRACT
The world in Daoism consists of a subtle vital energy known as qi. Qi is the concrete aspect of Dao, the basic material building block of the universe, the fundamental stuff of nature, the ground of all vitality, the ongoing process of aliveness. It is most fundamentally classified in terms of the phase energetics of yin and yang, the movement of energy either up or down, forward or back, rising or falling, and so on. This ongoing dynamic gives rise to temporal and spatial phenomena as well as to inanimate objects and animate beings. It can be closely related to Western physics—electromagnitism, quantum dynamics, and string theory.
