太虚

tài xū

The great void · tai xu

Also rendered: The great void (this site; literal, and 虚 is what is not filled rather than what does not exist) · The supreme emptiness (a rendering that leans on the later philosophical sense; right from the Song onward, and too strong for a chapter that is describing a sky)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-05

At a glance

Pinyin: tài xū
Simplified: 太虚
Literal: 太 tài — the great, that beyond which there is nothing; 虚 xū — a great mound, and from that what has been emptied, what is not filled (《說文》: 虛，大丘也，崐崘丘謂之崐崘虛). The great void is the largest thing this chapter names, and it names it in the opening line of the document it has been examining: 太虚廖廓，肇基化元 — the great void, vast and empty, first laid the foundation of the origin of transformation. One occurrence. The rest of the chapter counts circuits and periods; this line is the only place where it says where they come from.
Shuowen: **「太」讀 tài，本篇8見**；**「虚」讀 xū，本篇1見，在「太虚廖廓」一句**；**《說文》：虛，大丘也，崐崘丘謂之崐崘虛**；**「廖」讀 liáo，本篇1見，通行本作「寥」，用戶裁定照錄不改，已入校勘**；**「廓」讀 kuò，本篇1見**；**「肇」讀 zhào，始也（《爾雅·釋詁》：肇，始也），本篇1見**；**「基」讀 jī，《說文》：基，牆始也；本篇1見**；**「化元」讀 huà yuán，本篇1見**

In brief

The opening words of the 太始天元冊文, the document the chapter says it has been examining for ten generations, and the only cosmological image in a chapter otherwise made of arithmetic: 太虚廖廓，肇基化元. The line is one of a hymn in four-graph phrases — 萬物資始，五運終天; 布氣真靈，總統坤元; 九星懸朗，七曜周旋 — and it does what the surrounding sentences do not, which is to say that the circuits arise from somewhere. 《說文》 glosses 虛 as 大丘, a great mound: the word began as an emptied height rather than as nothing at all, which is closer to what this chapter means by it.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 太虚

太者大也；虚者大丘也，引申為空

太虚廖廓 — Suwen 66

The line it opens 肇基化元

太虚為化元之所肇基

太虚廖廓，肇基化元。 — Suwen 66

What follows in the hymn 萬物資始，五運終天

太虚肇基，而萬物資始、五運終天

萬物資始，五運終天。 — Suwen 66

The document it comes from 太始天元冊文

鬼臾區所積考之文，臣斯十世

臣積考太始天元冊文曰 — Suwen 66

The variant in the line 廖廓

底本作「廖」，通行本作「寥」，讀 liáo，照錄入校勘

太虚廖廓 — Suwen 66

The other origin named beside it 布氣真靈，總統坤元

太虚肇基而坤元總統之

布氣真靈，總統坤元。 — Suwen 66

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display

3 passages

Suwen 66 Suwen 66 · 天元紀大論 Read in context →

鬼臾區曰：臣積考太始天元冊文曰：太虚廖廓，肇基化元。萬物資始，五運終天。布氣真靈，總統坤元。九星懸朗，七曜周旋。曰陰曰陽，曰柔曰剛。幽顯既位，寒暑弛張。生生化化，品物咸章。臣斯十世，此之謂也。鬼臾区曰：臣积考太始天元册文曰：太虚廖廓，肇基化元。万物资始，五运终天。布气真灵，总统坤元。九星悬朗，七曜周旋。曰阴曰阳，曰柔曰刚。幽显既位，寒暑弛张。生生化化，品物咸章。臣斯十世，此之谓也。

Guǐ yú qū yuē: chén jī kǎo tài shǐ tiān yuán cè wén yuē: tài xū liáo kuò, zhào jī huà yuán. Wàn wù zī shǐ, wǔ yùn zhōng tiān. Bù qì zhēn líng, zǒng tǒng kūn yuán. Jiǔ xīng xuán lǎng, qī yào zhōu xuán. Yuē yīn yuē yáng, yuē róu yuē gāng. Yōu xiǎn jì wèi, hán shǔ chí zhāng. Shēng shēng huà huà, pǐn wù xián zhāng. Chén sī shí shì, cǐ zhī wèi yě.

Gui Yu Qu said: your servant has examined the text of the Tai Shi Tian Yuan Ce through generations, and it says: the great void is vast and unbounded, and it laid the foundation of the source of transformation. The ten thousand things depend on it for their beginning, and the five circuits run their course to the end of heaven. It spreads the qi of the true and the numinous, and governs the primal earth. The nine stars hang bright, the seven luminaries circle in their courses. There is yin and there is yang, there is the yielding and there is the hard. Once the hidden and the manifest have taken their positions, cold and summer heat relax and draw taut. Generating and generating, transforming and transforming, the ordered things are all displayed. Ten generations of my family have handed this down; this is what is meant.

**「太虚」本篇1見，在第十一段所引《太始天元冊文》之首句**；**「虚」讀 xū，本篇1見；「太」讀 tài，本篇8見**；**「廖」讀 liáo，本篇1見，底本作「廖」，通行本作「寥」，用戶裁定照錄不改，已入校勘**；**「廓」讀 kuò，本篇1見；「肇」讀 zhào，本篇1見**；**「化元」讀 huà yuán，本篇1見；「坤元」讀 kūn yuán，本篇1見**；**《說文》：虛，大丘也，崐崘丘謂之崐崘虛；虛之為空，由大丘而引申**

素問·五運行大論 Suwen 67 · 五運行大論 Read in context →

歧伯曰：地爲人之下，太虚之中者也。歧伯曰：地为人之下，太虚之中者也。

Qí bó yuē: dì wéi rén zhī xià, tài xū zhī zhōng zhě yě.

Qi Bo said: earth is below the human being, and yet it stands in the midst of the great emptiness.

「地爲人之下，太虚之中者也」——**「太虚」本篇1見**；**「虚」讀 xū，本篇4見：太虚1見、七曜緯虚、故令虚而生化**；**帝問地是否最下，歧伯答以地在人下而在太虚之中，下文「馮乎」「大氣舉之也」即承此**；**本篇「大氣舉之也」之「大氣」指舉地之氣，與第二十七篇瀉補之「大氣」（#844）同名異實，故不掛該目**

Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →

黄帝問曰：太虚寥廓，五運迴薄，衰盛不同，損益相從，願聞平氣，何如而名，何如而紀也？黄帝问曰：太虚寥廓，五运回薄，衰盛不同，损益相从，愿闻平气，何如而名，何如而纪也？

Huáng dì wèn yuē: tài xū liáo kuò, wǔ yùn huí bó, shuāi shèng bù tóng, sǔn yì xiāng cóng, yuàn wén píng qì, hé rú ér míng, hé rú ér jì yě?

Huang Di asked: the great void is vast and empty; the five circuits turn and press within it; decline and flourishing are not alike, and loss and gain follow one another. I wish to hear of the even qi: how is it named, and how is it ordered?

**「太虚」本篇2見：一在開篇「太虚寥廓，五運迴薄」，一在厥陰司天「風行太虚」**；**此段為全篇開端，黃帝之問**

Compounds built on this term

化元

huà yuán

the origin of transformation

本篇1見；太虚之所肇基

坤元

kūn yuán

the earthly origin

本篇1見；與天元相對

天元

tiān yuán

the celestial origin

本篇2見，在《太始天元冊文》與篇末「署曰天元紀」

廖廓

liáo kuò

vast and empty

本篇1見「廖」，底本不从「寥」

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This site	the great void	literal — 太 the great, 虚 the empty — and kept rather than 'emptiness', because the line is about extent: a void vast enough for the circuits to arise in
Later usage	tai xu, the great vacuity	how the word is written in English accounts of Chinese cosmology after 張載, where it is a philosophical term of art; important, and later than this chapter
Descriptive	the vast and empty heaven	what 太虚廖廓 says in a phrase; accurate, and it collapses two graphs into an adjective

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2026-10-05

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