Questions · Ultimate Questions
Why does the “One” give rise to difference and the “many”?
Direct answer
Sheng’s answer is not to first assume an external creator who cuts the “One” into many things, but to say: the moment Sheng is to manifest, its first movement is “Fen” (differentiation). When still wholly undivided, there is neither this end nor that end, nor any discernible world; once it divides, two ends appear, difference begins, and manifestation becomes possible. Therefore the “many” is not an accident added onto the “One” afterward by chance, but the unfolding that Sheng itself undergoes as it manifests.
Further explanation
More importantly, Fen does not mean the root is severed outright. The two ends are divided out of the same Sheng, so they are both different and mutually completing. The later “Jian,” “Shi,” and “Xian” all continue to unfold from here.
Core concepts
Primary sources
Conclusions that must not be drawn
It must not equate “dividing in two” directly with the physical origin of the universe, nor must it be claimed as an experimentally verifiable cosmological model.
Related phrasings
Why does the One become many?Where does difference come from?How do duality and distinction arise?
Natural phrasings of the same semantic domain, used for retrieval and understanding; the page does not pile up near-duplicate content.