Q0677
“The Great Void has no physical form; it is the original substance…” — Zhang Zai (Zhengmeng, Great Harmony Chapter)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Zhengmeng, Great Harmony Chapter. Theme: nature.
English
The Great Void has no physical form; it is the original substance of qi. Its gathering and dispersing are but the passing forms of change.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Zhengmeng, Great Harmony Chapter and files it under Neo-Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Zhang Zai
Zhang Zai (1020–1077) was a Northern Song Neo-Confucian cosmologist and moral thinker associated with the “gas” (qi) metaphysics of the period. Teaching in Guanzhong, he influenced later Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy even where they revised him.
How to read this passage
Nature may mean physical cosmos, living world, human nature, or a normative standard of what ought to be. Presocratics, Daoists, Stoics, and modern environmental thinkers share the word while disagreeing about its force. This passage enters that discussion through nature, being.
Concepts in this quote
- Nature
- Philosophy quotes about nature ask what the cosmos is, how humans belong in it, and whether “natural” can guide ethics or politics.
- Being
- Being appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat being as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Zhang Zai. (n.d.). The Great Void has no physical form; it is the original substance of qi. Its gathering and dispersing are but the passing forms of change. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0677
MLA: Zhang Zai. “The Great Void has no physical form; it….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0677.
Chicago: Zhang Zai. “The Great Void has no physical form; it….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0677.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “The Great Void has no physical form; it…”?
The passage is attributed to Zhang Zai, Zhengmeng, Great Harmony Chapter. The archive attributes this English wording to Zhengmeng, Great Harmony Chapter and files it under Neo-Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Zhang Zai mean by nature?
Nature may mean physical cosmos, living world, human nature, or a normative standard of what ought to be. Presocratics, Daoists, Stoics, and modern environmental thinkers share the word while disagreeing about its force. This passage enters that discussion through nature, being.