Ti () is the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
word for
substance or body.
The philosopher
Zhang Zai
Zhang Zai () (1020–1077) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He is most known for laying out four ontological goals for intellectuals: to build up the manifestations of Heaven and Earth's spirit, to build up good life for the populace, to ...
described the ti as "that which is never absent, that is, through all transformations."
In
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in t ...
, this concept is often associated with
yong, which means "use" or "function." Such function or how the ''yong'' of a thing is its activity or its response when stimulated underscores the link.
Like the concepts of ''nei-wai'' (inner-outer) and ''ben-mo'' (root-branch), ''ti-yong'' is central to Chinese
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
. The link was adopted in order to manifest the actual meaning of the two truths and the relationship between them.
References
Concepts in Chinese philosophy
{{NeoConfucianism-stub