There's earth... and there's Earth.

In my studies of Chinese Medicine, I often run into the concept of "Earth". It comes up as one of Wu Xing - Five Phases (Wood Fire Earth Metal Water) and also in relationship with "Heaven". I recently learned these are actually two different Chinese characters (~words), both of which we generally translate as "Earth." I also found that they correspond respectively to two Hebrew words which are also generally translated as "Earth."

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地 - Di - earth, ground, field, place, land

ארץ - Eretz - country, land, territory, district, region, earth, Earth, ground, soil

土 - Tu - earth, dust, clay, local , indigenous

אדמה - Adamah - earth, soil, land

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地 - Di often is seen in relationship with 天 - Tian and 人 - Ren.

天 - Tian - sky, heaven, god, celestial, day

人 - Ren - man, person, people, mankind, someone else

This is not unlike the very first line of our תורה - Torah,

.בראשית ברא אלהים, את השמים, ואת הארץ

Bereshit Bara Elohim, Et HaShamayim, V'et HaEretz.

In Beginning Created Many Powers, the Heavens, and the Earth.

It is interesting to note that some commentators say that שמים ("Heaven") is made up of אש - aish - fire & מים - mayim - water, which makes sense, considering that to folks wandering back and forth across a desert, שמים - sky would have been the source of fire (light, heat and energy from Sun and stars) and water (precipitation). In the ancient pre-Kabbalistic text (ספר יצירה - Sefer Yetzirah - Book of Formation), the Three Mother letters are א–מ–ש, representing (אש - aish - fire), (מים - mayim - water), along with the addition of (אויר - avir - air), which mediates between the other do, as does (人 - ren), between (天 - tian) and (地 - di).

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土 - tǔ - earth is often seen along with:

木 - mù - wood

火 - huǒ - fire

金 - jīn - metal/gold

水 - shuǐ - water

Together them make up 五行 - wǔ xíng.

五 - wǔ - 5

行 - xíng - phase, go, walk, move, travel, circulate, (often translated as Elements)

Within this context, i've seen (土 - tǔ - earth) contextualized two different ways.

The older way has it in the middle of the other 4 (行 - xíng - phases) which represent the 4 seasons and directions.

火 - huǒ - fire

木 - mù - wood 土- tǔ - earth 金 - jīn - metal

水 - shuǐ - water

In this scenario, water is winter/north/midnight, wood is spring/east/morning, fire is summer/south/noon, and metal is autumn/west/evening.

The other is similar, but it presents them all in a circle, with (土 - tǔ - earth) coming in the middle of the rotation of wood, fire, earth, metal, water and being given a 5th damp season between hot summer and dry autumn. This is the version more often seen pictured today.

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Its also interesting to note that both traditions have ancient stories about humans being formed out of clay (土 אדמה) and surviving a flood. In the Hebrew tradition, the first human [called אדם - Adam - Earth Being] is formed out of אדמה - Adamah - Clay. Ten generations later, his descendent נח - Noah, along with his wife, sons, and their wives were the only survivors who then began repopulating the earth.

In the Chinese tradition, the order is a little different. The flood is survived by Fuxi (伏羲) and his sister/wife Nüwa (女媧) who then begin to repopulate the earth. To speed things up, they began to form people out of clay. I'm not sure if 土 - tu is the character for "earth/clay" used in this story, but i'd be interested to find out.

無極 ~ אין סוף ~ Limitlessness

(L --> R) (L <-- R)

無極 אין סוף

Wu Ji Sof Ayn

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無 - Wu - no, none, not, to lack, -less, un-

אין - Ayn - no, not, is not, are not

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極 - Ji - extremely, pole (geography, physics), utmost, top, ultimate, limit

סוף - Sof - end, limit, finish, conclusion, termination, last, ultimateness

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For a while, I've had a sense that the concepts underlying Wu Ji and Ayn Sof were related. After all, the more i dig into the primordial pre-histories of the Chinese and Hebrew languages, cultures, and traditions of healing & spirituality, the more they converge. In my research, i have long since abandoned the notion of finding exact 1:1 correlations between the two, but look for larger trends.

Imagine my surprise, when i actually looked at the definitions of 無極 (Wu Ji) and אין סוף (Ayn Sof), words which represent that which is about as primordial as it gets, i was somewhat surprised to actually find a near 1:1 correlation in this case. Wu and Ayn both denote negation of all they come into close relationship with. Ji and Sof both denote the extreme ultimate end of a boundary or limit.

Wu Ji and Ayn Sof, then, both denote a state of absolute lack of any and all boundaries or limitations separating anything from everything. They both represent absolute unity, impossible for us to fully grasp all at once. Difficult even to write or talk about, so bear with me as i fail.

In Judaism, most especially within the mystery traditions, Ayn Sof is considered to be the Name for an aspect of the Divine representing absolute limitless totality of everything & nothing. Its the place that isn't, where all extremes meet there opposites and dissolve into one another. Ayn Sof is preceded only by Ayn itself... absolute nothingness.

Ayn Sof is the source of אין סוף אור (Ayn Sof Aur ~ Limitless Light) which itself is differentiated through the prism of the ספירות (Sephirot) into the myriad forms of diversity we experience in this life.

道生一, Dao Sheng Yi, The Way generates One,

一生二, Yi Sheng Er, One generates Two,

二生三, Er Sheng San, Two generates Three,

三生萬物. San Sheng Wan Wu. Three generates innumerable things.

(Dao De Jing: 42)

無極（Wu Ji）generates to 太極（Tai Ji ~ Supreme Ultimate),

Tai Ji generates 陰陽（Yin & Yang),

Yin & Yang generate 三寶 (Sān Bǎo ~ 3 Treasures),

Sān Bǎo generates 五行 (Wu Xing ~ 5 Phases).

There are many correlations between these two similarly ancient traditions, both based upon the underlying notion that humans (人 - Ren ~ אדמ - Adam) served as a bridge between the Heavens (天 - Tian ~ השמים - HaShamayim) to the Earth (地 - Di ~ הארץ - HaEretz), but the only 1:1 i've found are that of the core concepts of Wu Ji and Ayn Sof. There are still many other close correlations, but the further toward the surface you head, and away from this undifferentiated whole you get, the more labored connections become to make. We shall further explore some of these other layers at another time.