 All Chinese thinkers who discussed ultimate origins took that origin to be unique. The best known name for this source is dao 道, which means path, way, or guide. Another important name is taiji 太極, the “supreme  polarity.”[5]  The term taiji appears in the Yi Jing as the original unity from which yin and yang emerge. It remained an important term, particularly during the Confucian revival in the Song dynasty. Positing a single source had a decisive influence on Chinese thought, as it implies an underlying unity and connection that easily threatens differentiation and division (for the implications of this idea of oneness, see Ivanhoe 2017 and Ivanhoe et. al. 2018). One of the most persistent metaphysical concerns is the ontological status of difference and individuation (see Kwok 2016; Perkins 2015; Chai 2014a; Ziporyn 2013; Sim 2011; Fraser 2007; and Im 2007). This orientation is the opposite of that in philosophies based on dualisms or ontologically independent substances, views that were dominant through most of European intellectual history. We can say that European metaphysics has tended to focus on problems of reconciliation (how ontologically distinct things can interact), while Chinese metaphysics has been more concerned with problems of distinction (what grounds individuation).