Zhu Xi insisted on one crucially unique characteristic of the Supreme Ultimate: it consisted of all the li without any qi. The difference, then, between the Supreme Ultimate and the Tao was that the Supreme Ultimate represented the underlying patterning of the universe conceptually prior to its actual existence, whereas the Tao represented the tangible manifestations of the ever-changing, infinitely complex interactions between li and qi that comprise the cosmos.31
Tao. Taiji
