The Circle-Square Dao offers a scientific lens on ancient wisdom, revealing the universe through energy, vibration, frequency, and numbers, particularly the binary system that powers modern technology.
Dao, Conscious Energy
Many teachings speak of a source, a creator, or a truth beyond the visible world. But few offer a clear structure that connects the invisible with the visible, the unchanging with the changing, the formless with form.
The Circle-Square Dao begins with the recognition that behind all change lies a Center that does not compete, command, or divide. It simply is. This is Dao.
Dao is not a belief, a ritual, or an external authority. It is conscious energy that the sages called Thần Khí – Thần (spirit, godlike essence) and Khí (energy, breath, force), not just raw power; it’s divine spirit, vital energy, the breath of life itself woven together.
It’s the force that births everything, the pulse beating through the Drum. It’s not a passive awareness sitting still; it’s a power, pulsing and dynamic. That energy isn’t just thinking – it’s moving, creating, and transforming.
It resides in everything, including us. It does not need our worship. It needs only to be recognized as the root of all life, interaction, and transformation. It is the only true substance that can harmonize all forms and all forces.
Dao is the 3-in-1 energetic structure that define the formation of any reality, a model that resonates with contemporary scientific concepts like dissipative energy systems, that maintain their organization and complexity by exchanging energy and matter with their environment.
The concept was significantly advanced by Ilya Prigogine, a Russian-Belgian physical chemist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977. Prigogine’s research illustrates how these structures can spontaneously evolve into more complex forms through self-organization, driven by energy gradients in their surroundings or order emerges from energy flow. Dissipative Structures, Organisms and Evolution1Source URL.
It is not a philosophy, but a structure that can be seen in everything – from a cell to a society, from a person to the cosmos. Whenever something exists, it must have a shape or form; it acts and reacts thus having a force or movement, and rest upon a Center. The three – shape, motion, and center, working together to create and sustain the universe in a way that bridges ancient insights with modern understanding. By exploring the Dao’s components, we’ll see how the sages used symbols and numbers to describe a vibrational, holographic, and fractal universe, where everything is interconnected through the infinite energy of the Center.
Shape or Form
There are three inseparable parts in the Dao’s 3-In-1 Structure.
The shape is the form of energy, existing in both internal and external states.
The internal shape, called Âm, invisible to the eye, is represented by the Circle symbol, Black color and number 3. The Circle represents wholeness and endlessness. It has no edge, no direction, no starting point. It expresses the unbroken continuity of Dao – the subtle power that pervades all things. The Circle is used to show the invisible substance, the presence that surrounds and sustains all motion.
The external shape is Dương, visible and manifested, represented by the Square symbol, Red color and number 2. It has four sides, four directions. It is measurable, graspable. The Square is not opposed to the Circle. It is the Circle expressed in the visible world. The Circle and Square together illustrate how energy exists in dual states, much like the wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics, where light can be both a wave (potential) and a particle (expressed).
These shapes form the foundation of the sages’ binary logic, reflecting how energy transitions between potential and manifested states, a duality seen in physics’ concept of energy conservation, where energy changes form but is never lost.
The number 2 and 3 mentioned above expresses the 2/3 ratio or the relationship of the Square-Circle, Dương-Âm, not exact but close enough.
The structure ensures that each outer circle’s area is double that of the inner circle. Mathematically, if the Center circle has an area πr2 or A, the next circle (Âm) will have an area 2A, the following one 4A, and so on, following the sequence A, 2A, 4A, 8A….
Given that each square fits perfectly within its circle, the diagonal of each square is equal to the diameter of its corresponding circle, and the square’s area is approximate 2/3 of its circle.
Motion or Force
The dynamic aspect of energy, described as vibration rather than linear movement. The sages saw Dương energy vibrating out in an outward Spiral or Arrow with the Red Orange color, representing expansion and creation, similar to a wave propagating from a source, like radio waves broadcasting a signal.
Conversely, Âm energy vibrates in as an inward spiral or arrow labeled with the Black Orange color, representing contraction and reflection, like a wave returning to its origin. This oscillatory motion aligns with scientific principles of wave dynamics, where energy moves in cycles – think of sound waves or electromagnetic frequencies oscillating at specific rates.
These vibrations can be thought of as frequencies – the outward spiral (more active, Dương) and the inward spiral (more reflective, Âm), similar to how we measure electromagnetic waves in hertz.
The Center
At the center of both the Circle and the Square is a dot. This is not just a location. It is the origin, the root, the unmoved mover. It is the timeless, spaceless core of the Dao, the conscious energy that is the source and the totality of all interactions, energies, and forces in the universe2The unified field in physics implies that all particles and forces are interconnected through a single framework. Dr. Dispenza emphasizes the interconnected nature of consciousness and energy in the quantum field. In quantum physics, the wavefunction represents probabilities before observation collapses them into specific outcomes. He draws on this idea to argue that the quantum field is a space of infinite possibilities shaped by focused consciousness. Dr. Joe Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural, Hay House, 2017. In the Circle-Square Dao, the Center is never a void or a placeholder. It is the only point that does not move, yet enables all movement. It is the source from which both Âm and Dương, form and force emerge and into which they return.
Center is identical to Dao. Center is like the hub of a wheel, ensuring the wheel spins smoothly. In the human, the Dao is the steady point where your Spirit lives, guiding you to balance both your internal and external form – identity, inner self and your force – actions and reaction. It harmonizes your form and force too.
Center is the most invisible part of the structure, more like Âm than Dương, therefore we also use the circle symbol to represent it but the yellow color to differentiate it from Âm. Together, 3 (Circle) and 2 (Square) make 5, showing how the Dao, as the Center, brings everything together.