The Way Of Wu Wei

The principle of wu wei or not overdoing, not overextending, of being able to go with the flow is an important one in Daoism. Here I explain what wu wei is and offer a story of mine to further explain it.

Transcript

This is a little story of mine to sort of teach,

Illustrate this idea,

This principle of wu-wei,

Which is a very important one in Taoism.

And I have a little quote here from Winnie the Pooh that says,

People say nothing is impossible,

But I do nothing every day.

One of the main Taoist principles,

And perhaps the most important of them all,

Is wu-wei.

W-wei spelled W-U-W-E-I.

W-wei translates as not doing.

But you might say,

How can doing nothing help me in my search for deeper meaning and experience in life?

Ah,

But this is a special kind of not doing.

What it really means is not overdoing,

Or not overextending,

Not doing anything from exercise to even studying to the point of exhaustion.

It means eating until you are 80% full and not 120%.

It means not sweating over a project or business deal or even a relationship until you have lost all sense of proportion and balance.

It also means not doing anything against nature,

As we humans have been doing for the last 200 years,

And are paying the price for it.

It also means not doing anything against your own nature.

But how do we find out what exactly is our true nature?

Taoists have a term called zhenren,

Spelled Z-H-E-N-R-E-N,

Which means a self-realized person.

It can also be translated as an authentic person.

This is someone who not only is authentically themselves,

But are also able to express themselves in the world as authentic beings.

Of course many,

If not most,

People have no idea as to what their true natural authentic self is,

And so have no idea how to express themselves in that way.

A good thing to remember is that your expression of Tao,

Or your true natural and authentic being,

May be very different from someone else's.

We are not cookie-cutter beings,

But each of us is unique in our being and our expression of that being.

It is important not to judge others by your own understanding.

It is also important not to compare yourself to others.

To quote from the Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tzu 2,

500 years ago,

Under heaven everyone knows that the existence of beauty depends on the existence of ugliness.

Everyone knows the capacity of kindness depends on the existence of the unkind.

Existence and nothingness are mutually born,

Difficult and easy,

Complement each other,

Long and short shape each other,

Tall and short rest upon each other,

Sound and silence harmonize each other,

Before and after follow one another.

Because of this the sage dwells in the world of non-action,

Or wu-wei,

And practices teaching without speaking.

The ten thousand beings rise and fall and she makes no claim on them.

She creates but does not possess them.

She works but does not take credit for it.

Because she does not take credit for her accomplishments,

They will last forever.

There is an interesting English phrase which has two very distinct meanings.

It is self-conscious.

On one hand,

When we are feeling shy and awkward and unsure of ourselves,

We call it being self-conscious.

But if we are aware and conscious of who we truly and authentically are,

We can also call that self-consciousness,

Though with a different meaning.

Many times when we come up against obstructions in our life,

Our first thought is to bash our way through them,

Which often causes pain,

Suffering,

And even more obstructions.

The practice of wu-wei allows us to stop,

Pull back,

Reconsider,

Or just take a break.

All life is change,

Say the Taoists,

And eventually many obstacles either melt away on their own or we find a new and creative way around them.

Lao-tzu says that the sage or self-realized person,

Quote,

Goes about doing nothing,

Yet there is nothing that is left undone.

In another chapter,

He tells us that sages or self-realized people weaken their ambitions and strengthen their bodies.

They are free of book or intellectual knowledge and desires.

By practicing not doing or wu-wei,

They live in peace and inner harmony.

Think of a time when things were not going the way you had planned or the way you wished they were.

Did complaining or whining about the situation help in any way?

Did trying to force things to change to suit you work in any way?

Chances are good that the answer to all these questions would be no.

Would perhaps a better way to deal with a difficult situation be to stop,

Pull back,

And sit with it or meditate on it,

And perhaps thereby coming up with a solution that you would have never thought of by yourself,

Being all frustrated,

And trying to force things to go your way?

Here is some more advice from Lao-tzu.

Over-filling a vessel is not as good as stopping before it is filled.

Over-sharpen a blade and it will lose its edge.

Pile up gold and jade and it will be impossible to guard it.

Going after rank and titles in an arrogant and haughty way,

You will bring about your own downfall.

Withdraw when the work is done.

This is the way of Tao.

Wu-wei can be as simple as to stop filling your cup just before it is full,

Thus avoiding a big mess.

This can be a physical cup,

An emotional cup,

Or even a psychological one.

So,

How can we know when we are truly practicing Wu-wei and not just being lazy?

There is a big difference in feeling of when we are just being lazy or too fearful to take on challenges,

And the feeling that we are doing just enough not to drain us,

Energetically or emotionally.

It does not mean never taking on challenges,

But it is a way of being graceful about the way we interact with the world around us.

It is about conserving our energy and allowing things to emerge in their own way and their own time.

We may be very excited about a new project or a new relationship,

But if we attempt to rush them along,

Especially relationships,

They may go off course very quickly.

So one of the keys here is going slowly.

It is when we move slowly that we can avoid many accidents.

By speaking slowly,

We can get our point across in a much more effective way.

By listening slowly,

We can better understand what the other person is trying to communicate.

The Chinese have a saying,

Manzou,

Which means go slowly.

In more Chinese traditional culture,

Instead of saying zai jian,

Which is basically goodbye or bye,

People would say manzou,

Go slowly away from me,

Which is such a more lovely way to say goodbye.

I was in a train station in China a few years ago when I stopped in a little store for some water and was racing out the door so I wouldn't miss my train when the lady behind the counter called out manzou.

I was thrilled and immediately slowed myself down and didn't miss the train either.

Wuwei can also be thought of the way of effortless effort.

It is all about going with the flow.

It is being juicy and creative and even amazingly productive,

Only without all the stress of when we're trying too hard to make something go our way.

It is about living a gracious and spacious life and of being okay when things are not going our way.

It is being good with what is instead of what we wish was.

The ancient Taoists had a phrase,

Being at rest while not being at rest.

Imagine the kind of lovely life we could have if we just give up the need to accomplish too much and could just relax and let events,

Projects,

Etc.

Evolve in their own way in their own time.

And imagine finding a way to be okay even while we are not okay.

So the next time you are feeling frustrated about how slow or difficult a situation or project or even a relationship is,

Why not just relax and go within and see if what you are pulling your metaphorical hair out is really worth getting so worried,

Enraged,

Or frustrated about.

Most times in life,

When we are in pain or feeling stuck,

We want things to change as soon as possible.

If it is physical or emotional pain,

We may turn to drugs and alcohol.

But this only dulls the pain a little.

It is still there when we come down or sober up.

Or if we feel stuck in our life,

We want things to change immediately,

If not sooner.

But why not just sit with the pain or the frustration?

Why not just stop and quiet our madly running mind and allow things to change of their own accord,

Which they often do.

This does not mean that you can never take proactive steps in your life.

But perhaps you can move a little slower than usual,

Taking small steps instead of leaping into action,

Unless your house is on fire of course.

Or perhaps taking some time off of your problem and putting your focus on something else.

Chances are that when you return to it,

It may not seem as insurmountable as it did before,

Or at least you may have come up with a better solution than if you had tried to just barrel your way through it.

Drangsa,

An ancient Taoist sage,

Tells us,

Let things unfold naturally and let your mind be free.

Accept what you can't control and continue to nourish your internal spirit.

That is best.

You must be willing to act in accordance with your own destiny.

Nothing is simpler than this and nothing more difficult.

Here's a little story about how to use wu-wei in the real world.

There was once an emperor who had many advisors in his court,

Of whom tried to get him to listen to them and to them only.

He became frustrated about the whole situation and so he windowed them down until there were only two groups left,

The Confucians and the Taoists.

The Confucians were all serious scholars who tried to tell the emperor that all he had to do was listen to them and reinstate the old rituals and rites and then his kingdom would be prosperous.

The Taoists were another matter altogether.

They did not try to curry his favor.

They did not whisper in his ears about how they were the ones he should be listening to.

They did not seem to care either way.

Really,

It was up to him if he wanted to take their advice in ruling his kingdom.

If not,

They were just as happy to keep on doing what they were doing,

Which involved a lot of sitting around in what they called zhou wang,

Or sitting and forgetting,

Or else he would find them out in the many imperial gardens doing a strange,

Slow-moving type of dance that reminded him of great birds flying through the sky.

He finally got so frustrated and exasperated that he decided to hold a contest.

Both groups were invited into a large room at the edge of the imperial gardens.

There was no furniture,

No art of any kind,

Just two completely blank walls facing each other with a wide curtain drawn through the middle of the room separating each wall.

They were told that each group was to produce a painting,

A great work of art.

The emperor himself would be the judge of who came up with the best painting and would thereby earn his royal ear.

They would have one week,

And one week only,

To produce such a painting.

The emperor and his retinue then left the room and the two groups got busy with their painting.

Actually,

It was the Confucians who got busy.

They immediately ordered all the colors of ink available to them and got to work right away on their painting.

The Daoists,

On the other hand,

Just ordered a few dozen very soft cloths,

The softest that could be found.

Then they began doing their strange bird-like movements while polishing the wall in front of them with the very soft cloths.

This behavior went on for the rest of the week.

The Confucians worked on their grand painting,

Stopping often to peruse ancient manuscripts,

And the Daoists continued to do their slow,

Graceful movements while continuing to polish the blank wall.

Finally came the day for the emperor to judge the works of art that the two groups had created.

First he went over to the Confucian side of the room.

There he saw a magnificent painting which covered the entire wall.

It contained his palace,

His gardens,

And even the surrounding plains.

There was so much detail in it that he could see into his royal court with a tiny figure of himself on the royal throne,

No doubt giving wise and sagacious orders to his ministers.

The emperor spent some time admiring this magnificent painting,

Sure that the Daoists could not match it.

Then he turned around and visited the other side of the room,

Where the Daoists were still moving through the air with their graceful and lovely movements.

But imagine his surprise when he looked at the wall,

Only to find a completely blank wall.

True,

It was very smooth and shiny after the many,

Many applications with the soft cloths,

But there was no painting there,

No magnificent representation of his royal court,

And certainly no cunning and creative scene of the emperor himself on his throne.

What,

He thundered,

You did not even try to paint anything.

Is this how you try to curry my favor?

The Daoists then stopped their elegant dance and ordered the curtain between the two walls to be removed.

Then the emperor saw,

Not a blank wall after all,

But because of the very smooth and shiny surface there,

A reflection of the Confucian painting.

But because of the play of light coming into the room,

The painting seemed to be a moving picture.

He could see the waves and the lakes in the imperial garden moving and flowing,

And he could see birds flying gracefully overhead.

And when he looked into the royal throne room,

He could see himself there,

Not just sitting on the throne,

But striding up and down the hall,

Making all kinds of grand pronouncements.

He stood there in surprise and delight.

How did you accomplish this?

He asked the Daoists.

Your majesty,

They said in unison,

Dropping to their knees in a graceful kowtow,

We did not do anything to make this painting happen.

All we did was polish the wall so that the painting accomplished itself.

We knew that our other fellows on the other side of the room were working so hard,

Hoping to accomplish something that would please you and perhaps even allow them to receive your royal favor.

Yet all we did was move our qi throughout our bodies and use that very qi to slowly polish the wall in front of us so that it would,

When the time came,

Not only reflect the painting of the esteemed Confucians,

But allow it to come alive on our side of the room.

The emperor then bade them stand up and proclaim them the winners of the contest.

And it is said that they taught him many things,

So that at the end of his life he was seen to be mounting a dragon and flying off into the heavens.

Reviews

Just a wonderful teaching. Always enjoy your story telling. I’m constantly learning. 🙏😊

I listened to this at the right moment for me – very reaffirming. I will definitely listen again to keep me on track.
Thank you. 🙏💕

I love your stories!!
Thank you, Solala. I have been reading much about wu wei lately and gained new insight through your teaching.

Thank you 🙏

This is vitally needed by me today. Thank you for your loving grace and support 🙏

Incredible! Thank you!!! 🙏

I so needed this right now, I forgot. My ♥️ is smiling.

Wonderful story of effortless effort. We can certainly learn a lot from these wise words. Thanks for sharing 🙏