Wu wei (; Jyutping: mou4-wai4) is a concept from ancient Chinese philosophy that literally means not-acting or non-doing, variously interpreted and translated as actionlessness, inaction, or effortless action. In Taoism, it denotes the nature of Tao, meaning that while Tao (the way, path, or flow of nature) is the source of all existence and manifestation of all phenomena, its intrinsic formless essence is that it acts or moves in a silent, invisible, ineffable, often-unnoticed manner that may even seem motionless and effortless.Tao Te Ching - Chapter 37: "The Tao abides in non-action but there is nothing it does not do." 。Some other translations of 道常無為而無不為 in Chapter 37 of Tao Teh Ching:(Chan): "Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there is nothing left undone."(Lau): "The Way never acts yet nothing is left undone."The nature of Tao as described in Chapter 25 of Tao Teh Ching :There was something undifferentiated and yet complete.Which existed before heaven and earth.Soundless and formless.It depends on nothing and does not change.It operates everywhere and is free from danger.It may be considered the Mother of the universe.I do not know its name; I call it Tao.Another translation of Chapter 25 of Tâo Teh King : "There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger (of being exhausted)! It may be regarded as the Mother of all things. I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Tao (the Way or Course)."The nature of Tao as described in Chapter 14 of Tâo Teh King : "We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the Equable.' We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the Inaudible.' We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it 'the Subtle.' With these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of description; and hence we blend them together and obtain The One." Accordingly, Taoists aspire to live their lives in alignment with such a harmonious state of free flowing and unforced activity. In a political context, it also refers to an ideal form or principle of spontaneous and non-aggressive governance.
Wu wei appears as an idea as early as the Spring and Autumn period, with early literary examples in the Classic of Poetry. It became an important concept in the Confucian Analects, linking a Confucian ethic of practical morality to a state of being which harmonizes intention and action. It would go on to become a central concept in Legalist statecraft and Daoism, in Daoism as a concept emphasizing alignment with the natural Dao in actions and intentions, avoiding force or haste against the natural order.
Sinologist Jean François Billeter describes wu-wei as a "state of perfect knowledge (understanding) of the coexistence of the situation and perceiver, perfect efficaciousness and the realization of a perfect economy of energy".
Early scholarship The early scholarship of Feng Youlan suggested a distinction between philosophical and religious Daoism. Following him, sinologist Herrlee G. Creel further divided philosophical Daoism into "contemplative Daoism", which emphasized a deep understanding of the nature of the universe; and "purposive Daoism", emphasizing control over phenomena. Accordingly, Creel differentiates wu wei as found in the Zhuangzi and Tao te Ching, respectively as:
An "attitude of genuine non-action, motivated by a lack of desire to participate in human affairs" and A "technique by means of which the one who practices it may gain enhanced control of human affairs."
The contemplative Daoism of the Zhuangzi portrays wu wei as a source of serenity, rather than something to help people gain political power. Creel takes the Zhuangzi's idea of wu wei as rooted in its transcendental idea of the Dao, which views life and death as an "indissoluble unity". As such, the ideal of the Zhuangzi is the sage who avoids worldly affairs. Whether seeking gain or fame, the Zhuangzi regards "small" and "superior" men largely the same, inasmuch as they abandon the "normal feelings of men" and "proper human course" in favor of "strange and unnatural endeavors". Although the second idea of wuwei is traditionally said to have been influenced by Laozi, Creel suggests that Daoists might have adopted it from Shen Buhai (400 BCE – ) as they became interested in rulers' use of power.
While it would be difficult to say in fact whether either Shen Buhai or the Tao te Ching influenced each other, Shen Buhai and the Han Feizi are more evidently a major influence on the Huainanzi's idea of wuwei in the Han dynasty, in the sense of delegating responsibilities to subordinates. Called "rule by non-activity" and strongly advocated by the Han Feizi, during the Han dynasty until the reign of Han Wudi, rulers confined their activity "chiefly to the appointment and dismissal of his high officials". This "conception of the ruler's role as a supreme arbiter, who keeps the essential power firmly in his grasp" while leaving details to ministers, has a "deep influence on the theory and practice of Chinese monarchy", playing a "crucial role in the promotion of the autocratic tradition of the Chinese polity", ensuring the ruler's power and the stability of the polity.
Although the Inner Zhuangzi chapters may precede the Outer Zhuangzi, much of the latter derives from at least the later part of the Warring States period and ridicules Confucian moralization. Only appearing three times in the second half of the Zhuangzi, Creel supposed that early Daoists may have avoided the term for its association with Legalism before ultimately co-opting its governmental sense as well, regarding this as attempted in the Outer Zhuangzis chapter 13, . In the more "purposive" Daoism of the Daodejing, likely written after the early Zhuangzi, wu wei becomes a major "guiding principle for social and political pursuit", in which the Daoist "seeks to use his power to control and govern the world".
Confucian development Sinologist Roger T. Ames regards attempts to determine the origin of wu wei as strained speculation. But while Shen Buhai bears a "striking" resemblance to the Tao te Ching, it would still be difficult to date the Tao te Ching back to the time of Confucius, even if it predated the third century BCE. While Shen Buhai's idea of wu wei is already quite different from Confucianism, he did use it in a similar sense of employing ministers.
Apart from Shen Buhai, the Analects of Confucius (Lun-yu) are the only preserved text prior to the Zhuangzi that directly use the term. More modernly, Edward Slingerland believes the idea of wu wei predated the term, dating it back to the era of the Classic of Poetry. With older sinologists more focused on terms, Creel believed that an important clue to the idea of wu wei existed in the Analects.
A saying attributed to Confucius reads: "The Master said, 'Was it not Shun who did nothing and yet ruled well? What did he do? He merely corrected his person ("made himself reverent" – Slingerland) and took his proper position (facing south) as ruler'". The concept of a divine king whose "magic power" (virtue) "regulates everything in the land" (Creel) pervades early Chinese philosophy, particularly "in the early branches of Quietism that developed in the fourth century B.C."
Unable to find his philosopher-king, Confucius placed his hope in virtuous ministers. Apart from the Confucian ruler's "divine essence" (ling) "ensuring the fecundity of his people" and fertility of the soil, Creel notes that he was also assisted by "five servants", who "performed the active functions of government".; Xun Kuang's Xunzi, a Confucian adaptation to Qin Legalism, defines the ruler in much the same sense, saying that the ruler "need only correct his person" because the "abilities of the ruler appear in his appointment of men to office": namely, appraising virtue and causing others to perform.
Slingerland Slingerland argues wu wei in the Confucian sense has to be attained. But in the Confucian conception of virtue, virtue can only be attained by not consciously trying to attain it. The manifestation of virtue is regarded as a reward by Heaven for following its will – as a power that enables them to establish this will on earth. In this, probably more original sense, wu wei may be regarded as the "skill" of "becoming a fully realized human being", a sense which it shares with Daoism. This "skill" avoids relativity through being linked to a "normative" metaphysical order, making its spontaneity "objective". By achieving a state of wu wei (and taking his proper ritual place), Shun "unifies and orders" the entire world, and finds his place in the "cosmos". Taken as a historical fact demonstrating the viable superiority of Confucianism (or Daoism, for Daoist depictions), wu wei may be understood as a strongly "realist" spiritual-religious ideal, differing from Kantian or Cartesian realism in its Chinese emphasis on practice.
The "object" of wu wei "skill-knowledge" is the Way, which is – to an extent regardless of school – "embodying" the mind to a "normative order existing independently of the minds of the practitioners". The primary example of Confucianism – Confucius at age 7 – displays "mastery of morality" spontaneously, his inclinations being in harmony with his virtue. Confucius considers training unnecessary if one is born loving the Way, as with the disciple Yan Hui. Mencius believed that men are already good, and need only realize it not by trying, but by allowing virtue to realize itself, and coming to love the Way. Training is done to learn to spontaneously love the Way. Virtue is compared with the grain seed (being domesticated) and the flow of water. On the other hand, Xun Kuang considered it possible to attain wu wei only through a long and intensive traditional training.
Daoist development
Following its developments elsewhere, Zhuang Zhou and Laozi turn towards an unadorned "no effort". Laozi, as opposed to carved Confucian jade, advocates a return to the primordial Mother and to become like uncarved wood. He condemns doing and grasping, urging the reader to cognitively grasp oneness (still the mind), reduce desires and the size of the state, leaving human nature untouched. In practice, wu wei is aimed at through behaviour modification; cryptically referenced meditation and more purely physical breathing techniques as in the Guanzi, which includes just taking the right posture. While the modern edition of Guanzi may have been compiled even after the Han Feizi, its contents may be of much earlier origin.
Though, by still needing to make a cognitive effort, perhaps not resolving the paradox of not doing, the concentration on accomplishing wu wei through the physiological would influence later thinkers. The Daodejing became influential in intellectual circles around 250 BCE. Included in the 2nd century Guanzi, the likely older Neiye (or Inward Training) may be the oldest recovered Chinese text, describing what would become Daoist breath meditation techniques and qi circulation, with Harold D. Roth considering it to be a genuine 4th-century BCE text.
Verse 13 describes the aspects of , attained through relaxed efforts.
Yin (passive mindfulness) Adherence to the use of technique in governing requires the ruler not engage in any interference or subjective consideration. Sinologist John Makeham explains: "assessing words and deeds requires the ruler's dispassionate attention; (yin is) the skill or technique of making one's mind a tabula rasa, non-committaly taking note of all the details of a man's claims and then objectively comparing his achievements of the original claims."