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Wu-Wei
| Wu
Wei is a fundamental principle in the Taoist way of life, sometimes
translated as creative inaction or knowing when to act and when
not to act. Wu Wei has an effortless, struggle-free quality similar
to patient allowing that flows from a deep awareness; from a recognition
and acceptance of the way things are.
The
literal meaning of Wu Wei is "without action". It can
be described as an irresistible, soft and invisible force, an
action so subtle, so well in accordance with the nature of things,
that there is hardly a trace of having done the action.
Taoism
respects both yin and yang, light and darkness as two sides of
the one coin. In the original Taoist texts Wu Wei is often associated
with water and its yielding nature. Although water is soft and
weak, it has the capacity to erode solid stone and move mountains.
Water is without will, it uses the will of the terrain. Water
may fill any container, assume any shape, may even go into the
minutest holes.
The
Taoist view recognises that the Universe, the Absolute is already harmonious according to its own ways; and Wu Wei is
the art of how one acts in relation to these natural processes
already in flow. Wu Wei Meditation is living with awareness, a
subtle practice of remembering - recognising the silence, the choiceless, effortless unfolding, the always present ineffable mystery.
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"Whatever
is to be made to fall, first must be raised.
If you want to become whole, let yourself become broken.
If you want to become straight, let yourself become twisted.
If you want to become full, let yourself become empty."
~Tao
"They
are fearful and irresolute;
the faster they hurry, the slower they go,
and clinging cannot be limited;
to be attached to enlightenment is to go astray."
~'Hsin Hsin Ming
You
cling and resist, you cling and resist,
and you cling and resist.
What you call life is clinging and resisting.
And then there is the unexpected.
Seeing and recognising choicelessness,
you have reached the end of the world.
Perfection, there was never anything else...
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha."
Gone, gone, gone beyond, completely gone beyond, awakening praised.
flowingcreek@gmail.com
The
Dharma is free and without charge to all who seek it.
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