Wu wei | ||
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What is wu wei?
'Wu wei' is often translated as not doing, not acting or not
forcing.
'Not forcing' is a principle that ensures accord with what is happening.
It is concerned with following the path of least resistance, of moving with
the grain.
Wu wei does not involve any form of imposition or ideation. You must
harmonise yourself with existence and offer no conflict.
Trying, doing & being
There is a difference between trying, doing and being. Wu wei is concerned
with being. Being can be seen as the third stage of development.
Trying
There is the image (or concept) and the reality. The process of bending
reality to fit the image is what we call 'trying'.
Trying is a kind of forcing; it is the act of seeking to adhere to an idea
or pattern that exists in your mind. Effort creates anxiety and tension.
Tension impedes you.
Allow
Rather than try... allow. Allowing is a passive, relaxed approach that
involves stepping out of the way. When you try, exertion is required. Some
things happen by themselves.
Doing
'Doing' sounds more positive than 'trying' because struggling has been
removed. However, doing usually entails self-consciousness. Doing involves
the use of willpower.
Willpower is the act of forcing; attempting to re-shape reality to suit your
own design. The whole point of Taoism and tai chi is that it is not about
you.
You must move as part of the situation, rather than regard yourself as the
lead role or focus of attention.
There must be no division between yourself and another.
In interacting with other people,
we try to interact along the lines that are most genial.
This is the great fundamental principle called wu wei.
(Alan Watts)
How do I 'not do'?
Simple - you stop.
When an object in motion is left to settle, it eventually comes to rest.
Tai chi only starts to work when the student stops trying and doing.
Stillness and silence cannot be forced.
Do you force your heart to beat?
Your body does not require your intervention.
When you cease doing, nature is allowed to act according to its own
way.
Wu wei requires that you do not interrupt the flow.
Our approach to
tai chi is concerned with feeling how the body wants
to move and letting it move that way.
Standing in your own way
A stiffness corrupts the tai chi when people refuse to let go. They
become locked in the act of trying... It is the product of thinking rather
than feeling, forcing rather than allowing.
In your effort to achieve, you actually hamper your own progress. Tai chi is
the process, the how, the Way, the nature - not the outcome. Pay attention
to the means and the end will take care of itself.
Being
Beyond trying and doing, there is being. Being is a state of latent
passivity in which you can move in any number of ways without the need for
anticipation, planning or force.
It is a natural condition of rest and balance. Finding an unselfconscious
harmony with the immediate moment is the whole point of meditation.
When the mind has stilled and the body relaxed, you are capable of
responding instantly to the requirements of the situation.
Immersion
Wu wei involves a deeper sensitivity than people typically employ in life.
By losing self-consciousness, you no longer feel separate from what is
happening, you are part of it.
In tai chi, a student struggles initially. Later, the student becomes
familiar and they do tai chi.
Mastered by
the art
Eventually, the doing ceases and the tai chi just seems to happen by itself.
The student no longer feels separate from the tai chi practice. Together as
one they flow through the movements.
This is wu wei, this is being. The tai chi is doing you.
Mutual arising
Nothing occurs in isolation. Light is defined by darkness. Relaxation by
tension. 'Mutual arising' is the understanding that everything is
interrelated.
Wu wei utilises this insight to ensure that we can move with what is
happening without getting in the way. Thought cannot accomplish this - we
must learn to feel.
Going with the flow
'Wu wei' involves an intelligent kind of passivity whereby the student uses
the flow to their advantage.
Rather than be a leaf floating down the stream, you are a boat with a sail
and a rudder - sensitive to every movement - gliding rather than floating.
Wu wei in combat
With the tai chi fighting method,
we always yield to force. This ensures that we are
not interfering with the other person's strength.
Partner work and combat require you to be aware of the incoming force and
move with the flow. You can then evade or strike. You can file along the
attacking arm or redirect the force.
There are absolutely no 'blocks' in tai chi -
blocking is the epitome of strength meeting strength - and this is not
wu wei.
Wu wei in life
It is quite easy to employ wu wei in everyday life. Allow your chattering
thoughts to settle and fade, then
listen. Observe what is happening, then move
with the flow of it.
Do not force your will upon others.
The art of not-doing which includes the unobtrusiveness, unknowability,
and ungraspability at the core of esoteric Asian martial
arts - belongs to the branch of Taoism known as The Science of the Essence.
(Thomas Cleary)
Page created
18 April 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
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