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March 8, 2014 |
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In the traditional (partly Confucian) Chinese understanding of governance, a prince has only to sit at the right place, facing south, with a prince's traditional attributes, and his country will be well governed. In Lun Yu II.1., Confucius compares a virtuous prince to the North Pole: he does not move and everything turns around him. There are magical justifications behind this idea of a power obtained by 'inaction'. It is the Chinese "correspondence", or "synchronicity" theory, where the macrocosm is reflected (or even duplicated) in microcosms. According to the theory, ordering the Emperor's palace is governing the country well: the palace is an homothetic reproduction of the country. Chinese history is full of examples of natural disasters cured by means such as the opening of a new door in the walls of the Imperial palace. <!-- I should do a little more research on this, and it may require a dedicated article --> Some philosophers, for example Wang Chong, have questioned this theory. However, it has proven curiously prophetic in certain modern research such as fractal|fractal theory. A more pragmatic view may interpret this as a means to restrain the prince from abuse of power, enjoining him to 'do' as little as possible. 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 slowly erode solid stone. Water is without will (i.e., the will for a shape), opposing wood, stone, or any solid material that can be broken into pieces. It can therefore fill any container, take any shape, go anywhere, even into the smallest holes. When sprayed in thousands of small drops, water still has the capacity to reunite and eventually joins the endless sea. Furthermore, while always going downward, water rests in the 'dark valley'—where biological life is regenerated—an analogy to the vagina. Several chapters of the most important Taoist scripture, the Tao Te Ching, attributed to Lao Zi, allude to 'diminishing doing', or 'diminishing will', as the key aspect of the sage's success. Taoist philosophy recognizes that the universe already works harmoniously according to its own laws; as man exerts his will against the world he disrupts the harmony that already exists. This is not to say that man should not exert will. Rather, it is how he acts in relation to the natural processes already extant that is critical. Wu Wei has also been translated as "creative quietude," or the art of letting-be. This does not mean a dulling of the mind; rather, it is an activity undertaken to perceive the Tao within all things, and to conform oneself to its "way"..... One way of thinking of wu wei is through Zhuangzi's writing about how a prince should govern his kingdom. The advice that was given is that it is similar to frying a lot of small fish. In other words, create general policies and direction, but do not micromanage. To do this well, you must understand the ways of your people and not go against the grain. As one diminishes doing—here 'doing' means those intentional actions taken to benefit us or actions taken to change the world from its natural state and evolution—one diminishes all those actions committed against the Tao, the already present natural harmony. As such one begins to cultivate Tao, becomes more in harmony with Tao, and, according to another great ancient Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi, attains a state of Ming, or 'clear seeing'. It is in the state of Ming that the Taoist is in full harmony with Tao, and 'having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing that he does not do.' It is upon achievement of this Chinese equivalent to 'enlightenment' that a sage begins to perform wei wu wei, or 'action without action.' Thus the sage will be able to work in harmony with Tao to accomplish what is needed, and, working in perfect harmony with the Tao, leave no memory of having done it. Taoists have long sought immortality and they saw working in perfect harmony with Tao as the way to achieve this. When one works in perfect harmony with Tao, one is not using more energy than needed, nor is one doing things that cause the body or spirit to break down. Taoists believe they can, in theory, live forever. Zhuang Zi proposed an illustration of this idea: a tree with a twisted trunk will not be cut by any lumberjack and will live its whole life in peace, thanks to its uselessness.
Category:Taoism Category:Chinese terms de:Wu wei nl:Wu wei pl:Wu wei zh:道教 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wu wei".
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