Wu wei
Wu wei 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 Daoism, it denotes the nature of Dao, meaning that while Dao 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. 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 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 differentiated wu wei as found in the Zhuangzi and Tao te Ching, respectively:- 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."
Traditionally said to have been influenced by Laozi, Creel instead suggested that Daoists might have adopted the second idea of wu wei from Shen Buhai 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 for the Huainanzi's idea of wu wei 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 may precede them, much of the Outer Zhuangzi derives more from at least the later part of the Warring States period, ridiculing Confucian moralization. Still 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 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 and took his proper position as ruler'". The concept of a divine king whose "magic power" "regulates everything in the land" 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" "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, 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, 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 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, 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 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; 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."A commentary to the Shiji cites a now-lost book as quoting Shen Buhai saying: "By employing, 'passive mindfulness', in overseeing and keeping account of his vassals, accountability is deeply engraved." The Guanzi similarly says: "Yin is the way of non-action. Yin is neither to add to nor to detract from anything. To give something a name strictly on the basis of its form – this is the Method of yin." Yin also aimed at concealing the ruler's intentions, likes and opinions.
''Wuwei'' in Chan Buddhism
In early Chinese Buddhism, wuwei was used as a translation of nirvāṇa, which was understood to be unproduced and inactive. Although this translation was eventually abandoned in favor of niepan, a phonetic transliteration of nirvāṇa, wuwei continued to be used in Chinese Buddhist scholastic contexts as a translation of the Sanskrit term asaṃskṛta, or "unconditioned". In Chan sources, wuwei retains its native Chinese sense of "nonaction" and "without intent", although the term can also have multiple senses in one and the same source. Perhaps the earliest occurrence of the term in Chan can be found in the Two Entrances and Four Practices of Bodhidharma, located in the Long Scroll, which contains the earliest known records of Chan. There Bodhidharma says, "Principle is the obverse of the conventional; quiet mind and practice no-action; forms follow the turnings of fate; the ten thousand existences are thus void; wish for nothing."Wuwei appears in teachings of the East Mountain school. For example, in the Xiuxin yao lun, Hongren explains that the ignorant mind's learning is useless compared to the learning of the mind which is inactive or unconditioned. This is called "true learning" in which there is ultimately nothing that is learned.
Henrik Sorensen observes that wuwei and other concepts commonly associated with Daoism appear in the two Oxhead School texts, the Jueguan lun and the Xin Ming. For example, the Xin Ming says:
According to Robert Sharf, the Jueguan lun and the Xin Ming can be grouped together with a number of other early Chan texts probably composed sometime during the eighth or ninth century which exhibit a similarity of lexical terms and doctrinal content. This group of texts includes such works as the Xinwang Ming and the well known Xinxin Ming, as well as the Dunhuang manuscript, the Wuxin lun. Wuwei occurs in these texts as well, as the Xinwang Ming says, "The Dharma-jewel of unbiased activity / Is neither shallow nor profound," and in the Xinxin Ming one finds: "The wise are without interfering activity / Foolish men entangle themselves." The Wuxin lun says, "Engaged in actions day in and day out, do without doing—which is nothing other than no-mind," and "No perception, no activity: that’s wuwei." According to Urs App, the use of wuwei here resembles that of chapter 3 of the Daodejing, which says, " acts without acting; thus everything is taken care of."
Wuwei also occurs several times in another text associated with the Oxhead School known as the Baozang lun, where it appears alongside the East Asian philosophical concept of ganying, or "sympathetic resonance". In a Buddhist context, this relates to the idea of ying-shen, the resonant or response body of a Buddha. It is that by which the Buddhist sage is able to respond to external stimuli and the needs of suffering beings spontaneously and "without any premeditation or will of his own." According to Sharf, this combines the early Chinese ideal of the sage-king with Indian Buddhist notions of Bodhi as free of karmic activity. The Baozang lun says: "Some call it holy, some call it brilliant; there are many ways to refer to it, as each employs its own name. But in reality its essential principle is nonaction, and its appearance is the absence of attributes." Sharf observes that the Baozang lun contains influences from Twofold Mystery Daoism.
Wuwei appears in verses attributed to the Liang dynasty figure Baozhi. For example: "The uncontrived Great Way is natural and spontaneous; you don't need to use your mind to figure it out." It also appears in the famous Zhengdao ge, attributed to Huineng's disciple Yongjia Xuanjue: "The leisurely person of the Way who has ceased all learning and has nothing more to do, / neither removes deluded thoughts nor seeks truth." According to Jinhua Jia, although the above have been attributed to Baozhi of the Liang and Yongjia Xuanjue respectively, these are likely products of the Hongzhou school of Chan, which flourished during the Tang dynasty.
Hongzhou sources also caution against grasping onto non-doing itself as some object of attachment. For example, as Baizhang Huaihai points out: "The principle is the principle of nonseeking; seek it and you lose it. If you cling to nonseeking, this is still the same as seeking; if you cling to nondoing, this is the same again as doing." In a similar vein, the Hongzhou master Dazhu Huihai explains that a prediction of Buddhahood will be obtained neither by relying on deeds nor even by refraining from methods. Instead, he says, "You must just avoid letting your minds dwell upon anything whatsoever, which implies either deeds or no deeds—that is what we call 'receiving a prediction of Buddhahood'."
One can also find in Chan sources the similar term, wú shì, often translated as "nothing-to-do", but which also has the meaning of no affairs, no concerns, no matters, and no business. For instance, Huangbo Xiyun states, "the person of the Way is the one who has nothing to do [wú shì], who has no mind at all and no doctrine to preach. Having nothing to do, such a person lives at ease." Likewise, Huangbo's student Linji Yixuan says, "Followers of the Way, as to buddhadharma, no effort is necessary. You have only to be ordinary, with nothing to do—defecating, urinating, wearing clothes, eating food, and lying down when tired." Linji also connects non-doing with "turning one's light around". That is, according to Linji, when one stops seeking externally and turns one's own light in upon oneself, one will on that very instant have nothing to do.
During the Tokugawa period in Japan, Hakuin Ekaku criticized the Zen style of the unconventional master Bankei Yōtaku as "Do-nothing Unborn Zen". According to Bankei's teaching, as one's unborn Buddha Mind is marvelously illuminating and "smoothly manages each and every thing," there is no need to rely on one's own cleverness or shrewdness. As it is sufficient to simply realize this clearly, Bankei held that it was unnecessary to engage in practices such as sitting in zazen or investigating koans. For Bankei, one has only to leave everything to the unborn Buddha Mind and function with it in all one's affairs. Bankei wrote:
In recent times, the Korean Sŏn master Daehaeng taught "doing without doing". According to her view, the fundamental reality, or natural state, is a nondual whole in which everything functions together as one. As such, no separate doer exists, since everything is "happening naturally, without a conscious effort on the part of the individual." In terms of a method of spiritual cultivation, "doing without doing" entails letting go of the thought of the individual as a separate doer. For Daehaeng, this requires faith in one's foundation, or fundamental mind, which is connected to all phenomena and functions together with them in a nondual way. As one knows that this foundation is doing all things, one entrusts everything to it with the faith that it is taking care of whatever arises in one's life. Thus, one is able to let go naturally and automatically. Daehaeng said:
''Wuwei'' in Legalism
Important information lay in the recovery of the fragments of administrator Shen Buhai. Shen portrays Yao as using Fa in the selection and evaluation of men. Though not a conclusive argument against proto-Daoist influence, Shen's Daoist terms do not show evidence of Daoist usage, lacking any metaphysical connotation. The later Legalist book, the Han Feizi has a commentary on the Daodejing, but references Shen Buhai rather than Laozi for this usage.Shen is credited with the dictum "The Sage ruler relies on method and does not rely on wisdom; he relies on technique, not on persuasions", and used the term wu wei to mean that the ruler, though vigilant, should not interfere with the duties of his ministers, saying "One who has the right way of government does not perform the functions of the five officials, and yet is the master of the government".
Since the bulk of both the Daodejing and Zhuangzi appear to have been composed at a later point, Creel argued that it may therefore be assumed that Shen influenced them, much of both appearing to be counter-arguments against Legalist controls. The "Way of Heaven" chapter of the Zhuangzi seems to follow Shen Buhai down to the detail, saying "Superiors must be without action in-order to control the world; inferiors must be active in-order to be employed in the world's business..." and to paraphrase, that foundation and principle are the responsibility of the superior, superstructure and details that of the minister, but then goes on to attack Shen's administrative details as non-essential.
Elsewhere, the Zhuangzi references another Legalist, Shen Dao, as impartial and lacking selfishness, his "great way embracing all things".
Non-action by the ruler
Shen Buhai argued that if the government were organized and supervised relying on proper method, the ruler needs to do little – and must do little. Apparently paraphrasing the Analects, Shen did not consider the relationship between ruler and minister antagonistic necessarily, but still believed that the ruler's most able ministers were his greatest danger, and was convinced that it was impossible to make them loyal without techniques. Sinologist Herrlee G. Creel explains: "The ruler's subjects are so numerous, and so on alert to discover his weaknesses and get the better of him, that it is hopeless for him alone as one man to try to learn their characteristics and control them by his knowledge... the ruler must refrain from taking the initiative, and from making himself conspicuous – and therefore vulnerable – by taking any overt action."Emphasizing the use of administrative methods in secrecy, Shen Buhai portrays the ruler as putting up a front to hide his weaknesses and dependence on his advisers. Shen therefore advises the ruler to keep his own counsel, hide his motivations, and conceal his tracks in inaction, availing himself of an appearance of stupidity and insufficiency. Shen says:
Acting through Fa, the ruler conceals his intentions, likes and dislikes, skills and opinions. Not acting himself, he can avoid being manipulated. The ruler plays no active role in governmental functions. He should not use his talent even if he has it. Not using his own skills, he is better able to secure the services of capable functionaries. Creel argues that not getting involved in details allowed Shen's ruler to "truly rule", because it leaves him free to supervise the government without interfering, maintaining his perspective. Seeing and hearing independently, the ruler is able to make decisions independently, and is, Shen says, able to rule the world thereby.
This wu wei might be said to end up the political theory of the "Legalists", if not becoming their general term for political strategy, playing a "crucial role in the promotion of the autocratic tradition of the Chinese polity". The non-action of the ruler ensures his power and the stability of the polity.
Non-action in statecraft
Shen Buhai insisted that the ruler must be fully informed of the state of his realm, but couldn't afford to get caught up in details and in an ideal situation need listen to no one. Listening to his courtiers might interfere with promotions, and he does not, as Sinologist Herrlee G. Creel says, have the time to do so. The way to see and hear independently is the grouping together of particulars into categories using mechanical or operational method. On the contrary the ruler's eyes and ears will make him "deaf and blind". Seeing and hearing independently, the ruler is able to make decisions independently, and is, Shen says, able to rule the world thereby.Despite this, Shen's method of appointment, Ming-shih, advises a particular method for listening to petitioners in the final analyses, which would be articulated as Xing-Ming by Han Fei. In the Han dynasty secretaries of government who had charge of the records of decisions in criminal matters were called Xing-Ming, which Sima Qian and Liu Xiang attributed to the doctrine of Shen Buhai. Liu Xiang goes as far as to define Shen Buhai's doctrine as Xing-Ming. Rather than having to look for "good" men, ming-shih or xing-ming can seek the right man for a particular post by comparing his reputation with real conduct, though doing so implies a total organizational knowledge of the regime.
More simply though, one can allow ministers to "name" themselves through accounts of specific cost and time frame, leaving their definition to competing ministers. Claims or utterances "bind the speaker to the realization a job". This was the doctrine, with subtle differences, favoured by Han Fei. Favoring exactness, it combats the tendency to promise too much. The correct articulation of is considered crucial to the realization of projects.
Shen resolved hair-splitting litigation through wu wei, or not getting involved, making an official's words his own responsibility. Shen Buhai says, "The ruler controls the policy, the ministers manage affairs. To speak ten times and ten times be right, to act a hundred times and a hundred times succeed – this is the business of one who serves another as minister; it is not the way to rule." The correlation between wu wei and ming-shih likely informed the Taoist conception of the formless Tao that "gives rise to the ten thousand things."
Han Fei
Devoting the entirety of Chapter 14, "How to Love the Ministers", to "persuading the ruler to be ruthless to his ministers", Han Fei's enlightened ruler strikes terror into his ministers by doing nothing. The qualities of a ruler, his "mental power, moral excellence and physical prowess" are irrelevant. He discards his private reason and morality, and shows no personal feelings. What is important is his method of government. Fa require no perfection on the part of the ruler.If the Han Fei's use of wu wei was derivative of proto-Daoist folk religion, its Dao nonetheless emphasizes autocracy. Accepting that Han Fei applies wu wei specifically to statecraft, professors Xing Lu argues that Han Fei still considered wu wei is still a virtue. As Han Fei says, "by virtue of resting empty and reposed, he waits for the course of nature to force or unfold itself."
The Han Feizis commentary on the Daodejing asserts that perspectiveless knowledge – an absolute point of view – is possible.
Shen Dao
espouses an impersonal administration in much the same sense as Shen Buhai, and argued for wu wei, or the non action of the ruler, along the same lines, sayingShen Dao eschews appointment by interview in favour of a mechanical distribution apportioning every person according to their achievement. Linking administrative methods or standards to the notion of impartial objectivity associated with universal interest, and reframing the language of the old ritual order to fit a universal, imperial and highly bureaucratized state, Shen cautions the ruler against relying on his own personal judgment, contrasting personal opinions with the merit of the objective standard as preventing personal judgements or opinions from being exercised. Personal opinions destroy standards, and Shen Dao's ruler therefore "does not show favoritism toward a single person".
Han dynasty
Legalism dominated the intellectual life of the Qin and early Han together with Daoism. Early Han dynasty Emperors like Emperor Jing would be steeped in a Daoistic laissez-faire. But Shen Buhai's book would be widely studied even from the beginning of the Han era. Jia Yi's Hsin-shu, undoubtedly influenced by the "Legalists", describes Shen Buhai's techniques as methods of applying the Dao, or virtue, bringing together Confucian and Daoist discourses under the imagery of the Zhuangzi. Many later texts, for instance in Huang-Lao, use similar images to describe the quiescent attitude of the ruler.The Huang-Lao text Huainanzi, although oriented toward state interest, would go on to include naturalist arguments in favour of rule by worthies on the basis that one needs their competence for such things as diplomacy, and defines wu wei as follows:
The Huang–Lao text Jing fa says:
Modern
Philosopher Alan Watts believed that wu wei can be described as "not-forcing". Watts also understood wu wei as "the art of getting out of one’s own way" and offered the following illustration: "The river is not pushed from behind, nor is it pulled from ahead. It falls with gravity."Leo Tolstoy was deeply influenced by Daoist philosophy, and wrote his own interpretation of wu wei in his piece Non-Activity.
Psychoanalyst Robin S. Brown has examined wu wei in the context of Western psychotherapy. Brown links wu wei with the psychoanalytic notion of enactment.
General sources
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