Wu-Wei

Wu wei (traditional Chinese: 無爲; simplified Chinese: 无为; pinyin: wúwéi) is an important tenet of Taoism that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that "Wu Wei" means natural action - as planets revolve around the sun, they "do" this revolving, but without "doing" it; Or as trees grow, they "do", but without "doing". Thus knowing when (and how) to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think "now" is the right time to do "this", but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing.

Wu may be translated as not have or without; Wei may be translated as do, act, serve as, govern or effort. The literal meaning of Wu Wei is "without action" and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei : "action without action" or "effortless doing". The practice of wu wei and the efficacy of wei wu wei are fundamental tenets in Chinese thought and have been mostly emphasized by the Taoist school. The aim of wu wei is to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium, or alignment with the Tao, and, as a result, obtain an irresistible form of "soft and invisible" power. There is also another uncommon interpretation of wu wei (" action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort"). In this instance, Wu means " without" and Wei means "Effort" , so it follows Wu wei is not ("non-action"). It can be argued that this error propagated widely in English publications as a result of translations made by academics who are non practising Taoists. The concept that wu wei means "effortless action" is clearly exemplified in the Taoist Internal martial arts such as Tai chi, Baguazhang and Xing Yi . In Zen Calligraphy, Wu Wei has been represented as a circle.

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