Taoism and the state of Wu Wei

The highest state of man – according to Taoism – is a state of no-doing. This is a state of

Wu Wei (a Chinese word) or Mui (in Japanese).

Before I got interested in eastern philosophy I read a number of American self-help books. None of these books did me much good. In fact I may have been harmed by them because I was not able to think and see if the concepts and methods suggested would help in meeting whatever challenges I was facing then.

One book I remember that I took very seriously was Psycho–Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. This is a pretty old book but it is considered to be pretty much a classic in the self-help field.

The basic premise of the book is that man is a cybernetic mechanism. In other words man is a goal seeking mechanism. The illustration is given of a torpedo which feels its way towards its goal by making mistakes and correcting its course on a continuous basis. The torpedo does not move in a straight line. It zig–zags or feels its ways towards its target.

Anyway man is like a torpedo. He is a goal seeking mechanism.

This characteristic is certainly of use in the market place. We can certainly progress in our career, or our relationships, or in our academics or in just about anything through determined, self–disciplined, intelligent efforts.

But Taoism describes the highest state as a state of non–doing. A state of Wu Wei or Mui.

And it is a paradox of this world that we live in that you will not attain to the highest even in the market place unless you attain – in some degree – to this state on non–doing.

For example The Art of War by Sun Tzu. This text is an evergreen classic. It is said that this book was the secret of Napoleon Bonaparte’s military successes.

According to Sun Tzu it is the unemotional, reserved, calm, detached warrior who wins, not the hothead seeking vengeance or the ambitious seeker of fortune.

Consider also, that geniuses such as Leonardo Da Vinci or Michaelangelo or Beethoven or Bach attained the heights that they did precisely because they are able to lose themselves in their art. The ego no longer exists. It is just a process of composing or painting.

I was learning Tai Chi Chuan for same months in Mumbai in India. I gave up these efforts mainly because I started Vipassana meditation and did not have the time or the inclination to seriously practice Tai Chi as well.

Tai Chi is based on the philosophy of Taoism. Here also you attain mastery when you are able to do the form (or the movements) without effort of any sort. The movements though slow and deliberate are highly complex and you are supposed to attain to mastery when you can do the form without effort or will or self-consciousness of any sort.

And it takes an enormous amount of time and effort to move even a little distance towards this state. My instructor in Mumbai told me that in Tai Chi Chuan the first 10 years are just the warm up. You actually start learning and doing and mastering after that time.

And yet the goal of Tai Chi is simplicity itself – it is to do the form and learn to live without the restraints of the ego. Just a natural, problem free, child-like state of being of experiencing and living. A state of Wu Wei - as advocated by Taoism.

I am sure most of you have seen the movie “Enter the Dragon” starring Bruce Lee. There is not much of philosophizing in this movie. Obviously a movie is meant for entertainment and not for instruction. But in the very beginning of the movie Bruce Lee is shown talking to his teacher and he describes the level he has reached us a martial arts practitioner. He says that when he is engaged in combat and see an opening to strike with his fist, “I do not hit. It hits all by itself.” It is a state of being in which no effort is involved. No ego is present. And this is the goal of all Eastern Philosophies, all the traditions of meditation exercises whether of Hinduism. Buddhism, Zen, Taoism or any other. And as I just described it is the goal – maybe the main goal in the advanced stages – of all martial arts.

Such a simple concept to understand. Yet attaining to that state is so difficult that it may be said that it is more or less unattainable solely through self efforts. The problem, is simply this:

We are purposeful cybernetic organisms. How can we change our own basic nature – which is to act purposefully?

How can the ego take steps to dissolve itself? Any steps that the ego takes will only strengthen the ego.

Even it we succeed in changing our basic nature, it is the I – the ego – that has done the work and caused the change. The ego still remains.

It is like fighting darkness with darkness; or a needle trying to prick itself.

Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen and all Eastern Philosophies are efforts to help us reach this state. All religions – whether Eastern or otherwise – have just this as the goal. Yet this state of mind, the state of being aspired to has been achieved by only a handful of people in all recorded history.

Spiritual growth is the most difficult, the most risky and the most worthwhile task that any of us can undertake.

For more details please refer the book - Become What You Are - available at Amazon.

I hope you enjoyed this article on Taoism and Wu Wei and Mui and that it will be useful to you.

Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.

Top of Page Taoism
Back to Home page Eastern Philosophy and Meditation