#48 The Master Mindset of Wu-wei
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 48: How to unlock the secret to intentional and conscious living with the wu-wei mindset
Welcome back to The Wisdom of Lao Tzu.
This week, we're delving into Chapter 48 of the Tao Te Ching, where we learn how wu-wei applies to personal life and political management.
Wu-wei is a counterintuitive idea, yet it is the foundation of a master mindset. If we can use it well, we can unlock unlimited surprises in life’s journey.
Let’s find out together.
**48**
為學日益，為道日損。
損之又損，以至於無為。
無為而無不為。
取天下常以無事，及其有事，不足以取天下。
Border-crossing: English translations
#1 Lin Yutang’s version
The student of knowledge (aims at) learning day by day;
The student of Tao (aims at) losing day by day.
By continual losing
One reaches doing nothing (laissez-faire).
By doing nothing everything is done.
He who conquers the world often does so by doing nothing.
When one is compelled to do something,
The world is already beyond his conquering.
#2 Edmund Ryden’s version
A person given to studies makes daily progress;
A person given to the Way makes daily regress.
Regress and again regress, until coming to not acting.
When not acting then there is nothing not done.
If you acquire the world, ever be without anything to do.
Should there be something to do, one is not up to acquiring the
world.1
#3 D. C. Lau’s version
In the pursuit of learning one knows more every day; in
the pursuit of the way one does less every day. One does
less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one
does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone.
It is always through not meddling that the empire is won.
Should you meddle, then you are not equal to the task of
winning the empire.2
Deeper dive
Wu-wei, often translated as "non-action" or "effortless action," is a philosophical idea and a guiding principle for navigating the complexities of personal life and political management.
At its core, wu-wei admonishes against the constant clamor of external distractions and the tyranny of unchecked desires that besiege the mind.
He Shanggong’s (approximately 200 BC —?) comment on the statement — “in the pursuit of the way one does less every day” — underscores the essence of rising above excessive desires and emotions.
He said, “What one should reduce daily is desires and emotions. To reduce them consistently will help one cultivate the ability to ward off them.”3
Through consistent practice, one cultivates the fortitude to resist the allure of impulsive urges, thereby fostering inner tranquility and clarity.
When it comes to governance and management, wu-wei helps with achieving optimal efficiency with minimal exertion.
The key lies in being wary of and avoiding interruptive and impulsive actions, as the complexities of life itself require subtle and resilient responses instead of single-minded meddling.
He Shanggong said, “Meddling will not help you govern well. When you become meddling, political and social chaos and instability will arise. As a result, people will feel unsafe and unsettled.”4
That’s why Lao Tzu said, “It is always through not meddling that the empire is won.” In a nutshell, the lesson from wu-wei is that impulsive actions breed chaos and instability.
Regrettably, contemporary China is a testament to its divergence from Taoist teachings. Let’s examine this social reality.
The proliferation of surveillance apparatus to monitor people’s activities, social credit systems to track people’s financial actions, and ideological indoctrination throughout a student’s educational journey in its education system to control people’s thinking, and the construction of the iron curtain of an information wall that cuts off the communication between Chinese people and the outside.
All these measures starkly contrast with the ethos of wu-wei, casting a shadow over the nation's spiritual heritage and obstructing it from moving forward.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, China's recourse to heavy-handed lockdown policies elucidates the perils of unchecked interventionism. The ensuing chaos, compounded by governmental mismanagement, further illustrates the need for more pragmatic wisdom and the spirit of wu-wei.
In the end, three years of lockdowns in China have generated macro-level disasters and collective tragedies, causing irreparable damage to ordinary people’s lives and the nation’s spirit. This painful lesson further demonstrates the danger of arbitrary and misguided actions.
Spiritual Taoism
As a philosophical idea, wu-wei transcends mere passivity. It encapsulates a dynamic harmony between conscious and spontaneous action and peaceful acceptance.
Thus, it embodies a transformative power as both a personal guiding principle and a first-order idea for societal harmony.
At its foundational level, wu-wei can be viewed as a spiritual guardian, shielding the heart from the onslaught of external distractions and the seductive allure of excessive desires. In our daily lives filled with stimuli clamoring for attention, cultivating inner stillness becomes paramount.
By relinquishing attachment to fleeting desires and impulsive actions, we can direct our vital energy and focus toward conscious endeavors that truly matter.
Through the practice of wu-wei, we attain a state of unyielding concentration, wherein every action emerges from the starting point of mindful intentionality.
“By doing nothing (wu-wei), everything is done.”
This seemingly paradoxical statement on wu-wei is the secret that unlocks all meaningful accomplishments in life.
Higher dimension of wu-wei
1) Things resolve by themselves
The journey toward mastery of wu-wei extends beyond individual practice. It includes a higher-level paradigm shift with profound implications for societal dynamics.
At its essence, wu-wei invites us to relinquish the illusion of control, trusting in the inherent wisdom of the natural order to guide the course of events.
Yet, this is a contrarian perspective on how the human world actually works.
In this context, the wu-wei mindset inspires us to cultivate self-awareness constantly. This is the precondition of seeing through the underlying laws of social arrangements and conditioning.
History bears witness to the perils of hubristic attempts to impose rigid ideologies and worldviews on individuals, which result in too much suffering and chaos.
Take, for example, Cultural Revolution, Communism, Nazism, or any religious or political fanaticism. The fundamental cause of these radical social and political movements can be attributed to megalomanic (or should we say sick-minded?) people projecting their worldviews to the outside, forcing innocent people to accept their own ideological obsessions with propaganda, sheer force, and coercion.
The key lesson: Whether in the form of totalitarian regimes or dogmatic religious fervor, the folly of attempting to force conformity upon others cautions us about the tyranny of human arrogance and ego-centric way of doing things.
In contrast, wu-wei reminds us to embrace humility, trust, and a resilient attitude, allowing things to unfold naturally without interference. Just as a river effortlessly navigates its course around obstacles, so does the wise individual flow with the currents of life, adapting to circumstances without arbitrary contending.
By refraining from coercion and manipulation, we honor each individual’s inherent autonomy and dignity, which helps foster an environment where freedom and diversity flourish.
2) Respecting individuality
Moreover, wu-wei challenges us to reexamine our assumptions about human nature and potential, as it questions the notion that societal progress necessitates radical attempts to reform fundamental aspects of human behavior.
Rather than imposing top-down policies dictated by a select few, wu-wei requires us to appreciate the innate creativity and agency inherent within every individual.
As Lao Tzu said,
Of the best rulers
The people (only) know that they exist;
…
But (of the best) when their task is accomplished, their work done,
The people all remark, “we have done it ourselves.” (Chapter 17)
In essence, wu-wei in governance tells us that authentic leadership arises not from a desire to control but from a deep reverence and understanding of each person’s inherent goodness and potential for self-transformation.
The wu-wei mindset essentially asks us to practice self-challenging at the personal and societal levels.
By cultivating inner stillness to let go of distractions and impulsive thoughts and relinquishing the illusion of control, we align ourselves with the natural flow of life, making it possible to reach a harmonious relationship with ourselves and the world around us.
Through the practice of wu-wei, we can cultivate the spiritual power to transcend the confines of ego-driven desires and embrace a more expansive vision of existence characterized by spontaneity, creativity, and interconnectedness.
Thanks for reading!
To your spiritual transformation,
Yuxuan
Daodejing, trans. Edmund Ryden. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 101.
Tao Te Ching, trans. D. C. Lau. (London: Penguin Classics, 1963), 55.
「損之者，捐情慾。又損之，所以漸去。」See Wang Bi et al., Four Kinds of Laotse 老子四種 (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2016), 133.
「及其好有事，則政教煩，民不安，故不足以治天下也。」Ibid.
I loved seeing the Chinese and the different translations. It gave so many different flavours to the lessons of WuWei.