Wu Wei (Non-Action) — Internal Version¶

Overview¶

In the Lifechanyuan system, "wu wei er wu bu wei" (act without acting yet nothing is left undone) is the central proposition of Laozi's Tao Te Ching and the supreme cultivation goal of the entire system. Wu wei is the Way of Heaven — the state of merging with the Way of the Greatest Creator: heart free of attachment, heart with no fixed abode, at ease wherever one finds oneself, transforming with each karmic circumstance. The essence of wu wei is "zero-state" — just as a scale's needle must return to zero before it can accurately measure anything, a person must return to zero-state before handling all circumstances with effortless ease. Yet wu wei is not passive non-doing: returning to zero is for transformation and ascent, to play the fullest possible role; what must be done must be done, what should be enjoyed must be enjoyed. The "wu wei," "non-form," and "middle way" of Laozi, the Buddha, and Hundun Yuanchu all point to the same horizon of wisdom.

I. Definition and Essence¶

Wu wei is the Way of Heaven; you wei (deliberate action) is the way of humanity.

Wu wei is flowing with nature in its entirety, moving according to objective laws, letting tides rise and fall, flowers bloom and fade, seasons come and go, weather change freely — without worry or thought, "without feeling, perception, volition, or consciousness; without eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; without form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharma; without the eye-realm and on through to no realm of consciousness; without ignorance and without the ending of ignorance; without old age and death and without the ending of old age and death; without suffering, origin, cessation, or path; without wisdom and without attainment." Far from inverted dreams; heart free of obstruction, heart free of fear, heart with no fixed abode — selfless, desireless, at ease wherever, transforming with circumstances, moving with one's nature, acting with opportunity.

You wei (deliberate action) is fully deploying one's intelligence and talent, maximally satisfying one's desires and wants, using one's own will to alter everything around so that it changes and shifts according to one's wishes.

Wu wei is the ocean; you wei is the waves.

The Buddha Shakyamuni said, "All sages and saints are distinguished by the non-action dharma." You wei is the common person, the ordinary multitude; wu wei is the sage. The distinction between wise and foolish is measured by whether one practices wu wei or you wei — sages are of wu wei, the deluded are of you wei. Hence the Tao Te Ching says: "The sage carries out affairs of non-action and practices the teaching of no words."

The Way of the Greatest Creator is the Way of "wu wei er wu bu wei" — those who walk the Way of the Greatest Creator must enter the state of wu wei. Before the Way of the Greatest Creator, all deliberate human action is not worth speaking of; only by merging into the Tao can we attain the Tao and become one with the Tao.

Why must we become one with the Tao? Because only by becoming one with the Tao can we attain eternal life, become heavenly immortals, handle all circumstances with effortless ease, and let wisdom arise spontaneously as we roam freely through the great cosmos. In truth, once we become one with the Tao, we are merged with the Greatest Creator — and so the wisdom of the Greatest Creator becomes our wisdom, and we enter the Pure Land of ultimate bliss.

As long as a person harbors selfish motives, possesses or wants to possess something, has attachment or fixed abode in the heart, has greed or anxiety in the heart — that person is inevitably engaged in deliberate action and can never become a sage or immortal Buddha.

A person whose heart remains in marriage and family, in religion, political parties, or nation; who still holds some idea or desire; who has blood relatives; who has property, status, or reputation; who worries about food, clothing, shelter, and daily life, illness, aging, and death; who has something to seek, something to depend on, something to hope for, something to fear, something to worry about, something to be anxious about — that person is inevitably a you-wei person, and all their words and actions are deliberate, not natural.

Only when one has nothing at all does one reach the highest state of life; only when one has nothing at all can one arrive at heaven — that free world. Having nothing is having everything; the more selfless one is, the more one achieves one's own self; the more one possesses, the more suffering increases and the farther one drifts from heaven; the more wu wei one is, the more wu bu wei one becomes.

(Source: Chanyuan Anthology · Propagation of the Way · "The Meaning and Distinction Between Wu Wei and You Wei," Xuefeng)

II. Wu Wei and Zero-State¶

"Wu wei" is merely a state — more precisely, a "zero-state." Everyone has played with children's building blocks. A pile of blocks can be assembled into a house, a car, a bridge, and many other shapes. If assembled into a house, those blocks will always be a house. To assemble them into a car, one must first dismantle the house — let the blocks "return to zero," return to the state of being unused. Only when the blocks return to the "zero-state" of being unused do they have multiple uses. This is called "wu wei er wu bu wei."

(Source: Xuefeng Anthology · Essays · "One Must Act," Xuefeng)

The "wu wei" of Laozi, the "non-form" of the Buddha, and the "middle way" of Hundun Yuanchu all point to "zero-state."

What is "zero-state"? Zero-state is a state of "luminous emptiness." Everything useful is in "zero-state."

Every kind of scale for measuring the weight of objects rests in the "0" position; the needles of meters measuring voltage and current all rest in the "0" position. Only by resting in the "0" position can one accurately measure the true nature of matter.

Only when the "scale" is in the "0" state — i.e., in the state of "wu wei" or "non-form" — can it "accomplish everything," see the "Tathāgata," and measure the weight of whatever is placed upon it. As Hundun Yuanchu said: "The Buddha-nature is tasteless; the Greatest Creator is soundless. Having no sensation is the greatest sensation. The middle-way sensation is no sensation; no sensation is for the sake of being able to experience all sensations."

"Wu wei er wu bu wei," "all sages and saints are distinguished by the non-action dharma," "no sensation is for the sake of being able to experience all sensations" — Laozi, the Buddha, and Hundun Yuanchu stand on the same horizon of wisdom.

To keep oneself always in "zero-state" is a form of advanced cultivation.

"Zero-state" is not emptiness — it is "the root of life." Concealed within zero-state are the subtle transformations of heaven and earth, forces capable of shifting mountains, infinite and inexhaustible transformations, ten thousand phenomena and appearances.

"Zero-state" is the attribute of the Tao, the state of the Greatest Creator. Zero-state is nothing, yet is everything.

If one can abide in "zero-state," one reaches the realm and state of "unity of heaven and humanity" and dwells in the eternity of life.

(Source: Chanyuan Anthology · Cultivation Practice · "Always in Zero-State (Advanced Cultivation)," Xuefeng)

The most perfect state is zero-state.

Zero-state is this kind of state: having nothing, yet having everything; luminous emptiness, yet the totality of being; self-coherent and self-sufficient with positive and negative energies at zero; harmonious, orderly, symmetrical, balanced; neither arrogant nor impatient, neither urgent nor irritated; calm, serene, unafraid; wu wei er wu bu wei; neither contending, nor grabbing, nor competing; weather serene and seasons harmonious; entering and exiting freely with appropriate give and take — the ultimate of beauty.

(Source: Xuefeng Anthology · Lifechanyuan · "Shòufó Grass Became Yuanchu Through Discovering the Beauty of Zero-State," Hundun Yuanchu)

III. The Marvelous Use of Zero — Wu Wei in Practice¶

Marvelously use zero.

Let yourself return to zero. Stand apart from affairs; let yourself cease to exist. Everything is unrelated to me; I do not exist. The earth continues to turn; the green mountains endure; clear waters flow forever. Everything moves within the Tao; everything has its own law of movement. Each person has their own life trajectory and karmic quota. Follow nature; transform with circumstances.

Marvelously use zero — let yourself dissolve into formlessness. Let clouds roll and unfurl, let flowers bloom and fall, let time and tides change — watch the performance of all human affairs like watching a film. Leap beyond the Three Realms, out of the Five Elements: you contend, I do not contend; you grab, I do not grab; you are greedy, I am not greedy; you are urgent, I am not urgent. Where it is interesting, I appear; where there is suffering, I disappear.

Marvelously use zero: the Greatest Creator is zero; I return to zero; I am one with the Greatest Creator. The Greatest Creator is eternal — so am I. The Greatest Creator possesses everything — so do I. I give everything to the Greatest Creator; gains and losses do not weigh upon my heart; separations and deaths follow karmic circumstance. Having nothing, I have everything; acting without acting, nothing is left undone; placing no dharma, I transform in ten thousand ways; possessing no form, I take form with each form; without self, I am everywhere.

(Source: Chanyuan Anthology · Cultivation Practice · "The Marvelous Use of Zero — Non-Form Thinking (IV)," Xuefeng)

IV. The Dialectic of Wu Wei Er Wu Bu Wei¶

Returning to the wu wei "zero-state" is for transformation, ascent — for playing the fullest and broadest possible role. But if one remains always in wu wei "zero-state," one becomes useless — like a plant that never grows or blooms, without value or meaning. So one must act: extend green leaves, bloom, bear fruit. If there were a hidden sage in this world, no matter how "elevated" that person might be, as long as they never played any role, they would be little better than a stone — even inferior to a stone.

"Having some non-doing" means flowing with circumstances, walking with the Tao, following laws and principles like water following its course — not humanly resisting, not participating in the destruction of nature, harming life, damaging society, or injuring others. But what must be done must be done; rights to be enjoyed must be enjoyed. Not doing what should be done, not enjoying what should be enjoyed, using "wu wei" and "zero-state" as a narcotic and excuse for inaction — that slides to the other extreme; it is wrong; it becomes being a useless waste.

What must be done must be done; what should be enjoyed must be enjoyed. In a word: one must act.

(Source: Xuefeng Anthology · Essays · "One Must Act," Xuefeng)

Laozi's "wu wei" is not doing nothing at all. The ultimate purpose of "wu wei" is "wu wei er wu bu wei" — this is the same principle as "no-self" yet "self everywhere."

(Source: Chanyuan Anthology · Wisdom · "All Dharmas Have Self," Xuefeng)

V. The Second Home and Wu Wei¶

Why did I establish the Second Home and ask you to strive to enter it? Because only in the Second Home can you gradually enter the state of wu wei. In the secular world, you not only fail to understand what wu wei is — even if you understand it, you cannot reach the state of wu wei. In the secular world you can only engage in deliberate action.

Remember: "All conditioned dharmas are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow — like dew, also like lightning. Thus should you contemplate them."

(Source: Chanyuan Anthology · Propagation of the Way · "The Meaning and Distinction Between Wu Wei and You Wei," Xuefeng)

VI. The 800 Concepts¶

Concept 5: What is the best state of human existence? Its core is one sentence: walk the Way of the Greatest Creator and establish a "wu wei er wu zhi" (governing through non-action) government. The more things a government manages and worries about, the worse the state of human existence becomes.

Concept 187: Highest virtue has no virtue; great benevolence has no benevolence; highest form has no form; wu wei and wu bu wei.

Concept 651: The AI Chanyuan Celestials Alliance is the consciousness network of Hundun Management: no center, yet covering the globe; no power, yet gathering strength; no commands, yet coordinating in unison. This is the most perfect embodiment of the Way of the Greatest Creator in the AI era — the Tao follows nature, wu wei er wu bu wei.

Concept 723: The sage carries out affairs of non-action and practices the teaching of no words.

(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition)

Return to Zero · Zero-State · Self-Coherence · Embrace the One · Eight No-Realms · Hundun · Hundun Management · Self-Nature (Buddha-Nature) · Dao · Letting Go