Doing nothing, part iv: wu wei edition

Wisdom from the sage Kunu

To find earlier posts in my Do Nothing series, here are parts 1, 2, and 3 .

Can you comprehend everything in the four directions, and still do nothing? - Tao Te Ching

I had lunch with my friend Camas this week, who has been reading these last few posts about doing nothing. She asked - but how do you do nothing? I mean if you have a kid, or a job, you can’t be doing nothing; you’re always doing something.

My favorite scenes from the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall is Paul Rudd, playing Kunu (which means “Chuck” in Hawaiian haha), offers a beginning surf lesson with the instructions: Do less. Try less. But no, you can’t just lie there. Otherwise, it looks like you’re just boogie boarding:

The scene is actually about one of my favorite Chinese concepts, wu-wei which is often translated as “doing nothing” or “non-action.” But Chinese is more subtle than that, so wu-wei can be better translated as “effortless action,” or “non-doing.” Here’s Eckhart Tolle’s explanation:

”Doing nothing” when you are in a state of intense presence is a very powerful transformer and healer of situations and people.  In Taoism, there is a term called wu wei, which is usually translated as “actionless activity” or “sitting quietly doing nothing.” In ancient China, this was regarded as one of the highest achievements or virtues.  It is radically different from inactivity in the ordinary state of consciousness, or rather unconsciousness, which stems from fear, inertia, or indecision.  The real “doing nothing” implies inner nonresistance and intense alertness. — The Power of Now  (p.179-180)

I took a Chinese philosophy class in law school 25 years ago. It was mostly all above me (most philosophy is), but what I got was that the goal of all Chinese philosophy is to get people to conform to li, the underlying harmony of the universe. The central debate between the Confucians and the Taoists (and all other Chinese schools of thought) was how to do so. The Confucians thought that society helps people understand and conform to li through rituals, relationships, and rules. Like how an athlete learns and practices how to dribble a soccer ball or shoot a free throw, or do a vault until the action becomes automatic and effortless. It is only through training can we get into the flow state, where we lose ourselves in doing, in a state of profound being and unself-conscious alertness.

The Taoists, on the other hand, believed that society was a corrupting force; that culture created ways that prevent us from acting naturally. In today’s world, achievement and consumption culture: no one would work this hard, and this anxiously, if culture didn’t tell us we had to do to be accepted:

• The expectations of your peer group: whether it’s your neighbors, the parents of other kids, your boss, colleagues, or clients.

• The inner critic.

• The perfectionist streak.

• Advertising and marketing, which as Christian writer Wayne Muller points out actually sells unhappiness. You have to buy the fact you’re unhappy before you can be persuaded to buy anything else.

The Taoists say that it’s only by unlearning what toxic culture had taught us, can we find our relaxed, natural state of being. And unlearning means a deep letting go. Not “doing” anything.

The sage acts by doing nothing.¹ [Tao Te Ching chapter 2]

The highest virtue does nothing. Yet, nothing needs to be done. The lowest virtue does everything. Yet, much remains to be done. [chapter 38]

The sage knows without traveling, perceives without looking, completes without acting. [chapter 47]

When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. [chapter 48]

Best dog in Portland

Alan Watts’s translation of wu-wei is not-forcing— not forcing anything. The best model for not-forcing is a pet (or any animal). They are always being natural, without indecision, without self-consciousness, in grace and ease. Which is why I named my dog Wu-Wei:²

Not forcing anything at the Golden Gate Bridge

When I told my family that I got a puppy and named him Wu-Wei, my dad wrote that wu-wei means both “doing nothing” and “being fearless”:

Dear Doug
無 為 (doing nothing) is the essence of Taoist philosophy.
It does not mean doing nothing literally.
It actually means doing something by ways of nature.
無 畏 (fearless) is a term for bravery. Also a good name for a dog.
Both are good names.
Love,
Dad

My aunt wrote:

無維，無畏(Wu wei. Mandarin),  (mold wai. Cantonese). It's a very good name.  This little dog in this instance, it embodiments of both "fearless" and "effortless action." It doesn't think I’m unmatched to this big wolf, that's 無畏. There's neither fear nor should I do this in it's thinking (it's selfless). And also, it does it because it's a natural reaction, no thinking of rewards, it's unconditional, no strings attached. It's just like in the nature, the sun rises from the east and sets on the west.  Tomorrow is another day, there is no trace of yesterday in the sun's mind.  That's 無維. This is what buddha is teaching us, and this little dog shows us what buddha is like. Love you. Amitabha.

When you are an undefended ego, you are selfless. Nothing can harm you; you are wu-wei. Not thinking of rewards, not attaching any strings. Like the sun, acting effortlessly, in harmony with underlying nature.

There is no trace of yesterday in the mind. Fully present.

Fearless.

Dreaming it’s real

Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?—Tao Te Ching

All my adult life, I’ve had ‘bad’ dreams. I wake up in the night from anxiety dreams, realistic derivatives of bad childhood memories, of heartbreaks and regrets, of uncomfortable situations that I couldn’t escape. Not fun.

But change is happening recently. I still dream the same ‘bad’ dreams, but I’ve been waking up from them with a inner nonresistance, and hence deeper understanding and acceptance whatever happened in the dream. And from that, a deeper understanding and acceptance of my life.

Again, the dreams remain the same, but the meaning of the dreams is changing. And after spending years “working on myself,” it’s now happening at a subconscious level.

Effortless action. Non-doing.

I somehow stopped fighting or chasing, defending or denying anything. I stopped trying to heal, trying to change what was inside of me. Not forcing anything. I just slowed down. And when I surrendered, the change happened by itself.

Waiting at the gate

We live in the modern world, with so little time. It’s so hard to slow down. We're working so hard, in our jobs, on ourselves, and on the world, because we believe that there’s something wrong. And just as critically, there are solutions. Technology and demands of modern life makes us believe we can fix anything. All we need to do is just try a little harder, work a little more.

But everything will fix itself, given time. What if there wasn’t anything wrong that patience, and doing nothing,³ couldn’t fix?

The sage acts by doing nothing.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” - Anne Lamott

As Eckhart Tolle says, the real “doing nothing” is an inner nonresistance and intense alertness. So as the mindfulness teachers would say, at the point of an undefended consciousness, you are fearless. In the end, my favorite interpretation of wu-wei is not-trying. You still do things (because as per Kulu’s surf lesson, you can’t just lie there), but you’re no longer trying. But when you’re not forcing anything, it’s just happening. Grace, effortlessness, and ease: you’re acting according to li.

What would it look like if you could stop trying?

I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. — John O'Donohue

But here’s the paradox: there’s a subtle, but enormous, difference between accepting and trying to accept. Real acceptance takes surrender, effortlessness. Another Franciscan spiritual director once told me that it’s impossible to truly surrender to God, impossible to really let go of your ego and become One. You simply can’t do it.

But you can go to the territory and wait at the gate.

Waiting takes time. Wu-wei takes time. Learning to surrender and let go takes time. And you’re not even doing it: surrendering and letting go is happening to you. Grace takes time.

And time is the one thing in modern life we don’t give ourselves.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.—Tao te Ching

1. “The busy man is never wise.” — Lin Yutang

2. Commonly referred to by my friends as “best dog in Portland”

3. I’ve said it earlier, but I believe the only real answer to climate change and all the other issues involved with impending environmental collapse is to do nothing.

And if we are honest, we don’t want to do nothing.