Wu wei effortless action

[nine tailed fox]

Hi guys

 

Just what is wu wei state, what is effortless action

 

How can we live our life from wu wei ?

 

Are there any practice techniques to achieve this state ?

[Marblehead]

Hi Fox,

 

There have been lots of discussion on this board about wu wei. You might want to check out some of them.

 

Effortless action is basically just 'going with the flow'. I rather prefer the concept of taking the path of least resistance. But, in my opinion neither of these two are absolutes because sometimes in "real" life we do have to go against the flow created by the energy of others and oftentimes rather than seeking out the path of least resistance we need to remove the resistances we find in life.

 

Another way I like looking at wu wei is "Doing what needs be done. Nothing more, nothing less." With this understanding and practice I think we can deal with almost any conditions that arise in our life.

 

I will leave speaking about different practices for others to speak to. But I will say that practicing "empty-minded meditation" has been an important part of my life. It allows one's mind to become clear so that we can concentrate on what is important in our life.

[FmAm]

Watch things happening. Whatever you think or do, watch and feel it happening. If you're feeling anxious and full of effort, watch it happening.

 

I use to watch leaves falling from trees in the autumn. How they spin and sway in the air. They are just like our actions, thoughts and feelings. They just happen and spin and sway without us causing them.

 

In other words, the Way alone has always been, and nothing else. Wu wei is just understanding that fact. Even when there's no understanding, it is the Way, though unknown.

Edited January 16, 2015 by FmAm

[Mark Foote]

ya could do worse than to emulate Fuxi:

The empty hand grasps the hoe handle
Walking along, I ride the ox
The ox crosses the wooden bridge
The bridge is flowing, the water is still

Edited January 17, 2015 by Mark Foote

[Marblehead]

 

Walking along, I ride the ox

The ox crosses the wooden bridge

The bridge is flowing, the water is still

What were you smoking?

[Mark Foote]

What were you smoking?

 

Something good!-- Fuxi's Poem.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Mark Foote

[Marblehead]

Something good!-- Fuxi's Poem.

I don't do trances but thanks anyway.

[Mark Foote]

I don't do trances but thanks anyway.

 

So you say!

 

Marblehead, check Milton Erickson out-- a little different picture of what trance is about.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Mark Foote

[Marblehead]

Yeah, I figured that "trance" would get linked to "hypnosis".

[Marblehead]

And that is a perfect example of "awareness" within the state of wu wei. The ability to foresee and avoid or counter, whatever is needed.

[Marblehead]

I don't know. That seems to give too much credit to me as an actor in the process. It wasn't as much forseeing as it was simply doing. It was more like Bruce Lee's notion of "I don't move; it moves". There were sometimes things that happened that I couldn't plan or hadn't practiced.

Yeah, I'm sure you feel that way. However, when we practice enough, when we become extremely proficient at doing something, it actually becomes close to being an instinct. Instincts require no thinking. A perfected function or process of functions require no thought. Just like the butcher.

 

Yes, it moves, just like our lungs and heart move.

[freeform]

Yes - I think the state of flow is a glimpse of wu wei.

 

As I understand it, wu wei is acting from your preconditioned Self. This is a very high attainment indeed.

Edited January 19, 2015 by freeform

[9th]

Yes - I think the state of flow is a glimpse of wu wei.

 

As I understand it, wu wei is acting from your preconditioned Self. This is a very high attainment indeed.

 

 

wu wei is acting without acting... so its not so much acting from your preconditioned self as it is simply being already the nexus of all things in motion.. which is everywhere and nowhere, without center or periphery

[dust]

Instincts require no thinking. A perfected function or process of functions require no thought. Just like the butcher.

 

I was gonna mention the butcher. I think it's the best story I've come across that illustrates the point. For those who don't know it:

 

 

 

Cook Ting was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui. At every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee - zip! zoop! He slithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time to the Ching-shou music.

"Ah, this is marvelous!" said Lord Wen-hui. "Imagine skill reaching such heights!"

Cook Ting laid down his knife and replied, "What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now - now I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and follow things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.

"A good cook changes his knife once a year-because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month-because he hacks. I've had this knife of mine for nineteen years and I've cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as good as though it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness. If you insert what has no thickness into such spaces, then there's plenty of room - more than enough for the blade to play about it. That's why after nineteen years the blade of my knife is still as good as when it first came from the grindstone.

"However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I'm doing, work very slowly, and move the knife with the greatest subtlety, until - flop! the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all around me, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and put it away."

"Excellent!" said Lord Wen-hui. "I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!"