non doing is not doing nothing

Now retired he said to his son in the garden, as he pulled a weed and his son sat lounging, "I'm not sure what to do in my retirement as suddenly, from being a dedicated worker with a set routine, I have nothing to do".

"That's great" his son said "now it is time for you to let your mind regain its youth and to be at one with life".

The son explained an idea known as 'wei wu wei' to his father as the elder moved his position to the next area of garden needing attention.

"I should do nothing?" The man asked his son after the explanation. "Lie there lazily like you?" He laughed.

The younger one explained the contrary. He said how neither of them were doing anything only one of them thought they were. That doing nothing was allowing things to go as they naturally were whilst only being the awareness of the moment and not the doer.

As being the doer, even of a lovely act, is naturally tied to future outcome or past incentive. Being the awareness of the moment, letting life go ahead was instead was so peaceful, even around acts of mayhem as, it's happening anyway, thoughts wont change it.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Voices

You think that you are thinking - but all you are doing is putting the thoughts into words - when the thoughts came before.

You think that you are doing but all is done before you notice, before the thoughts of and before the doings.

You think you see the event but the event has happened before you consign it.

Be done with you.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Wen Tzu Work for all

I think this was the point I forgot.

In the intro to the Wen Tzu the writer is talking about the idea of all people working in unity, all doing what they are naturally good at and doing it for the common good and not in competition. The reason this hit home was that on my way home from work yesterday I was chatting to a workmate over the exact same point.

We have a good team of people and naturally within that group there are friendships and conflicts, some people are drawn to chat together and some have grudges with each other. My workmate and I were discussing how we are both happy to take the seemingly lower position of helping another whereas some others are in a constant battle to improve themselves and take credit for jobs completed as a team.

A scenario would be that one person is rushing for a deadline and one of us will offer help in this. The person rushing may accept the help and then announce that they are going for lunch or a break or onto another task, thus leaving the person offering help doing the whole task. The double sting to this is when they return to grab the completed task and claim it as their own. This, under various formats, happens a lot, so my friend and I were talking up the dream reality of us all operating for the common good and leaving these petty games behind.

What the writer of the introduction to the Wen Tzu is doing is stating this same ideal but then stopping short of saying why this does not happen, not 2000 years ago and not now. This dream of all working for the common good is the gateway to murder: you set this dream of perfection and so you set the way for people to compete.

For this Taoist dream to be realized then much more wisdom from philosophical Taoism must first be employed, you see to expect all to work for the common good under the leadership of a company, state or country, there is already a hierarchy in place, that of a leader and subjects or staff. The common good in this case is not so common, all of these coworkers are in competition with each other and working for the good of their boss. So while the idea of working for a common good sounds very nice, the context is already set for decay.

So the author continues by saying that "What makes security secure can also create danger. Therefore when sages govern people, they see to it that people suit their individual natures, be secure in their homes, live where they are comfortable, work at what they can do, manage what they can handle, and give their best. In this way all people are equal, with no way to overshadow each other"

Natural contradictions occur even here: The sage "governing people" "encouraging people to do this do that" and so we must see all of this from another key perspective, that of non-doing. That would be the only true Taoist perspective and method that could truly work out and actuate this dream: the sage must allow all around to do as it naturally does, until nature is rebalanced. For a time the natural thing to do IS compete, is to rise and fall and take and lose until this balance has returned. People can't be told to live in order and the very desiring of it only brings about an inner conflict in the sage, person or in the leader. Wei Wu Wei is the way hey hey to have fields of whey corn and hay.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Wei Wu Wei - again.

The action of the Tao is not action at all, nothing does it. It does by not doing. The supreme way of the Sage or person of Tao is also said to be that of Wu Wei, or Wei Wu Wei [Wei - action, Wu - non, Wei - action].

And it came up again with me today as it does on various occasions that we can't do anything anyway, any attempt is a vain gesture - as there is no possible doer of the act.

The doer is a manifestation that arises after the event and is called I or Ego. I is the root of the thought that arises also after the event. Our senses can not see the 'right now' as they take time to process that which at best comes to us at the speed of light. The senses take the signal, process, the I thought is born and to it is attached the idea that it was the doer of the event that it just bore witness to.

Event > birth of the I witness > processing > attachment of I witness to processed event > idea that I was the doer of the event.

End of post.








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A note:

We are so used on the whole to attaching our every action to the I Ego that we don't explore this situation.

My recent post that was asking if I was enlightened was a big fall on my part as I allowed the ego to write a big long post on if it were enlightened or not. I have written many times before how there is no I to be enlightened, I is an Idea, and have posted numerous times on the being no real doer, and that Ego and I are the smoke after the fire. The whole post was an error and thankfully balance appears to have been regained.

Wei Wu Wei, the universe does by not doing, and I do not do a thing.

If I asks again whether it is enlightened I will slap it harder than before, and if I miss the beat, please on behalf of the universe slap me out of it.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Wei Wu Wei Lost in Dimensions

This is a snippet from The Cube-root of Zero where the author Wei Wu Wei is explaining why nothing comes of exploration..

"[On volume A to B and so on] ...But all are measurements from A, and A is the centre from which all measurements are made. And what is A? A is the measurer, A is what measures, A is the centre of the universe, A is what we suppose ourselves to be, whoever we are and wherever we are. And since it is A who is now measuring, A is trying to measure itself. That is why there is nothing to be found."

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Wei Wu Wei (Author)

I just can't ever be bored of this man. He is a dead man. Rotten, dusty and no fun at parties. But when he was alive he wrote some great books on Zen and Tao and now many of the best quotes sit here:

Wei Wu Wei Bits and Pieces

I was going to post a number of them but it is impossible to select some as worth posting with out posting them all - so off you go, take a look (link).

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Acting the true self or acting the fake

Where a Buddhist text may say "Be nice/act right and you are right with the universe" - that is in fact a false emulation. The truth is that; "in-line with the universe, you are nice/acting right". If you act then you are acting the fake as there is not even a real I who could act.

All false and bad action comes from an "I".

This has been my living meditation of the last few days - "I'm not 'doing it'".

Even still, we can not "do it" as the reality we see is always a little behind the true present. The notion of time and self are ideas so we should not then tie qualities to these.

Something that has become apparent is the dialectic between doing what is right for the world in its current state of unrest and non-action when in truth there is no such choice. One who is working for the betterment of the world is acting in tune with the way of the universe already. Right action is the action of the universe, the unrest in the world is of fake I's forcing against the current - this is why they have to try so hard and it is so apparent to us that what they do is wrong.

As always there is a fine line between non-acting and acting the fake but the pleasure in having it right is only there when you have it right. Self awareness is a key to loosing self awareness and regaining self(the universe)awareness.

It could be like surfing the edge of a silk thread, so easy to push it and not realise, easy to move away and not notice, but perfectly smooth when right.

The fake i will suffer as ever with "aaa i'm not in control" or "oh i will do as i like and reach out for the closest lazy act or vice of the ego" - both cases being bondage.

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All we can do is feel in tune with it as to have a noisy mind that treats the past and future like things it did is a waste and undue pressure that clouds the present.

By being in tune with 'the way' your actions are with it and more powerful more real and the most basic 'act' more magical.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Wu Wu - That is That - [no longer Free] ebook

The book can be summarised in this short poem:
"The way of Tao Wow".

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That is That is a free ebook by WuWu and it delves into some of the issues met by everyday people such as love and death and some of the things on the path of the spiritual seeker such as enlightenment, what to do after enlightenment, and more.

Download That is That by Wu Wu The free ebook to keep or print. (The free period is over and the book should now be purchased from this link)

It begins;

"It is enough to accept that all is bliss and that anything else is a misinterpretation"

...and it refuses to allow you to have restrictive thoughts such as religion, political position, ideas of right or wrong as they are traps keeping you from the ultimate reality.

"If you take true spiritual truth and try to make a science or religion from it then you will fail."
- Hua Hu Ching

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Just me and my Monkey

No one is freer than the one with no religion, set routines, solid philosophy, goals, ambitions, clear notions or ways. Those in society program each other to have these things then recursively program themselves and the infinite recursion becomes a set of beliefs and strong "knowledge" that is 100% second hand.

She said "I don't know" and I clapped my hands in joy at her honesty and simple perfected bliss.

The way of Tao is not to have such ways, ok we tend to read books and quote passages to each other when we see a connection, but each passage can have 100 readings. The philosophy of no philosophy, the path of no path, the Wu Way.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Freedom

For me to be truly free, I can not tell another how to be.

It is my not leaning on another in any way that truly justifies my position of freedom. Should I tell a friend that they are wrong to do such a thing or take a stand against a powerful corporation about their policy - I am in both cases asking for the same in return, that they can also do the same to me.

Only by not forcing on another, can I be just in my position of true freedom, and not have any force come upon myself.

How then do we take a stand and form the world if we can not act like that? There are those who will saw the branches off the tree. There are those more cunning who will tie the branches at a young age to have them grow a desired way. There are those, like me, who love a natural form no matter how it goes. Most people have grown up with wraps around them, they have restricted and deformed growth of their character that will take big work to even notice before it can be removed. From a restricted growth they look out and too wish to form the world around them by restricting, forming and shaping. They may even take out a saw to get their way.

The only way to go is allow others to have their way so you can live out your own natural form. Hopefully with time they will notice the constraints on them and reform themselves by inner desire than by extremal force.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao

Wei Wu Wei - the concept

The concept of Wei Wu Wei begins with Wei, which is action, and Wu which is negation, or without. So wei wu wei is action without action, doing without doing.

This is the supreme action of Tao, nature and man, yet man is the one who does not follow his nature but his desire. When man flows to the natural way, he follows nature, which follows Tao, he will never be wrong or out of place.

Move when it is time and the movement is easy, try ahead of time to shape the world to your desires and it will be work. Do things when they are easy to do. A little comes to a lot.

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Tao Wow | Daily Cup of Tao