Wei Quotes & Sayings

Are you still thinking, looking, living, as from an imaginary phenomenal centre?
As long as you do that you can never recognise your freedom. — Wei Wu Wei

A person who speaks as if he knows everything soon drives away his listeners. The Universe communicates itself to us in many ways, and sometimes, it is through the words of others. If we act the know-it-all, others may refrain from talking to us, and we may fail to get the message they could have given us. — Wu Wei

Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself - and there isn't one. — Wei Wu Wei

Every plan in which we participate has one constant, ourselves. Not that we are always the same, but that we are always part of the plan. All else comes and goes: friends, parents, possessions, conditions, situations, and associates, leaving only us, ourselves. — Wu Wei

The true character of wu wei is not mere inactivity but perfect action-because it is act without activity. In other words, it is action not carried out independently of heaven and earth and in conflict with the dynamism of the whole, but in perfect harmony with the whole. It is not mere passivity, but it is action that seems both effortless and spontaneous because performed "rightly," in perfect accordance with our nature and with our place in the scheme of things. It is completely free because there is in it no force and no violence. — Thomas Merton

The practice of meditation is represented by the three monkeys, who cover their eyes, ears and mouths so as to avoid the phenomenal world. — Wei Wu Wei

He gives me a quick primer on the basics of the equipment and then shocks
me when he uses some of the rope to tie us together. He grins when he sees my
astonishment.
Nervous about being so close to me? he asks, giving the rope a slight tug.
I cross my arms, refusing to be baited by that dangerous question - even if
there is truth to it. But whatever my feelings for him, I must focus on the larger picture: Zhang Jing and our village's future.
Don't get any ideas, I warn.
A small smile tugs at his lips. And what kind of ideas would those be,
apprentice? — Richelle Mead

Please pray & wish me well (in hearing session). All I want is to clear my name and return to the badminton. — Lee Chong Wei

WU WEI

flow of Life governed by Tao
flow of change

spontaneous
natural
effortless
acting through non-action

connecting with Earth and Moon and Sun
through
being

not inert or lazy or passive
but swimming swiftly
within the current
merging Life with Tao

quiet and watchful
not-interfering
receptive alert directly connected

acting without action
trusting detached without desire
spontaneous natural effortless
Living — Natasa Nuit Pantovic

Do not mistake the pointing finger for the moon. — Wei Wu Wei

The more profound the stillness, the deeper the perception.

- Master Wei
Priest of the K'un Lun — Joseph J. Bailey

Impossible is only a possibility that has not yet been discovered — Michele Amitrani

O Day after day we can't help growing older.
Year after year spring can't help seeming younger.
Come let's enjoy our winecup today,
Nor pity the flowers fallen. — Wang Wei

Never forget, what your looking for is what is looking. — Wei Wu Wei

The person who desires to leave things better than he found them, who does more than his share, who is not attached to rewards, who is always seeking to benefit others, who knows he is cared for and rewarded by the Universe for his every effort, is able to act selflessly, without expectation of a reward or a return, without thought of advantage, and of him it is said, "He is better than the best," and, of course, he is greatly rewarded. — Wu Wei

Past and Future are a duality of which Present is the reality. The now-moment alone is eternal and real. — Wei Wu Wei

A monk asked Ts'ui-wei, "For what reason did the First Patriarch come from the West?" Ts'ui-wei answered, "Pass me that chin-rest." As soon as the monk passed it, Ts'ui-wei hit him with it.20 — Alan W. Watts

To lead people or influence them, we must first align ourselves with them. By identifying with individuals or groups, we gain their confidence and can then lead them into a higher understanding or direct them to the achievement of lofty goals. — Wu Wei

If we dare to win, we should also dare to lose — Lee Chong Wei

The qualities we possess should never be a matter for satisfaction, but the qualities we have discarded. — Wei Wu Wei

All of life is one action following another, interspersed by periods of rest. If we are in doubt about the outcome of our actions, if our thoughts are concerned with, "What if I should fail?" we will be filled with hesitancy, uncertainty, and our actions will lack the conviction needed to obtain a decisive, favorable outcome. Even the worst outcome we can imagine will ultimately benefit us. It is because of that law of favorability that the Universe is able to continue and we are able to bring about the fruition of our plans. — Wu Wei

There is no mystery whatever - only inability to perceive the obvious. — Wei Wu Wei

The only real service we can render to that which we perceive and interpret in phenomenal existence as 'others' is by awakening to universal consciousness ourselves. — Wei Wu Wei

What we desire, what we work for, or what we seek after, are those things that merely lead us along the paths of our lives. — Wu Wei

What is your trouble? Mistaken identity. — Wei Wu Wei

Doctrines, scriptures, sutras, essays, are not to be regarded as systems to be followed. They merely contribute to understanding. They should be for us a source of stimulation, and nothing more ... Adopted, rather than used as a stimulus, they are a hindrance — Wei Wu Wei

A diminished self-image causes us to slouch, to avoid looking others in the eye, to be unassertive, to be indecisive. On the other hand, a healthy self-image causes us to carry ourselves well, to speak confidently and to portray dignity. If we have not taken the time and thought to create a wonderful self-image for ourselves, we have had less, been less, and done less than was possible for us than if we had. We can improve our self-images at any moment including this one. — Wu Wei

The laws of history tell us that only when the old is gone can the new take its place. — Wei Jingsheng

Walking on willow tree roads by a river dappled with peach blossoms, I look for spring light, but am everywhere lost. Birds fly up and scatter floating catkins. A ponderous wave of flowers sags the branches. — Wang Wei

How could sufferings be relieved through purification? To know the Path is to get lost at the ford. Indeed, sickness comes from worldly love And poverty begins with the pursuit of greed. — Wang Wei

Democracy is not a mere consequence, a certain stage in the development of society. It is the condition on which the survival of productive forces depends. — Wei Jingsheng

That is the most basic law of the Universe - cause and effect. If our actions are the result of our intentions to do good, to create harmony, to deal fairly, to love dearly, and to live the life of the superior person, can anything else happen except that, as a result of natural law, we reach the loftiest goals to which one can attain and lead lives of greatest happiness? — Wu Wei

They found security in letting go rather than in holding on and, in so doing, developed an attitude toward life that might be called psychophysical judo. Nearly twenty-five centuries ago, the Chinese sages Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu had called it wu-wei, which is perhaps best translated as "action without forcing." It is sailing in the stream of the Tao, or course of nature, and navigating the currents of li (organic pattern) - a word that originally signified the natural markings in jade or the grain in wood. As this attitude spread and prevailed in the wake of Vibration Training, people became more and more indulgent about eccentricity in life-style, tolerant of racial and religious differences, and adventurous in exploring unusual ways of loving. — Alan W. Watts

Everything that happens, happens at the only possible time it can happen, and it is always at exactly the right time. We cannot get to an appointment before we arrive - or after. It is only at the instant of our arrival that we can arrive, and that is always at exactly the right moment, the perfect moment, the only possible moment. — Wu Wei

Doing or not doing something - they are similar. Both involve an action and sincerity. — CLAMP

To preserve our relationships, we give of our time, our assets, our attention, our help, and our love. To preserve our wealth, we give generously as we are accumulating, so we do not invoke the Universal law of maximization, which states that when anything reaches its maximum potential, it turns toward its opposite. — Wu Wei

Wise men don't judge: They seek to understand. — Wei Wu Wei

A quiet-hearted person awakes with a smile on his lips and an eagerness in his heart for the day ahead. — Wu Wei

Elder Lian has lectured us many times on proper behavior between boys and
girls, darkly warning of how "dangerous feelings" can arise. I'm not that worried
about any feelings arising, though. They're already here, no matter how I try to
suppress them. — Richelle Mead

There is no such thing as a dog — Wei Wu Wei

The sea was no stranger to the rock on the beach. The sea came often to the rock, rushing up wetly against its warm grey, and always as it swept away it took an infinitesimal part of the rock with it. The rock had known the waves for a long time, and learned it was in its nature to erode. — Chew Chia Shao Wei

...Fei Xiaoton, the University of Chicago - trained Chinese sociologist, once observed, this nation is "a land without ghosts," a place where people are so busy with promises of progress that they have forgotten where they come from and who their ancestors were... — John Kuo Wei Tchen

To attract people naturally, effortlessly, we need only follow the true prompting of our hearts. — Wu Wei

We want to be masters of our own destiny. We need no gods or emperors. We do not believe in the existence of any saviour. We want to be masters of the world and not instruments used by autocrats to carry out their wild ambitions. We want a modern lifestyle and democracy for the people. Freedom and happiness are our sole objectives in accomplishing modernisation. — Wei Jingsheng

It's true, after all. Saemangeum City is a gift few people understand — Michele Amitrani

As long as subject is centred in a phenomenal object, and thinks and speaks therefrom, subject is identified with that object and is bound. As long as such condition obtains, the identified subject can never be free - for freedom is liberation from that identification. Abandonment of a phenomenal centre constitutes the only 'practice', and such abandonment is not an act volitionally performed by the identified subject, but a
non-action (wu wei) leaving the noumenal centre in control of phenomenal activity, and free from fictitious interference by an imaginary 'self.
Are you still thinking, looking, living, as from an
imaginary phenomenal centre? As long as you do that you can never recognise your freedom.

Could any statement be more classic?
Could any statement be more obvious?
Could any statement be more vital?
Yet - East and West - how many observe it?
So
Could any statement be more needed? — Wei Wu Wei

To be a stranger in a strange land: Whenever one feasts, one thinks of one's brother twice as much as before, There where my brother far away is ascending, The dogwood is flowering, and a man is missed. — Wang Wei

Stardust to stardust — Michele Amitrani

It is only with total humility, and in absolute stillness of mind that we can know what indeed we are. — Wei Wu Wei

Disciples and devotees ... what are most of them doing? Worshipping the teapot instead of drinking the tea! — Wei Wu Wei

There was something vaguely sad about the rock. It was as old as it looked, standing weathered and lonely amidst the stretch of sand, and its thoughts were quiet as it listened to the waves. — Chew Chia Shao Wei

A scream is a sound we make that is born of intense feeling. A scream of fear, of being startled, is often high-pitched. It may be short or prolonged. A scream may also accompany delight or amusement, though often that is more of a squeal. And a scream of sorrow or rage ... well, that is an entirely different thing. That comes from a darker place, from the depths of our souls, and when we scream in those times, because we are sad or angry, there is a terrible knowledge that accompanies it, that we are giving voice to our emotions, to what is simply too big for our hearts to contain.
And as Li Wei cries out, I know Feng Ji is right. It is his heart I am hearing, a way of expressing what he feels over his father's loss that is both primal and beautiful, and it comes from his soul and reaches something within mine. It is the sound my own heart made when my parents died, only I didn't know it until now. — Richelle Mead

A new home by a gap in the Meng wall; Of the old trees, a few gnarled willows are left. Those who come in the future, who will they be, Grieving in vain for what others had before? — Wang Wei

Doing nothing can sometimes be the most effective form of action. — Kevin Kwan

All comparison is based on memory, and memory is an image based on engrams. It follows that all judgement, evaluation, is an interpretation of images, for even the present is already a memory by the time we have seized it.
Therefore the unending process of finding things "good" or "not so good" is a work of imagination. Would in not be futile indeed to suppose that such judgments, that is any and all judgments, could have any absolute existence or value? — Wei Wu Wei

Only an object can suffer, but phenomenally subject and object, being one whole, spin like a coin so that the intervals between pile et face (heads and tails) are imperceptible. Consequently pain, or pleasure, appear to be continual.

Noumenally, on the contrary, there is no object to suffer pain or pleasure. Noumenon is invulnerable, and cannot be otherwise. Noumenon is the unmanifested aspect of what we, sentient beings, are: Phenomenon is our manifestation. — Wei Wu Wei

People of true understanding nourish sages and through them, nourish the whole world. — Wu Wei

Dare to realize your dreams. Dare to dream your reality.

- Master Wei
Priest of the K'un Lun — Joseph J. Bailey

Spontaneity is being present in the present. — Wei Wu Wei

Look rather at the teachings of history, true history, not the history written by Party hacks: genuine democracy, the only valid democracy, is nourished with the blood of martyrs and with the blood of tyrants. — Wei Jingsheng

Xiang wei is the character a good dish has when it's robust, flavorful, and balanced but still maintains a certain light quality. That flavor comes, lingers on your tongue, stays long enough to make you crave it, but just when you think you have it figured out, it's gone. Timing is everything. Soup dumplings, sitcoms, one-night stands - good ones leave you wanting more. — Eddie Huang

The essential Taoist approach to life is captured in the phrase ching-jing wu-wei, literally, "sitting still doing nothing." Doing nothing doesn't mean sitting around all day like a bump on a log, but rather doing only those things that really need to be done and doing them in a way that does not run counter to the natural order of Tao and the patterned flow of cosmic forces. It means engaging only in spontaneous, unpremeditated activity, doing things purely for their own sake rather than for ulterior motives, and living in harmony with rather than trying to conquer nature. — Daniel P. Reid

A traveler s thoughts in the night Wander in a thousand miles of dreams. — Wang Wei

Wei is like an enigma wrapped in a puzzle hidden in the most intricate maze of the world — Michele Amitrani

But when I reach the edge of the
crowd gathered for the ceremony, I understand what has really drawn me here.
Li Wei. — Richelle Mead

A man who is seeking for realization is not only going around searching for his spectacles without realizing that they are on his nose all the time, but also were he not actually looking through them he would not be able to see what he is looking for! — Wei Wu Wei

Throughout our youth, whenever we had a dispute, Li Wei and I would apologize to each other by exchanging gifts. Mine would be in the form of drawings, crudely done with whatever natural supplies I could find. His would always be carvings. There was only one time the exchange didn't happen, the day I told him I was accepting the apprentice position and would never be able to marry him. — Richelle Mead

The master sees beyond what is obvious. He sees the unseen, feels the unfelt, and hears the unheard. He looks below the surface for what is hidden and so finds the great heartbeat of the Universe. He smiles, knowing it is his heartbeat, your heartbeat, our heartbeat. — Wu Wei

We imagine that waking-life is real and that dream-life is unreal, but there does not seem to be any evidence for this belief. — Wei Wu Wei

Great music stops the inner turmoil of thought and allows the mind to seek its natural state of joy. Music frees our minds and allows us to soar to heights where we can experience the celestial. Music opens our minds to allow the perception of new thoughts of a higher nature, which gives us a spiritual lift, which produces yet more joy. — Wu Wei

The autumn hill gathers the remaining light, A flying bird chases after its companion. The green color is bright And brings me into the moment, like a sunset mist that has no fixed place. — Wang Wei

Round a turn of the Qin Fortress winds the Wei River,
And Yellow Mountain foot-hills enclose the Court of China;
Past the South Gate willows comes the Car of Many Bells
On the upper Palace-Garden Road-a solid length of blossom;
A Forbidden City roof holds two phoenixes in cloud;
The foliage of spring shelters multitudes from rain;
And now, when the heavens are propitious for action,
Here is our Emperor ready-no wasteful wanderer. — Wang Wei

Are we not wasps who spend all day in a fruitless attempt to traverse a window-pane - while the other half of the window is wide open? — Wei Wu Wei

I knew I could not live my life around a husband, now would I want a husband to live his life around me. Of course, there are any number of variations in marital relationships between those extremes. But there is always a need for spouses to change their behaviors or habits to suit each other. I have always been set in my ways and did not fancy changing my behavior or lifestyle. — Geraldine Lee Wei Ling

Tiago had heard of what some called the 'human database' or 'omnilogos', but nothing could have prepared him for this. — Michele Amitrani

A follower of the Way (Tao) loses something each day. Loss after loss until arriving at Non Action (Wu Wei). — Laozi

Look in the perfumes of flowers and of nature for peace of mind and joy of life. — Wang Wei

I am 54 years old and happily single. In addition to my nuclear family, I have a close circle of friends. Most of my friends are men. But my reputation is such that their female partners would never consider me a threat. — Geraldine Lee Wei Ling

It is less what one is that should matter, than what one is not. — Wei Wu Wei

Observing is not the same as experiencing.' Li Wei gestures angrily at my stump. 'You sit there and judge others from a safe distance every day. You assume because you watch us, you understand us. But you don't. — Richelle Mead

The notion that human life has greater value than any other form of life is both unjustifiable and arrogant. — Wei Wu Wei

A myriad bubbles were floating on the surface of a stream.
'What are you?' I cried to them as they drifted by.
'I am a bubble, of course' nearly a myriad bubbles answered, and there was surprise and indignation in their voices as they passed.
But, here and there, a lonely bubble answered,
'We are this stream', and there was neither surprise nor indignation in their voices, but just a quiet certitude. — Wei Wu Wei

Reintegration with Nature, which we are, is the recovery of spontaneity. — Wei Wu Wei

Wo wei ni xie de," he said, as he raised the violin to his left shoulder, tucking it under his chin. He had told her many violinists used a shoulder rest, but he did not: there was a slight mark on the side of his throat, like a permanent bruise, where the violin rested.
"You - made something for me?" Tessa asked.
"I wrote something for you," he corrected, with a smile, and began to play. — Cassandra Clare

Marian Head is a true student of Tao. Her insightful and persuasive 'Wu-Wei' approaches for personal transformation reach our hearts with open invitation to join the 'soft' revolution and harmonious agreement for all. — Chungliang Al Huang

Living should be perpetual and universal benediction. — Wei Wu Wei

I AM Here Now As This — Wei Wu Wei

In the action of no-action (wu-wei), a cardinal aspect of the true creative process is set forth. In wu-wei, the mind is silenced and the work is allowed to express itself. — John Daido Loori

We do not possess an 'ego.' We are possessed by the idea of one. — Wei Wu Wei

As long as there is a 'you' doing or not-doing, thinking or not-thinking, 'meditating' or 'not-meditating' you are no closer to home than the day you were born. — Wei Wu Wei

To slow time down, practice enjoying the moment. It is where we spend our entire lives. — Wu Wei

All the evil in the world, and all the unhappiness, comes from the I-concept. — Wei Wu Wei

Wei cleared his throat and said, "Have you heard the saying 'The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher'? It seems I've been the pitcher most of my life. I've forgotten how to be fluid. It feels as if I'm finally learning now," he said. — Gail Tsukiyama

I am a collector of hopes and peregrine truths, a shepherd of thoughts, ideas, projects and dreams too important not to be realized. I'm an abstract concept that has no body, no smell, no boundaries, no shape and no color. I am the omnilogos. — Michele Amitrani

Micromanaging erodes people's confidence, making them overly dependennt on their leaders. Well-meaning leaders inadvertently sabotage their teams by rushing to the rescue and offering too much help. A leader needs to balance assistance with wu wei, backing off long enough to let people learn from their mistakes and develop competence. — Diane Dreher

Realisation is a matter of becoming conscious of that which is already realised. — Wei Wu Wei

Why aren't you happy? It's because ninety-nine percent of everything you do, and think, and say, is for yourself -- and there isn't one. — Wei Wu Wei

Transcendence implies the surpassing of two things, and the consequent attainment of a third thing. But there are no 'things' in reality, of any kind whatever: there is only the thing-in-itself, its suchness, which is Reality, revealed when the illusory dualism of inexistent qualities is dissolved. — Wei Wu Wei

The first mover is the mind.

- Master Wei
Priest of the K'un Lun — Joseph J. Bailey

Change is like a river: nothing is the same, even for an instant. Everything is continually moving through the six stages of change: about to come into being, beginning, expanding, approaching maximum potential, peaking, and finally, passing its peak and flowing into its new condition. — Wu Wei