Wu Wei Wu 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

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

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

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

Play your part in the comedy, but don't identify yourself with your role. — Wei Wu 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To have anything we want, we need only raise our level of consciousness to the level of consciousness where what we want exists. — Wu Wei

As long as one accepts 'time' tacitly as such
he is dreaming a drea, not living a life. — Wei Wu Wei

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

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

The writer of these lines has nothing whatsoever to teach anyone; his words are just his contribution to our common discussion of what must inevitably be for us the most important subject which could be discussed by sentient beings. — Wei Wu Wei

In order to be effective truth must penetrate like an arrow - and that is likely to hurt. — Wei Wu Wei

Do you realise that when you give a schilling to a beggar you are giving it to yourself?Do you realise that when you help a dog over a stile you yourself are being helped?Do you realise when you kick a man when he is down, you are kicking yourslef?Give him another kick, you deserve it! — Wei Wu Wei

The saint is a man who disciplines his ego. The sage is a man who rids himself of his ego. — Wei Wu Wei

THIS which is seeking is THAT which is sought,
and THAT which is sought is THIS which is seeking. — Wei Wu Wei

ACT IN HARMONY WITH NATURE Creativity is a very paradoxical state of consciousness and being. It is action through inaction, it is what Lao Tzu calls wei-wu-wei. It is allowing something to happen through you. It is not a doing, it is an allowing. It is becoming a passage so the whole can flow through you. It is becoming a hollow bamboo, just a hollow bamboo. — Osho

Slingerland explains that Chinese philosophers like Confucius, Lao Tse, Zhuangzi, and a few others were concerned with accessing a state called Wu-Wei, pronounced "ooh-way." This is a state of spontaneous flow. — Anonymous

The path that one person follows is not the correct path for any other person. Each of us must walk his own path to enlightenment - that is the way. — Wu Wei

To be joyous of heart is to hold an optimistic outlook, to see adversity as opportunity, to see failure as the starting point of success, to view our stubbed toes as the release of acupuncture points, to wake with a feeling of gratitude, and to sleep with a sustaining, unfaltering trust in the Universe of which we are a part. The person with a joyous heart is a treasure to be with, a wellspring of inspiration, and a fit companion. When we are joyous of heart, we hear a resonance in the songs of the birds, see resonance in the opening of a flower, and feel it in the pressure of a friend's hand. — Wu Wei

It is not for us to search but to remain still, to achieve Immobility not Action. — Wei Wu Wei

We ourselves are not an illusory part of Reality; rather are we Reality itself illusorily conceived. — Wei Wu Wei

What do you have to do? Pack your bags, Go to the station without them, Catch the train, And leave your self behind. — Wei Wu Wei

It is true that we are in charge of our imaginations, and by using them to imagine wonderful futures for ourselves, and by acting on that basis, it will follow, unerringly, that for us, it will be so. — Wu Wei

The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a 'thing' seen). It cannot be seen by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is Truth. — 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I AM Here Now As This — Wei Wu Wei

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no such thing as a dog — 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