Do Nothing: A Lenten Commitment Follow-Up

If you haven’t read the comment posted with my last blog entry, you should do so. I’m taking the good advice offered . . . sort of.

Instead of giving something up for the Lenten season, I am going to do nothing. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do anything. . . I’m just going to focus on doing nothing.

There’s a Buddhist/Taoist practice, wu wei, that speaks of doing nothing, or acting with effortless, natural action. It's my plan to study this during the Lenten season and work (with least effort, and in the most natural way) to make this practice a part of my life.

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page on wu wei,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei

for those who don't want to read so much, here's a brief definition without the historical background:

Wu wei (traditional Chinese: 無為; simplified Chinese: 无为; pinyin: wúwéi) is an important concept of Taoism (Daoism), that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that "Wu Wei" means natural action - as planets revolve around the sun, they "do" this revolving, but without "doing" it; or as trees grow, they "do", but without "doing". Thus knowing when (and how) to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think "now" is the right time to do "this", but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing.

Wu may be translated as not have or without; Wei may be translated as do, act, serve as, govern or effort. The literal meaning of Wu Wei is "without action" and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei: "action without action" or "effortless doing". The practice of wu wei and the efficacy of wei wu wei are fundamental tenets in Chinese thought and have been mostly emphasized by the Taoist school. The aim of wu wei is to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium, or alignment with the Tao, and, as a result, obtain an irresistible form of "soft and invisible" power.

There is another less commonly referenced sense of wu wei; "action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort". In this instance, Wu means "without" and Wei means "effort". The concept of "effortless action" is a part of Taoist Internal martial arts such as Tai chi, Baguazhang and Xing Yi.

In Zen Calligraphy, Wu Wei has been represented as a circle.

Sorry to those who were excited about my giving up judgment. Maybe next year - or after some particularly inspirational reading or church service. It’s good to have something to strive for.