©Anacoana 2008

WU WEI

The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.


Aligned with the way, one is not using more energy than needed, nor is one doing things that cause the body or spirit to break down. Because of this, long life and good health is attained.

Some Taoists believe they can, in theory, live forever, while others merely point out that meddling and selfish cleverness are the principal causes of a premature death. Zhuang Zi proposed an illustration of this idea: A tree with a twisted trunk will not be cut by any lumberjack and will live its whole life in peace, thanks to its uselessness.
A dramatic description of the ultimate person is found in chapter 2 of Zhuang Zi:

A fully achieved person is like a spirit! The great marshes could be set on fire, but she wouldn't feel hot. The rivers in China could all freeze over, but she wouldn't feel cold. Thunder could suddenly echo through the mountains, wind could cause a tsunami in the ocean, but she wouldn't be startled. A person like that could ride through the sky on the floating clouds, straddle the sun and moon, and travel beyond the four seas. Neither death nor life can cause changes within her, and there's little reason for her to even consider benefit or harm.



Taoists have long sought immortality, and they saw working in perfect harmony with Tao as a way to achieve this. For Taoists, birth is not the beginning and death is not the end.

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 39

In harmony with the Tao,
the sky is clear and spacious,
the earth is solid and full,
all creature flourish together,
content with the way they are,
endlessly repeating themselves,
endlessly renewed.

It is important to understand that by immortality, it is meant that those who are in perfect harmony with the Tao, surrender themselves to the nature completely thus the eternal Tao can take good care of them. Relaxing the body, letting all the resistance and illusions go is an important step in practicing taoist teachings.


Tao Te Ching, Chapter 50
The Master gives himself up
to whatever the moment brings.
He knows that he is going to die,
and he has nothing left to hold on to:
no illusions in his mind,
no resistances in his body.
He doesn't think about his actions;
they flow from the core of his being.
He holds nothing back from life;
therefore he is ready for death,
as a man is ready for sleep after a good day's work.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei