The Wu Wei in Chinese Daoism means to “non-doing” or “doing nothing.” Of course, it must not be misunderstood as laziness or indifferent apathy. In keeping with this philosophy from east, I looked at the various storytelling methods and found that energy of Wu Wei lies within the details.
Wu Wei is a concept that holds the key to the noblest kind of action according to the philosophy of Daoism – and at the heart of it is how to follow Dao or The Way.
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So, in keeping with the Wu Wei, I picked a story to relate while making the practice of non-doing.
There was once a couple whose married life has been full of understanding of each other. Once these risen immortals decided to visit the mortal realm of ‘earth’ to go through tribulation for their self-cultivation. The exercise was to follow the Dao or the Way. In the process of non-doing, they could achieve things that happened in its own natural course of action.
These couples reached the earth and settled down to walk around the fair market. They stopped on the noodle shop and order one bowl of soupy noodles. The lady who ran the shop explained that they seemed elderly people like her grandparents, “Please have another bowl of noodles, I will not charge for it.”
The immortal couple firmly but lovingly refused to accept a second bowl. The lady explained to the shop owner that they have always shared everything in their life. After trying to give them more choices, the noodle shop lady gave up eventually, and accepted their way of food sharing choice.
The husband first began eating while the wife waited patiently. Both smiled at each other, while the person who was not eating enjoying the non-doing. Once when the husband was done, the wife picked up the chopsticks and finished the bowl of noodles as her husband looked on with a smile.
So, in a relationship doing nothing or waiting patiently for the other to have a say, helps in understanding perspective. The crowd got together and stopped this couple knowing now that they were divine masters. They sat around them seeking guidance.
The elderly immortal explained Wu Wei and then expanded that in the central text of Daoism, the Dao De Jing: ‘The Way never acts yet nothing is left undone.’ This is the paradox of Wu Wei. It doesn’t mean not acting, it means ‘effortless action’ or ‘actionless action.’ It means being at peace while engaged in the most frenetic tasks so that one can carry these out with maximum skill and efficiency. Something of the meaning of Wu Wei is captured when we talk of being ‘in the zone’ – at one with what we are doing, in a state of profound concentration and flow.
This then brings us to the central focus of non-doing or Wu Wei. The elderly couple as a unit explained this and finished their earthly tribulation to leave to the heaven above after increasing their self-cultivation.
Itinerant Storyteller 