I welcome your thoughts on what I've found is a way to consider what "doing without doing" is, or what is often translated as "Wu wei".
Doing without doing is accomplished because Tao, and
only Tao, is all there is to do or to be anything.
There is no “you” or any “activity” besides Tao to do or to be or to change or to perceive.
While you believe your name is (fill in the blank), as Tao, you have no name (not even “Tao” is your name)!
All is Tao being Itself, by Itself, as Itself….including the experience of you reading this
to yourself.
“While you are yet speaking, I will answer”. The answer already exists as Tao.
While you are yet seeking the answer, the answer
already exists as Tao.
While you desire to do, the "doing" is already done[/i]
as Tao.
While you perceive you are separated in time and space, you are one with all time and space,
as Tao.
Tao remains Tao whether expressed as the most exalted or the most profane utterance, or whether experienced as unendurable cacophony or as utter Silence.
You are yet Tao, even while you sleep, while you awaken from your sleep, while you prepare to practice Tai Chi, while you practice Tai Chi, while you have completed the exercise of Tai Chi, while you meditate while you proceed with any and all the activities throughout your day, while you reflect upon the meaning of the Tao, during the day or while you return to sleep, whether you forget to reflect, or practice, or proceed with integrity….yet Tao remains Itself as you and as the trillion things, perceptions, activities, feelings, or thoughts of which you are aware, or are yet utterly incapable of understanding.
Your apparent action “to do” is Tao “doing” and Tao “being” and Tao “perceiving” that It is doing and being. Containing all being and action within Itself, as complete without measure or duration, all things to be, and all things to be done, already exist, and are already completely done, even while it appears that nothing is done or nothing exists.
Tao is the apparent action as well as the apparent inaction, because the perception of any apparent difference between action (minimal, maximal, or otherwise) and inaction occurs wholly in relation of Tao to Itself. Hence, “doing without doing” is the realization that whatever apparent realization, action, thinking, or perceiving occurs, it is Tao, and only Tao that acts, thinks, perceives, or does.
To illustrate, any seed you may hold in your hand contains the completed pattern of the representative plant, even before it is planted, otherwise it could not “become” what it already is, within time and space, as, Tao, expressing Itself, and perceiving Itself, as that plant. As it is with the seed, so it is with any idea, each of which is a completed pattern Tao expresses as, and perceives Itself as being. Hence “when nothing is done, nothing is left undone”….because Tao is the “doer”, and the “doing”, and the “done”, Itself….whether expressing Itself as a cosmic singularity (seed), or fields ripe with grain to be harvested, or as the farmer who (thinks he) planted the seeds, or the farmer’s children who (think they) are cavorting and laughing merrily in those fields warmed by the autumn sun.
What mind could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No mind (Mu-shin)…..not because there is “no mind”, but because there is no mind, or anything perceived within mind, that is not Tao, Itself.
Similarly…and by the same “not because” rationale:
What being could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No being.
What person could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No one.
What action could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No action.
What desire could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No desire.
What perception could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself? No perception.
What thing could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself? No thing.
What time or space could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No time or space.
What name could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No name.
“While you are yet speaking, I will answer”. The answer already exists as Tao.
While you are yet seeking the answer, the answer
already exists as Tao.
While you desire to do, the [i]doing[/I
] is already done as Tao.
While you perceive you are separated in time and space, you are one with all time and space,
as Tao.
What love could there ever be that is not Tao, Itself ? No love at all.
Therefore, love thy neighbor as thyself, because thy neighbor
IS Thyself.
Our task is to understand that we, ourselves are, have always been, and always will be, the unlimited, eternal Tao which acts, or thinks, or perceives, or desires, or feels, and knows Itself,
as action, or thought, or perception, or desire, or feeling, while yet appearing as a limited expression (i.e. each of us as a “person”)….
….though, in Truth, we, as expressions of the unlimited, eternal Tao Itself, remain eternally so…
without doing anything at all.
All is...already done!
Reference:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/tgl/tgl008.htm
Reference:
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...0&postcount=23
Reference:
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...32&postcount=4