Wu-Wei is a prominent concept in Taoism. In English, it literally means non-action, do without doing. And, as a result, it is often misinterpreted as laziness or passivity. Words quickly lose their meaning once they are translated.
In Taoist writings, Wu-Wei can better be translated into English as "not forcing." This is a better translation. "Not forcing" loses the least amount of meaning in the English translation.
So what is Wu-Wei? Wu-Wei, as we have defined earlier, means "not forcing." "Not forcing" means going with the flow of things, swimming with the current, trimming sails to the wind. In other words, do not fight the natural flow of things.
An example of Wu-Wei in practice is a man who uses a sail. Instead of paddling, the wise man uses a sail. He lets nature do the work for him. He is not forcing the boat to move by fighting the water with a paddle. Rather, with the use of the sail, he makes the boat go with the wind.
The wise man exerts no effort, yet his boat moves just as fast as a boat being rowed by a hundred men. This is Wu-Wei in action, doing without doing, effortless action, not forcing.
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