Wu-Wei

So, on a whim, I picked up a copy of the Tao Te Ching. I know only a meagre amount regarding eastern religion and philosophy, but as an unapologetic westerner wanting to categorize and name things, I would so far classify it as a collection of proverbs meant, I assume, for meditation. Endeavoring in this work, and coming to the third chapter, I have hit a stumbling block. I grasp at the proverb’s meaning, and while knowing myself one who has no right to criticize, I yet find a voice in my head shouting, “No!”

If you do not adulate the worthy, you will make others non-contentious.
If you do not value rare treasures, you will stop others from stealing.
If people do not see desirables, they will not be agitated.

Therefore, when the sage governs,
He clears people’s minds,
Fills their bellies,
Weakens their ambition and
Strengthens their bones.

If the people are kept without cleverness and desire
It will make the intellectuals not dare to meddle.

Acting without contrivance, there is no lack of manageability.

Tao Te Ching, translated by Charles Muller, Chapter 3

Giving up on my own interpretation, I engaged in a journey of discovery, that is, I googled what other people have said regarding this proverb. From what I’ve read, it all comes down to a term, wu-wei, which seems to be defined as unattached action. The idea in many of these proverbs is for the sage to separate, “…not dare to meddle.”

Upon reading the proverb, I to myself thought, “That’s a fine philosophy for rocks, not men.” But I concede—and would argue—that those who govern best govern least, which, if I understand the commentaries, is the meaning of this passage. It is directed towards leaders, people in charge, and it warns them against leading by flattery, against storing up wealth for means of prestige, and against confusing, or agitating, their followers with desire.

So is my foray into the Tao Te Ching.

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.

Ecclesiastes 9:13-18