Philosophical principle of uvoy (non-action). Wu Wei: The Philosophy of Doing Nothing
According to Lao Tzu, “If anyone wants to master the world and manipulates it, he will fail. For the world is a sacred vessel that cannot be manipulated. If anyone wants to appropriate it, he will lose it.” This phrase contains the whole essence of wu wei philosophy.
Such views fundamentally contradict the Western philosophy of success, which calls for being more active, acting against all odds, conquering the world and always striving for more. However, as we know, this approach often causes depression and stress, while wu wei helps to overcome a difficult period in life. It is only important to understand the basic postulates and secrets of this philosophy.
1. Inaction does not mean nothing is happening.
Wu wei is translated from Chinese as “non-action” or “action without action.” This is life in accordance with the natural course of events, as opposed to the active pursuit of goals and forcing them. At the same time, wu wei should not be confused with idleness. Following the wu wei philosophy is not a reason to sit on the sidelines, idly observing life and criticizing other people.
Wu wei is the inspired state of a person who is filled with vital energy and dedicates his actions only to the highest goal. This person does not waste energy on trifles and acts only when it is necessary to do so. best time. And then the whole world supports him.
Wu Wei can be described through the well-known Yin-Yang symbol. On the one hand, it is active masculine energy, implying expansion of oneself into the world. On the other hand, there is passive feminine energy, which symbolizes inner knowing.
All Chinese medicine, martial arts, gymnastics and acupuncture are designed to help balance male and female energy, that is, to act and not act at the same time. This is wu wei.
2. The universe is not working against you
We do not live between heaven and earth, we ourselves are heaven and earth. To practice wu wei, you must first recognize yourself as part of the universe. You need to feel a close connection and unity with everything that exists. This is the only way to gain inner freedom and stop living in a struggle with the world around you.
Lao Tzu wrote about it this way: “Man depends on the Earth, the Earth on the Cosmos, the Cosmos on Tao, but Tao does not depend on anything.” Accordingly, a person who has cognized Tao does not depend on anything. For him, all the events of life pass before his eyes, like a movie on a screen.
3. Physical action is not the only thing
Even when our body is at rest, our restless mind continues to fuss. We worry, we replay it in our heads different situations, we are planning future battles. According to Wu Wei, it is important not only to calm the body, but also the brain. Otherwise, it is impossible to understand whether we are acting in accordance with the plan of the universe or indulging our ego.
Even in the practice of meditation, you should not try too hard. Lao Tzu advises us to be calm and attentive, to learn to listen both to our own inner voices and to the voices environment. This requires a calm and discerning mind.
4. You need to learn to accept change.
Everything in nature is subject to constant metamorphosis. These changes are regulated higher laws, which we cannot understand. Therefore, it is useless to resist them or try to fight change. It doesn’t occur to you to stop the natural change of seasons or the sun rising above the horizon?
When you stop fighting against change, you will be able to see only the positive aspects of it.
5. Learn to move aimlessly
The Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu recommended a way of life that he called aimless movement. Today, lack of purpose is considered almost a mortal sin. At the same time, the rhythm and way modern life does not contribute to either harmony or balance.
In his treatises, Zhuang Tzu wrote: “Imagine an artist or a skilled artisan. A talented wood carver or an excellent blacksmith does not think and reason logically in the course of his action. He does it instinctively and spontaneously, without knowing why he achieves success. His skill has become so much a part of him that he simply trusts his movements and does not think about the reasons.” This is precisely the state that one should strive to achieve with the help of wu wei.
The founder of Taoism is chinese sage Lao Tzu (around 6th century BC).
It can be said without exaggeration that the philosophical tenets (principles) of Taoism, especially its ethics, are just crystals some more ancient,holistic And morally sublime a worldview that has come down to us in the form of fragments or, in any case, in a significantly modified form.
The treatise “Tao Te Ching” has come down to us, undoubtedly, in a significantly changed form. This explains the difficulties in understanding and interpreting his fundamental ideas.
But even in his modern form Three ideological components are clearly visible in the treatise: dao, de And wu-wei.
Tao– natural way And law changes in all things, their emergence and disappearance. It is sometimes believed that Tao is the material basis for the existence of specific things and phenomena.
Dae– achievement, dignity, energy (strength), universal quality or attribute Tao. Through de the action of the invisible and inaudible Tao, its transformation, is manifested.
Wu-wei (lit.– non-action) is an ethical teaching according to which it is necessary to learn to follow Tao as the natural law of all things.
The main ideological idea of the treatise is the concept Tao. In the treatise we find the following characteristics (“definitions”):
The first and deepest (“deepest gate of birth”)
Unnamed "is the beginning of heaven and earth", "mother of all things"
Inexhaustible – “Tao is empty, but inexhaustible in application”
The invisible and inaudible, the smallest - “I look at it and don’t see”, I listen to it and don’t hear” - that’s why I call it “invisible and inaudible”, “I try to grab it and don’t reach it”, that’s why I call the era “smallest”
Tasteless: you need to learn to taste the tasteless
Immutable (permanent): There is nothing more permanent and unchanging than the Tao.
Infinite and Eternal: “like an endless thread”
Vague, indistinguishable, foggy - “form without forms, image without essence”
Impersonal – “I meet him and don’t see his face”, “I follow him and don’t see his back”
That which follows itself, i.e. something that doesn't depend on anything.
Thus, Tao is understood as absolute, notchangeable, universal and even higher a law of existence with moral consequences. The Tao is beneficial everyone creatures and doesn't fight them. This law helps all beings and is capable of leading them to perfection. The purpose of the law is to improve life.
Wherein fight of opposites arises as a consequence violations dao – the natural way of all things. As a result, the weak defeats the strong, and the soft defeats the hard.
Ethics of Taoism . The three main ideological components of the Tao Te Ching are interconnected: Tao – natural law And path everyone of things. Dae – what feeds And educates, V philosophical sense universal quality(attributes) of the Tao itself, who knows them knows How follow Tao, i.e. what moral principles should be followed. Wu Wei - this is the basis of Taoist ethics, moral principles, in which it is expressed attitude person to the outside world. The entire set of principles of the Tao Te Ching is expressed in one word - wu wei(inaction).
Man must learn to act in accordance with the law of change in all things, the essence of which is a return to its beginning (§§ 32, 45). The condition for such a return will be non-action.
Principles of Taoist Ethics :
Tao natural the way (law) of all things. “You need to talk less” and “follow naturalness.” To follow the Tao means follow nature given things. All artificial funds should be rejected.
"Weakness is a property of Tao": to follow Tao means do not resort to force and violence.
Tao constantly And immutable, everything changes, but Tao remains what it is, “ there is nothing more permanent than Tao": “peace is the main thing in movement.
"Tao empty, but inexhaustible in application”, “the usefulness of [something] existing depends on emptiness”: the magnitude of the possibilities of something depends on the space of capacity, i.e. from its emptiness: When we have nothing, we are absolutely free, since not a single thing binds us.
Tao valid by transformations opposites: “Hate must be responded to with good,” loud speech must be answered with silence, strength must be answered with weakness, the one who wants to rise above others “must place himself lower than others.”
What is the meaning of Wu Wei practice? First of all, we must look for the key to its understanding in the related category De. If Te is what gives shape to things and is the metaphysical force that creates everything from Tao, then Wu Wei is the optimal way to interact with Te. This is a way to realize Te in everyday life. This method consists of removing excess vital and mental energy qi from the realities of everyday life and redirecting this energy to the spiritual, esoteric growth of the individual. But this spiritual growth is organically connected with the life of the body and the way of being. Therefore everything senseless actions, prescribed by Wu Wei, such as sweeping the courtyard with a twig, are the strictest discipline of mind and body, often practiced in the monasteries of China from antiquity to the present day. In the Buddhist tradition, Wu Wei is also synonymous with taming the mind. By performing meaningless actions as well as useful ones, the adept comprehends the essence of non-duality - the absence in the objective world of the division of things into “good and bad”, “useful and useless”. Understanding this leads to calm, peace, and then enlightenment.
Related and very close to the concept of Wu-Wei are Impeccability, Stalking and Controlled Stupidity in the Toltec teachings of C. Castaneda.
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See what “Inaction” is in other dictionaries:
See Wei (1) ... Chinese philosophy. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Inaction, the absence of [[purposeful]] activity is a term in Chinese philosophy, especially Taoism. Consists of the hieroglyphs wu (absence/non-existence, see Yu Wu), which plays the role of an optative negation, and wei (action, accomplishment, implementation... Collier's Encyclopedia
WU-WEI- (Chinese non-action, action through non-doing) principle of Taoist philosophy, one of the central concepts of Tao Te Ching. Wu, along with Zizhan (naturalness), formalizes and concretizes the method of movement of Tao and De. Tao constantly carries out non-action,... ... Modern philosophical dictionary
- (“Canon of Tao and Te”) the fundamental treatise of Taoism, originally called “ Lao Tzu” named after the supposed author Lao Tzu. According to scientists, "D.d.ts." finally formed in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. and recorded by the followers of the founder of the Taoist... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
- (Chinese Tao Jia, Tao Jiao school of Tao, teaching of Tao) one of the main directions of Chinese philosophy. The ancestor of D. is considered to be Lao Tzu, to whom tradition attributes the authorship of the fundamental Taoist treatise “Tao Te Ching” (originally “Lao ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
- (“Old Man Baby”, “Old Philosopher”) (6-5 centuries BC) other Chinese. legendary founder of Taoism. According to the “Shi Ji” (“Historical Notes”) of Sima Qian (145-87 BC), L. c. a native of the village of Quren, Li volost, Ku county, Chu kingdom, had the name ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
Unchanged; m. [Chinese] letters path] One of the main categories of Chinese philosophy is the natural path of all things, moral improvement. ◁ Taoist, oh, oh. D e postulates. D e categories. * * * dao (Chinese, literally the way), one... encyclopedic Dictionary
Real name Li Er, author of the ancient Chinese treatise “Lao Tzu” (ancient name “Tao Te Ching”, IV-III centuries BC), the canonical work of Taoism. The basic concept of Tao, which is metaphorically likened to water (pliability and irresistibility).... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
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The foundations of Taoism and the philosophy of Lao Tzu are set out in the treatise “Tao Te Ching” (IV-III centuries BC). At the center of the doctrine is the doctrine of the great Tao, universal Law and the Absolute. Tao has many meanings, it is an endless movement. Tao is a kind of law of existence, the cosmos, the universal unity of the world. Tao dominates everywhere and in everything, always and limitlessly. No one created it, but everything comes from it, and then, having completed a circuit, returns to it again. Invisible and inaudible, inaccessible to the senses, constant and inexhaustible, nameless and formless, it gives origin, name and form to everything in the world. Even the great Heaven follows the Tao.
Every person, in order to become happy, must take this path, try to cognize the Tao and merge with it. According to the teachings of Taoism, man, the microcosm, is eternal in the same way as the universe, the macrocosm. Physical death means only that the spirit is separated from man and dissolves into the macrocosm. A person’s task in his life is to ensure that his soul merges with the world order of Tao. How can such a merger be achieved? The answer to this question is contained in the teachings of Tao.
The path of Tao is characterized by the power of De. It is through the power of “Wu Wei” that Tao manifests itself in every person. This force cannot be interpreted as effort, but rather as the desire to avoid all effort. “Wu wei” means “inaction,” the denial of purposeful activity that goes against the natural order. In the process of life, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of non-action - the principle of wuwei. This is not inaction. This is human activity that is consistent with the natural course of the world order. Any action contrary to Tao means a waste of energy and leads to failure and death. Thus, Taoism teaches a contemplative attitude towards life. Bliss is not achieved by those who strive good deeds win the favor of Tao, and the one who is in the process of meditation, immersion in his inner world strives to listen to himself, and through himself to listen and comprehend the rhythm of the universe. Thus, the purpose of life was conceptualized in Taoism as a return to the eternal, a return to one’s roots.
The moral ideal of Taoism is the hermit who, through religious meditation, breathing and gymnastic exercises achieves a high spiritual state that allows him to overcome all passions and desires and immerse himself in communication with the divine Tao.
Buddhism began to penetrate into China at the turn of the century. e. There were legends about the appearance of Buddhist preachers there back in the 3rd century BC. e., however they cannot be considered reliable.
The first spreaders of Buddhism were merchants who came to China along the Great silk road from Central Asian states. Missionary monks, first from Central Asia and later from India, appeared in China before the 2nd-3rd centuries.
Already by the middle of the 2nd century, the imperial court became acquainted with Buddhism, as evidenced by the sacrifices of Lao Tzu (the founder of Taoism) and Buddha, performed by Emperor Huang Di in 165. According to legend, the first Buddhist sutras were brought on a white horse to Luoyang, the capital of the Later Empire. Han, during the reign of Emperor Ming Di (58-76); Here, later, the first Buddhist monastery in China, Baimasy, appeared.
At the end of the 1st century, the activity of Buddhists was recorded in another city of the late Han empire - Pengcheng. In the beginning. In the 2nd century, the “Sutra of 42 Articles” was compiled - the first attempt to present it in Chinese. language of the fundamentals of Buddhist teachings.
As far as one can judge from the first translated Buddhist ones. texts, Buddhism of a transitional type from Hinayana to Mahayana was initially preached in China, and Special attention devoted to the practice of meditation. Later, Buddhism in the Mahayana form was established in China.
There are three main stages in Indian philosophy:
1) Vedic period (1500-500 BC),
2) classical, or Brahman-Buddhist (500 BC - 1000 AD) and
3) the post-classical, or Hindu period (since 1000).
Dharma is a teaching, a doctrine, in our understanding, a philosophy. In the east, dharma is philosophy and religion together (inseparable), dharma is the moral duty and path of every pious person.
The Vedas are ancient (before 1500 BC), sacred texts Hinduism written in Sanskrit (Vedic Sanskrit). The Vedas and commentaries on the Vedas form the basis of Indian philosophy.
The Vedas are divided into two categories: shruti and smriti. Category shruti - considered to be revealed scriptures without an author, eternal transcendental knowledge, recording the sounds of truth. Truth has been transmitted orally since the beginning of the universe.
About 5,000 years ago, the Indian sage Vyasadeva wrote down the Vedas for people. He divided the Vedas into four parts according to the types of sacrifices: Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva.
1) Rig Veda - the Veda of praise, consists of 1017 hymns in poetic form, most of poems glorify Agni, the god of fire and Indra, the god of rain and heavenly planets.
2) Samo-Veda - Veda of chants, description of prayer during sacrifices
3) Yajur Veda - the Veda of sacrifices, a description of the ritual of sacrifice.
4) Atharva Veda - the Veda of spells, descriptions of spells, contains various songs and rituals, most of them intended to cure diseases
After this, for people with low intelligence - women, workers and unworthy descendants of high castes, Vyasadeva composed 18 Puranas and the epic “Mahabharata”, which belong to the category of smritis. Mantras (sacred hymns of Hindus, which require accurate reproduction of sounds), Brahmanas (texts for priests), Aranyakas ( scriptures Hinduism, which describe sacrificial rituals for limited use), 108 Upanishads (heard from a teacher), and some other Vedas constitute Vedic literature.
Rita is the world rhythm, the order of things, the world law of existence, the universal cosmic law, truth in the broadest sense of the word. The concept of rita is the philosophical basis of the concept of dharma. The gods obey Rita.
Anrita is a violation of the world rhythm. Karma is the law of cause and effect, even gods have and depend on karma. Maya is a philosophical category that postulates that everything that surrounds a person is just an illusion. Man, due to his ignorance, creates an illusory idea of the world, and it is this idea that is Maya. The goal of a Buddhist is to realize the world as it is, and not as it seems. Atman is identified with brahman, and is an eternal, unchanging spiritual essence. Indian philosophy begins to take shape during the Upanishad period. This period is characterized by a departure from varnas. As you know, the transition from one varna to another during a person’s lifetime is impossible, this caused people’s protest and, as a result, development - the withdrawal of dissenting people into the jungle, it was there, in the jungle, that they thought about achieving the absolute.
The Absolute is God or the first cause of existence of the whole world.
So, the world is a harmonious whole of elements, the balance of which is maintained by Dharma. A person’s behavior and actions are assessed from the point of view of their compliance with the Dharma, actions influence karma, karma influences the eternal course of human rebirth - the circle of samsara. Acts of reincarnation occur until the goal of every Hindu - moksha - is achieved. Moksha means liberation from worldly existence and the beginning of abiding in God.
Buddhism. Four Noble Truths of the Buddha:
a) Life is suffering
b) the cause of suffering is desires and passions
c) you can get rid of suffering by renouncing desires
d) the crown of everything is liberation from the bonds of samsara.
Ancient Greek philosophy is the greatest flowering of human genius. The ancient Greeks had the priority of creating philosophy as a science of universal laws development of nature, society and thinking; as a system of ideas that explores the cognitive, value, ethical and aesthetic attitude of man to the world. Philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato are the founders of philosophy as such. Originating in Ancient Greece, philosophy formed a method that could be used in almost all areas of life. Ancient Greek aesthetics was part of undivided knowledge. Unlike the ancient Egyptians, who developed science in a practical aspect, the ancient Greeks preferred theory.
The idea of the beauty of the world runs through all ancient aesthetics. In the worldview of ancient Greek natural philosophers there is not a shadow of doubt about the objective existence of the world and the reality of its beauty. For the first natural philosophers, beauty is the universal harmony and beauty of the Universe. In their teaching, the aesthetic and cosmological appear in unity. The universe for ancient Greek natural philosophers is space.
Socrates is one of the founders of dialectics as a method of searching and learning truth. Main principle- “Know yourself and you will know the whole world,” i.e. the conviction that self-knowledge is the path to understanding the true good. In ethics, virtue is equal to knowledge, therefore, reason pushes a person to do good deeds. A man who knows will not do wrong. Socrates presented his teachings orally, passing on knowledge in the form of dialogues to his students, from whose writings we learned about Socrates.
Plato's teaching is the first classical form of objective idealism. Ideas (among them the highest is the idea of good) are eternal and unchanging prototypes of things, of all transitory and changeable existence. Things are the likeness and reflection of ideas. These provisions are set out in Plato’s works “Symposium”, “Phaedrus”, “Republic”, etc. In Plato’s dialogues we find a multifaceted description of the beautiful. When answering the question: “What is beautiful?” he tried to characterize the very essence of beauty. Ultimately, beauty for Plato is an aesthetically unique idea. A person can only know it when he is in a state of special inspiration. Plato's concept of beauty is idealistic. The idea of the specificity of aesthetic experience is rational in his teaching.
Plato's student, Aristotle, was the tutor of Alexander the Great. He is the founder of scientific philosophy, trays, the doctrine of the basic principles of existence (possibility and implementation, form and matter, cause and purpose). His main areas of interest are people, ethics, politics, art. Aristotle is the author of the books “Metaphysics”, “Physics”, “On the Soul”, “Poetics”. Unlike Plato, for Aristotle beauty is not an objective idea, but an objective quality of things. Size, proportions, order, symmetry are the properties of beauty. Beauty, according to Aristotle, lies in the mathematical proportions of things, “therefore, to comprehend it one should practice mathematics. Aristotle put forward the principle of proportionality between man and a beautiful object.
In mathematics, the figure of Pythagoras stands out, who created the multiplication table and the theorem that bears his name, who studied the properties of integers and proportions. The Pythagoreans developed the doctrine of “harmony of the spheres.” For them, the world is a harmonious cosmos. They connect the concept of beauty not only with the universal picture of the world, but also, in accordance with the moral and religious orientation of their philosophy, with the concept of good. While developing issues of musical acoustics, the Pythagoreans posed the problem of the ratio of tones and tried to give its mathematical expression: the ratio of the octave to the fundamental tone is 1:2, fifths - 2:3, fourths - 3:4, etc. From this it follows that beauty is harmonious.
Democritus, who discovered the existence of atoms, also paid attention to the search for an answer to the question: “What is beauty?” His aesthetics of beauty was combined with his ethical views and the principle of utilitarianism. He believed that a person should strive for bliss and complacency. In his opinion, “one should not strive for every pleasure, but only for that which is associated with the beautiful.” In his definition of beauty, Democritus emphasizes such properties as measure and proportionality. For those who transgress them, “the most pleasant things can become unpleasant.”
In Heraclitus, the understanding of beauty is permeated with dialectics. For him, harmony is not a static balance, as for the Pythagoreans, but a moving, dynamic state. Contradiction is the creator of harmony and the condition for the existence of beauty: what diverges converges, and the most beautiful agreement comes from opposition, and everything happens due to discord. In this unity of struggling opposites, Heraclitus sees a model of harmony and the essence of beauty. For the first time, Heraclitus raised the question about the nature of the perception of beauty: it is incomprehensible through calculation or abstract thinking, it is known intuitively, through contemplation.
The works of Hippocrates in the field of medicine and ethics are well known. He is the founder scientific medicine, author of the doctrine of the integrity of the human body, theory individual approach to the patient, the tradition of keeping a medical history, works on medical ethics, in which he paid special attention to the high moral character of the doctor, the author of the famous professional oath that everyone who receives a medical diploma takes. His immortal rule for doctors has survived to this day: do not harm the patient.
Philosophy Ancient Rome was strongly influenced by the Greek tradition. Actually ideas ancient philosophy were subsequently adopted by Europeans precisely in Roman transcription.
The history of the Roman Empire can be interpreted as a “struggle of all against all”: slaves and slave owners, patricians and plebeians, emperors and republicans. All this happened against the backdrop of continuous external military-political expansion and the fight against barbarian invasions. General philosophical issues here fade into the background (similar to the philosophical thought of other China). The priority tasks are to unite Roman society.
Roman philosophy, like the philosophy of Hellenism, was predominantly ethical in nature and directly influenced political life society. The focus of her attention was constantly on the problems of reconciling interests various groups, achievement issues greater good, development of life rules, etc. In these conditions greatest distribution and the philosophy of the Stoics (the so-called younger pack) gained influence. By developing questions about the rights and responsibilities of the individual, about the nature of the relationship between the individual and the state, about legal and moral norms, the Roman pack sought to promote the education of a disciplined warrior and citizen. The largest representative of the Stoic school was Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD) - a thinker statesman, mentor of Emperor Nero (for whom the treatise “On Mercy” was even written). Recommending the emperor to adhere to moderation and a republican spirit in his reign, Seneca achieved only that he was “ordered to die.” Following his philosophical principles, the philosopher opened his veins and died, surrounded by admirers.
For a long time There was an opinion that ancient Roman philosophers were not self-sufficient, eclectic, and not as ambitious as their Hellenic predecessors. This is not entirely true. It is enough to recall the poem by Lucretius Cara (c. 99-55 BC) “On the Nature of Things” and a number of other brilliant thinkers, which it is not possible to talk about here. Let's dwell on the ideas of Cicero (106-43 BC), better known as an orator and politician. If Cicero was an eclectic, it was not at all from creative helplessness, but due to deep conviction. He considered it quite legitimate to combine individual, from his point of view, the most correct features of various philosophical systems. His treatises “On the Nature of the Gods”, “On Foresight” and others convince him of this. In addition, Cicero in his writings constantly polemicizes with the ideas of the greatest ancient philosophers. Thus, he sympathizes with Plato’s ideas, but, at the same time, sharply opposes his “fictional” state. While ridiculing Stoicism and Epicureanism, Cicero speaks positively of the new Academy. He considers it his task to work in the direction that his fellow citizens “expand their education” (a similar idea is pursued by Plato’s followers - the new Academy).