Enlightenment, Daoism and Wu Wei

Pai Mei Beard Swipe, modified 3 Years ago at 9/7/20 10:14 PM
Created 3 Years ago at 9/7/20 10:12 PM

Enlightenment, Daoism and Wu Wei

Posts: 13 Join Date: 9/7/20 Recent Posts
After reading through some of MCTB and going through many of Daniel Ingram's video interviews I was floored by how he shows meditation practices in context of each other and how they all relate to each other. Getting a look at more of a global context is something I've been looking for for a while!

One area he didn't go through much is the Daoist practices, specifically their emphasis on achieving a high level of Wu Wei & De as a big goal. For anyone not familiar Wu Wei is a state of action without forcing or governing, a feeling like things are happening on their own / a flow state / or being in the zone or constant state of improvisation.  De is like a charismatic energy you give off while being in that state that is nice to have as it increases social fluidity.  

I'm really curious as to how Daoism and enlightenment work together. Perhaps some on this forum would be knowledgable. From what I can tell from my limited vantage point, Daoism doesn't really emphasize enlightment as a goal per se, but it may overlap with achieving high levels of Wu Wei and types of stillness / concentration meditation that they practice in general.  It seems like Wu Wei is cultivated more through energetic (nei gong / internal alchemy) and concentration based methods and perhaps activities like improvisation that bring your gut intuition more to the forefront.  It may not necessarily occur by being enlightened, or achieving high levels of insight without deliberately practicing it seperately. Although based on descriptions from people who claim to be enlightened, it sounds like they are in some sort of state that feels like things are unfolding all on their own... but maybe not necessarily in tune with that same improvisation state.  

Anyways, here is my questions:


1) To what degree are Enlightment and Wu Wei related and / or seperate things? 

2) If they are seperate, does Enlightenment make achieving Wu Wei easier and vice versa?


3) If they are seperate,  Would Wu Wei technically be considered one of the powers?  Or is it some sort of mix of just being in a state of action while also being in a concentration state and / or energetic state?
Robert Lydon, modified 9 Months ago at 6/26/23 9:37 PM
Created 9 Months ago at 6/26/23 9:37 PM

RE: Enlightenment, Daoism and Wu Wei

Posts: 76 Join Date: 6/19/23 Recent Posts
Hello,

I have a mission to respond to every unresponded post. Yours is the first and years old. Here are my responses.

1) To what degree are Enlightment and Wu Wei related and / or seperate things? 
All ways. Wu Wei is the default setting of the enlightened. 

2) If they are seperate, does Enlightenment make achieving Wu Wei easier and vice versa?
Wu Wei makes enlightnment easier. Enlightenment makes Wu Wei easier. 


3) If they are seperate,  Would Wu Wei technically be considered one of the powers?  Or is it some sort of mix of just being in a state of action while also being in a concentration state and / or energetic state?

​​​​​​​the latter and the ladder.

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