“Suddenly Alan jumped to his feet and joyously danced a t’ai chi improvisation, shouting, ‘Ah-ha, t’ai chi is the Tao, wu-wei, tzu-jan, like water, like wind, sailing, surfing, dancing with your hands, your head, your spine, your hips, your knees…with your brush, your voice…Ha Ha ha Ha…La La Lala ah ah Ah…”

– Al Chung-liang Huang, Tao: The Watercourse Way

I sometimes practice T’ai Chi. T’ai Chi is about allowing, flowing, letting your body move of its own, which naturally keeps one in balance.

I think of it as physically embodying wu-wei. You’re not-doing, you’re allowing something to be done.

The physical practice of T’ai Chi helps me live wu-wei in the world.

As I study the traditions, some of the philosophies resonate with me more than others. Each tradition seems to contain the “meditative experience of the absolute”, and then the philosophical systems and concepts in which that experience is embedded. I resonate with the Theravada Buddhist ethical path, but not the extreme emphasis on the world as dukkha. Or perhaps I resonate with the philosophies at different times and in different ways as I find myself experiencing different parts of life.

Wu-wei – not-doing – is one of those concepts that sticks. When we are living rightly, we aren’t thinking about it. We’re natural. In the philosophy of Taoism, We are letting the Tao, the creative ground, live through us.