The Dao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do.
If princes and kings were able to maintain it, all things would of themselves be transformed by them.
If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.Simplicity without a name
Is free from all external aim.
With no desire, at rest and still,
All things go right as of their will.
Note
The Dao operates spontaneously through wu wei (non-action), orchestrating all things with seamless natural order. Spiritual cultivation unfolds in three stages, mirroring the chapter’s axiom:
“The Dao never acts, yet nothing is left undone”.
Stage 1: Dominance of Chaotic “Non-Action”
Here, wu wei manifests as a pre-reflective, instinctual state — impulsive, emotionally driven, and entropic. Without intervention, life descends into disorder:
- “Ordinary minds drift between wakefulness and dream”: Daytime decisions mirror nocturnal chaos, bodies present but minds fragmented.
- “Claiming to ‘live in the moment’” becomes hollow, as undisciplined wu wei breeds psychic entropy.
Stage 2: Ascendancy of Deliberate “Action”
To realize the Dao’s wu wei or non-acting state, one must:
- Consciously internalize Dao’s principles until they become second nature.
- Act initiatively to safeguard wu wei — restraining interference, relinquishing contention.
Paradox:
Artificial exertion begets reactive forces, echoing the saying: “Coercion rebounds like a boomerang”. Because it imposes a human-driven force, it inevitably generates reactive resistance. Thus, this deliberate approach may fail at times.
Success demands balancing the structure of your actions with the fluidity of non-action or wu wei.
Stage 3: Perfected Non-Action
As our cultivation deepens, we realize the equality of all phenomena, abandon the discriminating mind, obsessions and attachments, and cease clinging to labels and forms.
Through sustained cultivation:
- Transcend dualities: “All dharmas are equal” — abandon discriminative thinking and craving.
- Forget rules while embodying them: Move with the Dao’s rhythm, “uncontrived as flowing water”.
- Merge with cosmic unity: Dwell in perpetual meditative equipoise, where “self and all things become one”.
Further Reading
Chapter Two proposes that “the sage abides by non-action and practices wordless teaching,” and through the dialectical relationships of “being and non-being generating each other” and “the difficult and the easy complementing each other,” it argues for the rationality of “non-action.” This directly resonates with Chapter Thirty-Seven’s statement that “the Tao is ever non-acting, yet nothing is left undone.”
Chapter Twenty-Five posits that “humans follow the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows spontaneity,” explicitly establishing “spontaneity” as the highest principle. While Chapter Twenty-Five emphasizes the transcendent and universal nature of the Tao (“standing alone and unchanging, revolving without end”), Chapter Thirty-Seven transforms the abstract principle of the Tao into concrete governance strategies through the notion that “if rulers can abide by it.” Together, they point toward the practical path of “emulating spontaneity.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine states that “the world is a sacred vessel that cannot be manipulated. Those who try to control it will ruin it; those who try to grasp it will lose it,” treating the “world” as a sacred object that must not be recklessly acted upon. It warns against the dangers of forced control from a negative perspective, as seen in the line “those who wish to seize the world and act upon it—I see they will not succeed.” Chapter Thirty-Seven, on the other hand, positively elucidates the wisdom of aligning with spontaneity (“through stillness without desire, the world will settle itself”). Together, they form a dialectical argument for “non-action.”
道常無為而無不為。侯王若能守之，萬物將自化。化而欲作，吾將鎮之以無名之樸。無名之樸，夫亦將無欲。不欲以靜，天下將自定。
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