non-action

  • Dao De Jing – Chapter 43

    The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.

  • Dao De Jing – Chapter 38

    Superior Virtue is the Dao itself — undivided, complete, and beyond notions of “virtue” or “gain.” It embodies true integrity without striving. It acts without acting, flows without intention, merging seamlessly with the rhythm of ziran. No analysis taints its purity, no agenda mars its perfection. “Superior Virtue does not claim virtue, thus it…

  • Dao De Jing – Chapter 37

    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…

  • Dao De Jing – Chapter 36

    When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him; when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up; when he is going to despoil another, he will first have made…

  • Dao De Jing – Chapter 29

    In the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), Laozi repeatedly emphasizes that rulers must practice governance through “non-action” (wu wei or non-coercive governance).