Wu‐wei

Abstract

In Chinese, Daoist morality (wu‐wei為無) is a spontaneous and effortless movement that accords in every way with the normative order of the cosmos.Wu‐weiis a conduct operator along with other terms such as action, attempt, omission, and refusal. It is morally significant in describingknowing howto move (behave); this isshownrather thansaid, and is made possible by a kind of positioning of consciousness and body characterized by stillness, emptying the mind of human distinctions, open receptiveness, and nourishing life (yangsheng養生). The result is that this type of movement shows the transformation of the person.