... Questions and Answers (1956) 29 August 1956 I suppose most of you come on Fridays to listen to the reading of Wu Wei. If you have listened, you will remember that something's said there about being "spontaneous", and that the true way of living the true life is to live spontaneously. What Lao Tse calls spontaneous... out beforehand what one wants to do and plan it before doing it, otherwise one may be tossed about by all sorts of desires and impulses which would be very far from the inspiration spoken about in Wu Wei ; it would simply be movements of the lower nature driving you to act. Therefore, unless one has reached the state of wisdom and detachment of the Chinese sage mentioned in this story, it is better... you stand, and you can no longer be sure of what may happen, for one part can not only undo but totally contradict what the other wants to do. And surely, to be in harmony with what is said in Wu Wei , after having seen very clearly what is necessary and what ought to be done, it is recommended not to put either violence or too much zest into the realisation of this programme, for an excess of ...
... nothing can exist which is not the expression of this divine Will and this Grace which manifests it.... The logical attitude―precisely the one described in the little book I read to you on Fridays now, Wu Wei 4 ―a perfect peace, a total surrender, putting aside all effort and all personal will, giving oneself up to the divine Will and letting it act through oneself. Mind you, this is not at all easy... message Sri Aurobindo gave on 15 August 1947. The full text is given in an appendix to this talk. × Wu Wei : a novel based upon the philosophy of Lao Tse, by Henri Borel (Librairie Fischbacher, 33 rue de Seine, Paris). × ...
... out beforehand what one wants to do and plan it before doing it, otherwise one may be tossed about by all sorts of desires and impulses which would be very far from the inspiration spoken about in Wu Wei ; it would simply be movements of the lower nature driving you to act. Therefore, unless one has reached the state of wisdom and detachment of the Chinese sage mentioned in this story, it is better ...
... advises you to lie down on the flow of events as on a plank in the ocean, and imagine yourself to be on the vast immensity, drifting upon the waves, contemplating the sky above. In Chinese they call it Wu Wei. When you can do that all trouble disappears. Page 144 I knew one Irishman who used to lie on his back and look up to the sky in the night when there were stars. He looked, ...
... described in the Upanishads as no bigger than the size of one’s thumb! (p. 306) Appendix 2 Some Notes: We have a very similar philosophy of negativism in the Chinese tradition of Wu Wei. Spontaneity or the naturalness of experience is a way of living that has to be attained by a kind of strenuous effort which is not really a contradiction in terms. Lao Tse explains: “There exists ...
... you to lie down on the flow of events as on a plank in the ocean, and imagine yourself to be on the vast immensity, drifting upon the waves, contemplating the sky above. In Chinese they call it Wu Wei. When you can do that all trouble disappears. I knew one Irishman who used to lie on his back and look up to the sky in the night when there were stars. He looked, contemplated on the sky ...
... François, 338n Virgil, 284 Vishnu, 106, 183-4, 358 Vivekananda, 349 Vrindavan, 183, Vyom, 280, 331 WORDSWORTH, 257n – Ode on the Intimations Immortality", 257n Wu Wei, 144 YAMA, 400 Page 409 ...
... 12 years old and the stories were of various levels. She gradually upgraded the level of Her stories as the children grew older. Towards the later years, She took up more serious texts such as the Wu Wei, a text of Henry Borel based on the philosophy of Lao-Tse and towards the end, She took up the ‘Dhammapada’. She took this up because it was a simple method of teaching meditation to the children. ...
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