Effortless Action: Wu-Wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China

This book presents a systematic account of the role of the personal spiritual ideal of wu-wei—literally "no doing," but better rendered as "effortless action"—in early Chinese thought. Edward Slingerland's analysis shows that wu-wei represents the most general of a set of conceptual metaphors having to do with a state of effortless ease and unself-consciousness. This concept of effortlessness, he contends, serves as a common ideal for both Daoist and Confucian thinkers. He also argues that th…