1. The Concept of "Doing by Not Doing" in Dao De Jing
When I read the Dao De Jing, the concept of "doing by not doing" or "Wu Wei" initially seemed contradictory. However, upon reflection, an idea came to mind. This is just a personal interpretation, not to be taken as absolute truth, but rather as something to consider selectively.
I think "doing by not doing" means not being mentally disturbed, not expending mental energy. It's like a child playing all day without getting bored or tired. The mind isn't attached, stressed, or irritated; it's just chilling and doing things as if playing all day. From this perspective, it no longer seems contradictory.
2. The Cost of "Doing by Not Doing"
To achieve "doing by not doing," there must be a balance, a cost.
First, talking about balance, this concept is present in all aspects of life. Something tasty and cheap is usually not healthy or even harmful. Something healthy and cheap might not taste good. If it's both tasty and healthy, it's expensive.
Learning something very hard with a difficult path means less competition. In the long run, it's less exhausting. Learning something easy with an easy path means high competition. In the long run, it becomes exhausting.
To extend, you must contract. To jump left, you push off from the right. To strike down powerfully, you must lift the sword high for momentum.
To run a business effortlessly, you need a competitive edge (often hidden). Without it, you must compensate with hard work (using labor as profit).
To "do by not doing" without stress, you must be proactive when work isn't yet stressful. Or build systems to solve problems before they arise.
For example, instead of curing a disease - which is very stressful - focus on diet, exercise, and proper living now. This ensures less stress than curing would.
A note on levels: At level 0, "not doing as doing" or "doing by not doing" might seem equally stressful. The total stress of preventing disease by exercising and eating well equals that of curing it later. Using "total stress" because each approach distributes stress differently; curing might be three massive stress units of 100, while prevention could be a hundred units of minor stress.
Thus, "the enlightened do by not doing," while ordinary people "always do and toil heavily."
At higher levels, the "doing" part like eating well and exercising becomes stress-free or even enjoyable, turning into a passion. You gain health and pleasure without hospital visits - a great deal. Instead of facing 300 stress units from illness, you get 300 units of satisfaction from healthy living.
Personally, I believe increasing levels requires "learning and doing," enhancing efficiency this way. If one could fully understand and practice Dao De Jing, they would reach the maximum level where work feels like play, like not doing at all.
3. Personal Tips on Reading Dao De Jing
From my experience:
I read Dao De Jing often in English, exploring various translations. In Vietnamese, I only read the Chinese characters, not the interpretations, for reasons I won't delve into.
I read multiple translations because Dao De Jing is hard to fully translate. Ideally, one should learn the original Chinese, but I resort to translations due to my limited knowledge.
Reading Dao De Jing doesn't require deep reasoning. Just open a few pages when you're down, read, then go about your day. It's like reading a social media post. Forming this habit over years, you'll discover many insights.
Reading Dao De Jing isn't about acquiring more knowledge but rather about recognizing the universal laws from your daily experiences. As you live and interact, you experience things on a sensory level but not always consciously. When you read, these experiences crystallize into recognizable patterns and laws, structuring your understanding.
For me, don't interpret Dao De Jing before you have experience; instead, use it to synthesize your experiences. Over-interpreting without experience can lead to confusion.
4. Learning and Doing
From my experience, "learning" should predominantly involve doing. Theory should be 1-2%, with doing at 99%. Some tough subjects might be 0.01% theory and 99.99% practice.
Doing helps digest what you've learned, making it useful. Learning without doing becomes indigestible, causing mental clutter and chaos in both physical and abstract dimensions of thought.
Alright, back to work. Have a nice day, everyone!
