Ebook: All else is bondage: Non-volitional living

Under the singular pseudonym of Wei Wu Wei is hidden an impassioned Taoist, who sees Taoism, Tao, Buddhism, Ch'an Buddhism and therefore Ch'an Taoism, and lastly the Shresthayana, from the point of view of immediate application, necessary for the man who intends to find his own essence and the meaning of life. The 'non-volitional' element underlined by the author is what should preserve the teachings of Buddha and Tao from turning into affirmations of contingent individuality which would be the opposite of the Taoist spirit. Thus the thirty-three meditations that he gives in the present book converge towards a single movement of internal simplification down to that essential solitude; which is the meditator's chance to finally participate in the truth of things and of beings. (East and West)

It presents the view that man remains anxious about his existence due to his failure to see that he, as a separate individual, does not exist as such; and therefore he cannot do what he wants to do simply by making a decision to do it. This understanding, the author insists, is not mysterious; rather it is self-evident. The difficulty in knowing this comes about simply by 'an inability to perceive the obvious owing to a conditioned reflex which causes us persistently to look in the wrong direction' (p. ix). In part, the 'wrong direction' entails limiting the search for truth about existence to empirical observa- tion and discursive thinking.
Consistent with this epistemological viewpoint, the book is not a systematic presentation of 'non-volitional living' or 'emptiness'. It is a series of thrity-three brief essays which seek to incite understanding. Various terms that are used in the Chinese text of Taoism and Buddhism are explained in the context of personal experience. Yet All Else is Bondage is not an 'introduction' to Taoist and Buddhist thought. Though no previous training in Chinese thought is required to be influenced by it, it does require pondering and self-reflection. For those who want to wrestle with the possibility of finding truth in non-discursive modes of knowing, it is an excellent 'non-discussion'. (The Personalist)

Volition, says Wei Wu Wei, 'is the psychic chain which holds the phenomenal individual in apparent bondage, for volition is the pseudo-subject attempting to act independently of the force of circumstances. The absurdity of this performance should be sufficiently evident'.
All the teachings of all the Masters of all schools of liberation, 'consists in attempts by means of knowledge, practices, and manoeuvres to free the pseudo-individual from the chains of volition, for when that is abandoned no bondage remains'. Release from bondage is the theme of this book. It is an attempt to capture the spirit of Tao, 'the ultimate background of all true religions'.
Tao is the pathless Way which has a gateless Gate. Just as the Equator separates the Northern from the Southern hemisphere. Tao 'illusorily separates and unites the pheno- menal and the noumenal, Samsara and Nirvana. It is the open road of escape from solitary confinement in the dungeon of individuality'. (sm)