Editing Wu wei (section)

==Early scholarship==
The early scholarship of [[Feng Youlan]]  suggested a distinction between philosophical and religious [[Taoism|Daoism]].{{sfn|Feng|1948|p=3}} Following him, [[sinologist]] [[Herrlee G. Creel]] took a "contemplative Daoism" as coming first, and "purposive Daoism" second.{{sfn|Creel|1970|p=5}} Creel took ''wu wei'' as found in the ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]]'' and ''[[Daodejing]]'' as denoting two different things:{{sfn|Creel|1970|p=74}}

# An "attitude of genuine non-action, motivated by a lack of desire to participate in human affairs" and
# A "technique by means of which the one who practices it may gain enhanced control of human affairs".

The first aligns closely with the contemplative Daoism of the Zhuangzi. Daoist texts rarely suggest that wu wei could help ordinary people gain political power, portraying it as a source of serenity. Creel takes the Zhuangzi's idea of Wu wei as rooted in its transcendental idea of the [[dao]], viewing such things as life and death as an "indissoluble unity." Creel did not see the ''Zhuangzi's'' view of wu wei as a definitive philosophical idea so much as that the [[sage (philosophy)|sage]] avoids worldly affairs. Whether seeking gain or fame, the Zhuangzi regards the "small" and "superior" men largely the same, inasmuch as they abandon the "normal feelings of men" and "proper human course" in favor of "strange and unnatural endeavors".{{sfn|Creel|1970|p=3–4, 74}}

Creel suggested that Daoists might have adopted the second idea of wu wei from [[Shen Buhai]] (400 BCE – {{circa|337 BCE}}) as they became interested in rulers' use of power.{{sfn|Creel|1970|p=11,73}} Regardless, Shen Buhai and the [[Han Feizi]] are a major influence for the [[Huainanzi]]'s idea of wu wei in the [[Han dynasty]].{{sfnmp|1a1=Major|1y=2010|1pp=26–27|2a1=Goldin|2y=2005}}

Called "rule by non-activity" and strongly advocated by the Han Feizi, during the Han dynasty until the reign of [[Han Wudi]], rulers confined their activity "chiefly to the appointment and dismissal of his high officials". This "conception of the ruler's role as a supreme arbiter, who keeps the essential power firmly in his grasp" while leaving details to ministers, has a "deep influence on the theory and practice of Chinese monarchy", playing a "crucial role in the promotion of the autocratic tradition of the Chinese polity", ensuring the ruler's power and the stability of the polity.

Although the Inner Zhuangzi may precede them, much of the Outer Zhuangzi derives more from at least the later part of the Warring States period, ridiculing Confucian moralization.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Yuri |last=Pines |year=2022 |trans-title=''Han Feizi'' and the Earliest Exegesis of Zuozhuan |script-title=zh:最早的《左傳》詮釋——再論《韓非子・難四》篇 |journal=Monumenta Serica |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=341–365 |doi=10.1080/02549948.2022.2131797}}{{pages needed |date=March 2025}}</ref> Still only appearing three times in the second half of the Zhuangzi, Creel supposed that early Daoists may have avoided the term for its association with Legalism before ultimately co-opting its governmental sense as well, regarding this as attempted in the Outer ''Zhuangzi''{{'}}s chapter 13, {{zhi|c=天道|p=Tiāndào|l=Way of Heaven}}. In the more "purposive" Daoism of the ''Daodejing,'' likely written after the early ''Zhuangzi'', ''wu wei'' becomes a major "guiding principle for social and political pursuit", in which the Daoist "seeks to use his power to control and govern the world".{{sfnmp|Creel|1970|1p=99|Go|2002|2pp=84,198}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Pan Ku |authorlink=Ban Gu |translator-first=Homer |translator-last=Dubs |title=The History of the Former Han Dynasty |date=1938–1955}}{{pages needed |date=March 2025}}</ref>