wei wu wei

oroboros commented on the word wei wu wei

"Action of non-action". The nom de plume of Terrence James Stannus Gray who wrote such masterpieces as "Ask the Awakened", "All Else Is Bondage" et al. Wei Wu Wei was born Terrence Gray in 1895. He came from a aristocratic Irish family, grew up near Cambridge, England, and studied at Oxford University.

During the First World War, he served as an ambulance driver. He travelled to Egypt to study the ancient pharoahs, and produced experimental theater and theater magazines in England. He quit theater to manage a vineyard in France, race horses, and marry a Russian princess. He died in 1986.

Despite this priviledged and fantastic life, and like many European intellectuals of his generation, he became a seeker. He could afford to travel, and he met Ramana Maharshi, Anagarika Govinda, Hubert Benoit, John Blofeld, Douglas Harding, Paul Brunton, Robert Linssen, Arthur Osborne, Shunyata, and D. T. Suzuki.

Click here for more info. See also: Wei Wu Wei link at The Advaita Fellowship (under "sage pointers").

Or, see poached eggs for a small sample of his witty writing.

June 18, 2007