We often say in our practice that we have view-method-fruition. We apply the view-teaching to our practice methods and gradually ripen the fruit. This threefold mechanism is so foundational to Daoist teaching & practice.
It can be misleading, however, if we don’t understand what we actually mean by view, what we actually mean by method, what we actually mean by fruition. It may be more accurate in wuweidao to say that our practice actually has no view, no method, no fruition.
No view. View-teaching is a kind of initiatory input we receive from our teachers, scriptures, commentaries, or various other transmissions. But, ironically, wuweidao is not about more & more but rather less & less. Not about accumulation but diminution. So, our view-teaching is not about learning new concepts or gaining new perspectives. It is NOT a new, special, or refined lens through which we view ourselves or reality. Although the myriad conceptual teachings such as the Zhou-Yi Hexagrams or Heavenly Stems & Earthly Branches give us myriad precious lenses, wuweidao does not rely on any of them. As Laozi says in Chapter 71: “knowing not-knowing is utmost”. And Zen Master Dongshan from the Tang Dynasty: “not-knowing is most intimate”. So what we call “view” in wuweidao actually means relaxing all formulated perspectives, letting go of all concepts – relaxing all views. What is it that perceives?
No method. There are countless practice methods within Daoism & Buddhism alike, and we are likely engaged in many dozens or even hundreds of specific practices as part of our formal spiritual path and the informal conduct of daily life. 99.9% of all practices distill to using our intention to apply some method for some useful purpose. In wuweidao, we have a practice called Zuowang – “Sitting & Forgetting”. The method has important points of posture & energy, and the process of entry may involve all kinds of elaborate doings, from body-scans to mantras to visualizations or various other forms of beneficial mind-hackery. But none of these are Zuowang. Zuowang is not doing anything to our mind or experience – it is not applying any “method”, and it is not oriented around any goal. As long as we are orienting around some goal, we are not really in the practice of Zuowang. Forgetting is just resting in natural non-method.
No fruition. Fruition means results – the product of a successful, effective process of cultivation. Giving birth to something special through persistent effort in applying our practice methods. Whereas Alchemical Daoism is a conceptual path with a clear purpose of ripening ourselves to immortal sweetness, Contemplative Daoism or wuweidao is not really oriented around such a goal. It is, importantly, fundamentally non-productive. Wuweidao is like the empty space in which things emerge, grow, mature, decline, and pass away. Our practice is resting in the “gap” – the constant space or ground that is continuously present regardless of conditions. This ground is not something we produce or accomplish – communing with this ground is the true practice of wuweidao. What we call fruition in our path is not produced, not generated – not the result of a process of cultivation. We might say it is revealed as having been there all along. Zen Master Bankei called this communion realizing the unborn. Laozi called it “Dark Womb”.
Resting in this unborn, unconceived, inconceivable mysterious unknowing – this is our view, this is our method, this is indeed the immortal fruition of wuweidao adepts.