Wú-wéi means action both effortless and effective, never passivity

Evidence

Edward Slingerland, in Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China (Oxford University Press, 2003), offers the most systematic scholarly account of wú-wéi across the early Chinese philosophical tradition. Slingerland identifies two dimensions of the concept that are both necessary: wú-wéi is action that is effortless — not forced, not strained, not coercive — and action that is effective. The wú-wéi leader is not passive. She acts, and she acts with precision. But her action does not override the nature of what she acts upon. She finds the grain and follows it. — , The Rod and the Child, 4099

Categorization

• DEFINE: Corrects the common misreading that wú-wéi is passivity — it requires both effortlessness and effectiveness.