On the Concept of Effortlessness and Non-Activity in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Practice, with Focus on Chan During the Tang
Henrik H. Sørensen
Entangled Religions June 18, 2026 DOI: 10.46586/er.14.2026.13032 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Chan Buddhist texts from late medieval China (Tang dynasty through early Northern Song) |
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Focus optics Perspective graphical Hermeneutics Presentation obstetrics Period music Literature Classics |
| Key points | Argues that Chan Buddhist concepts of non-doing and effortlessness were developed as well-defined soteriological strategies for practitioners to attain the absolute, with hermeneutics and doctrinal interpretations central to their construction and practice. |
Abstract
This article aims at approaching the topic of non-doing (Chin. wuwei 無為), and the related idea of effortlessness (Chin. wu gongyong 無功用), from the perspective of the Chan Buddhist tradition (禪宗) in late medieval China. This highly practice-oriented form of Chinese Buddhism developed well-defined soteriological strategies for their practitioners to attain the absolute, variously defined as the nirvāṇic state, the buddha-nature (Chin. wuxing 佛性), buddha-mind (Chin. foxin 佛心), dharmakāya (Chin. fashen 法身), etc. As part of these strategies were the concepts of effortlessness, non-doing/non-activity, and to remain aloof from the conditioned world of phenomena. Through a number of representative cases—all lifted from primary sources written during the medieval period in China—I will attempt to elucidate the hermeneutics and doctrinal interpretations which lie at the heart of the manner these ideas were constructed and brought into practice by Chan adherents. The historical framework for the selected material in this presentation is the Tang dynasty, often referred to as the ‘Golden of Chan,’ but it also features passages from later works from the Five Dynasties and the early Northern Song.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |