Concept
“Wu” and “Wo” are actually Chinese words with philosophical meaning. The word “wu” (無/无) means a void or absolute emptiness as far as the mind or senses can determine; it is therefore like an infinite space. The word “wo” (我) means mine, self or being. When joined, these words almost seem like a contradiction in terms: the word, “wo”, seems like being and the word, “wu”, seems like not being. The typical interpretation of “Wu-Wo” (無我/无我), however, means to empty one's mind to the degree that it becomes like an infinite void, itself a state of edgelessness, such that it neither senses, seeks to sense, (as nothing can be beyond its "bounds"), nor can be sensed. It is, simply and purely, just “being,” without physical, mental, or emotional attachments.
Read more about this topic: Wu-Wo Tea Ceremony
Famous quotes containing the word concept:
“One concept corrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“The new concept of the child as equal and the new integration of children into adult life has helped bring about a gradual but certain erosion of these boundaries that once separated the world of children from the word of adults, boundaries that allowed adults to treat children differently than they treated other adults because they understood that children are different.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)
“It is impossible to dissociate language from science or science from language, because every natural science always involves three things: the sequence of phenomena on which the science is based; the abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind; and the words in which the concepts are expressed. To call forth a concept, a word is needed; to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality.”
—Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)