Yin Xi frowned slightly, struggling to grasp the concept. "You say that when a wise scholar hears the Tao, he practices it diligently. But why do you also advocate 'action through inaction' (Wu Wei)? Isn't that contradictory? How can one practice diligently by doing nothing?"
Laozi smiled, his eyes reflecting the starlight, deep and boundless. "Inaction does not mean doing nothing. It means not forcing. The Tao forever follows the flow of nature and does not force action, yet there is nothing it does not accomplish. It is like water—soft, yielding, flowing around obstacles, yet over time, it wears down the hardest stone and shapes the mountains. If kings and lords could govern by the principle of the Tao, intervening only when necessary and allowing nature to take its course, all things w
