Introduction

This verse is titled after one of the most popular concepts in Daoism, wuwei. Wuwei is often translated as “effortless effort” or “non-action.” Both are fine, but both are inadequate. The best way to explore the concept is to study the text overall. Here is some framing to take into this verse. 

Wú (无) is like the “yin” energy. It is the unnameable and the desireless of the first verse in this text. It translates with words like “not,” “nothing,” “absence,” and the concept of negation. It connects to the raw vibratory essence at the basis of Creation before experience is sliced and diced by the analytical mind and language. 

It is the opposite of the bright, bouncy, nameable, desiring, analytical consciousness signified as “yǒu” (有) and the “yang” force.

Wei (为) is a being verb. It can translate to “to do, make, become, serve, be.”

In verse 75, we will encounter the phrase yǒuweì (有为), which means something like “forceful doing” or “excessive action.” This is the opposite of wúweì (无为). Wúweì is really about what it means to “be” the “yin” aspect of the Dao in the infinite ways it can manifest. 

In Verse 29, the term arises in the context of generating a meditative experience of the Dao. Let’s dig in. 

Translation

About to grasp Creation
  you act.
I see you didn’t get it. 

Creation is an organ of illumination,
  it can’t be acted upon.
Acting on it ruins it.
  Grasping for it, you lose it.

Therefore, the Wise
  though (y)in-action cause no corruption;
    without clinging cause no loss.

So, the things of Creation
  sometimes lead, sometimes obey;
  sometimes warm, sometimes cool;
  sometimes strengthen, sometimes weaken;
  sometimes support, sometimes destroy.

This is why the Wise
  discard seriousness,
  discard success,
  discard everything.

Commentary

About to grasp Creation
  you act.
I see you didn’t get it. 

Oh - burn! It happens to all serious meditators. We start to get still enough for expansion, altered states arise, and then we get all excited. “Yes! This is it! It’s finally happening!” and like magic, the experience disappears. We can also strive so hard and be so concentrated and intent on “DOING MEDITATION” that we completely block the relaxed spaciousness required to meditate. In any case, we become disturbed and act in some way, thereby adding ripples to the pond. The same pond needs to be smooth like glass to offer up a pristine reflection of Creation.