Wu (awareness)

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Wu (Chinese: 悟) is a concept of awareness, consciousness, or spiritual enlightenment in the Chinese folk religion.^[1]

According to scholarly studies, many practitioners who have recently "reverted" to the Chinese traditional religion speak of an "opening of awareness" (kāi wù 開悟) or "awakening of awareness" (jué wù 覺悟) of the interconnectedness of reality in terms of the cosmic-moral harmony (bào yìng) as it relates to mìng yùn and yuán fèn.^[2]

This spiritual awareness, wu, works as an engine that moves these themes from being mere ideas to be motivating forces in one's life:^[2]

• awareness of mìng yùn ignites responsibility towards life;
• awareness of yuan fen stirs one to respond to events rather than resigning.

Awareness is a dynamic factor and appears in two guises: first, as a realisation that arrives as a gift, often unbidden, then as a practice that the person intentionally follows.^[2]