Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986), better known by the
pen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Wei Wu Wei, was a 20th century Taoist philosopher and
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
.
Between the years 1958 and 1974 eight books and articles in various periodicals appeared under the pseudonym "Wei Wu Wei" (a Taoist term which translates as
action that is non-actionWu wei is an important concept of Taoism , that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that "Wu Wei" means...
). The identity of the author was not revealed at the time of publication for reasons outlined in the Preface to the first book
Fingers Pointing Towards the Moon (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958).
Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986), better known by the
pen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Wei Wu Wei, was a 20th century Taoist philosopher and
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
.
Background
Between the years 1958 and 1974 eight books and articles in various periodicals appeared under the pseudonym "Wei Wu Wei" (a Taoist term which translates as
action that is non-actionWu wei is an important concept of Taoism , that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that "Wu Wei" means...
). The identity of the author was not revealed at the time of publication for reasons outlined in the Preface to the first book
Fingers Pointing Towards the Moon (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958). Eventually it was revealed that the author had been Terence Gray.
Terence James Stannus Gray was born in
FelixstoweFelixstowe is a seaside town on the North Sea coast of Suffolk, England. The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in the United Kingdom and is owned by Hutchinson Ports UK...
,
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on 14 September 1895 into a well-established
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
family and was raised on an estate outside
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He received a thorough education at Ascham St Vincent's School,
EastbourneEastbourne is a large town and borough of East Sussex, on the south coast of England, with an estimated population of 106,652 as of 2009. The area has seen human activity since the stone age and it remained one of small settlements until the 19th century when its four hamlets gradually merged to...
,
EtonEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent boarding school for boys aged approx. 13 to 19. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Oxford University. Early in life he pursued an interest in
EgyptologyEgyptology Egyptology Egyptology (from Egypt and Greek , -logia. , is a major field of archaeology, the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century...
which culminated in the publication of two books on ancient Egyptian history and culture in 1923. This was followed by a period of involvement in the arts in Britain in the 1920s and 1930's as a theorist, theatrical producer, creator of radical 'dance-dramas', publisher of several related magazines and author of two related books. He was a major influence on many noted dramatists, poets and dancers of the day, including his cousin
Ninette de ValoisDame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE was an Irish dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet. She danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later settling in England...
, founder of the Royal Ballet (which in fact had its origins in his own dance troupe at the Cambridge Festival Theatre which he leased from 1926-33).
He maintained his family's racehorses in England and Ireland and in 1957 his horse
ZarathrustraZarathustra was a black thoroughbred racehorse, born at Graymount in Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1951.Owned by Terence Gray , it was first trained by Michael Hurley in Ireland, becoming the winner of the Irish Derby and the Irish St...
won the
Ascot Gold CupThe Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in June....
, ridden by renowned jockey
Lester PiggottLester Keith Piggott is a retired English jockey, popularly known as "The Long Fellow". He is considered to be the best of his generation and the greatest flat jockey of all time, with 4,493 career wins, including nine Derby victories....
in the first of his eleven wins of that race.
After he had apparently exhausted his interest in the theatre, his thoughts turned towards philosophy and metaphysics. This led to a period of travel throughout Asia, including time spent at Sri
Ramana MaharshiSri Ramana Maharshi , born Venkataraman Iyer, was an Indian sage. He was born to a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After having attained liberation at the age of 16, he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus, at Tiruvannamalai, and lived there for...
's
ashramTraditionally, an ashram is a religious hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
in
TiruvannamalaiThiruvannamalai is a pilgrimage town and municipality in Thiruvannamalai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Thiruvannamalai district. Thiruvannamalai is home to the Annamalaiyar Temple located at the foot of the Annamalai hill and amongst one of the great...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. In 1958, at the age of 63, he saw the first of the 'Wei Wu Wei' titles published. The next 16 years saw the appearance of seven subsequent books, including his final work under the further pseudonym 'O.O.O.' in 1974. During most of this later period he maintained a residence with his wife in
MonacoMonaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a small sovereign city-state located in South Western Europe on the northern central coast of the Mediterranean Sea, having a land border on three sides only with France, and being about away from Italy. Its size is just under 2 km² with an...
. He is believed to have known, among others,
Lama Anagarika GovindaLama Anagarika Govinda was the founder of the order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala and an expositor of Tibetan Buddhism....
, Dr. Hubert Benoit,
John BlofeldJohn Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld was a British writer on Asian thought and religion, especially Taoism and Chinese Buddhism.-Early life:Blofeld was born in London in 1913...
,
Douglas HardingDouglas Edison Harding was an English mystic, philosopher and author.Harding was born in Lowestoft on 12 February 1909. He was raised in the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren but was excommunicated at the age of 21...
,
Robert LinssenRobert Linssen was a Belgian Zen Buddhist and author. Linssen wrote in French, but many of his texts have been translated into other languages including English...
,
Arthur OsborneArthur George Osborne was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.He represented the Manukau electorate from the Manukau by-election 1936 to 1938, and then the Onehunga electorate from 1938 to 1953, when he died...
,
Robert PowellRobert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
and Dr. D. T. Suzuki. He died in 1986 at the age of 90.
Wei Wu Wei's influence, while never widespread, has been profound upon many of those who knew him personally, upon those with whom he corresponded, among them British mathematician and author
G. Spencer-BrownGeorge Spencer-Brown is a polymath best known as the author of Laws of Form. He describes himself as a "mathematician, consulting engineer, psychologist, educational consultant and practitioner, consulting psychotherapist, author, and poet.".-Life:Spencer-Brown obtained an M.B...
and Galen Sharp, as well as upon many who have read his works, including
Ramesh BalsekarRamesh S. Balsekar was a disciple of the late Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a renowned Advaita master. From early childhood, Balsekar was drawn to Advaita, a nondual teaching, particularly the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and Wei Wu Wei...
.
It is apparent from his writings that 'Wei Wu Wei' had studied in some depth both Eastern and Western philosophy and metaphysics, as well as the more esoteric teachings of all the great religions. It can also be understood from the writings that he regarded himself as merely one of many seeking so-called 'liberation', the works themselves being seen in part as a record of this quest. The attitude adopted towards the writings is perhaps best indicated by the following quote from an introductory note to 'Open Secret' (Hong Kong University Press, 1965).
Quotations
- Why are you unhappy?
- Because 99.9 per cent
- Of everything you think,
- And of everything you do,
- Is for yourself —
- And there isn't one.
-
- — Ask The Awakened
Works
- Fingers Pointing Towards The Moon; Reflections of a Pilgrim on the Way, 1958, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London. (out of print); 2003, Sentient Publications, Boulder. Foreword by Ramesh Balsekar. ISBN 1-59181-010-8
- Why Lazarus
Lazarus is a name found in two separate contexts in the New Testament. Lazarus of Bethany is the subject of a miracle recounted only in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...
Laughed; The Essential Doctrine ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
-Advaita-TantraTantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...
, 1960, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London. (out of print); 2003, Sentient Publications, Boulder. ISBN 1-59181-011-6
- Ask The Awakened; The Negative Way, 1963, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London. (2nd ed. 1974)(out of print); 1973, Little, Brown & Co., Boston. ISBN O-316-92810-0 (out of print); 2002, Sentient Publications, Boulder. Foreword by Galen Sharp. ISBN 097 1078645
- All Else Is Bondage; Non-Volitional Living, 1964, Hong Kong University Press. (Reprinted 1970, 1982). ISBN 962-209-025-7 (out of print); 1999, Sunstar Publications. ISBN 188-665-634-7 (out of print); 2004, Sentient Publications, Boulder. 1-59181-023-X
- Open Secret, 1965, Hong Kong University Press. (Reprinted 1970, 1982). ISBN 962-209-030-3 (out of print); 2004, Sentient Publications, Boulder. ISBN 1-59181-014-0
- The Tenth Man, 1966, Hong Kong University Press. (Reprinted 1967, 1971). ISBN 0-85656-013-8 (out of print); 2003, Sentient Publications, Boulder. Foreword by Dr. Gregory Tucker. ISBN 1-59181-007-8
- Posthumous Pieces, 1968, Hong Kong University Press. Foreword by Wayne Liquorman. ISBN 0-85656-027-8 (out of print); 2004, Sentient Publications, Boulder. ISBN 1-59181-015-9
- Unworldly Wise; As the Owl Remarked to the Rabbit, 1974, Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 0-85656-103-7 (out of print) (Note: this book published under the further pseudonym 'O.O.O.'); 2004, Sentient Publications, Boulder. ISBN 1-59181-019-1
External links