Wu (awareness)

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

Part of a series on
Chinese folk religion
Concepts Tian—Shangdi Qi Shen Ling Xian ling Yinyang Hundun Mingyun Yuanfen Baoying Wu
Theory Chinese theology Chinese gods and immortals Chinese mythology Chinese creation myth Chinese spiritual world concepts Model humanity: Xian Zhenren Wen and wu
Practices Fenxiang Jingxiang Feng shui Miaohui Wu shamanism Jitong mediumship Precious scrolls
Institutions and temples Associations of good-doing Lineage associations or churches Chinese temple Ancestral shrine Chinese Folk Temples' Association
Festivals Qingming Zhongyuan Zhongqiu Jiuhuangye Qixi Duanwu Nian
Internal traditions Major cultural forms Chinese ancestral religion Chinese communal deity religion Chinese food therapy Chinese geomancy Chinese mother goddess worship Northeast China folk religion Traditional Chinese Medicine Main philosophical traditions: Confucianism (state rites) Taoism Other schools Ritual traditions: Folk ritual masters' orders Jitong mediumship Nuo folk religion Chinese shamanism Devotional traditions: Mazuism Wang Ye worship Zhenkong, "Void of Truth". Salvation churches and sects: De teaching Jiugongdao Luo teaching Maitreya teachings Tiandi teachings Tianxian miaodao Xia teaching Xiantiandao Zaili teaching Qigong Confucian churches and sects: Holy Confucian Church Indonesian Confucian Church Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue Phoenix churches Xuanyuanism Taigu school
Related religions Benzhuism Bimoism Bon Dongbaism Miao folk religion Vietnamese folk religion Qiang folk religion Yao folk religion Zhuang folk religion
Religion portal

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]