China's great philosophy of letting go — the tradition of the Dao, the Way, which set the spontaneity of nature against the rules of society, taught that the wisest action is often no action, and grew from a handful of cryptic texts into an organized religion of gods, alchemists, and seekers of immortality.
There is a line near the start of Daoism's most famous book that warns you not to trust the book: "The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao." The Way that runs through all things, it says, slips through any net of words you throw over it. From that paradox grew a whole tradition. Daoism taught that the wisest action is often no action, that yielding can beat forcing the way water wears down stone, and that a person should follow nature rather than the strict rules of society. It became two things at once: a philosophy in a few slim books, and later a sprawling religion of gods, priests, and alchemists chasing the secret of eternal life.