Daodejing - Chapter Two

 

Painting of Laozi from Wikisource.  Source of the painting is not identified.

道德經  - 第二章

天下皆知美之為美，斯惡已。

皆知善之為善，斯不善已。

故有無相生，難易相成，長短相較，高下相傾，音聲相和，前後相隨。

是以聖人處無為之事，行不言之教；萬物作焉而不辭，生而不有。為而不恃，功成而弗居。

夫唯弗居，是以不去。

Daodejing - Chapter Two

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good, other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other; difficult and easy support each other; long and short define each other; high and low depend on each other; musical notes and tones harmonise with each other [4], before and after follow each other.

Therefore the master acts without doing anything, and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and she lets them come.  

Things disappear and she lets them go.

She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.

When her work is done, she forgets it.

That is why it lasts forever. 

References

1. The above translation is based on the translation by poet, translator, scholar and anthologist, Stephen Mitchell.  His reading of the work can be found on the following YouTube video: Tao Te Ching, The Book Of The Way by Lao Tzu:  https://youtu.be/t109UFLSQhk?t=715 
2. This chapter on the above video starts at 11:56 and ends at 13:15.
3. You can find the complete 81 chapters of Daodejing in Chinese and English (James Legge version) in the ctext.org website: https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing
4. This phrase is missing in Stephen Mitchell's translation, but is generally in Chinese versions and other translations.