Original Text
When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises; when it knows good as good, evil emerges. Being and non-being give rise to each other, difficult and easy complement each other, long and short contrast with each other, high and low depend on each other, pitch and tone harmonize with each other, front and back follow each other—this is eternal. Therefore, the sage manages affairs by non-action and teaches without words; he lets all things arise without initiating, gives life without possessing, nurtures without claiming control, accomplishes without taking credit. Because he does not take credit, his merit never fades.
Guide
Laozi uses the mutual opposition and interdependence of appearances such as beauty and ugliness, existence and non-existence, difficulty and ease, high and low, long and short to illustrate the law of interconnection and unity among all things in the world, establishing the eternal and universal principle of the unity of opposites. Then, based on this dialectical perspective, he proposes the Way of non-action for the sage to conduct himself and govern the world.Analysis
The main theme of this chapter is the essence of the Tao.
All things under heaven can be superficially divided into opposing aspects of truth, goodness, and beauty versus falsehood, evil, and ugliness. Beauty can lead to evil outcomes, goodness can cause harmful effects, and every beautiful or good thing inherently contains an un-beautiful or un-good side. All things are in constant motion and change; beauty transforms into un-beauty, goodness into un-goodness, which is the inevitable course of the great Dao and the law of development. If one regards beautiful things as eternally beautiful and good things as absolutely good, it will surely backfire, ultimately leading to un-good results.
Laozi explains the interdependent and transformative laws of things, proposing basic principles of conduct such as non-action, non-speech, not initiating, not possessing, not relying, and not dwelling. These principles embody the profound virtue in Laozi's doctrine of the Dao and represent its fundamental behavioral advocacy.
Of course, as a small molecule in the universe, humans, like all other things in the universe, are transformed or combined from invisible basic elements such as molecules, atoms, neutrons, and neutrinos. Therefore, humans share the same origin as other things, with no essential difference; all are derived from the Great Dao, and thus are in constant motion and change, and can also interdepend and transform into one another like other objects.
From the beginning of life to the final journey into the grave, humans have never ceased to change. Along the way, they have fallen ill, made mistakes, and of course enjoyed the pleasures of success, experienced the frustration of failure, and thus learned what is right and wrong, what is honor and disgrace. Yet on this thorny and contradictory path of life, whether experiencing happiness and joy or confusion and helplessness, the final outcome is the same. Since this is the case, why create so much distress for oneself? Therefore, when facing honor and disgrace, gain and loss, success and failure, joy and sorrow, love and resentment, why not take them with equanimity? In fact, contradictions arise because people have concepts of knowledge in their minds. Contradictions lead to two outcomes: one good and one bad. Yet people always prefer to accept good outcomes and find it hard to accept bad ones, lacking the necessary calm and composure, thus breeding pain, confusion, or even utter despair.
The great Way is silent and boundless, giving birth to all things in heaven and earth and making them feel its presence and immense power, yet people can never describe it accurately; any concept or category is forced and fails to properly summarize the true meaning of the Way. It is precisely because of these inaccurate, incomplete, and unreal concepts that people's understanding of the Way is directly hindered, preventing them from truly entering the carefree and unrestrained realm of the Way. The sage, however, understands the absoluteness of the Way and its true essence, able to abandon and transcend human selfishness and greed, adopting a natural attitude toward people and events. This seemingly passive philosophy of non-action is actually a genuine and positive attitude toward life, elevating the spiritual realm of humanity. They truly comprehend the Way and merge with it, adapting to nature and all changes, thus having no sense of gain or loss, and therefore no worries or troubles—this is also the difference between the wise and the ordinary.