Verse 2 - Living the Paradoxical Unity

[Eva Libre]

2nd Verse

Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty,
only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only because there is evil.

Being and nonbeing produce each other.
The difficult is born in the easy.
Long is defined by short, the high by the low.
Before and after go along with each other.

So the sage lives openly with apparent duality
and paradoxical unity.
The sage can act without effort
and teach without words.
Nurturing things without possessing them,
he works, but not for rewards;
he competes, but not for results.

When the work is done, it is forgotten.
That is why it lasts forever.

 
Contemplation/Meditation Verse

When the work is done, it is forgotten.
That is why it lasts forever.


Do The Tao Now

Do the Tao today by noticing an opportunity to defend or explain yourself and choosing not to.  Instead, turn within and sense the texture of misunderstanding, feeling it all the way through your physical system.  Just be with what is, instead of opting to ease it by traversing the outer-world path of explaining and defending.  Don't get caught up in the apparent duality of being right or wrong.  Congratulate yourself for making a choice to be in paradoxical unity, a oneness where all of the spectrum simply is.  Silently appreciate the opportunity, along with your willingness to practice your sageness! 

Source -
Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao)
by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer

Live a unified life.

Enter the world of oneness with an awareness of the propensity to compartmentalize everything as good or bad, right or wrong. Beautiful or ugly are standards of the physical world, not the Tao. Contemplate the insight that duality is a mind game. In other words, people look the way they look, period - criticism is not always necessary or helpful. See the unfolding of the Tao inside everyone, including yourself, and be at peace with what you observe.

Be a good animal and move freely, unencumbered with thoughts about where you should be and how you should be acting. For instance, imagine yourself as an otter just living your “otterness”. You're not good or bad, beautiful or ugly, a hard worker or a slacker … you're simply an otter, moving through the water or on the land freely, peacefully, playfully, and without judgments. When it's time to leave your body, you do so, reclaiming your place in the pure mystery of oneness. This is what Lao-tzu means when he says, “When the work is done, it is forgotten. That is why it lasts forever.”

In other words, you don't have to leave your body to experience forever; it's possible to know your eternal self even in the embodied condition. When duality and judgment crop up, allow them to be a part of the perfect unity. When other people create dichotomies, you can always know oneness by practicing the Tao.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer

Accomplish much by trying less.

Effort is one piece of the whole; another piece is non-effort. Fuse these dichotomies, and the result is effortless action without attachment to outcome. This is precisely how you dance with someone: You make an attempt, assume a position, listen to the music, and let go all at the same time, allowing yourself to easily move with your partner. Combine the so-called opposites into the oneness of being without judgment or fear. Labeling action as “a fine effort” implies a belief that trying hard is better than not trying. But trying itself only exists because of beliefs about not trying. Attempting to pick up a piece of trash is really just not picking up the trash. Once you've picked it all up, then trying and not trying are irrelevant.

Understand that you can act without the implied judgment of words such as effort and trying. You can compete without being focused on outcome. Eliminating opposites paradoxically unifies them so that it is unnecessary to identify with one position. I imagine that in today's language, Lao-tzu would sum up this 2nd verse of the Tao Te Ching in these two simple words: Just be.

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful,
And in doing this they have the idea of what ugliness is;
They all know the skill of the skillful,
And in doing this they have the idea of what
the want of skill is.

So it is that existence and non-existence give birth
one to the other;
Difficulty and ease produce each other;
Length and shortness fashion out the figure of the other;
Height and lowness arise from the contrast of
the one with the other;
Musical notes and tones become harmonious
through the relation of one to the other;
Being before and behind give the idea of
one following another.

Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything,
and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.
The work is done, but how no one can see;
Tis this that makes the power not cease to be.

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - ”Compensation”, ”Each and All” (poem), ”Man the Reformer”

Each thing is a half, and suggests another thing
to make it whole.
As: spirit, matter;
man, woman; odd, even;
in, out; upper, under;
motion, rest; yea, nay.
All are needed by each one.
Nothing is fair or good alone;
To empty here, you must condense there.

A great man is always willing to be little;
The wise man throws himself on the side
of his assailants;
Postpones always the present hour
to the whole life,
Postpones talent to genius,
and special results to character,
Is very willing to lose particular powers
and talents
So that he gain in the elevation
of his life.
Action and inaction are alike to the true.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

Everyone recognizes beauty
          only because of ugliness
Everyone recognizes virtue
          only because of sin

Life and death are born together
Difficult and easy
Long and short
High and low -
          all these exist together
Sound and silence blend as one
Before and after arrive as one

The Sage acts without action
          and teaches without talking
All things flourish around him
          and he does not refuse any one of them
He gives but not to receive
He works but not for reward
He completes but not for results
He does nothing for himself in this passing world
          so nothing he does ever passes

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

2

DETACHMENT

Like the eternal Tao, a wise
mother gives birth but does not
possess. She meets the child's
needs yet requires no gratitude.

Observe how great masters raise
up their dearest disciples. Observe
how nature raises up the plants
and animals.

Great teachers take no credit for
their student's growth, yet they
will go to any length to teach
them what they need to know.

Nature requires no praise,
yet it provides for the needs
of earth's inhabitants.

Mother is the reflective principle,
the balancing agent for the child.
Like a guru, she allows the child to
make mistakes and loves the child
without condition. Like nature,
she allows consequences to unfold
and balance to be restored when
it is lost.

She intervenes only when the
right use of power is required.

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu
A New Translation by Victor H Mair
based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

2
(46)

When all under heaven know beauty as beauty,
already there is ugliness;
When everyone knows goodness,
this accounts for badness.

Being and non-being give birth to each other,
Difficult and easy complete each other,
Long and short form each other,
High and low fulfill each other,
Tone and voice harmonize with each other,
Front and back follow each other -
it is ever thus.

For these reasons,
The sage
dwells in affairs of non-action,
carries out a doctrine without words.
He lets the myriad creatures rise up
but does not instigate them;
He acts
but does not presume;
He completes his work
but does not dwell on it.

Now,
Simply because he does not dwell on them,
his accomplishments never leave him.

[Eva Libre]

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

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.
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.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

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

When they believe their thoughts, people divide reality into opposites. They think that only certain things are beautiful. But to a clear mind, everything in the world is beautiful in its own way.

Only by believing your own thoughts can you make the real unreal. If you don't separate reality into categories by naming it and believing that your names are real, how can you reject anything or believe that one thing is of less value than another ? The mind's job is to prove that what it thinks is true, and it does that by judging and comparing this to that. What good is a this to the mind if it can't prove it with a that ? Without proof, how can a this or a that exist ?

For example, if you think that only Mozart is beautiful, there's no room in your world for rap. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but other people think that rap is where it's at. How do you react when you believe that rap is ugly ? You grit you teeth when you hear it, and when yo have to listen (maybe you're a parent or a grandparent), you're in a torture chamber. I love that when mind is understood, there's room for rap as well as for Mozart. I don't hear anything as noise. To me, a car alarm is as beautiful as a bird singing. It's all the sound of God. By its very nature, the mind is infinite. Once it has questioned its beliefs, it can find beauty in all things; it's that open and free. This is not a philosophy. This is how the world really is.

If you believe that anyone's action is bad, how can you see the good in it ? How can you see the good that comes out of it, maybe years later ? If you see anyone as bad, how can you understand that we are all created equal ? We're all teachers by the way we live. A blind drunk can teach more about why not to drink than an abstinent man in all his piety. No one has more or less goodness. No one who ever lived is a better or worse human being than you.

A mind that doesn't question its judgments makes the world very small and dangerous. It must continue to fill the world with bad things and bad people, and in doing so it creates its own suffering. The worst thing that ever happened exists only in the past, which means that it doesn't exist at all. Right now, its only a stressful thought in your mind.

Good things, bad things; good people, bad people. These opposites are valid only by contrast. Could it be that whatever seems bad to you is just something you haven't seen clearly enough yet ? In reality — as it is in itself — every thing, every person, lies far beyond your capacity to judge.

Once you no longer believe your own thoughts, you act without doing anything, because there's no other possibility. You see that all thoughts of yourself as the doer are simply not true. I watch the hand that I call mine move toward the teacup. It has such intelligence, glides through the air so purposefully, arrives at the cup, fingers close around the handle, hand lifts cup, brings it to the lips, tilts it, tea flows into mouth, ahh. And all the time, no one is doing it. The doer is quite another, the one beyond the story of ” I am “.

Things seem to arise, and the Master lets them go because they're already gone. This apparent letting-go is not some saintly act of surrender. It's just that nothing every belonged to her in the first place. How could she not let go of what doesn't exist except as the story of a past or a future ?

She has only what she believes herself to have, so she has nothing, she needs nothing. She acts and waits for the miracle of what is, expecting nothing that would spoil the surprise. When her work is done, she forgets it, because there's nothing to remember. It's done. It's gone. She can't see what doesn't exist. Was her work good or bad ? How ridiculous ! Did it penetrate deeply or have no effect whatsoever ? AS if that were any of her business ! Will it last forever ? Did it last even for an instant ?

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

Once all under Heaven knew beauty as "beauty"; at that moment "ugliness" was already there.  Once all knew goodness as "goodness"; at that moment "not good" was already there.  Thus it is that presence and absence generate each other; difficulty and ease determine the sense of the other; long and short give proportion to the other; highs and lows are a matter of relative inclination; instrumental sounds and voice tones depend on one other for harmony; and before and after result from their relative places in a sequence.

The beautiful [mei] is what induces pleasure in the human heart/mind [xin], (1) and the ugly [e] is what brings aversion and disgust to it.  To praise [mei] or censure [e] something is just the same as being delighted or angry with it.  To regard something as good or not good is just the same as approving [shi] or disapproving [fei] of it.  Delight and anger have the same root, and approval and disapproval come from the same gate, thus they cannot be used with bias [pian].  These six [existence or absence, difficulty or ease, long or short, instrumental sounds or voice tones, highs or lows, and before or after] are all terms that express what is natural [ziran] and cannot be used with bias.

Therefore, the sage [sheng] tends to matters without conscious effort

That which by nature is already sufficient unto itself will only end in defeat if one applies conscious effort [wei] to it. (2)

And practices the teaching that is not expressed in words.  The myriad folk model their behavior on him, yet he does not tell them to do so. (3)  He gives them life, yet he possesses them not.  He acts, yet they do not depend on him. (4)

Because such intelligence is complete in itself, conscious effort would result in falsehood. (5)

And he achieves success yet takes no pride in it. (6)

Because he acts in accordance with things, success is achieved though them, and this is why he takes no pride in it.

It is just because he is not proprietary that he does not lose it.

If he supposed that success depended on himself, such success could not last long.

[Text, in Italics above, is Wang Bi's commentary]

The notes below, are from the translator, Richard John Lynn -

(1)  Premodern Chinese thought attributed both intellectual and emotional dimensions to xin; although the context often indicates which dimension is emphasized, I have chosen to use the composite term, "heart/mind" throughout instead of rendering xin sometimes as "heart" and sometimes as "mind".

(2)  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 20, first passage.

(3)  The base text (diben) reads buci, "Does not tell them [to do so]," but it is possible that the text should read fu[bu]shi, "does not start [them to do so]," as it occurs in the Mawangdui Laozi B text, or buwei shi, "does not serve as a starting point for them", which appears both in the Fu Yi composite edition and in a quotation from the Laozi in Wang's commentary to section 17, first passage.  See also Wagner, "The Wang Bi Recension of the Laozi", 50.  For other variants see Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 48; see also Mawangdui Hanmu boshu (Silk manuscripts from the Han tomb at Mawangdui), 114.  Buci, "does not tell [them to do so]," also occurs in the base text instead of bushi, "does not start [them to do so]," in section 34, second passage, in a line similar to the one here, but this line does not occur in the Mawangdui texts.  See Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, 123.

(4)  Cf. section 10, last passage; section 51, fifth passage; and section 77, second passage.

(5)  Hatano Taro cites a marginal note to this passage made by the Edo era kangakusha (scholar of classical Chinese studies) Momoi Hakuroku (1722-1801), in which Momoi draws attention to the similar structure that the wei (conscious effort) in the second sentence is redundant, probably a scribal error for yan (speech) and that the passage should read "speech would result in falsehood".  See Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 49, which is quoted, without attribution to Momoi, in Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi (Critical edition of the works of Wang Bi with explanatory notes), 1:7 n. 6.

(6)  Cf. section 77, second passage.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay on Verse 2 -

 

The concept of something or someone being beautiful is grounded in a belief system that promotes duality and judgment.  This way of thinking is prevalent and commonplace for just about everybody in our culture, perhaps even having some value in society.  I encourage you to explore the concept of paradoxical unity in this 2nd verse of the Tao Te Ching.  By changing your thoughts, you can change your life and truly live the bliss of oneness.

 

Has it ever occurred to you that beauty depends on something being identified as ugly ?  Therefore, the idea of beauty produces the idea of ugliness, and vice versa.  Just think of how many concepts in this "duality belief system" depend on opposites: A person isn't tall unless there's a belief system that includes short.  Our idea of life couldn't exist without that of death.  Day is the opposite of night.  Male is the antithesis of female.

 

What if you instead perceived all as a piece (or a glimpse) of the perfection of oneness ?  I think this is what Lao-tzu is suggesting with his description of the sage who "lives openly with apparent duality and paradoxical unity".  Imagine the perfect oneness coexisting in the apparent duality, where opposites are simply judgments made by human minds in the world of 10,000 things.  Surely the daffodil doesn't think that the daisy is prettier or uglier than it is, and the eagle and the mouse have no sense of the opposites we call life and death.  The trees, flowers, and animal know not of ugliness or beauty; they simply are . . . in harmony with the eternal Tao, devoid of judgment.

 

As the sage lives openly with apparent duality, he synthesizes the origin with the manifestation without forming an opinion about it.  Living without judgement and in perfect oneness is what Lao-tzu invites his readers to do.  He invites our wisdom to combine perceived opposites and live a unified life.  The perfection of the Tao is allowing apparent duality while seeing the unity that is reality.  Life and death are identical.  Virtue and sin are judgments, needing both to identify either.  These are the paradoxes of a unified life; this is living within the eternal Tao.  Once the dichotomies or pairs of opposites are transcended, or at least seen for what they are, they flow in and out of life like the tides.

 

Practice being a living, breathing paradox every moment of your life.  The body has physical boundaries - it begins and ends and has material substance.  Yet it also contains something that defies boundaries, has no substance, and is infinite and formless.  You are both the Tao and the 10,000 things simultaneously.  Let the contrasting and opposite ideas be within you at the same time.  Allow yourself to hold those opposite thoughts without them canceling each other out.  Believe strongly in your free will and ability to influence your surroundings, and simultaneously surrender to the energy with you.  Know that good and evil are two aspects of a union.  In other words, accept the duality of the material world while still remaining in constant contact with the oneness of the eternal Tao.  The debilitating necessity to be right and make others wrong will diminish.