Tao Te Ching Chapter Two | Embracing Opposites and Harmony

Chapter Two is among the Tao Te Ching's most compressed teachings — the interdependence of opposites is not a problem to resolve but the very ground of harmony, and the sage's wu wei (effortless, non-grasping action) flows directly from that recognition.

The sun rises out of darkness, and thus is beautiful
Mountains rise out of valleys, and thus are high
Without the lows of the ocean, rivers would stagnate
Without winter, no spring
Without yin no yang
Without opposites, no harmony.
And so the Master, cultivating the practice of harmony
Accepts good and evil as necessary to each other.
- Heron Dance translation of Chapter Two.

Red Pine’s (Bill Porter) translation of the second chapter is just below. His insights into Taoism and Zen Buddhism are particularly respected by many, including me. He can speak Chinese and has written a book on Tao mountain hermits that has sold millions of copies in China (Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits). There are excellent videos on YouTube of his interviews of Tao hermits in China, including here.

All the world knows beauty but if that becomes beautiful this becomes ugly
all the world knows good but if that becomes good this becomes bad
the coexistence of have and have not the coproduction of hard and easy the
correlation of long and short

the codependence of high and low the correspondence of note and noise the
coordination of first and last is endless
thus the sage performs effortless deeds and teaches wordless lessons
he doesn't start all things he begins he doesn't presume on what he does he doesn't
claim what he achieves
and because he makes no claim he suffers no loss.