Tao te Ching - Two

[Tai-Da]

Tao Te Ching – Two

All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful.
Herein lies ugliness.
All recognize the good as good.
Herein lies evil.

Therefore
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficulty and ease bring about each other.
Long and short delimit each other.
High and low rest on each other.
Sound and voice harmonize each other.
Front and back follow each other.

Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei(unattached action).
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.

Therefore the sage produces without possessing,
Acts without expectations
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments.

It is precisely because she does not abide in them
That they never leave her.

All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful.
Herein lies ugliness.
All recognize the good as good.
Herein lies evil.

The people who see the world as beautiful and ugly are the ones who make the world ugly. The force has created everything, so to see it as good and bad or beautiful and ugly is to insult the creation. Everything to a Jedi is beautiful as it has been created by the force.

Therefore
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficulty and ease bring about each other.

As a consequence of that beautiful and ugly create each other. Things cannot exist without its opposite. Beautiful and ugly are contrasts of each other, like light and dark or up and down. They create each other.

Long and short delimit each other.
High and low rest on each other.

Things can only be big if something else is smaller than it, and things can only be small if something is bigger than it but it depends on what you compare it to that will make it bigger or smaller. Big and small rest on each other, and long is long because there is something shorter than it and short is short because there is something longer than it.

Sound and voice harmonize each other.
Front and back follow each other.

One thing cannot exist without its opposite life cannot exist without death. Light cannot exist without dark. By realising that two contrasts need each other to exist we should not judge them for they are both needed equally.


Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei(unattached action).
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.

Things are all made different but not separate. Sculpting is not the same as boxing but it helps boxing with hand co-ordination therefore they are not separate. Sculpting only makes you gain more. A Jedi should see this in all things.

Therefore the sage produces without possessing,
Acts without expectations
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments

A Jedi does without expecting anything, therefore will accomplish much more without staying in her other accomplishments. If you do not expect anything then when you get something it will seem much better because you did not expect it. Expect nothing and accomplish more. And accomplish more doesn’t mean you have to lose anything you have previously gained.

It is precisely because she does not abide in them
That they never leave her

A Jedi will use all things to improve another thing for example using sculpting to help hand co-ordination for boxing. A Jedi will use all useful things to help another and not leave it behind. That is why accomplishment will never leave a Jedi if they hold onto them and use them with other things.

By Tai-Da Vrikaurvan

Written – 06/12/09