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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 have and have not create each other hard and easy produce each other long and short shape each other high and low complete each other note and noise accompany each other first and last follow each other sages therefore perform effortless deeds and teach wordless lessons they don’t look after all the things that arise or depend on them as they develop or claim them when they reach perfection and because they don’t claim them they are never without them

LU HSI-SHENG says, “What we call beautiful or ugly depends on our feelings. Nothing is necessarily beautiful or ugly until feelings make it so. But while feelings differ, they all come from our nature, and we all have the same nature. Hence, sages transform their feelings and return to their nature and thus become one again.”

WU CH’ENG says, “The existence of things, the difficulty of affairs, the size of forms, the magnitude of power, the pitch and clarity of sound, the sequence of position, all involve contrasting pairs. When one is present, both are present. When one is absent, both are absent.”

LU HUI-CH’ING says, “These six pairs all depend on time and occasion. None of them is eternal. Sages, however, act according to the Immortal Tao. Hence, they act without effort. And because they teach according to the Immortal Name, they teach without words. Beautiful and ugly, good and bad don’t enter their minds.”

WANG WU-CHIU says, “Sages are not interested in deeds or words. They simply follow the natural pattern of things. Things rise, develop, and reach perfection. This is their order.”

WANG AN-SHIH says, “Sages create but do not possess what they create. They act but do not depend on what they do. They succeed but do not claim success. These all result from selflessness. Because sages are selfless, they do not lose themselves. Because they do not lose themselves, they do not lose others.”

SU CH’E says, “Losing something is the result of possessing something. How can people lose what they don’t possess?”

LI HSI-CHAI says, “Lao-tzu’s 5,000-word text clarifies what is mysterious as well as what is obvious. It can be used to attain the Tao, to order a country, or to cultivate the body.”

HO-SHANG KUNG titles this verse: “Cultivating the Body.”

SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Those who practice the Way put an end to distinctions, get rid of name and form, and make of themselves a home for the Way and Virtue.”

I have used the wording of the Mawangtui and Kuotien texts for lines seven through twelve but have omitted the Mawangtui insertion of heng (is endless) after line twelve. In line fifteen, I have followed the Kuotien wording: ssu (look after) in place of the usual shih (begin). Between lines fifteen and sixteen, neither the Mawangtui nor Kuotien copies include the line sheng-er-pu-yu, “or possess what they beget,” which appears in the Wangpi and Fuyi editions and which was apparently interpolated from a similar sequence that appears in verse 51. The last two lines also appear in verse 77.