Difficult and Easy Support Each Other

 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 creates each other.

Difficult and easy support each other.

Long and short define each other.

Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master

acts without doing 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.

[Source: Tao Te Ching, A New English Version, Forward and Notes by Stephen Mitchell, published by Modern Classics, New York.]