Verse 2 • When the world glorifies beauty...

When the world glorifies beauty,
Ugliness arrives.
When virtue is singled out,
Then non-virtue thrives.
As fullness and emptiness co-create.
So hard and easy correlate.
As long and short contrast,
So high and low are classed.
As pitch and voice compare,
Front and back are there.

The sage expresses through his being
A wordless doctrine everywhere agreeing.
As everything unfolds, he does not turn away,
He produces it, but does not make it stay.
He masters it by going on his way.
Accomplishing, he does not lay a claim,
Relinquishing, he gains it all the same.