All that is under heaven considers beauty to be beautiful, ugly arises

養身 · Yǎng Shēn

Classical Chinese Text

天下皆知美之为美，恶已①；皆知善，斯不善矣。有无之相生也，难易之相成也，长短之相刑也，高下之相盈也，音声之相和也，先后之相随，恒也。
是以圣人居无为之事②，行不言之教，万物作而弗始也，为而弗志也，成功而弗居也。 夫唯弗居，是以弗去。

Translation & Meaning

All that is under heaven considers beauty to be beautiful, ugly arises. All consider goodness to be good, bad arises. Existence and nonexistence give birth to each other; difficulty and ease complete each other; longness and shortness measure each other; highness and lowness fulfill each other; music and sound accord each other; (these are the) unchanged.

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
  • 下 (xià): under / earthly realm / humble
  • 皆 (jiē): all / universally
  • 知 (zhī): know / distinguish / recognize
  • 美 (měi): beauty / aesthetic ideal
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
  • 恶 (è): ugly / aversion / evil
  • 已 (yǐ): arises / already / cessation
  • 善 (shàn): goodness / skillful / kind
  • 斯 (sī): then / thereupon
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 矣 (yǐ): [modal particle of realization]
  • 有 (yǒu): manifest being / cosmos / to possess
  • 无 (wú): formless void / non-being / without
  • 相 (xiāng): mutually / each other
  • 生 (shēng): give birth to / arise
  • 也 (yě): [modal particle of assertion]
  • 难 (nán): difficult / arduous
  • 易 (yì): easy / simple / change
  • 成 (chéng): complete / fulfill
  • 长 (cháng): long / enduring / grow
  • 短 (duǎn): short / brief
  • 刑 (xíng): measure / shape / format
  • 高 (gāo): high / exalted
  • 盈 (yíng): fulfill / overflow
  • 音 (yīn): music / tone
  • 声 (shēng): sound / voice
  • 和 (hé): accord / harmonize
  • 先 (xiān): before / front
  • 后 (hòu): after / behind
  • 随 (suí): follow / accompany
  • 恒 (héng): eternal / dynamic constant
  • 是 (shì): this / therefore
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 圣 (shèng): sage / enlightened one
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 居 (jū): reside in / carry oneself
  • 事 (shì): affairs / deeds
  • 行 (xíng): practice / teach / walk
  • 言 (yán): words / speech
  • 教 (jiào): teaching / guidance
  • 万 (wàn): ten thousand / myriad / all
  • 物 (wù): things / phenomena / forms
  • 作 (zuò): move / arise / operate
  • 而 (ér): yet / and / but
  • 弗 (fú): not / does not
  • 始 (shǐ): dawn / primordial origin
  • 志 (zhì): will / intent / claim
  • 功 (gōng): achievement / merit
  • 夫 (fū): for / indeed / now
  • 唯 (wéi): only / precisely because
  • 去 (qù): depart / lose / abandon