The opening section of Chapter 2 of the Tao Te Ching focuses on the unified duality of all things. Traditionally, this unified duality is called Taiji, which means "supreme ultimate principle." Taiji consists of yin and yang, which are the generic names given to the opposing (but ultimately complementary) polarities in all phenomena.
Yin and Yang
By contrasting things against their opposites, Lao-Tzu shows that opposite polarities define each other and give each other meaning:
We can only see beauty as beauty because there is ugliness.
We can only see good as good because there is evil.
This is why having and not having arise together.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short give each other contrast.
High and low require each other.
Voice and music harmonize with each other.
Front and back follow one another.
These lines are easily understood and require little comment. Everyone has experienced complementary opposition in their own lives. For example, "hot" means nothing unless it can be compared to "cold."
At a deeper level, the reality of complementary opposition suggests the method by which we are able to define anything as a "thing" at all - namely, by contrasting it against something else.
Wu-Wei
Changing gears a bit in the closing lines of the chapter, Lao-Tzu suggests that the essential "unified duality" of things leads to a way of life which will be advised repeatedly throughout the Tao Te Ching:
For that reason, the wise person does without doing, and teaches without talking.
Creating, but not by his own will.
Working, but not taking credit for it.
Work is done and then forgotten.
That is why it lasts forever.
Here, Lao-Tzu is introducing the important Taoist concept of wu-wei, or "actionless action." Because wu-wei is a fundamentally Chinese concept, any attempts to render its meaning in English will be somewhat incomplete, but its intended meaning may be closest to "effortless action without forcing."
This is what is meant by "the wise person does without doing." Rather than consciously forcing his or her actions in a manner characterized by great effort, the Taoist learns to "go with the flow" and act when the time is right, letting the natural way of things (Tao) do the heavy lifting.
In suggesting that a Taoist should "teach without talking," Lao-Tzu is not directing people to keep their mouths shut at all times, or to avoid trying to explain Taoist principles with language. If that were the case, neither the Tao Te Ching nor this series of articles would exist.
Rather, "teaching without talking" means leading by example, practicing what we preach, and using as few words as possible to clarify matters that only language can address. Taoism is a philosophy of few words. Action (in the wu-wei sense) and experience are valued above lengthy discourse. A Taoist's life is to be his teaching.
Taoism and "The Zone"
In closing the chapter, Lao-Tzu suggests that work is to be done without taking credit for it. This is in accord with the principle of wu-wei, for when wu-wei is practiced, it is not the individual accomplishing the work through his or her own forceful effort, but the Tao itself doing the work through its own natural energy.
In this view, the individual is simply a channel for Tao, allowing work to be done and things to be created simply by virtue of his or her openness and receptivity, refusing to allow effort or force to interfere and cloud the process. Knowing this, such an individual would naturally decline to take credit for what is accomplished.
When work is done and then forgotten, it "lasts forever" in the sense that such work is generally of a much higher quality than work accomplished solely through conventional human effort and force. There are many tales of master craftsmen in all fields of human endeavor who seem to be able to enter "the zone" and create brilliant works.
Almost universally, such masters will say that their craft or their art is not a result of their own effort, but something that simply "flows through them." While few such people actively identify themselves as Taoists, their approach seems consistent with the principles Lao-Tzu introduces in Chapter 2 of the Tao Te Ching.
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