Lao-Zi Chapter 2

天下皆知美之為美，斯惡已。皆知善之為善，斯不善已。
有無相生，難易相成，長短相形，高下相盈，音聲相和，前後相隨。恆也。

The above few sentences of this chapter can be summarised into: If the concept of beauty exists, one for ugliness must exist; if the concept of goodness exist, one for evilness must exist. Beauty and ugliness; difficulty and easiness; long and short; high and low; melody and chord; front and back all coexist at the same time.

How can one extend this concept of yin and yang in kendo? For example, when you think a strategy is the winning one, there would be a another strategy that counters it. If you move away from the chudan-no-kamae and intend to attack or defend, you are bound to expose some weakness(es). Or put simply, if you make a move, there is a move that can defeat you.


是以聖人處無為之事，行不言之教。
"Therefore, the wise acts without action, and teaches without spoken words."

The wise people win by making little physical actions, thereby not exposing their weaknesses. The opponent will become impatient and expose his own mistakes.

The things one learns from the wise people are done without spoken words. This is coherent with that said in Chapter 1: if Tao can be explained, it is not Tao. One learns from the wise by observation and self-motivation.

The phrase "無為“, meaning "without action", is in fact one of the most important concept in Taosim. "No action" is the best action one can take in many circumstances. 


萬物作而拂始，生而拂有，為而拂恃，功成而不居。夫唯弗居，是以不去。

He evokes everything  without claiming the credit for it.
Because he does not claim the credit, he deserves even more respect.


This concept is mentioned several times in this book. The best teacher is one that makes the student feel that he learns everything by himself, despite that the teacher quietly overlooks the whole process making sure that the student progress in the right direction. (Note: In the time of civil war, Taoism was one of the philosophies used to govern a country.  It says that the best governor is one who makes his people think that he had done nothing, but the people anyhow live in stable and comfortable lives, despite that he had actually done many things quietly.)