Chapter 6

Original Text

谷神不死，是謂玄牝。
玄牝之門，是為天地根。
綿綿若存，用之不勤。

Translation

The valley-spirit does not die; this is called the Mysterious Female.
The gate of the Mysterious Female—this is the root of Heaven and Earth.
Fine and unbroken, as if abiding; use it, and it does not strain.

Word Notes

• 谷神 — “valley-spirit”: the true spirit of the empty valley.
• 玄 — “mysterious”: true emptiness; deep and beyond measurement.
• 牝 — “Female”: wondrous presence; the generative yin virtue.
• 綿綿 — “fine and unbroken”: subtle and unceasing.

Chapter Explanation

The true spirit within the void does not die; this is called the “Mysterious Female,” namely true emptiness and wondrous presence as one.

The “gate of the Mysterious Female” is the portal of this emptiness-and-presence and is the root of Heaven and Earth. If a person would return to the source, one must preserve a fine, continuous sense of “as-if present”: present yet not clung to. Its working is unbusy—used as if not used, its efficacy is without strain.

Discourse

This chapter sets forth the method of keeping the center and the power that proceeds from it. The round of the character 中 (“center”) is the shape of a hollow valley; its upper half represents Heaven and its lower half Earth—whenever “Heaven and Earth” are paired, this is the relative, opposed heaven. The vertical stroke through the middle is the true spirit. Everyone has this spirit; it is what the Doctrine of the Mean calls the true nature endowed by Heaven. Here “Heaven” means the unique Heaven that includes all worlds—the very Heaven Confucius revered. Otherwise, since Dao gives birth to Heaven and Earth and the Buddha is “teacher of Heaven,” for Confucius to revere something beneath them would be an inversion.

Yet in the post-celestial condition, nature flows into feeling, and feeling into desire; then this spirit slants downward and circles within the ring—what Buddhism calls rebirth. One must first lessen desire to accord with feeling, then gather feeling back into nature. The central stroke then comes alive and naturally threads through Heaven and Earth—this is what Confucius called “one that runs through.” It opens into the void, unperishing through the ages, and even so continues to pass through Heaven and Earth, becoming their governor.

Why so? On the left of 中 is 玄 (“mysterious”); when set in motion it is yang, the beginning of Heaven and Earth. On the right is 牝 (“Female”); when set in motion it is yin, the mother of beings. The two sides are like a pair of doors; the vertical stroke is the hinge. When the hinge turns, mysterious and female arise; from mysterious and female, Heaven and Earth are born. But once divided as Heaven and Earth, the gate closes. The human being—who bears the whole of Dao—is the same. One must open this gate so yin and yang may come and go; when they meet, they unite as one body; then the central stroke again fills Heaven and Earth—and rises beyond them.

The work of opening this gate is “non-acting that yet acts” and “acting that yet is non-acting.” In stillness, let function appear with a single responsive turn—without disturbing the stillness (non-acting that acts). After acting, return to center, not burdening yourself with “my merit” (acting that is non-acting). This is precisely Mencius’s “do not forget, do not assist.” Later alchemical writers fixated on concrete forms and pointed to some bodily “pass,” but Laozi’s words are not merely about one anatomical spot. His meaning is broader: to open the gate of Heaven and Earth by restoring the center of the human heart—able to be empty and receptive, still and responsive—so that “the valley-spirit does not die,” the “fine thread seems to abide,” and “when used, it does not strain.”