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 neverdoes dies—not die; this is called the Mysterious Female.Female.
The gate of the Mysterious FemaleFemale—this is called the root of Heaven and Earth.Earth.
AFine fine,and unbrokenunbroken, thread—as if barely there;abiding; use it, and it does not strain.
Word Notes
- 谷神 — “valley-spirit”:
“Valley-spirit”—emptinessthethattruereceivesspiritandofgivesthelife.empty valley. 玄牝玄 — “mysterious”:“MysterioustrueFemale”—theemptiness;dark, fertile source; union of profundity (玄)deep andgenerativebeyondfemaleness (牝).measurement.玄牝之門牝 — “Female”:Thewondrous“gate”presence;wheretheemergencegenerativebegins.yin virtue.綿綿若存綿綿 — “fine and unbroken”:Continuously,subtlesubtlyandpresent.不勤: Unlabored; it works without forcing.unceasing.
Chapter Explanation
Dao’sThe life-givingtrue capacityspirit within the void does not die; this is figuredcalled the “Mysterious Female,” namely true emptiness and wondrous presence as aone.
The open,“gate receptive—and asof the Mysterious Female, the ever-fecund source. Its “gate”Female” is the pointportal of arisingthis foremptiness-and-presence things. The experienceand is delicate—almostthe nothing,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 reliablynot there—clung to. Its working is unbusy—used as if not used, its efficacy is without effort or strain.
Discourse
InThis practice:chapter keepsets 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 aHeaven 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, quiet,nature receptiveflows mind-groundinto feeling, and feeling into desire; then this spirit slants downward and circles within the ring—what Buddhism calls rebirth. Don’tOne clutchmust atfirst experienceslessen ordesire forceto outcomes.accord Letwith attentionfeeling, bethen continuousgather feeling back into nature. The central stroke then comes alive and light;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 thatmysterious “valley,”and responsesfemale, 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 themselves. Beware reifyingopening this gate is “gate”non-acting asthat ayet bodilyacts” spotand or“acting technique—Laozi’sthat imageyet pointsis tonon-acting.” stance,In notstillness, tolet function appear with a single organresponsive orturn—without knobdisturbing the stillness (non-acting that acts). After acting, return to twist.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.”