Chapter of the Week: #06

Carl

[cite] Lynn Cornish:[/cite]If only we could...

Ah, but just imagine how dull and boring that would be. Kind of like being stuck in heaven I expect. Looking around at Nature, I've concluded that life is supposed to be 'a work in progress'. I think a lot of our problem arises from having a 'better' idea of how Nature 'should' work. Anyway, I know you're just kidding, right?

Hmm... I use too many quote marks :roll: .

Carl

Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.

Chapter 6
The spirit of the valley never dies.
This is called the mysterious female.
The gateway of the mysterious female
Is called the root of heaven and earth.
Dimly visible, it seems as if it were there,
Yet use will never drain it.

Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations

Carl

[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read, :? the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.]

Of all the chapters of the Tao Te Ching, this one points closest to reality for me – especially the more terse and literal wording (see below). Reality? Of course, true reality for each of us is nothing more than what we believe it is, subjectively speaking. That makes the Taoist experience especially odd, eh? Simply put, it is impossible to believe in something which can not [chref=1]be spoken of, or named[/chref]. 'It' can't be pinned down long enough to pidgeon hole and package into a belief.

Come to think of it, chapter 40 sure catches the spirit wonderfully as well:

[chref=40] Turning back is how the way moves;
Weakness is the means the way employs.

The myriad creatures in the world are born from
Something, and Something from Nothing[/chref].

Our instincts are so biased toward strength, 'more is better', and something visible. Even peeking into the gateway of the mysterious female goes against our grain. Yet we manage to do so in those [chref=25]silent[/chref] moments when we [chref=16]return to stillness[/chref]. Reality lurks behind whatever we [chref=71]think that we know[/chref], like a ghostly [chref=14]image that is without substance[/chref].

I love how both Chapters use few [chref=43]words[/chref] to convey something so profound. How else could it be? After all, more words invariably obfuscate. Now to translate this chapter as literally as I can:

valley spirit not die, this means black (profound*) female.
black female of door, this means heaven earth root (cause*).
continuous as if exist, use of not diligent.

Now to straighten out the grammar, if I can, and still remain faithful as possible to the literal Chinese...

The essence of Nothing is immutable - this: black, profound, female.
This: black, profound, female - meaning the root cause of existence.
This root cause, continuous as if it exists, the use of which is effortlessness.

* Many Chinese words have multiple parallel meanings, shown here in brackets (...).