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Translation and Commentary by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 6 The spiritual valley can never be extinguished. It's correctly referred to as the mysteriously receptive. The entrance to mysterious receptivity is correctly referred to as the origin of the whole universe. It's continuous and unbroken! Its usefulness seems to persevere without effort. Commentary: 6 ~ An open spirit. -The spiritual valley can never be extinguished. -It's correctly referred to as the mysteriously receptive. The first two Chinese characters in Chapter six are gu (valley) shen (spirit), which is literally translated as "the Valley Spirit". Most translators and commentators incorporate the idea of the second line in this chapter to define the Valley Spirit as a Mysterious Female. Some people even suggest that there are sexual or gender specific ideas put forth in these lines. Thus, they are usually read as: "The valley spirit doesn't die We call [it] the dark womb" -Red Pine (TaoTeChing) "The valley spirit never dies; We call it the mysterious female." -R. Henricks (Te-Tao Ching) If gushen is translated as "the spiritual valley", this chapter comes more into focus. The spiritual valley is a place within each person that seeks a connection with something beyond the material world. Most people at some time in their lives look for a spiritual understanding of their existence - something beyond their assessment of themselves by their position in life or their possessions. Laozi suggests that this spiritual valley may be more easily accessed by being receptive to all the mysteries of life. People have a tendency to try to fill up any emptiness they come upon in themselves. If they feel spiritually empty, they go looking for some belief system or religion to satisfy their doubts and fill up their sense of emptiness. What if the spiritual valley is meant to be empty? Not empty in the sense that nothing can penetrate it, but in a sense of being receptively open? Then the mysteries of life wouldn't be seen as things that needed to be sorted out and understood, but appreciated with a sense of wonder at not knowing. -The entrance to mysterious receptivity is correctly referred to as the origin of the whole universe. By being open (receptive), the universe was able to create all things. People, by being open, also have the ability to create a wonderful and satisfying life for themselves. -It's continuous and unbroken! -Its usefulness seems to persevere without effort. Laozi then says that receptivity can be continuous and unbroken, like a length of strong silk cloth. The cloth doesn't have to do anything other than remaining true to its own nature in order to be useful. There's no effort involved. This shows the dichotomy between being receptive while at the same time being strong. The cloth is strong, thus is useful. The cloth is malleable, thus exerts no additional effort. If the spiritual valley is both strong and receptive, all the mysteries of life become a playground rather than a battlefield. Dao Is Open Site Map \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| From the DIO Forum \| BY: Bao Pu \| By: Joshua \| Who was Laozi \| \| Return Home \| Laozi's Dao De Jing \| Your Dao De Jing \| Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) \| Links \| Meditation \| Dao (Tao) is Open Forum \| Book List \| Other Stuff \|