Translation

The spirit of the valley never dies; this is the profound female.
The entrance of the profound female; this is the origin of the universe.
Continuous, like it exists; in usefulness, not diligent.

valley (gorge; cereal; grain) god (supernatural; spirit) not to the death (extremely; implacable) is (be_this; that) say (meaning) black (dark; profound) female (of some birds and animals).

black (dark; profound) female (of some birds and animals) of entrance (door) is (be_this; that) say (meaning) heaven and earth (world; universe) root (foot; base; cause; origin).

continuous (unbroken) like (seem; as if) exist (live; store), use (employ; apply; expenses; need <formal> hence) of not diligent (industrious).

Original

谷神不死 是谓玄牝。
玄牝之门 是谓天地根。
绵绵若存，用之不勤。

Commentary, December 2008

‘The entrance of the profound female‘ brings to my mind a sense of what preceded the big bang. What was before something? Nothing. Not just nothing, but a mysterious nothing. The ‘cool’ thing about this (’cool’ correlates with mystery) is that ‘it’ is still here. I can’t imagine consciousness not sensing this most fundamental reality, yet I can’t imagine biology evolving a creature’s ability to be aware of this mystery, at least consciously.

What I see in religion – all religion – is a symptom of our underlying consciousness of the profound female, yet also a more mundane and socially relevant (i.e. tribal) expression of the mystery we sense.The mix of these, the universal and the parochial, creates the hypocrisy that frustrates any outsider. A so called ‘taoist’ point of view, as expressed in the Tao Te Ching, is one valiant attempt to snuggle up to that mystery, leaving hypocrisy behind. Naturally, whether it succeeds or not is up to the eye of the beholder.

It is in that spirit, the attempt to get closer to the root of reality, that its terse and obscure turn of phrase finds the greatest value. Mull it over. Let the mind sit on it, and like an egg something should hatch eventually.