The valley’s spirit never dies; this is called the profound female.
Of the profound female entrance; this is called the origin of the universe.
Continuous, like it exists; in usefulness, not diligent.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Word for Word
Limits: Translations, even the nearly literal one above, lose some of the original meaning due to the cultural context of contemporary words. Studying the numerous synonym-like meanings of the Chinese characters in the Word-for-Word translation mitigates this. (Click graphic at right for on-line Word-for-Word.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Chinese character translation and commentary archive
Corrections?
None this time
Reflections:
The valley’s spirit never dies; this is called the profound female.
It is useful to consider what female refers to here. We usually think this refers to the gender of a person; female ≈ girl, woman, lady, wife. It appears the Chinese went out of their way to dissuade us from that meaning. The character for this ‘female’ is 牝. Here are some common uses for it. Note how far away from a person it points: 小牝牛 (xiǎo pìn niú) = heifer; 字牝 (zì pìn) = a mare; 虚牝 (xū pìn) = empty valley; 玄牝 (xuán pìn) = the Mysterious Mother of things in universe. The last one here is the one used in this chapter.
This suggests that that the female principle is not related to a woman any more than a man. This shows us how limited words truly are when communicating anything beyond life’s daily grind. Even so, using the word female rather than male certainly comes closer to what this chapter is addressing. Correlations is a useful tool to reconsider the relationships between words, and downplay their hold on the mind. Once you feel the objective universe all boils down to ‘active’ and ‘passive’, any particular name or word loses much of its ‘small picture’ meaning. All you need in life is for words to convey enough word meaning for the daily task of practical living. After that, seek refuge in profound sameness.
By-ways and thought-ways of the Mind
It always helps to remember the disclaimer of chapter 1. In this case, to paraphrase:
The female possible to think,
. . . runs counter to the constant female.
The female possible to express,
. . . runs counter to the constant female.
Naturally, the same applies to any word or name… The name [male, entrance, origin, universe] possible to express, runs counter to the constant,… Words and names have a down-to-earth use, so the idea here is to use them as “grass dogs”, so to speak. To paraphrase chapter 5:
The universe is not benevolent,
. . . and all things serve as grass dogs (‘sacrificial lambs’).
The wise person is not benevolent,
. . . and the people’s [words and names] serve as grass dogs.
Once a word becomes part of your story emotions turn the word into the reality constant that’s not there. It is wiser to value words for their utilitarian use, yet to know when to stop. These lines from chapter 32 suggest this. I’ll omit lines 2-6 to focus the point (click to see the full chapter):
I imagine chapter 71’s blunt view, Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease, hints at the most effective way to handle the realization to stop. The emotional certainty we have in thinking we know what we know is our most serious disease! Yet, I find society touts the value of such certainty… of course, only when one is ‘right’. Ha! Such is the mind’s hypocrisy as chapter 18 points out in the second line: When intelligence increases, there exists great falseness, or as D.C. Lau translates it, When cleverness emerges, There is great hypocrisy.
‘It’ is not truly ‘here’; ‘that’ is not truly ‘there’
Continuous, like it exists; in usefulness, not diligent
Take special note of like it exists. Chapter 4 expands on this view. I always liked the way D.C. Lau translated it… Darkly visible, it only seems as if it were there. The literal comes off a little less poetic, Deep and clear, it appears to exist. The point is, seems, appears, and like are all tentative descriptions of a phenomenon that certainly feels real to the our senses — no seems, appears or like about it.
The certainty we feel in the accuracy of our senses is completely natural. It is vital for any life form to use its sensory input seriously as though it is a true picture of reality. The thinking side of this is what turns the ‘picture’ problematic. I find it profoundly helpful to know that what I ‘think’ I see is nowhere near the true picture. Instead, it is a bio-hoodwink. See How the Hoodwink Hooks and Peeking in on Nature’s Hoodwink. The more I viscerally know this is happening ‘under the hood’, the easier it becomes to constantly realize I don’t’ know. I won’t claim this cures the disease, but it sure helps ameliorate it.
Continuous, like it exists; in usefulness, not diligent
The last half of this line, in usefulness, not diligent, gives us more hints. Feeling certain supports our diligent approach to doing what we feel useful for us. Certainty and a personal agenda go hand in hand. Now, diligence is normally considered a useful approach to the task at hand… and it is. The point is, our diligence is always driven by an agenda, either for personal needs or for the needs of the group. That is human — and that is the bio-hoodwink again. However, this chapter refers to Of the profound female entrance; this is called the origin of the universe; it isn’t referring to mere mortals.
I suppose I’m saying that we can’t help but be diligent in our life’s work. However, knowing that the origin of the universe is more relaxed about its task helps me lower my expectations and stress… Why should I be more diligent than the profound female? That actually makes me more effective — to paraphrase chapter 1, The diligence that can be expressed is not the constant diligence… And this brings me back to Man handles the realization to stop. Knowing to stop [he] can be without danger.
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