10 minute read
commentary on chapter 6
Commentary on Chapter Six
The Valley Spirit never dies. It is called the Primordial, mysterious Feminine. The gate of this primordial, mysterious Feminine is the foundation from which Heaven and Earth sprang. Continuous being, uninterrupted, immortal. The Mother’s subtle existence is creative without effort, Draw upon her as you will, this ever flowing essence.
By C.L. Babcook
The sixth chapter of the Dao De Jing, I believe, is a statement of Daoist cosmogony in mythic imagery. To understand this cosmogony we must reflect upon the notion of the Valley Spirit. Upon our initial reading of the first line, “The Valley Spirit never dies,” we might think that the Valley Spirit is some kind of primordial spirit that resides in a valley some place in China or someplace else upon the earth. We know that throughout the ancient world different areas were believed to be inhabited with various kinds of spirits or energy vibrations. Sacred places, for example Stonehenge in England, Charles Cathedral in France, Tai Mountain in China, etc., had qualitative different energies or spiritual presences from such places as the Tower of London, Nazi concentration camps, or certain deserts in the world which were felt to have negative spirits or vibrations.
According to Daoist tradition the earth had “dragon veins” which were energetic lines that crossed the planet. Dragon veins plus an area’s energetic history leave their vibrations on a place. Because of this some areas were felt to be more alive than other places. Some places felt positive and uplifted a person’s spirits; other places were felt to be negative and foreboding, perhaps even dangerous. With this idea in mind one could speak of the spirit or spirits of a specific valley or any other area.
I suggest this is not what is meant by the opening line of chapter six; the Valley Spirit here reference is not simply a spirit of an earthly valley. That the Valley Spirit is not the spirit of any earthly place is made clear in the second line of chapter six:
The primordial, mysterious Feminine is certainly no local female spirit in some valley. She is far more encompassing. To better understand this female it is helpful to reflect upon the various meanings of “xuan” which has been translated as “mysterious.” Other and equally important meanings of xuan include: Secret, profound, hidden, dark, deep, and obscure. Thus the Valley Spirit, the primordial, mysterious feminine is characterized as a profound spirit whose being is hidden, dark, deep, obscure and not known to many (secretive).
This female is also characterized as “yuan” meaning: Origin, first cause, beginning. Thus we get the image of a “Feminine beginning” or perhaps Mother. As such, the primordial, mysterious Feminine can be seen as a kind of Cosmic Mother or Creative Goddess. The Cosmic Mother as a goddess designation for the Valley Spirit is brought out and is more obvious in lines three and four of Chapter Six:
The image suggests a Cosmic Mother Goddess or Feminine Creative Abode from which “Heaven and Earth sprang.” In Daoist thought Heaven designates the yang qualities of creation and Earth designated the yin qualities of created forms. From varying degrees of yang (Heavenly) and yin (Earthly) forces comes the universe and all it contains. From our discussion it is apparent that the Valley Spirit is not spirit of any particular earthly valley but instead is a cosmic creative force. And the abode of the cosmic creative force has the “gate” from which the fundamental forces of a creation, yang and yin, emerge.
The notion of the Valley Spirit, the primordial mysterious Feminine, as the source of created forms compliments the Daoist concept of creation. In Chapter Forty-Two or the Dao De Jing we read: “Dao generates the One. (From Dao comes Wuji.)
The One generates the Two. (From Wuji comes Yang and Yin.) The Two generates the Three. (From Yang and Yin come Taiji.) The Three generates all things. (From Taiji comes all creation.)
Because Heaven (yang forces) and Earth (yin forces) are generated from the “One” it becomes clear that the One is a reference to the creative cosmic source which is reference in Chapter Six as the primordial, mysterious Feminine, the Valley Spirit. We note that the primordial, mysterious Feminine is not the creator of all creation, but is the gate from which the forces of all creation (yang and yin forces) come into being. The word “gate” in Chinese is “men” and can also mean “an opening,” “a passage,” and “a mouth.” In other words, the primordial, mysterious Feminine is the passageway from which the energy (qi) of creation, yang and yin force emerge. When yang and yin forces move, a relationship of interaction or interbeing develops and “The Two generates the Three.” The Two, when interactive, becomes Taiji, the invisible energies permeating all creation.
What then is the primordial, mysterious Feminine from which yang and yin forces emerge to form all creation? Typically yin and yang are viewed as forces derived from Wuji, a state prior to creation. “Wu” can be translated as “emptiness, non-existence, nothing,” and “ji” can mean “foundation base, beginning, a starting point.” The image we have of wuji, the state prior to being, a state before the emergence of yang and yin forces, is one of emptiness — but it is an emptiness filled with vitality. Once could liken this state of being as a state of energetic potential or chaos. We call it chaos because there is no form, no distinction, no thing; only vitality resides in this state of being. Through the gate of potential emerges the fundamental forces of creation, yang and yin forces. Thus the Valley Spirit, the primordial, mysterious Feminine, is a state of being where potential moves though a “gate,” a transformative state that pushes universal energy from a potential state to a duality, from emptiness to being. The primordial, mysterious Feminine is thus a cosmogonic state. We Note that Dao is both inside and outside all creation; it is the background as well as the foreground. Like the Western concept of God, no description can capture the essence of Dao.
In the first chapter of the Dao De Jing we read:
“The Dao that can be described is not the eternal Dao.”
The Valley Spirit, the primordial, mysterious Feminine (wuji) which has Dao as its origin is an aspect of Dao, “never dies” because it is a constant state of potential from which the creative forces of yang and yin emerge to establish all creation. We must remember that thought, consciousness, emotions are all also considered part of the forms of creation.
The above analysis refers to the exoteric aspect of creation according to Daoist thought. There is a more subtle reference which the Valley Spirit, the primordial mysterious Feminine also entails.
We know that many traditions in the ancient world, including Daoists, conceived of the universe as both a macrocosm and a microcosm. The macrocosm included the Heavenly realm with its planet, stars, sun, moon, etc., and the Earthyl realm with its mountains, rivers, trees, etc. The microcosm was a miniature form of the macrocosm and was believed to reside within the human body. This notion of a human being containing the entire universe is also found in Western traditions. In Western religious though the human body is an image of God.
With the concept of a microcosm in mind we naturally ask, “What is the primordial, mysterious Feminine, the Valley Spirit, in relation to the human body?” When we think of a valley we think of an empty space, the invisible space between mountains. Perhaps the Spirit Valley is an invisible something in us. The word for “valley” in Chinese is “gu” meaning “vacuous, chasm and hollow.” The word for “spirit,” “shen” refers to the “soul, the sacred, the divine.” In lines six and seven of Chapter Six we read:
“The Mother’s subtle existence is creative without effort. Draw upon her as you will, this ever-flowing essence.”
What is the sacred hollow spirit that we can “draw upon” and is an “ever flowing essence?” I suggest the last two lines of Chapter 6 are a reference to “qi” which can be translated as “vital force, breath, power.” Qi is an invisible, energetic power; it is our energy which provides for our existence. The Valley Spirit of our bodies is our vital energy before it is transformed into a particular pattern, for example — skin, bones, hair, thought, etc.
Our basic energy has the potential to be a force of creation, either in forming our body or being utilized in the arts, intellectual thought, spiritual exploration or any other direction one chooses to utilize on’e energy. It is one thing to know of our “potential” and another to actually utilize this energy. The Daoists believe that by means of exercise and breath control, an individual can access one’s creative potential qi and in so doing, one may expand one’s awareness or perhaps become a healer or perhaps gain various psychic abilities. By understanding how to use one’s qi the mind can create miracles.
Chapter Six is an important chapter of the Dao De Ching. Although it is one of the chapters with few lines, much meaning is packed into this short chapter. From our analysis we have seen that the primordial, mysterious Feminine, the Valley Spirit, has an exoteric and esoteric aspect, a universal and individual dimension. Chapter Six suggests that by understanding the primordial, mysterious Feminine, the Valley Spirit, one may understand the process of creation.
Sources
All quotes from the Dao De Jing are from the Richard Wilhelm editions.
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