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道 Tâo
Chapter 6

[The] valley (bathing) spirit never dies
Called Profound Female (gorge, valley)

Gate of Profound Female (gorge, valley)
Called root (essence) of heaven and earth

Continuous, unbroken [it] seems to live (exist)
Use it without effort

六 章

谷 神 不 死 ,
是 謂 玄 牝 。
玄 牝 門 ,
天 地 根 。
綿 綿 若 存 ,
用 之 不 勤 。

Key Terms

Observations and Comments

Legge Translation Notes

###, 'The Completion of Material Forms.' This title rightly expresses the import of this enigmatical chapter; but there is a foundation laid in it for the development of the later Tâoism, which occupies itself with the prolongation of life by the management of the breath (###) or vital force.

'The valley' is used metaphorically as a symbol of 'emptiness' or 'vacancy;' and 'the spirit of the valley' is the something invisible, yet almost personal, belonging to the Tâo, which constitutes the Teh (###) in the name of our King. 'The spirit of the valley' has come to be a name for the activity of the Tâo in all the realm of its operation. 'The female mystery' is the Tâo with a name of chapter 1, which is 'the Mother of all things.' All living beings have a father and mother. The processes of generation and production can hardly be imaged by us but by a recognition of this fact; and so Lâo-dze thought of the existing realm of nature—of life—as coming through an evolution (not a creation) from the primal air or breath, dividing into two, and thence appearing in the forms of things, material and immaterial. The chapter is found in Lieh-dze (I, i b) quoted by him from a book of Hwang-Tî; and here Lâo-dze has appropriated it, and made it his own. See the Introduction, p. 2.