Tao Te Ching, Ch 6

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna CK Lam

Chapter 6

The Truth as hollow as the valley, its Spirit never dies.

This is called the Mysterious Female.

The Gateway of the Mysterious Female is called

the Root of the Heaven and the Earth.

It seems like flowing continuously, dimly visible.

Its function will never be exhausted.

Review

  

The first Chapter of the Tao Te Ching starts telling us that “Tao cannot be spoken”, “Tao cannot be named”, as Tao is the eternity from nothing to something, from non-being to being. “The nameless is the origin of the Heaven and the Earth” (Chapter 1) which is emptiness, nothingness and indescribable. “The named is the mother of all creatures” (Chapter 1), which is the manifestation of the nothingness, the non-being. Therefore, in this Chapter, Lao Tzu says:

 

“The Truth as hollow as the valley, its Spirit never dies.

This is called the Mysterious Female.”

 

 The Spirit of the Truth is called “Mysterious Female” which never dies. The Truth is like a female animal which gives birth to offspring. This female animal represents the principle of creating all creatures like mother giving birth to her children, but she is not an ordinary creature among us. She is very mysterious we cannot understand much. The Truth is very mysterious, thus in the first Chapter, Lao Tzu says the Truth as:

 

“Mystery of Mysteries,

the Door of All Wonders.”

(Chapter 1)

 

In this Chapter, Lao Tzu mentions “the Door of All Wonders” again:

 

“The Gateway of the Mysterious Female is called

the Root of the Heaven and the Earth.”

How mysterious it is as “the Gateway of the Mysterious Female” which is called “the Root of the Heaven and the Earth.” “The Gateway of the Mysterious Female” means the opening of the womb as the door for delivery of offspring. This is an analogy to depict the relation between the Creator, the Truth, and its creation, like mother and her children. This mother and children relationship is used to describe the functioning of the Truth in various Chapters, for example, in Chapter 52, Lao Tzu says:

 

“The world has a beginning.

This beginning is the mother of the world.

When we know the mother, we can know her children.

After knowing her children, go back and hold fast to the mother.”

(Chapter 52)

 

This mother is the root of the Heaven and the Earth. From the root, the tree will grow up as a trunk with branches, stems and leaves. They are all analogies because the Truth is emptiness, neither male nor female. Only when we are going to understand its mystery, we need to use our concepts and terms whereas the language itself is not the Truth.

 

If we stick to the analogy and do not go deep to the Truth which is indescribable, we still must take a lot of time to understand the reality of Tao. Many cultures and religious cults are fond of the image of mother and son. Like the Mahayana Buddhism and Catholics which both have special favour to the image of their idea of divinity as mother and son. The actual meaning lies on the Tao Te Ching. It tells the relation from Non-being to Being, from Being to all creatures. The union of Non-being and Being is the Truth. Its manifestation is like the Mysterious Mother to create all creatures. But there is no father, mother and son as Islamic faith insist on telling us because Tao is nameless and cannot be spoken without defects. Therefore, if people stick to the images and are not willing to understand the Truth in deeper sense, they are worshipping falsehood only and they become blind in their heart and mind. They do not know the mysterious which is spiritual beyond all material level.

 

Apart from the analogy of mother as the Truth, Lao Tzu also depicts Tao as hollow like a valley. This is also the image of the Truth consistently mentioned in the whole Tao Te Ching. The hollow means the space, the emptiness, the nothingness. There is a hollow in the valley which looks like containing the Truth in it. The valley is holy because it has the emptiness with it, not because of the valley itself. If people only see the valley as holy and cannot see the hollow as the space which is even closer to the reality of holiness, they still need to take more time to understand the Truth. Then Lao Tzu continues with the verses:

 

“It seems like flowing continuously, dimly visible.

Its function will never be exhausted.”

 

People cannot see the Truth easily because “it is dimly visible”. It seems that you can see and also you cannot see. It seems to be visible but also invisible. It is mysterious. It is the subtlety, as you can feel its existence but cannot see it directly, like air, wind and space around us. All these are used by Lao Tzu to describe the Truth. It is also like water “flowing continuously” but much subtler than water as it is “dimly visible” and eternal, never exhausted. Why is the Truth mysterious like a valley with hollow? The answer is in the end:

 

“It seems like flowing continuously, dimly visible.

Its function will never be exhausted.”