To which men come from all beneath the sky.Well gee. Baroness Radon -- in the comment she left on yesterday's Line by Line entry -- already let the cat out of the proverbial bag!
The unchanging excellence completes its tale;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
Being the valley of the universe,
Ever true and resourceful,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Being the valley of the world
The eternal virtue shall be sufficient
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
If you see things as they are,
you'll always be right with Tao:
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
The valley that Lao Tzu speaks of is alluding to a certain portion of the female anatomy. You know, that portion that receives the sperm? By being receptive, it provides the basis of life and the womb of creation.
For me, the message here is strong. When each of us is receptive to the essence of Tao, the Mysterious Way provides us with the basis of a virtuous life and the wellspring of creativity!
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
Well I dunno. Seems he's talking about a principle, not something so specific as female anatomy. It may be a great example of receptivity resulting in a profusion of life and creativity, but it's not the only one: an actual valley is another, or the eye in how it accepts light and thus gives vision of the ten thousand things.
ReplyDeleteWell, the valley is a metaphor for the vagina, the womb, all those places where "emptiness" is the purpose, the emptiness of the oroom, the emptiness of the hub. And the vagina is a metaphor for the emptiness, it's the entire yin thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to comment...directly... on "letting the cat out of the bag."
@Brandon...I suggest you do a little research on Taoist dual cultivation, the integration of fire and water. Maybe you will have more to say about "whorship." Seriously, Taoist sexual practices are a very serious spiritual tradition.
ReplyDelete