Behold his presence in a spacious vale,
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
Be the valley of the universe!
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Be the valley of the world
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
you will see things as they are
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
What could be more humble than a valley -- a low place where life gathers itself? As
John Lash sees it,
Everything grows and is nourished in the fertility of the valley. The Tai Chi person becomes the valley of the universe by helping everything and everyone to grow towards their destiny, and by nourishing them with the compassion that fills his being.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
Of course you do know that the "valley spirit" is more than a little referent to female procreative anatomy, the quintessential yin manifestation. Maybe this is why a few posts ago, Four Tael shared his thought that Taoism was sexist (feminist).
ReplyDeleteHey, that's no fair. You're tipping off tomorrow's entry. :-D
ReplyDelete