Chapter 6 · The Valley Spirit

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

The valley spirit dies not, aye the same; The female mystery thus do we name. Its gate, from which at first they issued forth, Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth. Long and unbroken does its power remain, Used gently, and without the touch of pain.

The Valley Never Dies

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

The valley never dies. Call it the deep feminine if you want a name for it - the low, open, receiving thing. Its gate is the root of heaven and earth. Faint, like it's barely there, and you can draw on it forever without using it up.

Learn the Dao is a quiet practice for learning the thing that can’t be known — committing the Tao Te Ching to memory, one line at a time.

Read a chapter. Recite the next line from memory. The app shows you, gently, what you missed — then brings each line back just before you’d forget it.

Your recall — for example

The valley spirit dies not — missed aye the same

The dotted words are the ones you missed.

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