
Posted by gar on 11/11/2008, 2:22 pm, in reply to ""The Spirit of Life" vs. "The Valley Spirit""
70.100.199.X
--Previous Message--
: I just received a copy of 'The Tao Te Ching',
: by Ralph Alan Dale.
:
: In verse 6, Dale transliterates: "The
: spirit of life never dies".
:
: The first part of this verse is almost
: always (in other English translations):
: "The valley spirit never dies".
:
: Now, I used to live in a large valley, and I
: can actually tell you that there is
: something spiritually 'different' in the
: land, in the spirit that IS the land, in a
: valley.
:
: One has to actually live in a valley, to
: truly understand this verse in the DDJ.
:
: A valley is "alive" in a sort of
: way that other landscapes are NOT.
:
: And consequently, Ralph Alan Dale
: mistranslated this verse.
:
: Just a thought or two.
:
:
: Peace, gossamer
:
Greetings gossamer,
It seems to me that the valley spirit relates to the properties of 'yin'. And the mountain is seen a 'yang'.
It has been said, know yang, but stay to the yin.
Living in a valley nourishes my sense of yin and embraces my nature.
But, it was quite fun hiking up a mountain this morning.
in peace,
gar
98
"The Tao is basically utterly open. Utter openeness has no substance. It ends in endlessness, begins in beginninglessnes".
-Li Daoqun
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