The Doctrine of the "Mysterious Female" in Taoism

The principal purpose of this paper is to suggest the approach of transpersonal psychology for analysis of some important aspects of the Taoist doctrine, that is, the concept of the Tao as a female universal principle and the Taoist attitude "to be like an infant" or even as an "embryo."

To understand these Taoist principles, we must begin from the very beginning-from the central concept of Taoism, that is, Tao (the Way, the True Way). This concept designates the prime ground of the World, the source of all life and the limit of every existence, as well as the rule and measure of beings.

The female, maternal image of Tao is the crucial point to understanding the psychotechnique (or psychopractical) approach of Taoism. It is possible to demonstrate its importance by citing some passages from the Tao Te ching (The Canon of the Way and its Power) or the"Lao-tzu," a famous Taoist classic:

1. §6:

The valley spirit never dies-it is called the mysterious female";

The gate of the mysterious female is called "the root of heaven and earth."

Gossamer it is,

seemingly insubstantial, yet never consumed through use.

2. §25:

There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth;

Silent-amorphous-it stood alone and unchanging.

We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth.

Not knowing its name,

I style it the "Way."

3. §28:

Know masculinity,

Maintain femininity,

and be a ravine for all under heaven.

4. §61:

A large state is like a low-lying estuary, the female of all under heaven.

In the congress of all under heaven,

the female always conquers the male through her stillness.

Because she is still,

it is fining for her to lie low.

E. M. Chen (1974), in her article dedicated to the role of the female principle in Chinese philosophy, notes that some aspects of Lao-tzu's concept of Tao makes it possible to propose that the formation of the teaching about Tao as a philosophical idea was preceded by the cult of some Mother-Goddess which was connected with the genesis of Taoism (Chen, 1974, p.53; Kravtsova, 1994, pp.208-213). She notes that in the description of Tao in the Tao Te ching there are all the meanings which are essential for the Mother-Goddess cult: Tao is like an empty vessel (§4); voidness (§5); mysterious darkness (§1); it is nonborn, but, nevertheless, it is the predecessor of the Heavenly Lord (§4); it is the Mysterious Female which is the gate of Heaven and Earth (§6); mother (§1, 20, 25, 52); female (or hen-§10, 28); female (§61); and Mother of all under heaven (§25, 34). In addition, Tao is often described as water (§8, 78) and as valley (§6, 28, 32, 39, 41). Clearly this valley is the principle of generation which bears all beings in its depth.

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