The Doctrine of the "Mysterious Female" in Taoism

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.

The Tao Te ching speaks much about the pre-existential, nonmanifested aspect of Tao which is the philosophical opposition to the manifested phenomenal existence as some potential being (wu). In this regard, § I is rather interesting. It describes this nonmanifested or mysterious (occult) aspect of Tao as the womb of the universal embryo, the womb which generates Heaven and Earth, which is the source of life. Briefly speaking, it is nothing but the Mysterious Mother of the world:

The nameless is the origin of the myriad creatures;

The named is the mother of the myriad creatures. Therefore,

Always be without desire

in order to observe its wondrous subtleties; Always have desire

so that you may observe its manifestations...

Mystery of mysteries,

The gate of all wonders!

This passage develops the leading idea of §1 about two aspects or "hypostases" of Tao: about Tao as "mysterious womb" and Tao as mother-nurse of all beings. Here we can recall the words of the famous commentator and thinker, Wang Pi (3 A.D.), that "Mysterious" (or "Unnamed") Tao nourishes and bears all creatures, and phenomenal named Tao feeds them; the analogous description Wang Pi gives to the character of the interrelations between Tao and Te.

What about the last sentence of the passage? It can be said that the character miao (mystery) of the sentence consists of two elements: "woman" and "little." We can suppose that its use here is not arbitrary. It is not too difficult to "ascribe" its etymology (probably it is not a scientific one) as this:"something, that is little inside a woman," that is, embryo hidden in the womb, like the prototypes of things (see §21) are hidden in the "womb" of Tao. This opinion may be supported by the fact that the images of the womb and embryo are often used by Taoists to describe the "Tao-world" relation. So Tao can be metaphorically defined as the mother of the world, the source of life and being, and the universal female archetype. It is quite essential to understand the Taoist doctrine of immortality as well, because this doctrine considers Tao to be the life-giving principle which gives eternal life to the adept who has obtained unity with it. The Tao Te chitig also says (§52):

Having realized the mother,

you thereby know her children. Knowing her children,

go back to abide with the mother. To the end of your life,

you will not be imperiled.

Let's look at the child of the "Mysterious female of all under the heaven."

§55 of the Tao Te ching says:

He who embodies the flillness of integrity is like a ruddy infant.

Wasps, spiders, scorpions, and snakes will not sting or bite him;

Rapacious birds and fierce beasts will not seize him.