Chapter 6

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The divine mystery is attributed the gendered quality of 'female,' applying human characteristics to the source.

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The divine is described through metaphors like 'valley' and 'mystery' rather than direct positive attributes.

Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.

Using power 'gently... without the touch of pain' implies a radical letting-go of will and grasping that opens to the divine flow.

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The source is explicitly named a 'mystery' and associated with the hidden depth of a valley.

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] The spirit is characterized as 'aye the same' and 'unbroken,' indicating a lack of division or change.

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

[auto] The passage describes a 'root' from which heaven and earth issued forth, implying a generative flow from a single source.

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

[auto] The passage explicitly refers to the subject as a 'mystery,' indicating esoteric knowledge.

The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.

[auto] The 'valley' metaphor signifies emptiness and receptivity, central to the concept of inner stillness in Taoism.

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

[auto] The spirit is described as undying and possessing power that remains long and unbroken.

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

[auto] The 'valley spirit' is described as eternal, unbroken, and remaining the same, representing a singular first principle.

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The text presents enduring power through gentleness and the generative nature of emptiness as counter-intuitive truths.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

Identifying the 'root' implies the potential for the soul or being to recognize and return to its divine origin.

The Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena lack independent self-nature; emptiness as the positive recognition that things arise only in dependence on conditions — distinct from kenoma's mere deficiency.

The 'valley spirit' metaphor equates emptiness or void with a generative, immortal power rather than mere deficiency.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] Heaven and earth are stated to grow from one common root, suggesting an underlying oneness of existence.

Effortless action aligned with the spontaneous flow of the Dao; non-coercive, non-striving conduct that yields results without forcing — the sage acts without acting.

[auto] The passage explicitly describes power being 'used gently, and without the touch of pain,' which defines the Taoist principle of effortless, non-coercive action.