The Valley Spirit never dies. It is named the Mysterious Female. And the Doorway of the Mysterious Female Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang. It is there within us all the while；Draw upon it as you will，it never runs dry. Lieh Tzu quotes these lines as coming from the Book of the Yellow […]
The Way is like an empty vessel That yet may be drawn from Without ever needing to be filled. It is bottomless；the very progenitor of all things in the world. In it all sharpness is blunted，All tangles untied，All glare tempered，All dust smoothed. It is like a deep pool that never dries. Was it too the […]
If we stop looking for‘persons of superior morality’（hsien）to put in power，there will be no more jealousies among the people. If we cease to set store by products that are hard to get，there will be no more thieves. If the people never see such things as excite desire，their hearts will remain placid and undisturbed. Therefore the […]
It is because every one under Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty，that the idea of ugliness exists. And equally if every one recognized virtue as virtue，this would merely create fresh conceptions of wickedness. For truly‘Being and Not-being grow out of one another；Difficult and easy complete one another. Long and short test one another；High and low determine […]
The Way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way；The names that can be named are not unvarying names. It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang；The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures，each after its kind. Truly，‘Only he that rids himself forever of desire can see […]
Turquoise forms where mineral-rich water seeps into rocky gaps. Over time only the minerals remain—as turquoise. The copper in turquoise gives the gem its shades of blue and green. Some people believed turquoise was a love charm. If a man gave a woman turquoise jewelry, he was pledging his love for her. Many Native Americans […]
The principle of Feng Shui is based on the mutual generation and restraint of the Five Elements. These five elements (energy) constrain and promote each other, forming a dynamic balance system. Understanding Feng Shui requires a relativity concept, and these five elements can be applied to the movement of celestial bodies in the universe, the […]
Fu, Lu, and Shou are three deities worshipped by the Han people in China, symbolizing happiness, prosperity, and longevity. Among them, “Fu” wears an official cap and holds a jade ruyi or holds a child, representing the first-rank emperor of heaven, from whom the saying “blessings from the gods of heaven” originates. “Lu” holds a […]