Taoist sexual practices
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Taoist sexual practices (Simplified Chinese: 合气, Traditional Chinese: 合氣, pinyin: heqi) literally "Joining Energy" or "The Joining of the Essences", is the way some Taoists practiced sex. Practitioners believed that by performing these sexual arts, one could stay in good health, and eventually, with some other spiritual or alchemical practices, attain immortality.
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[edit] History
Some Taoist sects during Han Dynasty performed sexual intercourse as a spiritual practice, called "HeQi" ("Joining Energy"). The first sexual texts that survive today are those found at the Mawangdui tombs. While Taoism had not yet fully evolved as a philosophy at this time, these texts shared some remarkable similarities with later Tang dynasty texts, such as the Ishinpō. The sexual arts arguably reached their peak between the end of the Han dynasty and the end of the Tang dynasty. After 1000 CE, Confucian puritanism became stronger and stronger, so that by the advent of the Qing dynasty, sex was a taboo topic in public life.[citation needed] These Confucians alleged that the separation of genders in most social activities existed two thousand years ago, and suppressed the sexual arts. Because of the taboo surrounding sex, there was much censoring done during the Qing in literature, and the sexual arts disappeared in public life. As a result, some of the texts survived only in Japan, and most scholars had no idea that such a different concept of sex existed in early China.[1]
[edit] Ancient and medieval practices
[edit] Qi (Lifeforce) and Jing (Essence)
The basis of all Taoist thinking is that qi is part of everything that exists. It is related to another energetic substance contained in the human body known as jing (精), and once all this has been expended, you will die. Jing could be lost from the body in a variety of ways, most notably the bodily fluids. Taoists would use practices to stimulate/increase and conserve their bodily fluids to great extents, and some reportedly recycled and composted their own fecal matter. The fluid that contained the most Jing was male semen. Therefore the Taoists believed that men should decrease the frequency or totally avoid ejaculation in order to conserve their life essence.[2]
[edit] Male control of ejaculation
Many Taoist practitioners link the loss of ejaculatory fluids to the loss of vital life force: where excessive fluid loss results in premature aging, disease, and general fatigue. While some Taoists contend that one should never ejaculate, others provide a specific formula to determine the maximum amount of regular ejaculations in order to maintain health.[3] The general idea is to limit the loss of fluids as much as possible to the level of your desired practice. As these sexual practices were passed down over the centuries, some practitioners have given less importance to the limiting of ejaculation. Nevertheless, the "retention of the semen" is one of the foundational tenets of Taoist sexual practice.[4]
There are different methods to control ejaculation prescribed by the Taoists. In order to avoid ejaculation, the man could do one of two things. He could pull out immediately before orgasm, a method which Joseph Needham termed "coitus conservatus". [5]The second method involved the man applying pressure on an area between the scrotum and the anus, and cause a retrograde ejaculation into the bladder. While it is now known that this method causes a retrograde ejaculation, the Taoists believed that the semen traveled up into the head and "nourished the brain."[6] This method is referred to by some Taoist scholars as "The Million Dollar Point" (reference Mantak Chia), regarding it as either a cheap lesson for income or a backup method, believing that it somehow lessened the loss of "jing" from a full ejaculation. Some modern teachers have come to the conclusion that the method should not be used because of potential dangers.[7] Another method involves the Taoist to train himself to separate the impulses of ejaculation and orgasmic contraction (the contraction of the pelvic muscles that "pump" the prostate and the ejaculate). By separating these impulses, at the point of orgasm, the man can halt penetration but remain inside his partner, and forcibly clench his pelvic floor ("stunting" the initial prostate contractions), while simultaneously adopting a meditation like "intention" that these Taoists believe redirect not the physical sperm, but the life energy(jing) it contains up the back and to the center of the brain. This way the man will still have orgasm, but will not ejaculate, and most importantly will not lose his erection. This formula prescribes the man to climb a "ladder" of escalating orgasms in conjunction with the meditation like "intention", in order to cultivate and store massive amounts of "jing". If performed successfully the male should have no stagnating pain in the testes, and should have no semen in his urine, as well as the health benefits expected by practitioners. Those that practice this method believe that it is one of the keys to immortality.
[edit] Jing (Sexual energy)
Another important concept of "The Joining of the Essences" was that the union of a man and a woman would result in the creation of jing, a type of sexual energy. When in the act of lovemaking, jing would form, and the man could transform some of this jing into qi, and replenish his lifeforce. By having as much sex as possible, men had the opportunity to transform more and more jing, and as a result would see many health benefits.[2]
[edit] Yin/Yang
The concept of Yin/yang is important in Taoism, and consequently also holds special importance in sex. Yang usually referred to the male gender, whereas Yin could refer to the female gender. Man and Woman were the equivalent of heaven and earth, but became disconnected. Therefore while heaven and earth are eternal, man and woman suffer a premature death.[8] Every interaction between Yin and Yang had significance. Because of this significance, every position and action in lovemaking had importance. Taoist texts described a large number of special sexual positions that served to cure or prevent illness.[9]
[edit] Significance of woman
For Taoists, sex was not just about pleasing the man. The woman also had to be stimulated and pleased in order to benefit from the act of sex. Sex could only happen if both partners desired it. If sex were performed in this manner, the woman would create more jing, and the man could more easily absorb the jing to increase his own qi. Women were also given a prominent place in the Ishinpō, with the tutor being a woman. One of the reasons women had a great deal of strength in the act of sex was that they walked away undiminished from the act. The woman had the power to bring forth life, and did not have to worry about ejaculation or refractory period.
Yet, women were often still given a position of inferiority in sexual practice. Many of the texts discuss sex from a male point of view, and avoid discussing how sex could benefit women. Men were encouraged to not limit themselves to one woman, and were advised to have sex only with a woman who was beautiful and had not had children. While the man had to please the woman sexually, she was still just an object.[10] At numerous points during the Ishinpō, the woman is referred to as the "enemy." This was because part of the act of intercourse was an assumption by the male of dominance of the woman's sexual prowess. In later sexual texts from the Ming, women had lost all semblance of being human and were referred to as the "other," "crucible" or "stove." The importance of pleasing the woman also diminished in later texts.[11]
Women were also considered to be a means for men to extend men's lives. Many of the ancient texts were dedicated explanation of how a man could use sex to extend his own life. But, his life was extended only through the absorption of the woman's vital energies (jing and qi). Some Taoists called the act of sex “The battle of stealing and strengthening.”[12] These sexual methods could be correlated with Daoist military methods. Instead of storming the gates, the battle was a series of feints and maneuvers that would sap the enemy's resistance.[13]
[edit] When and where to have sex
Another text, Health Benefits of the Bedchamber, indicates that certain times were better for intercourse than others. A person had to avoid having intercourse on quarter or full moons and on days when there were great winds, rain, fog, cold or heat, thunder, lightning, darkness over heaven and earth, solar and lunar eclipses, rainbows and earthquakes. Having intercourse at these times would harm a man's spirit and would cause women to become ill. Children conceived at these times would be mad, stupid, perverse or foolish; mute, deaf, crippled or blind; unfilial and violent.
Also important was selecting the right day for intercourse if a person desired children. After the woman's period, the first, third or fifth days were the best. If on these days the man ejaculated after midnight, the child would likely be male. If a female child was desired, the man needed to ejaculate on the second, fourth or sixth days after the cessation of the woman's period.
The location of sex was also important. People had to avoid the glare of the sun, moon or stars, the interior of shrines, proximity to temples, wells, stoves and privies, and the vicinity of graves or coffins.
If these suggestions were followed the family's offspring would be good, wise and virtuous. If they were not followed, the offspring would be evil and the family would eventually die off.[14]
[edit] Immortality
Some Ming Dynasty Daoist sects believed that one way for men to achieve longevity or immortality is by having intercourse with virgins, particularly young virgins. This has been disapproved and criticized by most other Daoist schools as "Pseudo-Tao".
Daoist sexual books, such as the Hsuan wei Hshin ("Mental Images of the Mysteries and Subtleties of Sexual Techniques") and San Feng Tan Cheueh ("Zhang Sanfeng's Instructions in the Physiological Alchemy"), written, respectively, by Zhao Liangpi and Zhang Sanfeng, call the woman sexual partner ding (鼎), originally a large, three-legged bronze cauldron used in the practice of alchemy, and state that the most desirable ding is a girl about 14, 15, or 16 years old just before or after menarche. Zhang Sanfeng went further and divided ding into three ranks:
- the lowest rank, 21- to 25-year-old women;
- the middle rank, 16- to 20-year-old menstruating virgin girls;
- the highest rank, 14-year-old premenarche virgin girls.[15]
All of these various precepts were believed by some in those sects to be able to serve to help people attain immortality.
According to Ge Hong, a 4th century Daoist alchemist, "those seeking immortality must perfect the absolute essentials. These consist of treasuring the jing, circulating the qi and consuming the great medicine."[16] The sexual arts concerned the first precept, treasuring the jing. This is partially because treasuring the jing involved sending it up into the brain. In order to send the jing into the brain, the male had to refrain from ejaculation during sex. According to some Daoists, if this was done, the semen would travel up the spine and nourish the brain instead of leaving the body. Ge Hong also states, however, that it is folly to believe that performing the sexual arts only can achieve immortality and some of the ancient myths on sexual arts had been misinterpreted and exaggerated. Indeed, the sexual arts had to be practiced alongside alchemy to attain immortality. Ge Hong also warned it could be dangerous if practiced incorrectly. [16]
[edit] References
[edit] Contemporary texts
- Chang, Jolan. The Tao of Love and Sex. Plume, 1977.
- Chang, Stephen T.. The Tao of Sexology: The Book of Infinite Wisdom. Tao Longevity LLC, 1986.
- Chia, Mantak and Maneewan. Cultivating Female Sexual Energy. Healing Tao, 1986.
- Chia, Mantak and Michael Winn. Taoist Secrets of Love. Aurora, 1984.
- Chia, Mantak and Maneewan. The Multi-Orgasmic Couple. HarperOne, 2002.
- Hsi Lai. The Sexual Teachings of the White Tigress: Secrets of the Female Taoist Masters. Destiny Books, 2001.
- Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China, 5:2. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1983.
- Reid, Daniel P. The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity. Simon & Schuster, 1989.
- Van Gulik, Robert. The Sexual Life of Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D. Leiden: Brill, 1961.
- Wik, Mieke and Stephan. Beyond Tantra: Healing through Taoist Sacred Sex. Findhorn Press, 2005.
- Wile, Douglas. The Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics including Women's Solo Meditation Texts. Albany: State University of New York, 1992.
- Zettnersan, Chian. Taoist Bedroom Secrets, Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 2002.
[edit] Classical texts
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Van Gulik (1961), preface
- ^ a b Wile (1992), p. 6.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 92.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 46.
- ^ Needham (1983), p. 199.
- ^ Wile (1993), p. 20.
- ^ Danger: Million Dollar Point. Alchemical Taoism. Retrieved on 2008-12-29
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 85.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 28.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 102.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 45.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 11.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 14.
- ^ Wile (1992), p. 118.
- ^ Taoism and Sex Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2009-01-11
- ^ a b Wile (1992), p. 24.
[edit] External links
- Chinese Sexology "Seizing Immortality from the Jaws of Impermanence"
- The Great Tao Answers to Everyday Problems.
- History of Taoist Sexual Development in China
- Taoism and Sex from Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia
- Sample of the Taoist Manuals
