"Laying the Foundation" for Spiritual Progress Via 100 Days of Celibacy

On this topic of sexual desire, many people have written me asking about the requirement of the 100 days of celibacy, or "laying the foundation," which the Tao school, Buddhism and Hinduism say are required in order to reach the stage of jing (generative or seminal energy) transforming into chi. Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Tantra, yoga and other spiritual schools commonly maintain that one who carelessly loses their jing will not achieve samadhi and will actually shorten their life span. Countless masters have talked about this subject and said the same thing. Regardless of the cultivation school consulted, the sages within these schools have insisted on the exact same conclusion leading us to believe that they somehow know something through their cultivation that we don't... First, Master Nan Huai-chin always says that he's never seen anyone, in all his years, who has actually attained the 100 days of celibacy. His standards are high because he says the 100 days doesn't actually mean simply nonejaculation of semen. If it did then he's seen lots of people who have accomplished the 100 days because plenty of men don't lose semen for this period of time. Rather, the 100 days of laying the foundation actually means you should not even think of sex for 100 days. In fact, Master Nan says that only someone who constantly remains in samadhi for 100 days can achieve the true gong-fu of this stage of cultivation. In other words, to achieve the 100 days you have to already be cultivating samadhi. Whereas we think the 100 days are a prerequisite for samadhi attainment, in actual fact you must practice "no leakage" to get samadhi, and then once in samadhi you still have to practice for 100 days to really actualize the true meaning of this stage of transformation. Get it? In other words, the real 100 days foundation means you don't move your mind. It means you're in samadhi for 100 days. That's the real 100 days. It doesn't mean you hold your jing for 100 days to build your foundation. Actually, that restraint is the result!

To achieve the more mundane meaning of the period of 100 days of noleakage, which you still have to do to attain samadhi, you have to learn how to not to give into sexual desires while remaining empty, and you have to stay in a meditative state at the same time otherwise no transformations of jing to chi will come about. Remember that just because you don't lose your jing for 100 days doesn't mean you've achieved this stage of jing transforming into chi. After all, you can look at the sunken or dried up faces of monks and nuns who haven't had sex for a long time (including masturbation or wet dreams) to see that they haven't transformed any jing to chi. Otherwise their faces would be shiny and full of chi, their hormones would be full and they would have achieved a state of joy rather than be cranky irritated individuals. So as TAO AND LONGEVITY says, you have to meditate - which means to achieve a stage of emptiness - before you can achieve this 100 days. Your chi channels have to open during this time, and when they start to open you'll know it. You'll actually feel the chi inside your body and the sweet dew pituitary hormones will start to be secreted in your mouth. I think this pituitary secretion is related to the family of amylase enzymes since there are receptor sites for amylase in the genitals and amylase is abundant in the saliva. I've actually had scientists collect it from me for analysis to try to determine what substance it is composed of. The problem is that if you don't know what you're looking for in terms of chemical families, it's hard to find anything because you don't know what marker molecules to distill. There are no chemical rules that define "sweetness" out of molecular shape, and hence looking for this anti-aging substance in saliva is a difficult job. Nevertheless as I've always maintained, this is the key to future youth restoration and anti-illness medicine. If you reach a beginning stage of 100 days, which is akin to the stage of "ching an" mentioned by Confucians and "grace" of Christianity (or a water empowerment in Tibetan Buddhism), you are sure to experience this amrita grail wine or nectar of the gods, and will be on your way to achieving samadhi and the true 100 days of transformation. To get there, you have to cultivate, do lots of merit, and yes you do have to refrain from losing your jing. -- William Bodri