T. Scarlet Jory scarletcougar@gmail.

com Fall 2010

Taoist Sexual Practices

For Cultivating Immortality
Introduction

Sex and gender play an intertwined and interrelated role in Taoism1 and Chinese culture through

the understanding of yin and yang and how the body is a map for the world. What one does in Toaism

within the body carries a reflection to the outside world. Among Taoist practices is the cultivation of

immortality through various techniques and inner alchemy. Among these techniques, we see an erotic

side, sexual practices not unlike those of Tantra. Although these practices have been extrapolated into

ancient popular sexual practices of the bedchamber, they served also to aid in Chinese medicine and the

ever present goal of longevity (even the achievement of immortality). Because of the issues of balance

with the dichotomy of yin and yang, the practices vary between men and women and what each can offer

and gain with this esoteric erotica.

Everything has its place, its precise place, in the world and within the body. Men and women had

their roles in the cosmic dance, the dance of yin and yang that is so deeply entrenched in its philosophy.

Within this paper, I aim to explicate the gendered roles of men and women in the Taoist sexual practices

and how these roles are echoed in the body cosmologies, rituals, medicine, and inner alchemy. I will

commence by contextualizing broad Taoist themes (cosmology of the body, deities, filth and purity, yin

and yang) from texts of medicine, mythology and literature. These lay the foundation or bedding (pardon

the pun) for my exploration of gendered sexual practices in Taoist doctrine and ritual.

1
While I use the word Taoism within this paper, several authors refer to the term as Daoism. The two are
interchangeable and might be seen as such in quotes throughout this paper. (Tao and Dao will also be used
synonymously.)

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The Bedding and the Body

The Body Sacred

There exist several dichotomies of the body. The first and most obvious is the dichotomy of male

and female. The other common dichotomy brings us into the religious realm as we consider the body in

terms of human and/or divine. In Christianity, man was made in God’s image. In Taoism, the divine

cosmology is recreated within the human body. The dichotomy of Eastern and Western perspectives of

the body often clash in religious studies as most Western perspectives consider the transcendence of the

divine while in the far East, the perspectives of the divine tend to be more immanent.

Ritually speaking, the body is necessary for the performance of ritual. And, as Catherine Bell

indicates, “ritual is, above all, an assertion of difference.” (Bell 303) She refers to the notion of power

imbued through ritual practice and practical mastery which is most easily seen in the contrast of laity and

priests, or in the case of Taoism, laity and immortal masters.

Before we can delve into the Taoist ideas of the body, we must suspend the Western Monotheistic

ideas of the body being a source of sin and impurity. Eastern ideas regard the body as part of the natural

world, part of the Tao, and thus already sacred. What creates sin and impurity is not the body, but the

mind. So moving into Taoism, we must consider the training of the mind in order to train the body and

thus the spirit. We will come back to the notion of purity and filth in Taoism and the body a little later.

To speak of the Taoist body, one must first speak of the Tao and the older philosophies that are

part of the Taoist canon. Stephen Bokenkamp sums up a few of the key concepts necessary for

understanding Taoism and thus the Taoist body. “The term dao, originally denoting a ‘way’ or ‘path…’

[refers] to the proper course of human conduct.” (Bokenkamp 2177) Another key concept that he

introduces is qi which is often translated as “breath” or “energy.” “Seen as the basic building block of all

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things in the universe, qi2 is both energy and matter.” (Bokenkamp 2177) In his discussion of the qi

Bokenkamp briefly mentions other concepts which he unfortunately does not elaborate on but which are

just as crucial to understanding the Taoist body.

In that the Dao is characterized by regular and cyclical change,

transformations of qi could be described in terms of recurring
cycles, marked off in terms of yin, yang, the five phases, or the
eight trigrams of the Yi jing3. In such interlocking systems, qi was
the intervening matrix by which things sharing the same
coordinates in the cycle might resonate and influence one another.
(Bokenkamp 2177)

I will come back to the concepts of yin and yang later as they are essential for understanding the gender

dichotomy of Taoist sexual practices and require some detail in their explanation. The other two concepts

mentioned by Bokenkamp require a deeper look than the brief mention he gave them.

The system of the five phases does not consider each phase in isolation but as interrelated in

harmony with the body and within the world. The Tao is the guide toward bringing about this balance or

harmony. “These then are the Five Phases, or as they are more commonly called, the Five Elements:

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth.” (Schipper, The Taoist Body 35) These correspond to the seasons of the

year, the directional winds of the world, the five viscera of the body (lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, and

spleen), the five planets, the five flavours, the five colours and so on.

2
Qi and ch’i are synonymous terms from text to text and throughout this paper.
3
I-ching and Yi Jing are variant spellings for the same thing, the Book of Changes.

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Charts of the Five Phases (Yankelevich)

The eight trigrams come from the I-Ching (Book of Changes) that predated Taoism, but is part of

the Taoist canon. From these eight trigrams come the sixty-four hexagrams. Like the five phases, “each of

the eight trigrams corresponds to a set of natural phenomena – a direction, a natural element, a moral

quality, and so forth.” (Ruan 14)

Figure of the Eight Trigrams (Garofolo)

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The union of heaven and earth is the union of yin and yang, the union of man and woman, which creates

everything when they are in harmony or in balance. This is considered true in Taoism for the outside

world as well as the inner world within the body.

The next critical concepts in Taoism are those of deities and body cosmology, the macrocosm and

microcosm. To sum the notion up, “the makeup of the human being parallels that of society and the

universe.” (Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion 13) This is echoed in several other texts. It refers back

to the earlier concepts about the five phases as they are reflected both in the world and in the body. The

body is in the world and yet at the same time the world is within the body. This cosmological makeup is

mapped out within the body in three grouped areas and matches social understanding with a cosmic or

divine court of beings, immortals and deities in charge of the viscera and protecting them.

Within the body the world is mimicked with palaces, towers, mountains, rivers, sun and moon.

“The active practitioner should also wander among them, make their acquaintance, and feel at home in

himself as the universe.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 174) The idea is to cultivate the inner world or

cosmos to encourage the deities and spirits to stay, for if they abandon the body, much like if they

abandon the outer world, things deteriorate and die. Harmony is necessary for survival and even

immortality. “The more one keeps one’s concentration fixed, the less the gods will be inclined to leave.

And when the gods don’t leave, the body cannot die.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 181)

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Picture on left: http://30.media.tumblr.com/k7nIrKj0tks7kzn7ChBsfvKzo1_400.jpg

Picture on right: http://www.serenitywellness.us/uploadedImages/neijingtu%282%29.jpg

To create balance and control in the world around you, Taoists believed that it started with the individual.

Harmonize heaven and earth, gods and body, yin and yang within in order to see this harmony without. In

essence, the body is made cosmic and sacred inducing a state of immanence as opposed to transcendence

with the divine.

In order to achieve this, there are many discourses and techniques to understand the detrimental

states of filth in the body, mind and spirit, and how to purify them. Purity takes various incarnate states

throughout the history of Taoism. In some cases, purity is cast as opposite filth and illness. In others, it

refers to certain schools of thought and their treatises. In other cases, it refers to one’s moral state which

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may be perceived differently depending on which school of Taoism one might follow. Also, pure can

refer to unpaired, as in the sexual practices of Taoism. (Wile)

With the concerns of health and long life being foremost in Chinese culture, the issues of

defilement, illness, and deterioration have developed complex medical systems that have leaned on many

of the concepts previously discussed. In fact, the book called Huang-t’ing ching (Scripture of the Yellow

Court) was transmitted to Lady Wei, foundress of the Great Purity School. It both esoterically and

exoterically explores medicine and techniques for the cultivation of purity, health and longevity. The

philosophy draws upon earlier philosophies of the five phases and the i-ching as well as yin and yang.

Within its pages are techniques for healing and cleanliness, for understanding and balancing the ch’i, for

developing a healthy morality, and finally working with inner and outer alchemy to achieve immortality.

(Robinet, Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity)

Purification of the body, mind and spirit go hand in hand and are the starting practices to any

further Taoist practices, including the sexual ones to be discussed later in this paper. “Purification

cleanses the body and mind, and makes us worthy to communicate with the powers of the universe….

The rites of purification became known as the rules of chai in Taoist practice.” (Wong 231) This process

involves washing, meditation, fasting, and abstinence. It was necessary to avoid impure things and

people. It was also important to cultivate a state of perfect calm or serenity and a relationship with the

gods within. Sometimes this required retreating to a sacred place within a home or temple or secluded in

the mountains. These places were called purity chambers. (Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion)

Permeation of Yin & Yang

From this point of purity, the Taoist practitioner developed an understanding of the texts, engaged

in various techniques of alchemy, meditation, dietary restrictions and exercises to bring about harmony of

the microcosm and macrocosm, the yin and the yang. Yin and Yang are the ultimate duality in the Tao,

the manifest and unmanifest dichotomies of and within the world and the body.

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
They represent the cosmic dance of light and dark, creation and destruction, heaven and earth,

male and female and much more. This is “the most pervasive rhythm of the Tao” as they are part of

everything. (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 64) “Yin and yang embody each other in harmony and

engender manifold transformations.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 22) The eight trigrams are divided

into four yin and four yang with earth and heaven being the opposing poles. The five phases, also called

the five agents, each have yin and yang aspects that require balancing. It is the techniques we see in

Chinese medicine, mysticism and religion that strive to balance these. Yet, it is most clear in the Taoist

sexual practices as part of the inner alchemy to achieve this harmony and become immortal.

Inner Alchemy

If everything to this point in the paper has been the bed of our topic, this inner alchemy is the

decor and sheets and aphrodisiacs. Taoist practitioners must understand the body, alchemy, and how the

two relate. They must be able to master techniques and potions. By combining these two sets of

knowledge, they can engage in inner alchemy and transform themselves into immortal beings. They begin

with creating a perfect environment within, purifying and balancing the microcosm within their body.

They fill the various fields (cinnabar fields) within them with the proper essences and grow within them

an immortal embryo.

There are two kinds of cinnabar when we consider Taoism. One of the physical substance which

is a mineral blend containing mercury that is refined and refined through various alchemical recipes to

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create medicines and elixirs used in Taoist practices for health and longevity, even the quest for

immortality. The best and most refined cinnabar is referred to as gold. This should not be confused with

the inner alchemy techniques that also refer to cinnabar and the creation of gold. In this, cinnabar refers to

three fields within the body (the abdomen, the chest, and the head). The goal of inner alchemy techniques,

namely sexual ones, is to fill these fields in order to create a golden drop, sometimes called a pearl within

the microcosm which is the seed of the immortal embryo. (Despeux and Kohn)

The Erotic Body Acts

Sex and Gender in Early Chinese Culture

While yin and yang seem to permeate all aspects of Taoism, it also defines gender relations and social

interactions. There is evidence in the Taoist canonical texts of the place of man and woman from the Tao

Te Ching to the Yi Ching, to the Taiping Jing. Yang is reflected by the odd number of one and yin by the

even number of two. “The way begets the one; the one begets the two; two begets three; three begets the

myriad creatures.” (Tzu 103) Through interpretation, the Tao gives way first to yang which then gives

way to yin and through their union many follow after. Some have seen this as edict for the equal and

necessary union of man to woman. In the Taiping Jing, this inspires that “men and women are the roots of

yin and yang…. Let one man have two women, because yang is odd numbers and yin is even numbers.”

(Ruan 22) The union of man and woman are the reflection of the cosmic union of yang and yin, of heaven

and of earth.

However, man and woman are not seen as equal in early Chinese culture. In the Yi Ching, yin

and yang are opposites and equal as they represent heaven and earth, “yet yang takes precedence. This

paradox is easily resolved: seen horizontally as two complementary poles in human life, they are clearly

equals; if aligned vertically, yang is always upper and dominates yin.” (Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a

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Religion 10) The Tao Te Ching also mentions that women should take the lower position. Xun Liu

reminds us of this paradox in his chapter about the Numinous Father and the Holy Mother where he

explored the gender relationship and the sexual balances in Taoism’s internal alchemy. (Liu) Early China

remained male-centric which even rose in the sexual practices where men were believed to be striving for

long life, health, and immortality; however, women were believed to be using the practices as sexual

vampirism. There are few texts about the Taoist sexual practice for women, which may be further

evidence of the perceived inequalities.

Catherine Bell argues the point of inequality when she states that women of the court were

perceived as equals in the bedchamber and the practices of balancing yin and yang through sexual

activity. (Bell) We could probably argue for and against the sexual and gender equality or lack thereof in

many pages, but that takes us too far away from the crux of this work, the actual sexual practices and

there purposes.

Taoist Sexual Practices, Engendered

While there seem to be several texts on the various techniques of the sexual practices from

alchemy to healing to ritual throughout the ages, we will look more deeply at two texts. According to

Livia Kohn, the sexual techniques were first taught by a celestial lady named Sunu to the Yellow Emperor

(Huangdi). From these initial teaches, many others followed. These initial teachings were called the Sunu

Jing. (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince) The two texts we will focus on, however, are the Ho Yin Yang

(dating to 168 BCE) and the Yufang bijue (a text within the Ishimpo, Essential Medical Methods, dating

984 CE). Both texts are medical in nature, yet they incorporate inner alchemy references for longevity and

immortality.

The Ho Yin Yang is also called the text of Conjoining or Uniting Yin and Yang. This thirty-eight-

line text of cryptic metaphors describes the “symbolic theories of the ‘nurturing life’ tradition” and

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practices. (Harper 543) This nurturing life tradition of techniques was for the absorption of vapour and

essence, a process of cultivating ch’i and ching.4 The end goal was to master the breath and circulate the

ch’i, as well as practice semen retention and circulate that fluid back up to the brain. To properly practice

semen retention, one had to unite both the male and the female energies. Men were obviously deficient in

female or yin essence and thus needed to engage with women in order to obtain this essence to balance

themselves. This is why the text is called the Uniting of Yin and Yang. It is a “guide for accomplishing

the union of female yin and masculine yang” for “corporeal perfection and spiritual transcendence.”

(Harper 560 & 564)

Let us analyze this text as Donald Harper has. We shall examine the first sixteen lines followed

by a subsequent analysis of the remaining twenty-two lines. Harper leans on poetic analysis, referencing

in his footnotes the Clouds and Rain erotic poetry.5 However, my analysis differs slightly from Harper’s

as I use translation commentary from Douglas Wile, Kristopher Schipper, and R.H. Van Gulik.

The first line of the text serves simply as the title of what to expect. “The recipe for whenever one

will be conjoining Yin and Yang.” (Harper 566) We would best understand lines two through twelve to be

a description of the acts for foreplay. These lines are heavily laden with metaphorical phrases such as the

stove frame, receiving canister, broken basin, syrupy-liquor or sweet wine ford, spurting sea, and Mount

Constancy. Essentially these describe the body parts from the woman’s wrist to the inside of her elbow,

from her throat and heart to chest and breasts, down to her navel and pubic area, over the pubic bone and

down through the labia, and finally to the mound or clitoris. The foreplay advice is for a man to engage

upon a woman as he is supposed to prepare her properly so that he can aid her in raising her yang essence

for him to later absorb.

4
Ching, or essence in this text, refers to the sexual essence or fluids, namely the male semen or yang essence, but
also the female equivalent.
5
See Appendix A for Harper’s full translated lines of the Ho Yin Yang text.

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The next few lines, namely thirteen and fourteen indicate sexual penetration. “Enter the dark gate.

Ride the coital sinew.” (Harper 566) The dark gate refers to the vagina and the coital sinew is sometimes

also translated as the coital channel. (Wile 78) This is followed by the short reminder about cultivation

and retention of the ching, along with the reminder of the benefits of practicing these techniques correctly.

“Then one can have enduring vision and exist in unison with heaven and earth.” (Harper 566)

Wile seems to disregard the existence of lines seventeen and eighteen, although Harper translates

them and explains them. Here I have to agree with Harper in that these two lines elaborate upon the

earlier lines. It continues to describe the act of coitus. Harper analyzes the lines to imply that coitus

should lead to finding the right position that will stimulate orgasm. Could he have meant the g-spot?

Were Taoists of 168BCE so aware? Perhaps their mystery it encoded in such texts.

The lines through to the twenty-sixth describe with almost no metaphors what is called the signs

of the five desires. These explicit signs indicate the degree of arousal, when to move and how while

barely penetrated in coitus. This whole section of the text is almost like a medical or even mathematical

equation of ifs and thens. If “vapors rise, the face is flushed” (vapors meaning ch’i), then “slowly exhale.”

(Harper 582) The five signs are described thus, line by line. It is interesting to note that these are the signs

the male practitioner should be looking for in his partner. It is within this aspect of the analysis that I

disagree with Harper. He uses the Ishimpo, a later document, to explain this text. By doing so, he has

concluded that penetration only occurs at this point, that these lines about the five desires are only about

foreplay. I hold to my theory that, as mentioned a couple paragraphs above, that penetration occurs in

lines thirteen and fourteen with the entering of the dark gate and the riding of the coital sinew. That early

penetration is not likely a deep penetration, since lines twenty-six through twenty-eight state: “Upon

completion, then ascend. Jab upward.” (Harper 582)

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We could both be considered wrong in line twenty-eight which blatantly tells the practitioner to

not penetrate yet, not till the vapors arrive6. Only then, the practitioner is to penetrate deeply, as stated in

line twenty-nine. Lines twenty-nine through thirty-one describe in detail how the man should penetrate

the woman. There is the reminder to pull out after the first deep thrust in order to not lose the vapour or

exhaust the woman’s vapour. It is also especially important to not ejaculate at this early state, thus

eliminating the “one hundred ailments.” (Harper 587) After all, the goal for the male practitioner is to

revert the seminal fluid, not let it escape him.

From this point, the text involves the actual act of sex. The following lines are composite, in that

they refer to understanding and training that the practitioner likely has had, or complimentary texts. These

complimentary texts and understandings may vary; however there are some similarities. We see more on

these additional texts in the Ishimpo, where they were actually written explicitly or within commentaries.

Line thirty-two refers to the tem movements, which Harper describes at the “times the man moves his

penis back and forth without ejaculating… ten thrusts.” (Harper 588) Wile reminds us that the movements

are actually sets of ten, so the ten movements are actually ten sets of ten combined with the ten postures

mentioned in line thirty-three. These movements and postures, when done correctly, each had a specific

benefit, or the benefits of the ten arousals. (Wile 78) These ten positions and movements were named

poetically as “roaming tiger,” “measuring worm,” “monkey’s squat,” “dragonflies,” and so on. The

benefits included: “making the ears and eyes sharp and bright,” “the skin radiant,” “become sturdy and

strong,” and achieve “spiritual illumination.” (Wile 78-79) Line thirty-four advises the use of the ten

refinements as a means to improve the results of the abovementioned actions. These refinements include:

“up, down, left, right, fast, slow, sparingly, frequent, shallow, and deep.” (Harper 588)

Harper finds line thirty-five the most complicated to analyze. On the simplest level, it indicates

that the practices are best done after sunset. However, the rest of the line, “vent the vapour to the

progenitive gate” seems to be a mystery. Wile make no mention of this part of the line at all, leaving us to

6
These vapors are supposed to be the man’s according to Harper.

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speculate what it might mean. Harper thinks that this is the point at which the ching is gathered in its

reservoirs ready for direction or release, the gate being the receptacle. (Harper 589) Without further

evidence or exploration, I would have to agree with Harper on this issue.

The eight movements mentioned in line thirty-six and the five sounds mentioned in line thirty-

seven are all indicators that the woman makes that the man must pay attention to. These may be along the

lines of tightening the thighs or quivering. They may be panting or holding the breath. These culminate in

the last line about examining the ten intermissions. These, according to Harper refer to the “ten stages of

transformation of the woman’s sexual essence during intercourse.” (Harper 591) This essence must be

released from the woman so that the man may absorb it and balance yin and yang within himself as he

then reverts his essence back toward his brain. Although, according to Robinet, “after several acts of

coitus interruptus, ejaculation would not result in loss of vital force.” (Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a

Religion 98)

What Harper leaves out that Wile addresses are the negative consequences or the ten exhaustions

that must be avoided.7 These are a list of symptoms about the male semen, which should not be ejaculated

in the first place. These symptoms include: transparent and cold semen, dry, or oily, or corrupt. The

results of these symptoms are called the symptoms of “great violence” that include white lips, involuntary

movements, and finally the approach of death itself. (Wile 79)

Harper and others have oft used the Ishimpo of the Yellow Emperor, namely the Sunu jing, to

explain earlier texts such as the Ho Yin Yang. The early metaphors have been reflected in poetry and art

which in turn had helped illuminate and later illustrate the texts.8 Most texts to date have focused only on

the practices of men and refer to the practices of women as vampiric. “The fox lady, [was] a supernatural

fairy who exploits men sexually and makes them wither away and die.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince

154) The Ishimpo is a medical text handed down from a celestial being named the Plain Maiden (Sunu) to

7
See Appendix B for the Wile translation of the Ho Yin Yang.
8
I refer to Chinese erotic art, also indicated by the terms Clouds and Rain for the female and male essences.

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the Yellow Emperor. Yet, the text was not compiled till the year 984 by a Japanese physician named

Tamba Yasuyori. The Ishimpo is a large collection of texts, even the sexual practices sections are many. I

will narrow down to the Yufang bijue (Secret Instructions of the Jade Chamber). It addressed both male

and female techniques, referred to as Nourishing the Yang and Nourishing the Yin.

The Nourishing the Yang text describes the importance of keeping one’s intent and practice secret

from the maiden, warning that illness would befall him if he did not. It also explicitly described the type

of women to engage with for this practice in order to benefit the most from it. “It is best to find a woman

who has no knowledge of [the techniques]…. Between fourteen or fifteen and eighteen or nineteen….

Never older than thirty” who have not yet given birth. (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 155) We read the

well-known advice of absorbing the yin essence and reverting it upward.

With these short instructions comes warning against misuse of the techniques and the

consequences to one’s health and life. There is a passage in the text that comments on ailments and

injuries that might occur during sexual practices and how to counter them or cure them. This passages is

called Counterindications. One can cure impotence, poor eyesight, deafness, digestive problems and the

“hundred ills.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 157-159) The reminder is that these techniques are aimed

as longevity, even immortality. If executed properly, if the energies are moved around the body, dispersed

through the five inner organs and reverted to the hundred vessels, “all strong and good energy will return,

while all bad and ill energy will depart.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 159) It is unfortunate that Kohn’s

translations are limited.

Wile describes techniques, benefits, ailments and taboos in his more lengthy translation. The male

organ is referred to as a jade stalk, while the vulva and labia are referred to as zither strings and wheat

teeth. (Wile 104) Instructions are careful to describe the number of times of penetration and whether they

should be shallow or deep. Positions are described or rather prescribed for different ailments to be cured.

A man must adhere to the seven taboos while engaging in the union of yin and yang. These include not

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engaging on certain days or phases of the moon, not during lightning storms, not while drunk or with a

full belly of food, not immediately after urinating, not when one must defecate, not while exhausted, not

right after a bath before one is fully dry, and not when so hard and erect there is pain. (Wile 105)

So far I have looked only at sexual practices of men in relation to women, at their techniques of

absorbing yang essence to unite it with their yin essence to increase their health and expand their lives,

the inner alchemy of immortality. Van Gulik explores the social and sexual roles throughout the ages of

China, however he too only really considers it all from the one gender. Kohn and Wile reveal a passage

called Nourishing the Yin that addresses women’s inner alchemy and sexual practices. “Ideally, women

can do the very same thing, using men – preferably young men – to garner essence and revert it to nourish

their longevity.” (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 154) Kohn remarks in her translation that the techniques

can be used to become pregnant with a male child or can be diveted “back into the hundred vessels.”

(Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 156) While Kohn and Wile indicate some of the benefits for women

(radiant complexion and eternal youth), their translations fail to describe any actual techniques of the

practices of women.

For women’s sexual practices, we must look elsewhere. Although, Kohn does make mention in

her introduction of the sexual texts about the sexual meditative practices of circulating the essences and

massaging the breasts to increase vigor and stop menstruation. (Kohn, The Taoist Expereince 154)

Perhaps researchers are right about the limitation on women practicing the inner alchemy and sexual

practices in early China. The social climate at the time certainly did not encourage the possibility,

however, it didn’t forbid it either. As politics and social structures changed, training in Taoism was one of

the many venues that educated elite women could engage in. It was an option for women who did not

wish to marry, or even for those past marriageable or childbearing years.

We don’t see any actual texts on women’s Taoist sexual practices till the small hints in the

Ishimpo. Yet to truly see texts on women’s practices written by women, we must seek out authors such as

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Sun Buer of the eighteenth century. She is not the only author of such texts, but is one of the more

famous. These texts, while instructional leaned more heavily on the Cloud and Rain metaphorical

language as they were written in the form of poetry. Their teachings served not just women who practiced

with partners, but also served those who practiced solitarily.

Tie up the tiger and return it to the true lair;

Bridle the dragon and gradually increase the elixir.

(Cleary 19)

These are lines from one of Sun Buer’s poems about inner alchemy and sexual practices. The

tiger and the dragon are common references to male and female organs. They are also terms for energy

(tiger) and spirit (dragon). This description is about harnessing these essences, cultivating them in the

“true lair,” which is between the breasts for women. It is there that yin and yang are united for women to

become the golden elixir of immortality. Wile similarly describes how women the jade liquid into the

golden elixir at this same point in the body.

The only problematic aspect of women’s inner alchemy and also the sexual practices was

menstruation. Many of the practices for women are the same sexually as they are for men, save in this

main criteria. Women worm at reverting their essence and stopping their menstruation, called in the

women’s texts as “decapitating the red dragon.” (Despeux and Kohn 204) The differences in practice

varied also according to schools of thought. According to Catherine Despeux, “the Northern traditions,

including the Complete Perfection, generally favoured celibacy and sexual abstinence; they encouraged

their followers to work on their own inner sexual energies and remain independent of the outer support of

a partner” in their search for immortality. “The southern traditions, on the other hand, made use of of

sexual intercourse in their practice.” (Despeux and Kohn 211) These methods, which were conducted in a

specially designed chamber, were called the Dual Cultivation methods within the Art of the Bedchamber.

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T. Scarlet Jory scarletcougar@gmail.com Fall 2010

Conclusion

You should know that the desire of women is stronger than that

of men. Once the monthly flow stops, her heart is like a

blossoming lotus bud. It benefits from rain and dew and begins

to grow its fruit.

A woman without a man is yin in isolation- she cannot bring

forth a lotus blossom. (Kohn, Daoist Body Cultivation 162)9

In this the lotus blossom is akin to the immortal embryo or the golden elixir. The rain and dew is

a metaphor we have already seen for yang jing, seminal fluid or male essence. Immortality requires both

yin and yang to be cultivated and united then to be distributed throughout the body’s microcosm to attain

health, long life, and even immortality.

9
This is an excerpt from the text: Nudan yaoyan.

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T. Scarlet Jory scarletcougar@gmail.com Fall 2010

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