Huanjing bunao

Huanjing bunao (traditional Chinese: 還精補腦; simplified Chinese: 还精补脑; lit. 'returning the semen/essence to replenish the brain' or coitus reservatus) is a Daoist sexual practice and yangsheng ("nourishing life") method aimed at maintaining arousal for an extended plateau phase while avoiding orgasm. According to this practice, retaining unejaculated jing (精, "semen; [medical] essence of life") supposedly allows it to rise through the spine to nourish the brain and enhance overall well-being. Daoist adepts have been exploring various methods to avoid ejaculation for more than two thousand years. These range from meditative approaches involving breath-control or visualization to manual techniques such as pressing the perineum or squeezing the urethra.
In traditional Chinese medical theory, the shen (腎, "kidney") organ system was considered the reservoir for semen, bone marrow, brain matter, and other bodily fluids. However, in actual fact, huanjing bunao often leads to retrograde ejaculation, which redirects the semen into the bladder, from where it is expelled along with urine. Anatomically speaking, circulating seminal fluid or "seminal essence" throughout the body is impossible. While this ancient Chinese practice has historical and sexological significance, its physiological effects do not align with the traditional beliefs surrounding it.
On the other hand, in some more in-depth interpretations of Taoism, the idea that "the seed would travel up the spine" is to be understood allegorically. Sexual energy is transformed into a more subtle circulating form (from jing to chi). Chi, or vital energy, is then increased through abstinence or coitus reservatus. In Taoist sexuality or sexology manuals, this process is regularly described as follows: jing (the seed, raw and dense) is transformed into chi (vital energy, subtle and circulating).
Semen was used as glue.
The present Chinese term huánjīng bǔnǎo comprises two disyllabic words.
Huánjīng (還精) compounds two semantically complex words. Huán (還) has English translation equivalents of: (1) "turn round, come round; go back, come back, return to previous location or to original condition; (re)cycle, revert", (2) "send back, send in return; answer. give back, remit; redeem; recompense; restore. rebound against one, come round again (whence it began)." (Kroll 2015: 170; note, all definitions condensed to relevant meanings). Jīng (精) translates as: (1) "essence; purest, most highly concentrated element (< finest bleached rice). pith, marrow, gist", (2) "germinal essence, life-germ contained in the Dao. the energy that nourishes the human body and is esp. attached to sexuality (semen, menstrual fluid); seminal; vital; seed(ling)", (3) "quintessence; purest, finest, most characteristic, very best of. concentrate(d), condensed, consolidated. subtle; delicate, fine." (Kroll 2015: 216). Although jing means "semen" in the expression huanjing bunao, "it would be a great mistake to read jing as always referring only to the material secretion itself" (Needham and Lu 1983: 66). The "making the semen return upwards to nourish the brain" technique was another instance of the Daoist emphasis on "reversion, restoration, regeneration, counter-current motion. and cyclical transformation" (Needham and Lu 1983: 31).
Bǔnǎo (補腦) compounds two comparatively simpler words. Bǔ (補) has equivalents of: (1) "mend or patch clothing", (2) "repair, restore; remedy, redress; improve, ameliorate", (3) "add to, supplement; supplete, supply (a deficiency); replenish." (Kroll 2015: 29). Nǎo (腦) translates into English as: "the brain. [medieval Chinese] one's head, noggin: also, top part." (Kroll 2015: 320).
There is no standard English translation of Chinese huanjing bunao, and here are twenty samples:
Huan (還) is usually translated as "return", except for three "revert" and one "conduct". Jing (精) is rendered as seven "essence", four "semen", three "seminal essence" and one "[semen's] essence", three "sperm", and two "ching"—in Chinese usage, both jingzi (精子) and jingye (精液) mean "semen; sperm". Bu (補) is given as five each for "repair", "replenish", and "nourish"; and one each for "strengthen", "fortify", "supplement", "restore", and untranslated (Rocha 2022). Nao (腦) consistently has nineteen "brain" translations and one "brain (marrow)". Overall, there is notable diversity among these translations of the phrase, only two (Harper 1998 and Despeux 2008) are identical "returning the essence to replenish the brain"; and some translators revised their earlier versions, such as (Harper 1987, 1998) and (Needham 1956, 1983).
Scholars have discussed the Chinese huanjing bunao sexual practice and related Western techniques in Latin biological terms based on coitus (meaning "sexual intercourse").
The sinologist Joseph Needham refined his translations of huanjing bunao. Initially, he held that the technique was not coitus interruptus as van Gulik "inadvertently" said, but "coitus reservatus, numerous intromissions with a succession of partners occurring for every one ejaculation." (Needham and Ling 1956: 149). Subsequently, Needham reconsidered the problems of nomenclature. Huanjing bunao should neither be translated coitus interruptus because that term is reserved for "the contraceptive method of sudden withdrawal and external ejaculation," nor coitus reservatus because that usually means "allowing the state of excitation to fade without a withdrawal". He suggested two neologisms for accurately translating the Chinese methods; coitus conservatus for "seminal retention and withdrawal after female orgasm" and coitus thesauratus for the coitus saxonicus retrograde ejaculation "'re-routing' of the secretion into the bladder". (Needham and Lu 1983: 199). Authors inconsistently use these terms for both coitus siccus "copulation without ejaculation" and coitus pluvius "copulation followed by ejaculation".
Note that in quotations below, the romanization of Chinese is standardized into Pinyin, for instance, Wade-Giles ch'i, Simplified Wade chhi (used by Needham), and other transcription systems are converted to qi (氣, "breath; vital force").
The archeological discovery and analysis of medical manuscripts in the 1970s revealed that the origins of Chinese sexual cultivation techniques dated back to at least the Warring States period (c. 475–221 BCE), rather than the early Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE), as previously believed (Needham and Lu 1983: 199).
Seven previously unknown medical and sexological manuscripts, along with the famous Mawangdui Silk Texts, were excavated in 1973 from a Western Han tomb dated 168 BCE (see Harper 1998 for details). Five were written on silk, such as the Wushi'er Bingfang (Recipes for Fifty-Two Ailments), and the other two manuscripts written on bamboo and wooden slips each transcribed two different texts bound separately and rolled together in a single bundle. Although none of them directly refer to the huanjing bunao 還精補腦, "returning the semen/essence to replenish the brain") techniques, three sexual cultivation bamboo-slip manuscripts mention aspects later associated with essence retention, accumulating and enclosing jing within the body, stimulating the penis, contracting the anus, and controlled stages of intercourse with ejaculation, all of which were believed to increase longevity and spiritual enlightenment. In the Mawangdui medical manuscripts, Chinese jing "essence" consistently names an internal material similar in nature to qi "vapor", and is not equivalent to "semen". In fact, no word for "semen" occurs although it is implicit in several passages (Harper 1998: 152).
First, the Shiwen (十問, Ten Questions) manuscript consists of ten dialogues between legendary sages including the Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun. One passage exemplifies Chinese euphemisms referring to sexual terminology.
Both the Shiwen and the Tianxia zhidao tan below describe accumulating and enclosing qing ("semen; life essence") in an enigmatic corporal space called the yubi (玉閉, "jade closure"), where shenming (神明, "spiritual illumination") occurs. Harper notes bi (閉) is a standard term for "concentrating vapor and essence inside the body by 'enclosing' them" (1998: 457). Biqi (閉氣, "hold the breath closed in; apnea") is a related word used in embryonic breathing (Maspero 1981: 342).
The subsequent Shiwen passage lists nine stages of zhi (至, "arrival; 'coming'", i.e., "thrusting the penis inside the vagina") without ejaculation.
Some Mawangdui manuscript paleographers suggest that the Shiwen contains the earliest documentation of huanjing bunao ("returning the essence to replenish the brain"), depending upon whether the unusual character liu (月留) should be read as a copyist's error for nao (腦, "brain") or a graphic loan character for bao (胞, "womb; placenta"). The context describes an ancient method for "coitus with Yin to become strong" and "sucking in heaven's essence to achieve longevity." King Pan Geng is told,
Wile translates liu as "brain", "stimulate the penis ... contract the anus ... absorb the [qi] to fill the brain ... all the [jing] will rise upward" (1992: 58). However, based upon similar textual usages, Harper translates it as "womb", hypothetically meaning "a 'womb-like organ' where men as well as women store vapor and essence", and disputes the "brain" interpretation because "filling the womb" occurs in the third of five stages, whereas "replenishing the brain" is regularly the final stage in sexual cultivation (1998: 465–467).
Second, the He yinyang (合陰陽, Conjoining/Uniting Yin and Yang; a standard term for sexual intercourse) manuscript begins with a jargonized method for doing it,
Compare the Shiwen parallel above saying the "mass of essence all ascends". In contrast with this "essence and spirit" translation for jingshen (精神), Wile translates "By sucking her jing spirit upward" and notes "jing spirit" should be understood as "essentially sexual energy." (1992: 78, 223). This context continues with the "signs of the five desires" (e.g., the second is "the nipples harden and her nose sweats—slowly embrace") and says,
In the last sentence, Harper reads the manuscriptal jie (楬, "peg; tally") as a graphic loan character for jie (偈, "forceful; parch") meaning that when intercourse is excessive, "the penis must still block the vaginal opening in order to seal the sexually generated essence inside" (1998: 481, 501).
A subsequent He yinyang passage differentiates jing essences by gender.
Third, the Tianxia zhidao tan (天下至道谈, Discussion of the Culminant Way in Under-Heaven) bamboo document says that enclosing jing ("essence") can result in achieving shenming (神明, "spirit illumination").
Compare Wile's above translation of yubi (玉閉, "jade closure"), "The matter of achieving spiritual illumination consists of locking. If one carefully holds the "jade" in check, spiritual illumination will he achieved." (1992: 80).
Another context, described as the "free-handed method" (Pfister 2022: 343), refers to anal constriction during sexual coitus, but does not specify pressing on the zuan (簒, "usurp; perineum")
Washing the penis is intended to bring about detumescence (Harper 1998: 501).
Prior to the Mawangdui discoveries, scholars relied on received texts of Chinese classics to understand the origins of huanjing bunao. For instance, the Yiwenzhi bibliographical section of the 111 CE Book of Han lists the Rong Cheng yin dao (容成陰道, Rong Cheng's Way of Lovemaking) in 26 chapters, along with several other lost texts on sexual cultivation.
The earliest known attestation of huanjing bunao is the c. 2nd century CE Xiang'er commentary (to Daodejing 9) that condemns the practice (Harper 1998: 467). At this early stage of huanjng bunao practice, note the use of si (思, "think, think of") denoting "contemplate, meditate" on essence rather than semen.
Based upon a misquotation in the transmitted 5th century Book of the Later Han, several authorities have contended that huanjing bunao was first recorded in the 2nd century CE Liexian zhuan ("Biographies of Exemplary Transcendents") hagiography of Rong Chenggong (容成公), one of the semi-legendary founding fathers of Chinese sexology: "One should firmly hold [the penis] with the hand, not ejaculate, and let the essence revert to replenish the brain." (Despeux 2008: 515).
The Book of the Later Han biography of Ling Shouguang (冷壽光) says he was an expert on the sexual techniques of Rong Cheng, and the commentary quotes the Liexian zhuan.
Although Needham and Lu claim the last sentence was "expurgated" from the original Liexian zhuan, the huanjing bunao reference belongs to the commentary and not the original text (Harper 1998: 467).
The Quanzhen School hagiographer Zhao Daoyi (趙道一, fl. 1294–1307), compiler of the Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian (歷世真仙體道通鋻, Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Who Embodied the Way Through the Ages), notes he chose to omit the tradition that "Some say that Sire Rong Cheng obtained the art of 'riding the woman,' by which one firmly grasps [the seminal vesicle] in order not to leak out the semen [but rather] cause it to return and so nourish the brain" because it probably resulted as "an erroneous divergence [from the earlier legend] by later generations." (Campany 2002: 534–535)
The reconstructed 2nd or 3rd century Sunü jing (素女經, The Classic of the Pure/Plain Woman) defines huanjing (還精, "returning the essence") as "to be aroused but not ejaculate", describes a man gathering and transforming the jing from a woman's mouth and returning it into his brain, and details the pleasures of refraining from ejaculation.
First, the Yellow Emperor asks Sunu about the results of refraining from intercourse for a long time, and she answers.
Needham mistranslates daoyin (導引, "exercise; calisthenics; breath circulation") as "masturbation", despite correctly translating it more than ten times elsewhere in the book as "gymnastic techniques" and "massage" (Wile 1992: 59).
Second, the legendary ruler asks Sunu about how to regain strength when he cannot get an erection, and she recommends first harmonizing with his partner, then gathering her jing, transforming it into jingqi (精氣), and returning it to the brain.
The translator notes that huan (還, "return") denotes the "process of raising the jing energy from its center at the base of the body up the back to the brain", and reads the character zang (髒, "dirty; defile") following as a variant of nao (腦, "brain"), that is, "return the jing to fortify the brain" (1992: 234).
Third, the goddess Cainü (采女, Selected Woman) asks Peng Zu, "The pleasure of intercourse lies in ejaculation. Now if a man locks himself and refrains from emission, where is the pleasure?", and he answers:
The historical term "Six Dynasties" (222-589) collectively refers to the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE), Jin Dynasty (265–420), and Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589).
Ge Hong's c. 318 Baopuzi (Master Who Embraces Simplicity) provides early information about "returning the essence to replenish the brain" and related terms. Huanjing bujao occurs in two chapters. "The Ultimate System" lists it among common practices to nourish life.
The "Resolving Hesitations" chapter praises the secret huanjing bunao practice, which had always been orally transmitted.
The Baopuzi mentions huanjing taixi with Taixi (embryonic breathing) (還精胎息, "return the essence and breathe like an embryo") in the Rejoinder to Popular Conceptions chapter, which quotes a poem from a xianjing (仙經, Scripture on Transcendence):
Compare "Revert your sperm, breathe like fetus" (Ware 1966: 54).
The Baopuzi Genie's Pharmacopoeia chapter lists brain-supplementing sophora seeds among Daoist transcendence drugs. "Seal with clay in a new jar for twenty days or more, until the skin has fallen off Then wash the seeds, and they will be like soybeans. Taken daily, they will be especially good for repairing the brain. If one takes them for a long time, one's hair will not turn white, and one will enjoy Fullness of Life." (Ware 1966: 190–191).
Besides the usual word jing ("sperm"), the Baopuzi synonymously uses yindan (陰丹, "Yin elixir; sperm") in two contexts of bunao (補腦, "brain mending").
The 2nd or 3rd century Huangting waijing yujing (黃庭外景玉經, Jade Manual of the External Radiance of the Yellow Courts; compare the Shangqing revelations Inner Scripture) is "filled with cryptic expressions and divine names" designed to exclude uninformed readers, and is addressed to learned Daoists already familiar with huanjing bunao techniques (Maspero 1981: 488, 523). For illustration,
The circulation of the qi Breath is completed by that of the jing Essence. While the basic meaning of jing is "sperm in men; menstrual blood in women"; this text uses it to mean "some sort of sublimation dematerialized and capable of blending with the Breath".
There is a parallel between huanjing ("essence returning") and biqi (閉氣, "breath holding"). In Daoist physiology, the spinal cord, was likened to the Yellow River in its "downward-radiating trophic influence", the Huangting Wajing Yujing allusively described huanjing with the phrase Huang He niliu (黃河逆流) "making the Yellow River flow backwards") (Needham and Ling 1956: 150).
The c. 4th century Yufang zhiyao (玉房指要, Essentials of the Jade Chamber) quotes the Han Daoist transcendent Liu Jing (劉京) about sexual intercourse.
Maspero says this "elementary exercise" is sufficient for an adept who only wants to prolong life, but "making the Essence return to restore the brain" is necessary if one wants to achieve spiritual transcendence (1981: 522). The ensuing passage quotes an anonymous Xianjing (仙經, Scripture on Transcendence/Immortality") that gives details of how to practice huanjing bunao, where the diverted "jing" seems to be ordinary semen and not supernatrural "jingqi" (精氣, "sexual energy; vitality") (Wile 1992: 48).
Citing this early description of the urethral pressure method, Pfister says a few people consider it "a beginner’s practice, which should, after some training, be replaced by the free-handed procedure" (2022: 344).
Needham and Lu reason that huanjing bunao "making the semen return to nourish the brain" originated at some very early time during the Zhou dynasty (1046 BCE – 256 BCE), when the discovery was made that if pressure was applied at "the right point in the perineal region the urethra could be occluded, so that at the moment of orgasm the semen instead of being ejaculated could be made to pass into the body." The fact that it passed into the bladder and was later urinated always escaped the notice of the Daoists, and "over more than two thousand years a great structure of theory grew up" concerning how the precious secretion of jing essence was conveyed up into the head and ultimately to the center of the body for the preparation of the internal elixir (1983: 197–198).
Next, the Yufang zhiyao describes how to zhi (止, "stop; suppress; still") ejaculating jing, without mention of "returning" it to the brain or "absorbing" it from the partner.
The pre-Sui c. 4th century Yufang mijue (玉房秘訣, Secrets of the Jade Chamber) expands the semantic range of the huanjing bunao ("return the sperm/essence to nourish the brain") vocabulary. This text uses "jing" and "qi" more or less interchangeably, the "woman's sexual energy" in one instance being called yinjing (陰精) and in another similar context yinqi (陰氣). Elsewhere, yinjing (陰精) refers to both" male and female sexual essences" (Wile 1992: 48). In the following examples of Yufang mijue passages, instead of huanjing "returning the jing" to the brain, the text mentions "return the jing and restore the fluid [ye 液]", "mounting the 'vast spring and returning the jing", and "return the jingqi [精氣, "essence and breath"]". Another comparable illustration of semantic polysemy is the word jingye (精液, lit. "seminal/essential fluid"), which Wile translates as "semen", "jing secretions", and "fluids".
First, huanjing "return the jing" is paired with fuye (複液, "restore the fluid") and jingye is translated as "semen".
Second, huanjing "returning the jing" occurs after absorbing the woman's jingye (精液, "jing secretions") and mounting the hongquan (鴻泉, the "vast spring"), which may mean "female genitalia" (Wile 1992: 251).
Third, the Yufang mijue expands the standard huanjing "return the jing" to huanjingqi with qi (氣, "qi; breath"). This context claims the health benefits of avoiding ejaculation include achieving clear vision, preventing deafness, and regulating the Five Viscera.
Mai (脈, "pulse; artery; vein") in this baimai (百脈, "hundred vessels") occurs in another Yufang mijue passage where jingye is simply translated as "fluids".
The pre-Tang c. 5th century Dong Xuanzi (洞玄子, Master of the Cavern of Mystery), named after the Dongxuan (洞玄, "Mystery Grotto"), which is one of the Three Grottoes in the Daozang Daoist canon. One passage lists a number of standard techniques for ejaculation control, mentioning neither squeezing the penis base nor pressing the perineum, and concludes, "the jing will rise of itself."
Chinese sex manuals variously list terms for vaginal depths, beginning with the shallowest qinxian (琴絃, "zither strings; Labia minora") and maichi (麥齒, "wheat teeth"), between which is the optimum depth for ejaculation (Wile 1992: 236, 243, 255).
The c. 5th century Qingling zhenren Peijun zhuan (清靈真人裴君傳, Biography of Lord Pei, the Realized Person of Pure Refinement)
In Sui (561-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasty sex manuals, the "return," "circulation," or "rising" of the jing takes place "naturally as a result of simultaneous stimulation and reservatus; and that male and female sexual energy usually are treated in separate passages in the texts and never explicitly linked" (Wile 1992: 48).
The Tang Fangzhong buyi (房中補益, Health Benefits of the Bedchamber) was preserved in Sun Simiao's 652 classic medical reference Qianjin yaofang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand) (chapter 83). This text includes the ejaculation control techniques found in earlier sources, but also adds several new elements. First, it introduces the discovery that "frequent sex with occasional ejaculation is less depleting than occasional sex with habitual ejaculation", which supports the theory that frequent coitus reservatus intensifies sexual power. Second, it presents meditative visualizations and yogic postures for precoital preparation and postcoital absorption, for instance, "Imagine a red color within the navel the size of a hen's egg" for deep penetration without arousing the jing. Third, the text emphasizes the importance of absorbing qi from "above", meaning the woman's breath (Wile 1992: 48).
Pingyi (屏翳, "screen shade") is an alternate name for the Conception vessel CV-1 Huiyin (會陰, Yin Meeting) acupoint at the perineum (Wile1992: 263).
The c. 785 Wangwu Zhenren Liu Shou yi zhenren koujue (王屋真人劉守依真人口訣, Confidential Oral Instructions of the Adept of Mount Wangwu, Presented to the Court by Liu Shou), which is contained in the c. 1029 Yunji Qiqian Daoist Canon, refers to huanjing in several passages.
There is an analogy between party etiquette and having sex.
The text then goes on to explain the chenghu (垂壺, "riding the wine-pot") technique of "applying the perineal pressure in coitus thesauratus with the heel rather than the hand", and quotes an old Daoist saying that: "Who wishes life unending to attain, Must raise the essence to restore the brain [運精補腦]."
Concurrent with historical developments of Daoism, the huanjing bunao technique of "Returning the essence to replenish the brain" evolved from sexual yoga to cosmic meditation. This method originally consisted of controlling the flow of jing (精, "seminal essence"), and was related to fangzhongshu (lit. "bedchamber arts", "lovemaking techniques") and yangsheng ("longevity practices") (Despeux 2008: 514). During the Tang dynasty, Neidan (Inner Alchemy) became popular and huijing benao took on a different meaning that refers to the repeated cycling of the essence in the first stage of the practice, called zhoutian (周天, "celestial circuit; continuously circular movement of the universe") (Despeux 2008: 515).
By the end of the Tang dynasty, many Chinese sex manuals were no longer extant, and only known by titles listed in bibliographies. Fortuitously, the Japanese physician Tamba Yasuyori (丹波康頼, 912–995) compiled and published many fragments of early Chinese medical writings in his 984 Japanese Ishinpō (醫心方, Formulas of the Heart of Medicine), which was partly based on the 7th century Zhubing yuanhou lun (General Treatise on the Etiology and Symptomology of Diseases). Chapter 28 of the Ishinpō, Japanese Bōnai (房内, Art of the Bedchamber) contains several texts, such as the Sunü jing. The Chinese editor Ye Dehui republished them in his 1907 Shuangmei jing’an congshu (雙梅景闇叢書, Shadow of the Double Plum Tree Anthology), which outraged many Chinese readers.
Sex manuals continued to be published during the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271–1368), and Ming dynasties (1368–1644).
The c. 1020 Yunü sunyi (御女損益, Dangers and Benefits of Intercourse with Women) is chapter 6 of the Yangxing yanming lu (養性延命錄, "On Nourishing Inner Nature and Extending Life"), attributed to Tao Hongjing or Sun Simiao. It presents some new themes, such as postejaculatory remediation, advising to supplement leaked semen by engaging in daoyin exercise to "circulate energy internally", and an early description of cloudy urine from retrograde ejaculation (Pfister 2022: 345).
Another passage describes some more serious consequences of losing jing "seminal essence".
Unlike earlier texts recommending the sexist concept of male release and absorption from females, the Yunü sunyi is the first to describe a path of mutual immortality for both sexes through a combination of deep penetration, low arousal, and dantian visualizations (Wile 1992: 48).
Lastly, this text misquotes the Daodejing: "If one returns the jing to nourish the brain, one will never grow old [還精補腦，可得不老矣]." (Wile 1992: 126); suggesting that this Laozi (老子) may literally mean an "old one, or wise one" author rather than the Laozi text (1992: 265).
The c. 1029 Yunji Qiqian quotes the Shangjing dongzhen pin (上清洞真品, The Ranks of Spirits and Substances, a Dongzhen Scripture of the Supreme Clarity Heavens), which paraphrases huanjing bunao:
The early 13th-century Xiyue Dou xiansheng xiuzhen zhinan (西嶽竇先生修真指南, Teacher Dou's South-Pointer for the Regeneration of the Primary [Vitalities], from the Western Sacred Mountain) lists the qibao (七寶, "seven precious things")—shen (神), qi (氣), mai (脈, "vessels and nerves"), jing (精), xue (血, "blood"), tuo (唾, "saliva"), and shui (水, "juices of organs")—necessary for the qifan (七返, "seven reversions"). It says, "if the juices are abundant they can generate saliva, if the saliva is abundant it can change into blood, if the blood is abundant it can be transmuted the jing (seminal essence), if the jing is abundant it can (be sent up to) nourish the brain, if the brain is nourished it can strengthen the qi, and if the qi is copious it can complete and perfect the shen." (tr. Needham and Lu 1983: 151).
The Ming c. 1500 Sunü miaolun (素女妙論, Wondrous Discourse of Sunü) presents a new theory with a parabolic curve of sexual vitality, peaking at middle age, which separates the concept of sexual energy from simple ejaculatory potency (Wile 1992: 48).
The Sunü miaolun explains self-cultivation through absorbing a partner's energy and supplementing oneself:
The 1615 Ming dynasty Xingming guizhi compendium of Inner Alchemy pictures an adept practicing huanjing bunao. The "Illustration of Reverse Illumination" shows the vertebral column, which is flanked by the shen (腎, "TCM kidneys")—distinct from the anatomical kidneys—which are respectively labeled as longhuo (龍火, "dragon fire") on the right, a symbol of yang energy within the yin side of the body, and hushui (虎水, "tiger water") on the left, a symbol of yin energy within the yang side of the body (Little 2000: 348–349). This illustration shows twenty-four "vertebra", some labeled with the traditional Chinese medical acupoint names for fourteen of the twenty-eight points of the Dumai (督脈) Governing Vessel. The relevant huanjing bunao acupoints are GV-1 Changqiang (長強, Long and Strong) halfway between the coccyx and the anus, and Conception vessel CV-1 Huiyin (會陰, Yin Meeting) halfway between the scrotum and the anus (Needham and Lu 1983: 231).
Although the Daoist practice of "returning the seminal essence to replenish the brain" may seem to be a uniquely Orientalist mystery, there are historical counterparts in the fields of Ancient Greek medicine and Tantric sex.
In Ancient Greece, some physicians and philosophers believed that semen originated in the brain and moved through the spinal marrow. Plato's c. 360 BCE Timaeus dialog considered the brain and spinal marrow as a special form of bone marrow in which "God implanted his divine seed" (Noble 2014: 399). The marrow supposedly passes down the spine and communicates its "universal seed stuff" to the genitalia for procreative purposes. "And the marrow inasmuch as it is animate and has been granted an outlet from the passage of egress for drink [the penis] has endowed that part with a love for generating by implanting therein a lively desire for emission" (Noble 2014: 400).
Regarding the semen, Hippocrates (c. 460- c. 370 BCE) said, "The greater quantity of the material of generation, it is believed on the authority of Galen, is drawn from the brain." (Opera, De semine). This refers to the Pseudo-Galen Definitiones Medicae, "The semen, as Plato and Diocles opine, is discharged by the brain and the spinal marrow, while Praxagoras and Democritus and thereafter Hippocrates maintain it comes from the whole body." (Noble 2014: 397)
Based upon contemporary medical resources, the anatomical drawing by Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) shows two duct systems entering the penis, one with several branches from the lower spinal cord fusing to form a duct that goes directly through to the tip of the penis, the other system going from the testes with a duct sweeping backwards to circle the bladder before returning to enter the penis (Noble 2014: 393). In the bottom left sketches, note the two channels in the penis, one for urine and one for semen, rather than a single urethra. Leonardo "labeled the spinal cord 'generative power', reflecting the Platonic view (which he later abandoned) that semen derives from the spinal marrow" (Pevsner 2002: 219). Leonardo da Vinci corrected his anatomical mistakes in a lesser-known second (probably after 1508) drawing accurately based on dissection (Noble 2014: 395).
In Ancient India, the Chinese technique of "returning the seminal essence to replenish the brain" has parallels in two associated mudras (lit. "seal; mystery; gesture")—symbolic body postures practiced in hatha yoga and kundalini. Vajroli mudra is practice of a male yogi preserving his semen after ejaculation by drawing it up through his urethra from the vagina of a female yoginī. Khecarī mudrā is a kumbhaka breath retention practice of rolling the tip of the tongue backwards and upwards until it touches the soft palate and reaches towards the nasal cavity [cf. Dong Xuanzi above, Wile 1992: 112]. Khecarī mudrā is said to "accomplish the simultaneous immobilization of breath, thought and semen, obstructing the throat with the tongue in kumbhaka apnea, secreting copious saliva, and never emitting semen" (Needham and Lu 1983: 274).
The circa 100 BCE to 300 CE Dhyanabindu Upanishad describes the khecarī mudrā posture "when the tongue enters the cavern of the cranium, moving contrawise (backward). The eye-glance penetrating between the eyebrows" and how it allows one to accomplish vajroli mudra (Ayyangar 1938: 164).
The c. 150 CE Yogatattva Upanishad describes both mudras together.
And with the vajroli-mudra,
The Yogatattva Upanishad also records a marvelous side-effect of practicing semen retention, "Avoiding intercourse with women, he should earnestly betake himself to the practice of Yoga. On account of the retention of semen there will be generated an agreeable smell in the body of the Yogin." (Ayyangar 1938: 311).
It is likely that the method of perineal pressure to avoid ejaculation was also used in India. For instance, the c. 320-390 CE Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika uses the term maithunasya parāvṛttau ("returning the semen: rerouting the semen"), which is closely analogous to Chinese huanjing (Needham and Lu 1983: 275).
The Dutch diplomat and author Robert van Gulik proposed a historical thesis that sexual mysticism or sexual yoga originated in China, rather than India as commonly assumed (1971: 339-359). The 1973 discovery of the 2nd-century BCE Mawangdui medical manuscripts (above) strengthened the probability that Daoist sexual practices, including huanjing bunao, were the precursor of Tantric sexual practices (Wile 1992: 157). Van Gulik gives Buddhist and Hindu examples of spiritual semen retention.
Some specialized Sanskrit and Pali terminology is used in the following descriptions of Hindu and Buddhist adepts visualizing semen moving up the spinal cord into the brain. Within the human body, prana ("life force, vital principle") energies are thought to flow through nadi ("tubes, channels, nerves") that connect the chakra ("wheel") energy centers. There are three main nadi channels. The most important central sushumna goes along the spinal cord and connects the muladhara ("base chakra") to the sahasrara ("thousand-petalled" "crown chakra"). The left channel ida or lalana is associated with female, ova, moon, etc.; and the right channel pingala or rasana is associated with male, semen, sun, etc.
First, esoteric Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism introduced "a highly specialized sexual mysticism, based on the principle that complete unity with the deity and supreme bliss could be achieved by a meditative process based on the coitus reservatus" (van Gulik 1971: 341). According to Giuseppe Tucci, "the disciple, through the sexual act, reproduces the creative moment. But the act must not be performed down to its natural consequences; it should be controlled by pranayama [Yogic breath-control], in such a manner that the semen goes its way backwards, not flowing downwards but ascending upwards, until it reaches the top of the head, hence to vanish into the uncreated source of the Whole" (Tucci 1949: 242). In order to overcome the sexual dualism of the lalana and rasana nadi channels, a male Vajrayana practitioner meditates on the bodhicitta ("enlightenment-mind; thought of awakening") while having intercourse with a female partner, acquiring her female energy stimulates his bodhicitta, which blends with his activated but unejaculated semen into a new, powerful essence called bindu ("drop; dot") or "translated semen" (tr. van Gulik). The bindu breaks through the separation of lalana and rasana, and opens up a new, asexual energy channel known as avadhutika ("the cleansed one"). The bindu rises up this channel, through the chakras and reaches the crown chakra, whereupon the practitioner can purportedly achieve nirvana (van Gulik 1971: 342). Although Vajrayana incorporated older Buddhist and Hindu thought, the "conception of the coitus reservatus supplying a shortcut to complete enlightenment was an entirely new element, in that form unknown in pre-Vajrayana Buddhism" (van Gulik 1971: 343).
Second, Saikva and Sakta Tantra schools of Hindu Shaivism also practiced sexual mysticism. The process of merging the separate pingala and lalana channels, under the stimulus of real or visualized coitus reservatus with a female partner, is called Kundalini yoga. The dormant female energy in the yogi's body is called technically kundalini ("coiled snake"), which after arousal creates a new, asexual nerve channel called sushumna, along which the adept's unejaculated "translated semen" ascends until it reaches the brain. There the final union with the deity is visualized as the embrace of the god Shiva and goddess Parvati (van Gulik 1971: 343-344). In Shaktism, a practitioner who has mastered the spiritual coitus reservatus technique is called urdhvaretas ("one who can make semen flow upward [in the body]"), a practice of Brahmacarya ("celibacy"). According to Hindu concepts, a subtle form of semen exists throughout the entire body, and can be transformed into a gross form in the sexual organs (van Gulik 1971: 345). "To be urdhvaretas is not merely to prevent the emission of gross semen already formed but to prevent its formation as gross seed, and its absorption in the general system" (Woodroffe 1919: 199). Along with Chinese Daoists, the Sakta adept considered the semen his most precious possession. The 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika says: "He who knows Yoga should preserve his semen. For the expenditure of the latter tends to death, but there is life for him who preserves it" (Woodroffe 1919: 189). Van Gulik concludes that, "Since sexual mysticism based on the coitus reservatus flourished in China since the beginning of our era, whereas it was unknown in India, it seems obvious that this particular feature of the Vajrayana was imported into India from China, probably via Assam" (1971: 351).
Finally, Joseph Needham says a sexual ritual of the Hindu Vaishnava Sahajiya tradition has an equivalence to Chinese huanjing bunao ("making the jing, or seminal essence, return") that is "too close to be accidental" (1956: 428). This method of maithuna ("Tantric sexual intercourse") involves the sushumna central nadi channel. A man and woman follow a series of postures and recitations that should result in "the passing of seminal fluid through the middle nerve, which will then go upwards towards the region of paramātmā ["supreme self"]. If it passes through the other two nerves, the result will be either the procreation of children, or mere waste of energy. It is only the middle nerve which is the source of perpetual enjoyment." (Bose 1930: 71).