Recommended Posts

Thanks guys for the insights and inputs. This has been helpful. Obviously there is no easy "cookie cutter" answer, but that's why it takes time, I suppose.

 

Thank you Andrei for the frequency reference from Mantak Chia. Interestingly, I am 51 years old.....and he recommends conserving completely. I doubt I can do that "good", but at least it is something tangible I can work on.

 

David

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well you know it's a thumb rule, not written in stone, depends on the particular situation and specific energetic configuration. The rule is to let the body recover after jing loss. I can reccomend you some Chinese herbs that are good with replenishing Kidney and Liver: He Show Wu (Polygonum Multiflori or Fo-Ti) and Goji berries (Gouqi - Lycium barbarum).

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The thing with semen retention was invented by taoists for emperors who had harems with 1000 women. For emperor it was required to have retention to survive so many wives and concubines. But otherwise they were doing natural practices. The Complete Reality school had two sects, the North sect was requiring complete celibacy and vegetarianism, they were completely monks exactly as buddhists monks. The southern sect were using sexual practices, they were allowed to be married and some of them were practicing sexual techniques with postitutes. The idea was to absorb the Jing from the female which is the Yin essence so that they combine with their Yang essence from the male JIng. Probably they were doing this because in North the weather is yin and they could balance their internal heat from yang energy with the yin energy from the environment, while in the South it was much warmer and they needed extra yin energy. Also the young females were breastfeeding the elders, so that they be nourished with yin female energy. In both sects they were doing meditation, because that was the point of having balanced yin and yang energies.

it wasnt invented for them, it was used by them ;)

Edited by MERCELESS ONE
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

<snip>The second--and it is her choice--that I do not have intercourse with her at all.

</snip>

 

This caused my eyebrow to raise...

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is my view based on my own experience and interactions with various teachers over the years.

 

I would have to say that much of the information that has been posted in this thread is either very misleading, or outright false, and some info is well in the completely absurd area, as far as I am concerned anyway. However, I have been around long enough to know that no matter how a person might try to clear up such misconceptions, that it will likely do no good anyway. :) For the most part, people believe what they want to believe, and anything else will likely be ignored or misconstrued.

 

I will say the following however, that typically in Taoism jing is divided into pre-natal and post-natal, and it seems many people are not aware of such a distinction, or are confusing this matter. Jing also has nothing to do with an 'expanding force'. The internal 'forces' developed through internal martials arts is transliterated as jin. As I understand it, herbs will do nothing to replenish pre-natal jing, also again, according to a Taoist point of view, when pre-natal jing is exhausted you will die. I can't comment in regards to women, but for men, having sex (whether practicing 'retention' or not) the pre-natal jing is still depleted. I have seen people insisting that their sexual retention practices are not depleting their 'jing', but it appears that it actually is depleting pre-natal jing. Sexual retention practices may reduce loss of qi and post-natal jing to some extent, but not pre-natal jing. This is why serious Taoist and Buddhist practitioners either have sex very sparingly, or they are completely celibate. It all depends on your goals however...

 

In regards to one or more Taoist internal alchemy branches practicing 'dual cultivation' with women, from what I have had explained to me about this sort of practice is that it was actually a very rare practice and nothing at all like what many people have described or think. Certainly, it does not involve sexual retention, or 'breast feeding', or any of that sort of thing. Therefore the sort of stuff Mantak Chia and others teach is not this sort of practice at all, but rather is just a 'health' practice, and people should take note that a fair number of people have caused themselves issues when practicing those sort of 'retention' health practices. From what I understand then, the sort of thing Mantak Chia was teaching is not authentic internal alchemy practice at all, as was explained to me anyway. Authentic internal alchemy practice involves complete celibacy, and is quite a different sort of practice than some of the stuff that is being passed off as internal alchemy by some unscrupulous or misinformed people. If someone is talking about mixing both sex and internal alchemy practices, my advice would be to run away screaming with your hands pressed firmly over your ears. Keep running until you are very far away. ;)

 

Regarding the book "Taoist Yoga" and Lu Kuan Yu (AKA Charles Luk), Lu Kuan Yu did not write that book. Lu Kuan Yu translated a book written by a Chinese internal alchemy practitioner named Zhao Bichen, and Lu Kuan Yu added some of his own explanatory notes to his translation. The form of internal alchemy practice described in that book requires celibacy (during the period that one is doing those practices), and has nothing whatsoever to do with 'sexual retention practices'. You also can't learn internal alchemy from a book. My understanding is that book was meant as an overview of the practices as Zhao Bichen learned and practiced them.

 

Serious internal alchemy practitioners will have actually been rare, and lived a completely celibate lifestyle, and such people were often recluses. Since most ordinary people are not inclined to want to be completely celibate, or to live as a recluse for much of their life, the best way for the ordinary male to maintain better health is to go very easy on sex, and to reduce the amount of sex from there as you grow older. Living as celibate monks and recluses throughout life is for a very rare few. Well, that's all I have to say on the matter. People will believe what they want to believe regardless what anyone else might say anyway. It is the way of this world. :)

Edited by NotVoid
  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This might muddy the waters, but (I could be wrong) Charles Luk (see http://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/luk.html) wasn't a Taoist. He was a devoted Ch'an Buddhist. I've found Taoist Yoga to be a fascinating book, but.. it wasn't written by a Taoist.

rite! he was a buddhist! but neikung has nothing to do with faith or religion thats why he went to ALL the known high level masters taoist and buddhist alike during his time to find the secrets to powerful neikung/alchemy, and preserve it for future generations. see, what they knew is that authentic masters (as we can see from this site and throught the Qi Gong community) will be hard to come by for future practicioners to learn from. and the book is not witten for the beginner or the non practicer or non believer or blasphemers. you will ony understand that book if you practicing nekung seriously...

Edited by MERCELESS ONE

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites