( or coitus reservatus) is a Daoist sexual practice and ("nourishing life") method aimed at maintaining arousal for an extended plateau phase while avoiding orgasm. According to this practice, retaining unejaculated 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 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).
Terminology The present Chinese term comprises two disyllabic words.
compounds two semantically complex words. 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). ) 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 means "semen" in the expression , "it would be a great mistake to read 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).
compounds two comparatively simpler words. 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). translates into English as: "the brain. 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: "making the return to restore the brain" (Needham and Wang 1956: 150) "making the semen return to strengthen the brain" (van Gulik 1961: 78) "reverting the sperm to repair the brain" (Ware 1966: 140) "making the essence return (so as) to repair the brain" (Maspero 1981: 495) "making the semen return upwards to nourish the brain" (Needham and Lu 1983: 30) "returning the seminal essence and replenishing the brain" (Harper 1987: 549) "making the seminal essence return to nourish the brain" (Ruan 1991: 96) "returning the to nourish the brain" (Wile 1992: 50) "to return of the essence to repair the brain" (Schipper 1993: 242) "return essence to the brain to fortify it" (Bokenkamp 1997: 87) "returning the essence to replenish the brain" (Harper 1998: 151) "conducting the seminal essence to repair the brain" (Baldrian-Hussein 2004: 808) "return of the sperm in order to repair the brain" (Schipper 2004: 786) "returning the essence to replenish the brain" (Despeux 2008: 515) "returning the semen to supplement the brain" (Judy 2015: 135) "returning the sperm to nourish the brain" (Umekawa and Dear 2018: 216) "reverting the essence to replenish the brain" (Pregadio 2022: 438) "to revert the essence and to replenish the brain (marrow)" (Pfister 2022: 344) "return the essence to nourish the brain" (Wang 2022: 359) "returning the semen to the brain" (Rocha 2022: 384) is usually translated as "return", except for three "revert" and one "conduct". is rendered as seven "essence", four "semen", three "seminal essence" and one "[semen's] essence", three "sperm", and two "ching"—in Chinese usage, both and mean "semen; sperm". is given as five each for "repair", "replenish", and "nourish"; and one each for "strengthen", "fortify", "supplement", "restore", and untranslated.(Rocha 2022). consistently has nineteen "brain" translations and one "brain (marrow)". Overall, there is notable diversity among these translations of the phrase, only two are identical "returning the essence to replenish the brain";(Harper 1998 and Despeux 2008) and some translators revised their earlier versions.See (Harper 1987, 1998) and (Needham 1956, 1983).
Scholars have discussed the Chinese sexual practice and related Western techniques in Latin biological terms based on coitus (meaning "sexual intercourse"). (from interruptus "interrupted, cut short"), commonly known as the "withdrawal method" or "pulling out," is an ancient contraceptive method consisting in removing the penis from the vagina before ejaculation. (saxonicus "Saxon, West Germanic tribes") or (thesauratus "repository, treasure") is a widespread birth-control method consisting of squeezing the urethra at the base of the penis before ejaculation, resulting in retrograde ejaculation. (with reservatus "reserved, saved") or (conservatus "preserved, conserved") Is a practice aimed at delaying or preventing orgasm or ejaculation. This can be achieved by stopping intercourse before reaching orgasm. Alternatively, it can be done by contracting the perineum or applying pressure to it with the fingers (the latter method not being recommended for health reasons), which can cause a retrograde ejaculation. The sinologist Joseph Needham refined his translations of . Initially, he held that the technique was not as van Gulik "inadvertently" said, but ", numerous intromissions with a succession of partners occurring for every one ejaculation."(Needham and Ling 1956: 149). Subsequently, Needham reconsidered the problems of nomenclature. should neither be translated because that term is reserved for "the contraceptive method of sudden withdrawal and external ejaculation," nor because that usually means "allowing the state of excitation to fade without a withdrawal". He suggested two neologisms for accurately translating the Chinese methods; for "seminal retention and withdrawal after female orgasm" and for the 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 , Simplified Wade (used by Needham), and other transcription systems are converted to .
Han dynasty
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).
Mawangdui excavated texts 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 (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 techniques, three sexual cultivation bamboo-slip manuscripts mention aspects later associated with essence retention, accumulating and enclosing 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 "essence" consistently names an internal material similar in nature to "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 manuscript consists of ten dialogues between legendary sages including the Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun. One passage exemplifies Chinese euphemisms referring to sexual terminology. When coitus with Yin is expected to be frequent, follow it with flying creatures. The spring dickeybird’s round egg arouses that crowing cock . The crowing cock has an essence. If you are truly able to ingest this, the jade whip is reborn. Best is engaging the member. Block that jade hole . When brimming then have intercourse, and bid farewell with round eggs. If the member is not engaged, conserve it with roasted-wheat meal. If truly able to ingest this, you can raise the dead .(Harper 1998: 443, 456-458)
Both the and the below describe accumulating and enclosing ("semen; life essence") in an enigmatic corporal space called the , where occurs. Harper notes is a standard term for "concentrating vapor and essence inside the body by 'enclosing' them".(Harper 1998: 457). is a related word used in embryonic breathing.(Maspero 1981: 342). and take the essence. Attend to that conjoining of vapor , and lightly move her form. When able to move her form and bring forth the five tones , then absorb her essence. Those who are empty can be made brimming full; the vigorous can be made to flourish lastingly; the aged can be made to live long. The procedure for living long is to carefully employ the jade closure. When at the right times the jade closure enfolds, spirit illumination arrives and accumulates. Accumulating, it invariably manifests radiance. When the jade closure firms the essence, this invariably ensures that the jade wellspring is not upset. Then the hundred ailments do not occur; thus you can live long.(Harper 1998: 444, 458)
The subsequent passage lists nine stages of without ejaculation. In the way of coitus with Yin [intercourse], stay the heart, settle and secure it; and the form and vapor secure one another. Thus it is said: at the first arrival without emission, ears and eyes are perceptive and bright; at the second arrival without emission, the voice’s vapor rises high; at the third arrival without emission, skin and hide glow; at the fourth arrival without emission, spine and upper side suffer no injury; at the fifth arrival without emission, buttock and ham can be squared; at the sixth arrival without emission, the hundred vessels pass clear through; at the seventh arrival without emission, your entire life is without calamity; at the eighth arrival without emission, you can have a lengthy longevity; at the ninth arrival without emission, you penetrate spirit illumination.(Harper 1998: 444, 458)