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The Sexual Arts of Ancient China as Described in a Manuscript of The Second Century
B.C.
Author(s): Donald Harper
Source: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies , Dec., 1987, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Dec., 1987), pp.
539-593
Published by: Harvard-Yenching Institute
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2719191
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The Sexual Arts of Ancient China
as Described in a Manuscript of
the Second Century B.C.
DONALD HARPER
University of California, Berkeley
N addition to their interest in procreation and in satisfying

mutual desires between man and woman, the ancient Chinese re-
garded sexual relations as a vital part of the therapeutic arts of
physical cultivation. Along with breath cultivation, callisthenic exer-
cises, and dietetics, sexual intercourse was one of the methods for
"nurturing life" (yang sheng RI).' Literature on sexual practice
Much of the research for this article was done during my tenure as a Mellon Fellow in th
Department of Asian Languages, Stanford University, for whose support I am grateful. I
would also like to thank Dr. Li Hsiueh-ch'in 2* of the Institute of History, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, and Professor Ch'iu Hsi-kuei AX+ of Peking University for
guidance on matters related to the Ma-wang-tui ,%3EJ manuscripts while I was in Peking
during the summer, 1985.
Abbreviations:
HY Harvard-Yenching Index to the Taoist Canon, Tao tsang tzu muyin-te T i
(Peking, 1936). References are to the number of a text in the Canon as given on pp.
1-37.
KGS Yamada Keiji IEll , ed., Shin hakken Chuigoku kagakushi shiryo no kenkyti f r,
1S144t 40Rt (Kyoto: Ky6t6 Daigaku Jimbun Kagaku Kenkyuisho, 1985),
vol. 1 (Yakuchiu hen Xtr) and vol. 2 (Ronko hen )
PS Ma-wang-tui Han mu po shu A T Y :f%g, vol. 4 (Peking: Wen-wu Press, 1985).
SSCCS Juan Yuan IxdE, ed., Shih-san ching chu shu + ffiet (Taipei: 1-wen Press
reproduction of 1815 ed.).
Physical cultivation practices, as documented mainly in post-Han Taoist scriptures, have
been studied in a classic article by H. Maspero, "Les procedes de 'nourrir le principe vital'
dans la religion taoiste ancienne,"Journal Asiatique 229 (1937): 177-252 and 353-430 (pub-
lished in English in H. Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion, trans. F. Kierman [Amherst:
539

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540 DONALD HARPER
was classified under the rubric "intra-chamber" (fang chung N r4i) as

one of the four divisions of medical literature in the first century B.C.
catalogue of the royal Han library, coming just ahead of the
literature devoted to the attainment of "divine transcendence" (shen
hsien 1[4). None of the books recorded in these two divisions in the
Han shu M. bibliographic treatise are extant.2 Portions of Chinese
sex manuals which date perhaps from the Later Han and more
assuredly from the Six Dynasties have been preserved. These
sources indicate that the purpose of the sex manuals was principally
to describe the correct way to have intercourse-the way which
would result in general physical well-being-and to warn of the
dangers of indulging in careless sexual activity. Properly executed,
intercourse nurtured the body and promoted health; improperly ex-
ecuted, it led to disease and death.3 Sexual cultivation was also part
University of Massachusetts Press, 1981], pp. 446-554). Maspero also wrote on the pre-Han
yang sheng tradition in "Notes historiques sur les origines et le developpement de la religion
taoiste jusqu'aux Han," in Le Taoisme (Paris: Publications du Musee Guimet, 1950), pp.
201-18 (Taoism and Chinese Religion, pp. 413-26). For more recent studies of earlyyang sheng
theory and practice (as evidenced in Chuang tzu JW#, Lao tzu t#, Li shih ch'un ch'iu g ,
tk, Huai nan tzu dMiT, and other pre-Han and Han sources), see especially, Kusuyama
Haruki WWi 01 , Roshi densetsu no kenkyiu t;#fW . DiFI (Tokyo: S6bunsha, 1979), pp. 21-
67; and Sawada Takio f "Sen-Shin no y6seisetsu shiron: sono shiso to keifu" t
ODt q 9: -7c C , Nippon Chu-goku gakkai hi H * PPM *a 17 (1965): 19-
35. By Han times the various forms of physical cultivation were already incorporated into the
regimen for becoming a hsien 1Ll ("transcendent"). For a general treatment of sexual practice
within the context of ancient physical cultivation, see J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in
China, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956): 146-52; R. H. van Gulik, Sex-
ual Life in Ancient China (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1961), pp. 35-47; and K. M. Schipper, "Science,
Magic, and the Mystique of the Body, " The Clouds and the Rain: the Art of Love in China, ed. M.
Beurdeley (London: Hammond and Hammond, 1969), pp. 14-20.
2 Han shu pu-chu AIM , (reproduction of 1900 woodblock ed., 1-wen Press,
30.80b-82a.
3 The main source for the fragments of the sex manuals is chapter 28 of the tenth ce
Japanese medical compendium Ishimpo WbiL'j (reproduction of the 1859 woodblock e
Tokyo: K6dansha, 1973). On the Ishimpo and its author, Tamba Yasuyori Pfg*m,
Gulik, Sexual Life, p. 122. The book was completed ca. 984 and circulated in manuscript form
until the nineteenth century. Ishihara Akira ;EJqJj, et al., Ishimpo: kan dai-n4ijhachi, bonai 9
,L't:+J-, t~ (Tokyo: Shibundo, 1970) is an annotated Japanese translation of
chapter 28 with illustrations and valuable appendices. This book is the basis for an English
translation of chapter 28 by Ishihara and Howard S. Levy, The Tao of Sex (New York: Harper
and Row, 1970).
The Su nui ching *, (Scripture of the Immaculate Maid) is regarded as the oldest of the
sex manuals quoted in the Ishimpo5 (see nn. 105-06 below) because of references to Su nu and
to a Su shu #- in connection with sexual arts in Later Han sources. Cf. van Gulik, Sexual
Life, pp. 70-79 and pp. 121-25; and Needham, Science 2:147-48.

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SEXUAL ARTS 541
of the program for spiritual transformation in Later Han and Six

Dynasties Taoist sects, and the teachings in certain scriptures docu-
ment early Taoist sexual practice.4
Documentation of the practices of physical cultivation in Warring
States and Ch'in-Han times has recently come to light in silk and
bamboo manuscripts discovered in tomb three at Ma-wang-tui .A17
a in Ch'ang-sha AJ:, Hunan (burial dated 168 B.C.). Among a cor-
pus of fifteen texts related to health and medicine, seven treat of the
ancient "nurturing life" practices. Sexual practice is detailed in
four of these texts, and this material undoubtedly exemplifies the
content of the literature classified as "intra-chamber" in the Han
shu bibliographic treatise. Two texts, both written on bamboo slips,
bear a particularly close resemblance to the later sex manuals in
style and content. The Chinese editors of the Ma-wang-tui medical
corpus have assigned the title "Ho Yin Yang" 1 (Conjoining
Yin and Yang) to the first text, and the title "T'ien hsia chih tao
t'an" WT-i="A (Discourse on the culminant way in Under Heav-
en) to the second. I judge them to be the oldest extant Chinese sex
manuals, and to represent the textual antecedents of the sex manu-
als that circulated in the Later Han and Six Dynasties periods.5
4 Although by Han times physical cultivation practices were observed assiduously by

adepts of the hsien longevity cult (and subsequently by Taoist adepts) as a way to realize the
transformation of their body and spirit, related practices for maintaining good health were in
more general use. With respect to sexual arts, both van Gulik, Sexual Life, pp. 78-79, and
Needham, Science 2:147, note the fact that the later sex manuals represented fundamental
ideas of sexual hygiene which could have been practiced by Taoists and non-Taoists alike.
The distinctive aspects of Taoist sexual cultivation have been noted by Schipper, "The
Taoist Body," History of Religions 17 (1978): 370-71, who distinguishes between intercourse
as a means for the male to cultivate his Yang vitality-the fundamental perspective of the sex
manuals-and the ultimate goal of the Taoist adept, which was to use intercourse as one way
for creating within himself a divine embryo from which the transcendent spirit would emerge.
In this act of sexual transformation, the Taoist male identified with the generative aspect of
feminine sexuality-not a role assumed by the male in the sex manuals (cf. Schipper,
"Science, Magic, and the Mystique of the Body," pp. 20-26). The Huang t'ing ching
(Scripture of the Yellow Court), probably second or third century A.D., is the oldest scripture
to treat of sexual cultivation in Taoism. I refer to the so-called "outer" scripture (Huang t'ing
wai chingyzu ching All E?f), not the later "inner" scripture (Huang t 'ing nei chingyui ching
X '3C41 e R) which was probably composed within the Shang ch'ing ? it sect of Taoism in
the fourth-sixth centuries. Cf. Maspero, "Procedes," pp. 237-39; Schipper, Concordance du
Houang-T'ing King (Paris: Ecole Fran~aise d'Extreme-Orient, 1975), pp. 2-11; and
Needham, Science 5.5 (1983): 83-85.
5 The seven "nurturing life" texts are described in greater detail below, pp. 545-59. For a
survey of the Ma-wang-tui medical corpus, see D. Harper, "The Wu Shih Erh Ping Fang:

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542 DONALD HARPER
In order to introduce the Ma-wang-tui sexological materials I pro-

pose to translate the first section from "Ho Yin Yang. " The first sec-
tion of this text serves as a prologue for the seven sections that
follow. It begins with a verse that uses cryptic metaphors to describe
the course of sexual union, and continues with a prose account of
the various technical procedures to be followed during intercourse,
such as the "ten postures" (shih chieh +t) and the "ten refine-
ments" (shih hsiu +fg). The subsequent sections of "Ho Yin Yang"
provide details concerning these procedures. "T'ien hsia chih tao
t'an" is also composed primarily of sections that list numerical
Translation and Prolegomena" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley,

1982; University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor), pp. 2-42 (the dissertation is a
transcription and translation of a Ma-wang-tui text of recipes for treating various maladies,
assigned the title Wu-shih-erh ping fang Et~iJ-TW by the Chinese editors); Akira Akah
"Medical Manuscripts Found in Han-Tomb No. 3 at Ma-wang-tui," Sudhofs Archiv 63
(1979): 297-301; Yamada Keiji, "The Formation of the Huang-ti Nei-ching," Acta Asiatica
36 (1979): 67-89; and Paul U. Unschuld, "Die Bedeutung der Ma-wang-tui-Funde fur
chinesiche Medizin- und Pharmazie-geschichte, " Perspektiven der Pharmaziegeschichte: Festschrift
fur Rudolf Schmitz zum 65 Geburtstag, ed. P. Dilg (Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlags-
anstalt, 1983), pp. 389-417. Other manuscripts were also recovered from the Ma-wang-tui
tomb, and transcriptions of all of the manuscripts are being prepared by scholars in China and
published by Wen-wu Press in Peking in the series Ma-wang-tui Han mu po shu (plates of
the original manuscripts are included in each volume and the transcriptions are annotated,
although the notes are not exhaustive). At present, three volumes in the series have been pub-
lished, the most recent being vol. 4 which contains the medical corpus (abbreviated PS in the
present article). For a general description of the tomb three burial (including the contents of
the other manuscripts), see Jeffrey K. Riegel, "A Summary of Some Recent Wenwu and
Kaogu Articles: Mawangdui Tombs Two and Three," Early China 1 (1975): 10-15. For a
summary of the first articles reporting on the medical corpus published in Wen-wu
K'ao-ku ~ti (including preliminary transcriptions of some texts), see D. Harper,
"Mawangdui Tomb Three: Documents, I. The Medical Texts," Early China 2 (1976): 68-
69. Some of the medical texts are published separately in Wu-shih-erh pingfang (Peking: Wen-
wu Press, 1979); and the journal Ma-wang-tui i shuyen-chiu chuan-k'an %, A741fil 1
(1980) and 2 (1981), published in Ch'ang-sha, also provides transcriptions of several medical
texts. The transcriptions and Japanese translations of Ma-wang-tui medical texts in vol. 1 of
KGS are based on the transcriptions published earlier (as is my dissertation on the recipe
manual Wu-shih-erh ping fang), not on those in PS. PS is the only publication to provide
photographs and transcriptions of all of the Ma-wang-tui medical texts, and future work on
the texts will be based on this edition (the thorough annotation in KGS is nonetheless ex-
tremely valuable).
It has been determined that some of the manuscripts were redacted before the end of the
third century B.C., making very plausible the speculation that in them we have recovered
literature on physical cultivation which documents the growth of "nurturing life" theory and
practice during the fourth-third centuries B.C.

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SEXUAL ARTS 543
procedures. The division of the sex act into a sequence of procedures,

each with its own numerical subdivisions, is characteristic of the
later sex manuals; and like the Ma-wang-tui texts the procedures
are presented under separate headings within the text. The Ma-
wang-tui texts demonstrate that this approach to intercourse and
this format for the sex manual originated in the ancient "nurturing
life" tradition.6
The interest in studying the first section of "Ho Yin Yang" does
not rest solely in its sexological content. The combination of poetic
and prosaic instructions is significant for the study of early esoteric
literature. The verse represents a form of didactic verse in which
teachings and techniques are encoded in cryptic metaphors which
may be understood only by one initiated in the secrets of a par-
ticular doctrine. There are numerous examples of this type of verse
in later Taoist and occult literature, but none as early as the second
century B.C. The analysis of the cryptic metaphors in "Ho Yin
Yang" reveals the importance of such language in the symbolic
theories of the "nurturing life" tradition as well as in the actual
practice of physical cultivation techniques.7 The use of verse and
metaphorical language within an esoteric tradition is evident in the
Lao tzu t9-T, and the question of the precise intent of that book
hinges on what the original frame of reference may have been. Han
commentaries interpret certain passages as constituting teachings
on physical cultivation. The examples of cryptic language and its ap-
plication in the Ma-wang-tui physical cultivation texts strengthen
the probability that the Lao tzu was an important guide to physical
cultivation in the ancient "nurturing life" tradition.8 The Kuan tzu
6 See the discussion of the format of the sex manuals below, pp. 580-81. The lack
evidence attesting to the existence of a technical sexual literature in the received literature
of the Warring States period has led some to regard the elaboration of sexual cultivation
techniques and the compilation of writings on sexual cultivation as a Han phenomenon (cf.
Schipper, "Science, Magic, and the Mystique of the Body," p. 14). This judgment must be
revised now that we have the Ma-wang-tui texts.
7 The Huang t 'ing ching is the oldest example of Taoist cryptic poetry composed in order
present teachings on meditation and physical cultivation (see p. 564 below). In addition to
those in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse, similar cryptic metaphors occur in other Ma-wang-tui
physical cultivation texts.
8 The "Ho shang kung" YRJ LL commentary to the Lao tzu (second century A.D.) inter
prets a number of lines in the text as referring to specific forms of physical cultivation (Ho
shang kung chu Lao tzu tao te ching ff [ Wu ch 'iu pei chai Lao tzu chick 'eng PR*$

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544 DONALD HARPER
9T, "Nei yeh" NV31 (Operat

which physical cultivation theory is couched in metaphorical verse.9
The sexual connotations of the metaphors in "Ho Yin Yang" also
provide insights on the use of the same terms in early prose and
poetry. For example, the term ch'eng k'uang *Xk ("receiving canis-
ter") occurs in "Ho Yin Yang," and I suspect that there are sexual
nuances in the use of the same term in the Shih ching poem
"Lu ming" 1EQ% (Deer cry).10
Before presenting the translation and analysis of the first section
of "Ho Yin Yang," I would like to briefly survey the whole collec-
tion of physical cultivation literature found at Ma-wang-tui. It will
be some time before scholars have been able to evaluate the full
significance of this literature for the history of Chinese hygienics.
However it is already evident that the Ma-wang-tui texts provide a
new footing for the study of this subject and of the aspects of ancient
spiritual and intellectual life affected by it.
W t9T%Z ed., Taipei: 1-wen Press]). While the exegesis in the "Hsiang erh" MM com
mentary treats the text mainly as a source of orthodox religious doctrine, it also gives
evidence of the significance of the Lao tzu for the practice of meditation and physical cultiva-
tion (Jao Tsung-i, A Study on Chang Tao-ling's Hsiang-er Commentary of Tao Te Ching [Hong
Kong: Tong Nam Publishers, 1956]; the commentary is thought to represent the ideas of the
Celestial Master sect of Taoism in the second century A.D.). Cf. Anna Seidel, La Divinisation
de Lao Tseu dans le Taoisme des Han (Paris: Ecole Frangaise d'Extreme-Orient, 1969), pp
79; and Isabelle Robinet, Les Commentaires du Tao To King (Paris: College de France, Institut
des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1977), pp. 24-48. Needham, Science 5.5:130-35, translates ex-
amples of the "Ho shang kung" commentary's interpretation of the Lao tzu as a guide to
physical cultivation. A number of passages in the Lao tzu were clearly written to present
physical cultivation theory, and the early commentaries probably preserve an exegetical tradi-
tion that dates to the time of the book's original composition. To cite one example, Lao tzu,
paragraph 6, on the ku shen @6 ("ravine spirit"), which is explained as a teaching onyan
shen ("nurturing the spirit")-specifically breath cultivation-in the "Ho shang kung" com-
mentary (cf. Robinet, Commentaires du Tao To King, p. 37, and n. 49 below). References to
paragraphs in the Lao tzu are to the Tao te ching ku pen p 'ien MAP*, edited by Fu
(HY665). The significance of the Lao tzu as a digest of knowledge about physical cultivation is
discussed further on pp. 561-63 below. The Ma-wang-tui manuscripts include two editions of
the Lao tzu, but neither edition has a commentary. See Ma-wang-tui Han mu po shu, vol. 1
(1980).
9 Kuan tzu (SPPY ed.), "Nei yeh" F1t, 16.1a-6b. On the nature of the "Nei yeh" as a
treatise on physical cultivation, see W. Allyn Rickett, Kuan-Tzu: A Repository of Early Chinese
Thought (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1965), pp. 151-68. Its significance is
discussed further on pp. 561-63 below.
10 Shih ching (SSCCS ed.), "Lu ming" (Mao 161), 9B.2b. See pp. 571-72 below.

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SEXUAL ARTS 545
THE MA-WANG-TUI PHYSICAL CULTIVATION LITERATURE
Of the seven Ma-wang-tui texts related to physical cultivation

practices, four occur on two separate sheets of silk and three are writ-
ten on bamboo slips. Let me begin with the bamboo-slip texts,
which in addition to "Ho Yin Yang" and "T'ien hsia chih tao
t'an" include a third text assigned the title "Shih wen" +t (Ten
questions). Titles were assigned by the Chinese editors based on
some feature of each text: "Shih wen" contains ten interviews be-
tween esoteric teachers and rulers (from legendary antiquity down
to the late Warring States); the first line of "Ho Yin Yang" con-
tains these three words; and the words "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an"
are written on a separate slip within that text, where they serve as
the title for the major portion of the whole text.1" The bamboo slips
were discovered in a lacquer box together with the silk manuscripts.
The slips of "Shih wen" (101 slips in all) and "Ho Yin Yang" (thir-
ty-two slips) were found rolled into one bundle with "Shih wen" on
the inside.12 "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" (fifty-six slips) was in a sec-
ond rolled bundle, on the outside of which were eleven wooden slips
with recipes for charms (assigned the title "Tsa chin fang" -T5).13
" References to the texts written on slips will be to the title of the text, the slip number
within the text, and the page of PS on which the "Transcription" (shih wen Mi.) may be
found; for the texts on silk, the column number within the text will be cited. The "Plates"
(t 'u pan ffiE) of the original texts in the front of PS may be consulted using the approp
slip or column numbers.
12 Because "Shih wen" and "Ho Yin Yang" were discovered in one bundle, the slip
numbers assigned to "Ho Yin Yang" follow consecutively from the last slip of "Shih wen."
PS, "Shih wen," slips 1-101, pp. 145-52; and "Ho Yin Yang," slips 102-33, pp. 155-56.
The slips of both "Shih wen" and "Ho Yin Yang" are about twenty-three cm. long; the
width of the " Shih wen" slips is about 0. 7 cm., while the width of the "Ho Yin Yang" slips is
about one cm. There remains some question as to whether all 133 slips were originally bound
into a single bookmat, or whether two separately bound texts were rolled into one bundle. PS,
p. 152, provides a diagram of the bundle of slips when they were first removed from the lac-
quer box.
13 The slip numbers assigned to "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" follow consecutively from the
last slip of "Tsa chin fang." PS, "Tsa chin fang," slips 1-11, p. 159; and "T'ien hsia chih
tao t'an, " slips 12-67, pp. 163-67 (slip 17 contains the heading used in assigning the name to
the text). The eleven wooden slips of "Tsa chin fang" vary in length, the longest being about
twenty-three cm.; the width is not uniform along the length of each slip, but varies between
about one and 1.3 cm. The bamboo slips of "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" are about twenty-eight
cm. long and 0.6 cm. wide. It is unlikely that wooden and bamboo slips of such varying
dimensions were originally bound together to form a single bookmat. PS, p. 160, provides a

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546 DONALD HARPER
Like "Ho Yin Yang," the other two bamboo-slip texts are divided
into sections and the section divisions are marked by means of a
large dot (e) placed at the head of the first slip of each section. In
"Shih wen" each interview constitutes a separate section. As noted
above, many of the sections in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" are
similar to "Ho Yin Yang."
The ten interviews in "Shih wen" reflect the didactic style of
Warring States rhetorical literature in which an interlocutor, ideally
a ruler, puts questions to a teacher. Among the rulers who solicit in-
struction on physical cultivation are the Yellow God A*, Yao A,
Yui A, and P'an Keng U)W; the teachers include Shun 9, Jung
Ch'eng ti, and P'eng Tsu Ift. The tenth interview is between
Wang Ch'i 3EW and King Chao of Ch'in *C3E (r. 306-251 B.C.),
making the mid-third century B.C. the terminus post quem for the
literature that may have been the source of the interviews in "Shih
wen. " )14 By Han times there existed a large body of esoteric
literature composed in this style, exemplified most clearly in the
received literature by the medical books associated with the Yellow
God."5 The same format is also used in the later sex manuals.
diagram of the appearance of the bundle of wooden and bamboo slips when they were first
removed from the lacquer box.
The first published transcription of the four texts, under the assigned title "Yang sheng
fang" LI)J, is Chou Shih-jung JXtji?, "Ch'ang-sha Ma-wang-tui san hao Han mu chu
chien 'Yang sheng fang' shih wen" :R'X'T itN'*I ' WZ, Ma-wang-tui i
shuyen-chiu chuan-k'an 2 (1981): 2-14. KGS 1:297-362, is a transcription andJapanese transla-
tion of the four texts based on the transcription published by Chou Shih-jung. My own
research on the four texts was also based on this transcription until PS became available in
1986. The transcription in PS (accompanied for the first time with plates of the original slips)
is more accurate than the earlier transcription, and will be the standard edition for future
research (even in the PS edition there remain questions regarding the identification of certain
word/graphs and the reconstructed sequence of slips in the texts).
14 The first eight interviews, which are set in mythological or early historical times, all
depict the interlocutor-ruler seeking advice from the teacher-sage. The ninth and tenth inter-
views, which are set in Warring States times, present a scenario typical of the rhetorical
custom of that time: the teacher obtains an interview with the ruler (the verb is chien Q), the
ruler asks for physical cultivation teachings, the teacher responds, and the ruler expresses his
satisfaction by declaring "excellent" (shan t) after each teaching is given.
Jung Ch'eng is the Yellow God's teacher in the fourth interview (PS, "Shih wen," slips
23-41, pp. 146-47); and Shun is Yao's in the fifth (PS, slips 42-47, p. 148). Both teacher-to-
patron pairs are acknowledged in early legends.
15 See Seidel, Divinisation, pp. 50-51, for discussion of the teacher-to-patron paradigm in

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SEXUAL ARTS 547
Although interviews are not included in "Ho Yin Yang," the fact
that it was found together with "Shih wen" suggests that there was
an interrelationship between the two forms of presenting instruction
on physical cultivation."6 The "intra-chamber" division of the Han
shu bibliographic treatise lists a number of titles which include the
names of legendary adepts of sexual cultivation, for example: Jung
Ch'eng Yin tao VMU. (Way of the Yin of Jung Ch'eng), Yao Shun
Yin tao AW2. (Way of the Yin of Yao and Shun), T'ang P'an Keng
Yin tao MMCA (Way of the Yin of T'ang and P'an Keng), and
Huang ti san wang yang Yang fang A 3i7It (Recipes of the
Yellow God and the Three Kings for nurturing the Yang). It is pro-
bable that portions of these lost books were composed of the type of
didactic interview found in "Shih wen."''7 Both Jung Ch'eng and
P'eng Tsu are closely associated with physical cultivation arts,
especially the sexual arts, in later sources; their inclusion in "Shih
wen" provides us with the oldest examples of physical cultivation
teachings ascribed to them.18 Noticeably absent among the teachers
which the role of the Yellow God is regularly that of the inquisitive patron who seeks instruc-
tion in recondite techniques from esoteric teachers. The Huang ti nei ching XVF' 3 (Yello
God's inner scripture) is the classic example of this type of literature. In the first interview of
"Shih wen" (PS, "Shih wen," slips 1-7, p. 145), the Yellow God is taught by the Celestial
Master (i'ien shih IIi), the very title given to the Yellow God's teacher in the medical arts,
Ch'i Po A10 (see Huang ti nei ching su wen W [SPPYed.], "Shang ku t'ien chen lun"
)g=, 1. Ib). This is also the title with which the Yellow God honors a sagacious youngster
in Chuang tzu (SPPYed.), "Hsii Wu-kuei" f5f,, 8.14a. The title Celestial Master also had
great significance in the religious hierarchy of the Later Han Taoist movements (cf. Seidel,
Divinisation, pp. 74-84 and pp. 112-14).
16 The fragments of the Su na ching quoted in the Ishimpo consist mainly of the Yellow God
asking questions of the Immaculate Maid, his teacher in sexual technique. In PS, "T'ien hsia
chih tao t'an," slips 12-14, p. 163, there is an interview between the Yellow Spirit (Huang
shen X*; this name refers to the Yellow God, Huang ti) and the Spirit of the Left (Ts
TA ). We may speculate that in addition to the Ma-wang-tui sex manuals, other vers
sex manuals existed in the second century B.C. which gave greater prominence to didactic in-
terviews in combination with detailed passages on sexual procedures.
17 Han shu 30.80b-81a. In addition, four of the books listed in the "spiritual transcend-
ence" category of the bibliographic treatise bear the name of the Yellow God in their titles
and are probably similarly composed.
18 The account of Jung Ch'eng in the Lieh hsien chuan IJ1fW{ refers to his physical cul
tion arts, including sexual cultivation. See M. Kaltenmark, Le Lie-sien Tchouan (Peking:
Universite de Paris, Centre d'etudes sinologiques de Pekin, 1953), pp. 55-58. Kaltenmark
provides references to Jung Ch'eng's sexual arts in later sources. Maspero, "Procedes," p.
410, argues that the commentary to the Hou Han shu account of Leng Shou-kuang M

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548 DONALD HARPER
in "Shih wen" are the Immaculate Maid (Su nul *&) and the Dark
Maid (Hsiian nu A&), the Yellow God's instructresses in sexual
arts as evidenced in several Han literary sources and in a body of
eponymous sexual literature preserved among the fragments of the
later sex manuals.19
In theory and practice the sexual arts were an extension of the
techniques for the absorption of vapor (ch 'i A) and essence (chin
-the basic objective of all forms of ancient Chinese physical cultiva-
tion.20 In the practice of breath cultivation, external vapors were in-
n. 103 below) preserves a fuller description of Jung Ch'eng's sexual arts which was later ex-
purgated from the Lieh hsien chuan (he is followed by van Gulik, Sexual Life, p. 71; and
Needham, Science 5.5: 198). I agree with Kaltenmark's judgment that the lines in question are
the commentator's explanations and not part of the original Lieh hsien chuan text. P'eng Tsu's
arts of physical cultivation are also mentioned in the Lieh hsien chuan (Kaltenmark, Lie-sien
Tchouan, pp. 82-84), but not his skills in sexual cultivation. His knowledge of sexual arts is
noted several times in the Pao p'u tzu TRt * . See, for example, Pao p'u tzu (SPPY ed.),
yen" ; 13.3a, which quotes from a P'eng Tsu ching g?AM (Scripture of P'eng Tsu). H
sexual teachings also appear in the sex manuals quoted in the Ishimpo. For further references
to P'eng Tsu and sex, see van Gulik, Sexual Life, pp. 95-96, and Needham, Science 5.5: 187-
89. It is unlikely that the fragments of a P'eng Tsu literature mentioned by Needham and van
Gulik are pre-Han or Former Han in date. For fuller information on the accounts of P'eng
Tsu and on the P'eng Tsu ching that circulated in Six Dynasties times, see Sakade Yoshinobu
t&1?t4P1, "H6so densetsu to Hoso kei" 1 91 KGS 2:405-62.
19 See van Gulik, Sexual Lire, pp. 74-79, for discussion of the early lore about
maculate Maid, and for references to her, the Dark Maid, and a third Elected Maid (Ts'ai nii
K) as sex instructresses in Later Han and Six Dynasties sources. Books ascribed to th
maculate Maid and Dark Maid are listed in the Pao p 'u tzu along with those of P'eng Tsu and
Jung Ch'eng on physical cultivation arts (Pao p'u tzu, "Hsia lan" Et, 19.2b). The
bibliographic treatise of the Sui shu ` lists works which contain the sexual arts of the two in-
structresses (see n. 105 below). On the tradition that makes the Dark Maid the Yellow God's
instructress in the art of warfare, see Seidel, Divinisation, pp. 40-41. It has been noted that
women appear as the teachers of sexual arts to men in the earliest literature on the sexual
techniques of Western antiquity, and the possibility of a parallel with the Chinese genre has
been suggested (cf. Needham, Science 5.5:187). The absence of women among the teachers in
the Ma-wang-tui texts, and of books attributed to the Immaculate Maid or Dark Maid in the
Han shu bibliographic treatise, makes the conjecture of a parallel with the early Western sex-
ual literature appear unlikely (besides, the Greek and Roman literature teaches men sexual
pleasure, not sexual cultivation in the Chinese sense).
20 In translating ch 'i as "vapor" I am rendering its earliest and most literal meaning as
subtle stuff that manifests itself in clouds, rain, the steam which rises from sacrificial offer-
ings, and other such phenomena. In later cosmological and physiological theory, ch 'i retained
this sense of the vaporous matter that permeated the atmosphere, animating living organisms
when it became concentrated within them. The breath and the air one breathed were ch 'i. In
its earliest form, Chinese breath cultivation entailed the inhalation of the external ch 'i, which
was then circulated throughout the body and finally exhaled. Whether the body absorbed ch 'i

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SEXUAL ARTS 549
haled and then circulated through the body; in dietary observances,

the vaporous essence of foods or drugs served to vitalize the body;
and in sexual intercourse, the Yin essence of the woman strength-
ened the Yang essence of the man,who held onto this store of
essence through the practice of semen retention.2'
The techniques described in "Shih wen" include breath cultiva-
tion, dietetics, and sexual cultivation. In the fourth interview Jung
Ch'eng teaches the Yellow God how to achieve a physical form
which is one with the cosmos by practicing breath cultivation:22
through breath cultivation or through other methods, this "physiological" ch'i was concep-
tually identical to the ch 'i that permeated all things in the world. Depending on the context of
its occurrence in specific physical cultivation practices, I sometimes qualify ch 'i as "vaporous
breath," "sexual vapor," etc. According to early sources, ching ("seminal essence") is the
refined essence of ch'i, and a man's semen is one concrete manifestation of ching. The ubi-
quitous term ching ch 'i ", % in physical cultivation literature I render as "vaporous essence. "
When in describing physical cultivation theory I use terms such as "essence," "Yin and
Yang essences," "male and female essences," etc., all refer to the concept of ch'i and ching.
See Onozawa Seiichi ' ,f g , et al., Ki no shiso i, R, (Tokyo: T6ky6 Daigaku Shup-
pankai, 1978), for an excellent survey of ch 'i in traditional Chinese thought. Naturally, the
significance of ch 'i and ching is discussed passim in the writings of Maspero, Needham, and
van Gulik.
Kuan tzu, "Nei yeh," is perhaps the oldest extant treatise on the cultivation of ch'i and
ching. It is the locus classicus for the definition of ching as "refined ch'i" (ibid., 16.2b), and it
describes at length the cosmo-physiological aspects of cultivating ch 'i and ching. Prior to the
discovery of the Ma-wang-tui texts, the Warring States jade inscribed with a short teaching
on the technique for circulating ch'i inside the body (see p. 563 below) provided the oldest
documentation of an actual technique for cultivating ch 'i (as opposed to descriptions of ch 'i in
writings like the "Nei yeh").
21 I apply the term semen retention to the practices associated with huan chingpu nao
T6 ("returning the seminal essence and replenishing the brain"). The purpose of semen reten-
tion was for the man to obtain Yin essence from the woman while at the same time allowing
none of his sexually generated Yang essence (i.e. semen) to escape. He then vitalized his body
by retaining this sexual essence and circulating it. Needham, Science 5.5:197-201, discusses
semen retention in Chinese sexual practice; and on p. 199, n. d, he proposes the terms coitus
conservatus and coitus thesauratus for the two distinctive forms of semen retention. The former
refers to the man's retention of semen by withdrawing after female orgasm without permit-
ting himself to experience orgasm; the latter refers to the practice of pressing the urethra at
the moment of ejaculation so that the semen is not released, but rather is made to pass back
into his body. In Chinese theory the semen was believed to pass up the man's spinal column
to "replenish the brain" (the semen, that is semen as we know it in modern medical science,
actually is diverted into the bladder when the urethra is blocked in this way). It was also possi-
ble for the woman to realize the benefits of sexual cultivation. See p. 585, n. 116, and p. 591,
n. 142, below.
22 PS, "Shih wen," slips 23-32, pp. 146-47. The three passages selected for translation
below represent about half of the text of Jung Ch'eng's teaching, which continues through

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550 DONALD HARPER
If his lordship wishes to be long-lived then he must comply with and examine the
way of heaven and earth. The vapor of heaven is monthly exhausted and monthly
filled, thus it is able to live long. The vapor of earth during the year is cold and hot,
and the precipitous and the gentle complement one another,23 thus the earth en-
dures and does not deteriorate. His lordship must examine the intrinsic nature of
heaven and earth and put it into practice with his body.
A wondrous transformation occurs when the adept learns to culti-

vate the vaporous essence:
Essence and spirit overflow like a spring.

Suck in the sweet dew and have it accumulate.
Drink the blue-gem spring and numinous wine-pot and make
it circulate.
According to the Lao tzu, sweet dew (kan lu ttZ) is an exudate pro-
duced from the union of heaven and earth-one of nature's elixirs.
Jung Ch'eng's teaching shows the incorporation of this cosmic
essence into breath cultivation.24 With the terms blue-gem spring
(yao ch 'uan I7%) and numinous wine-pot (ling tsun St) we have e
amples of the cryptic metaphors characteristic of later Taoist and
occult literature. I would identify the blue-gem spring with the yu
ch'ih 31 ("jade pool") in Taoist physiology, which denoted the
reservoir of saliva under the tongue as well as the saliva stored
there. This saliva, a concentrate formed from the transformation of
inhaled vapor, was swallowed and circulated inside the body.
Regular cultivation ensured that this reservoir became an unfailing
source of vitalizing fluid for the body. The same practice appears to
slip 41 (I have not translated several lines which come in between the selected passages, but
within each passage the complete text is translated).
23 "The precipitous and the gentle complement one another" translates hsien i hsiang ch 'ii
J;t. In pre-Han and Han texts hsien i is used to refer to terrain (Shih chi t [reproduc-
tion of the Palace ed., 1-wen Press, Taipei], 71.8a), and also to circumstances of "peril or
ease" (Kuan tzu, "Ch'i fa" tit, 2.2a) or to conduct which is "devious or candid" (I
E, [SSCCS ed.], "Hsi tz'u shang" , 7.9a). For hsiang ch'i in the sense of "mutually
complement," see I ching, "Hsi tz'u hsia" T, 8.24b. The change of temperature over the
seasons and change of terrain across the earth represent the natural activity of the "vapor of
earth." By observing the action of the ch'i of heaven and earth, man learns to cultivate his
own ch'i.
24 Lao tzu, paragraph 32. There are abundant references to the descent of sweet dew as a
token of heaven's blessings in pre-Han and Han sources (see n. 93 for references in Han por-
tent and weft-text literature).

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SEXUAL ARTS 551
be referred to in Jung Ch'eng's teaching.25 I suspect that ling

tsun is synonymous with the term hsuian tsun A# ("dark wine-pot"),
which occurs in another passage concerning breath cultivation in
the first interview in "Shih wen. " Hsuian tsun is attested as the name
of a ritual eau de vie in pre-Han texts, a substance which Han com-
mentators identify as the liquid extracted from the moon by means
of reflecting pans. In "Shih wen" both ling tsun and hsuian tsun prob-
ably have the same denotation as the yao ch'uian and the Taoist yui
25 The termyao ch 'ien i 9-J ("blue-gem fore") is given as the name of the reservoir used
breath cultivation in PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slip 47, p. 165, in a passage related to
sexual cultivation. The original graph foryao in "Shih wen" and "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an"
is M. The PS transcription proposes the reading Ai for "Shih wen" and J* for
chih tao t'an. " KGS 1:307 and 355, correctly gives the reading A for both occurren
The name "blue-gem spring" suggests the "blue-gem pool" (yao ch 'ih JiiMl) at Mount K'un-
lun where the Queen Mother of the West exchanged a toast with King Mu of the Chou (Mu
t'ien tzu chuan PXf [SPTK ed.], 3.15a). T'ang Taoist adepts also associated the myt
geography of K'un-lun with breath cultivation. Cf. E. H. Schafer, "Wu Yiin's 'Cantos on
Pacing the Void,' " HJAS 41.2 (1981): 405, n. 110, where Schafer explains the use of the
term pi chin ("cyan exudate") to denote the saliva as an allusion to the blue-gem pool at
K' un-lun.
Swallowing saliva was a regular part of the regimen of physical cultivation practiced by
Taoists. The terms "jade pool" or "jade spring" (yii ch'ian 3Ii 7) referred both to the area
beneath the adept's tongue and to the saliva that gathered there. Scriptural authority goes
back to the two Yellow Court scriptures. See Huang t'ing wai ching (HY 332), 1. la; and Huang
t'ing nei ching (HY331), 1.2a. The relevant text in the "outer" scripture is translated and ana-
lyzed in Maspero, "Procedes," pp. 241-42 (Maspero, however, does not emphasize that the
saliva is to be swallowed). Both sources indicate that consuming the saliva of the jade pool
lengthens one's life and prevents sickness. For discussion of the role of saliva ingestion in
Taoist practices see also, Needham, Science 5.5:150-51. The Ma-wang-tui physical cultiva-
tion texts show that saliva ingestion was already part of ancient "nurturing life" practices.
The term "jade spring" occurs in PS, "Shih wen," slip 18, p. 146. According to the
passage, sexual cultivation ensures that the "jade spring" does not become empty, so that
"maladies do not arise, and thus one is able to prolong life. " Another occurrence ofyii ch 'ian
in PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slip 21, p. 163, is similar. It appears that in the Ma-wang-
tui physical cultivation texts the "blue-gem spring" is a metaphor for the reservoir of saliva
in the mouth (or the saliva itself), while the "jade spring" denotes yet another receptacle for
the collection of vital essences (including those generated in sexual intercourse). The idea that
the purpose of breath cultivation and sexual cultivation is the same (the absorption of vital
essences to rejuvenate the body), the nose and mouth being the focal point for the former ac-
tivity and the genitals for the latter, is suggested again in a passage from "Shih wen" which
recommends that the adept utilize "penile vapor" when breathing and eating (see n. 30
below). The doubling of breath cultivation with sexual cultivation was also characteristic of
later Taoist practices, and led to a doubling of metaphorical terminology for the receptacles
where the vital essences were stored (cf. Needham, Science 5.5:209-11, discussing the Pao p'u
tzu).

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552 DONALD HARPER
ch 'ih.26 Jung Ch'eng's teaching continues with concrete and detailed

instructions for the method of ingesting vapor:
The way for sucking in vapor:

It must be made to reach to the extremities,
So that essence is generated and not lacking,
Above and below are all essence,
Cold and warm are tranquilly generated.
The inhalation must be deep and long,
And the new vapor is easy to hold.
The lodged-inside vapor is that of agedness,
The new vapor is that of longevity.
One who is skilled at cultivating vapor,
Lets the lodged-inside vapor disperse at night,
And the new vapor gather at dawn,
Therewith to penetrate the nine apertures and fill the six
27
magazines.
Several lines laterJung Ch'eng states that the breath cultivation per-
formed at dawn should be done so that "stale vapor (ch'en ch'i M)
is daily expended and new vapor (hsin chi i T) is daily replen-
ished. " In the passage above, the word su M, literally "lodged over-
night, " is used to describe the stale residue of vapor which the adept
26 In the received literature both hisuan tsun and hsiian chiu 9; ("dark liquor") occur. Th
fact that hsuian tsun also denotes the numinous fluid, not simply the wine-pot which holds the
fluid, is discussed by Ch'en Ch'i-yu P** ap. the occurrence of hsiian tsun in Lu shih ch'un
ch'iu chiao shih . (Shanghai: Hsiieh lin Press, 1984), "Shih yin" Ai , 5.273. I have not
found references in the received literature for the association of the term with breath cultiva-
tion. In PS, "Shih wen," slip 5, p. 145, the "dark wine-pot" is generated when the vapor of
the "spirit wind" (shenfeng MRP) has been sucked into the mouth and stored in the heart. The
teaching continues: "Drink (the dark wine-pot), not exceeding five (swallows). The mouth in-
variably finds the taste sweet. Make it reach the five depositories, and the body then becomes
extremely quiescent. " The instruction to drink and circulate the dark wine-pot parallels the
use of the blue-gem spring and numinous wine-pot in Jung Ch'eng's teaching. In my judg-
ment, both passages are concerned with swallowing saliva.
27 According to ancient physiological theory, the six magazines (liufu Ale, ) were the int
nal zones of the body responsible for receiving, transmitting, and transforming vital essences.
Huang ti nei ching su wen, "Chin kuei chen yen lun" kfA JA 1.16a, identifies them as
(nominal correlates in Western physiology are given where applicable): tan t (gall bladder),
wei ' (stomach), ta ch'ang ;kC (large intestine), hsiao ch'ang I'Mj (small intestine), p'ang
kuang "K (bladder), and san chiao , ("three burners"). A listing of the liufu in the Han
shih waz chuan OJk,Y-, quoted in T'aip'ingyii lan tTP% (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chii
1960), 363.2b, givesyen hou OPP (gullet) instead of san chiao.

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SEXUAL ARTS 553
must expel before ingesting a fresh supply.28 That the world itself
went through a similar process of ingesting and expelling vapor was
believed in later Taoist breath cultivation theory. The day was divid-
ed into periods of living vapor (sheng ch 'i 4L%) and dead vapor (ssu
ch 'i KE%), which were the times when heaven and earth breathed in
and breathed out. The adept coordinated his breathing regimen
with the cycle of cosmic respiration. He ingested the living vapor
generated at the time of the cosmic inhalation and ejected the dead
vapor along with the expulsion of cosmic exhaust. Once again Jung
Ch'eng's teaching, which associates the cultivation of the breath
with the cycle of night and day, anticipates Taoist physical cultiva-
tion theories. 29
Jung Ch'eng's teaching concludes with further details regarding
the methods of ingesting vapor. In the other nine interviews esoteric
teachers instruct their interlocutors in a variety of physical cultiva-
tion methods. In the sixth interview P'eng Tsu praises the vitalizing
properties of semen, stating that "of human vapor, none can com-
pare with the essence of the penis (chuin ching WN)"; and he re
28 Chuang tzu, "K'o i" tM , 6. la, uses the phrase "spit out the old and ingest th
(t'u ku na hsin 0:f.3O-) to describe exhaling and inhaling in the practice of breath cult
(the passage criticises people who practice various forms of physical cultivation obsessively in
order to become long-lived like P'eng Tsu). Needham, Science 5.5:154, notes the proverbial
significance of this phrase in later literature on breath cultivation. Jung Ch'eng's teaching
does not describe the precise technique for exhaling the "lodged-inside" vapor. Dawn was re-
garded as the ideal time for breath cultivation (but not the only time; see n. 29 below), and I
suspect that letting the lodged-inside vapor "disperse at night" means that the adept is sup-
posed to exhale this vapor just as night is ending in preparation for ingesting new vapor at
dawn. The silk text on breath cultivation (see n. 36 below) states that there are harmful
vapors in the atmosphere which must be expelled before the adept ingests the beneficial
vapors. These harmful vapors are mentioned in Jung Ch'eng's teaching (slips 32-33, p. 147).
Presumably both exhaling the stale vapor from the body and expelling harmful vapors from
the air would have preceded any act of ingesting new vapor, whether at dawn or at other
designated times.
29 On the Taoist theories, see Maspero, "Procedes," pp. 354-61. One method divided the
day at midnight (making midnight to noon the time of the living vapor, and noon to midnight
the time of the dead vapor). Another treated the period from sunrise to sunset as the time of
the living vapor, and breath cultivation could be carried out at both sunrise and sunset. The
silk text on breath cultivation (see n. 36 below) describes ingesting vapor at both sunrise and
sunset; and Jung Ch'eng's teaching refers subsequently to performing breath cultivation at
daybreak, sunset, and midnight. The reference to letting the new vapor "gather at dawn" in
the part of Jung Ch'eng's teaching just quoted probably represents the ideal, the vapor of
dawn being regarded as the most potent.

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554 DONALD HARPER
mends that the adept draw upon his supply of "penile vapor" when
breathing and eating.30 Ideas that are related to later Taoist theories
(of the sort I have already discussed in Jung Ch'eng's teaching) oc-
cur throughout the "Shih wen" teachings. To mention only one,
P'eng Tsu refers to spiritual transformation as hsing chieh JfW
("release from the physical form")-a term attested in a Shih chi P
nd passage concerning the hsien cult which corresponds to the term
shih chieh PR ("release from the corpse") in Taoist writings.3" The
physical cultivation teachings in "Shih wen" also bear formal titles.
For example, the teaching on breath cultivation which the Celestial
Master (T'ien shih WM11) presents to the Yellow God is called the
"way of consuming spirit vapor" (shih shen ch 'i chih tao P#X}).32
Titles which include the term chieh Yin 1 ("coition with the
Yin") refer to sexual practice, as in the title of Ts'ao Ao's Ai
teaching: "way of coition with the Yin and cultivating spiritual
vapor" (chieh Yin chih shen ch/'i chih tao '
Several of the interviews in "Shih wen" contain textual parallels
with the sexological material in "Ho Yin Yang" and "T'ien hsia
chih tao t'an." The latter two texts will be discussed below and the
30 PS, "Shih wen," slips 48-5 1, p. 148. The passage describes a morning regimen in w
the potency of the semen serves to reinforce the vaporous breath. The result is "like the nur-
turing of the red infant (ch'ih tzu I;f)." P'eng Tsu's teaching is clearly related to Lao tzu
paragraph 55, in which the "red infant" is presented as the ideal of physical cultivation. The
Lao tzu cites the fact that the infant "does not yet know of the conjoining of female and male
and yet the penis rises (chiin tso f'i)" as a sign of the perfection of ching "seminal essence. "
31 PS, "Shih wen," slips 56-57, p. 148. The text states that those who are able to achieve
longevity through cultivation techniques eventually become a "spirit" (shen E), and "there-
fore they are able to be released from the physical form. " Subsequent lines describe the spirit
flight of the transformed adept. Although the word hsien "transcendent" does not occur in
the text, the reference to hsing chieh and the description of spirit flight are both indicative of the
spiritual goals of the hsien cult. Shih chi 28. lOb, mentions occult specialists at the time of Ch'in
shih huang ti * Q who possessed recipes "for the way of transcendence and for release
from the physical form and fluxed transformation" (hsien tao hsing chieh hsiao hua MgiW
IL). The commentary cites Fu Ch'ien #, (second century A.D.), who equates hsing chieh
with shih chieh Pg. For the Taoist adept, shih chieh marked the moment when the immortal
physique was perfected and the mortal body sloughed off, leaving behind a husk-like corpse
(or an object such as a sword or staff) as evidence of the adept's apotheosis. Cf. Maspero,
"Procedes," pp. 178-81; and Needham, Science 5.1 (1974): 294-304 (which details the
alchemical background of the shih chieh transformation).
32 PS, "Shih wen," slip 7, p. 145.
33 Ibid., slip 22, p. 146.

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SEXUAL ARTS 555
parallels between all three texts identified. It is worth noting now

that while there are many parallels in "Ho Yin Yang and "T'ien
hsia chih tao t'an," there are also significant differences between
the parallel passages. For example, the section on the shih hsiu "ten
refinements" in "Ho Yin Yang" corresponds generally to the pa tao
Ai- ("eight ways") in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," minus two. Yet
the differences are great enough to indicate that the texts do not
represent two versions of the same ur-text, and thus that they had in-
dependent origins in earlier literature on sexual cultivation.34
As for the eleven wooden slips of "Tsa chin fang," several of the
recipes provide instructions for preparing philters which can be
used to "obtain" (te M) or to "seduce" (mei W) the object of desire.
Perhaps this love magic accounts for "Tsa chin fang" being placed
together with "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an."35
Turning now to the texts on silk, the first sheet of silk contains a
text on breath cultivation and a chart with color illustrations of peo-
ple performing exercises. The breath cultivation text, assigned the ti-
tle "Ch'iieh ku shih ch'i" Mr-AX (Abstaining from grain and con-
suming vapor), details a macrobiotic technique in which the adept
eschews grains and other foodstuffs while instead ingesting subtle
34 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 118-19, p. 156 (shih hsiu); and "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an,"
slip 46, p. 165 (pa tao). Both sections list the ways for the man to thrust his penis (see p. 588
below). "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 44-45, p. 165, contains a different list of shih hsiu, the
content of which is not related to penile movements. In addition to significant differences be-
tween shared content, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 25-39, pp. 164-65, contains a lengthy
passage on the "eight benefits and seven detriments" (pa i ch 'i sun AlN-Lf) in sexual cu
tion that occurs nowhere else in the Ma-wang-tui physical cultivation texts. Sections on the
"eight benefits" and "seven detriments" in Ishimpo 28.19a-21b, attest to their importance in
the later sex manuals.
35 PS, "Tsa chin fang, " slip 11, p. 159, states that one may "obtain" one's object of desire
by placing the person's left eyebrow in liquor and drinking it. The word for "seduce" is writ-
ten wei A (*miwar) in the text, which should be read as homophonous mei X (*miar). The
phonological reconstructions are of archaic Chinese as given in B. Karlgren, Grammata Serica
Recensa (Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1957). "Tsa chin fang," slip 7, p.
159, states that by drinking a potion of the ashes of dove-hen tail-feathers one can "seduce"
one's object of desire. These philters are similar to the "seduction drugs" (meiyao W) of
medieval times, recipes for which are preserved in Ishimpo 26.17b-21a, in the section
"Hsiang ai fang" +fl,kiJ (Recipes for mutual love). There are other types of char
chin fang"; for example, slip 6, p. 159, which states that one can defeat an adversary in litiga-
tion by writing down the person's name and inserting the name in one's shoe (thereby
magically trampling the person).

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556 DONALD HARPER
cosmic vapors. The names of these vapors, which vary with the
seasons, are found in the Ch'u tz'u VP and in fragments of a lost
Han opuscule on breath cultivation.36 The exercise chart, assigned
the title "Tao yin t'u" 4i 1 1 (Chart of guiding and conducting), il-
lustrates postures which were used in ancient taoyin. Taoyin exer-
cises constituted an external complement to the internal circulation
of vapor in breath cultivation. The names of exercises associated
with taoyin in pre-Han and Han sources appear among the captions
to the illustrations, for example the hsiung ching AM ("bear ram-
ble") and the niao shen ,1EP ("bird stretch"). Similar forms of
dietetics, breath cultivation, and exercise are found in later Taoist
literature.37 The silk sheet also contains a text describing the
"ducts" (mo T-R) that convey the ch 'i "vapor" through the bo
36 PS, "Ch'ueh ku shih ch'i," columns 1-9, p. 85. See Harper, "The Wu Shi
Fang," pp. 7-13, for further information on the silk texts (including references to transcrip-
tions and studies as of 1982). In addition to the two sheets of silk with texts related to physical
cultivation, there is a third sheet that contains the Wu-shih-erh pingfang and four other texts
related to physiology and therapy. Because the silk fabric was partly disintegrated, the state of
preservation varies from text to text (assignment of column numbers within a text is based on
extant text, meaning that in some places an unknown number of columns are missing from a
severely damaged portion). "Ch'iieh ku shih ch'i" describes a procedure for "abstention
from grain" in which the adept eats the herb shih wei gig ("stone leather"; genus Pyrrosia)
and inhales cosmic vapors. Many of the names of the vapors that are imbibed correspond to
those in the Ling-yang Tzu-ming ching RWf E, a lost work quoted by Wang I T- (se
century A.D.) in his commentary to the occurrence of the vapor names in Ch'u tz'u (SPPYed.),
"Yuan yu" AMA, 5.4a. For other fragments of the Ling-yang Tzu-ming ching, see Kaltemnark
Lie-sien Tchouan, pp. 183-87 (ap. the account of Ling-yang Tzu-ming). "Ch'uleh ku shih
ch'i" also identifies harmful vapors for each season that must be expelled before ingesting the
beneficial vapors (these harmful vapors are mentioned in Jung Ch'eng's teaching in "Shih
wen"; see n. 28 above). Chuang tzu, "Hsiao-yao yu" Lt& , 1.7a, describes spirit b
who do not eat the five grains, but instead "sip the wind and drink the dew"; such ideas were
put into practice in the macrobiotic techniques of the hsien cult. "Abstention from grain"
(also known as pi ku MR) as part of breath cultivation was also important in Taoism
Needham, Science 5.5:137 and passim).
37 PS, "Plates," pp. 49-52; and "Transcriptions," p. 95 (a table of the caption titles). A
full-size reproduction of the fragments of the chart, a reconstruction of it, and several
research essays, have been published separately in Anonymous, Tao yin t'u | I U (Peking
Wen-wu Press, 1979). The term Taoyin refers both to physical exercises and to the circulation
of vapor in the body (cf. Harper, "The Wu Shih Erh Ping Fang," p. 12 and n. 38). The bear
ramble and bird stretch are mentioned in connection with taoyin in the passage from Chuang
tzu, "K'o i," cited in n. 28 above. Aside from the captions, the chart does not provide any
written explanations of the exercises. However, newly discovered medical manuscripts from a
tomb at Chiang-ling aft in Hupei (burial dated ca. 180 B.C.) include one text on taoyin t

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SEXUAL ARTS 557
that form the basis for cauterization therapy. Perhaps this text is
included because of the importance of these same ducts for circulat-
ing the vapor in breath cultivation and in taoyin exercises.38
The second sheet of silk contains two collections of recipes, as-
signed the titles "Yang sheng fang" **LJ (Recipes for nurturing
life) and "Tsa liao fang" *W,ii (Recipes for various treatments).
To isolate only the recipes related to physical cultivation would hard-
ly do justice to the contents of these recipe manuals. Let me list a
few of the categories treated in each text. "Yang sheng fang" pro-
vides many recipes for nutritive tonics to increase one's physical
vigor.39 Among other recipes in the text are: recipes for enhancing
sexual potency,40 for making the paste of gecko (shou kung tF) and
describes exercises which may be depicted in the Ma-wang-tui chart. A transcription of this
text has not yet been published, but there is a brief description of it in Anonymous, "Chiang-
ling Chang-chia-shan Han chien kai-shu" iffiJ*L IN, Wen-wu 1985.1:13-14. On

Taoist taoyin arts, cf. Maspero, "Procedes," pp. 413-27; and Needham, Science 5.5:154-62.
38 It has been assigned the title "Yin Yang shih-l mo chiu ching i pen"
t; (Canon of the eleven Yin and Yang ducts, ed. B), and it is nearly identical with another
silk text which has been designated ed. A. The description of the mo "ducts" and cauteriza-
tion (chiu .) in the Ma-wang-tui medical manuscripts bears witness to an early stage in the
development of the physiological model for the circulation of ch 'i and blood described in the
Huang ti nei ching, where it forms the basis for acupuncture (acupuncture is not mentioned in
the Ma-wang-tui manuscripts). For discussion of the term mo in ancient Chinese medical
theory, see Lu Gwei-djen and Joseph Needham, Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of
Acupuncture and Moxa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 22 ff.; Paul U.
Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985),
pp. 73-83; and Yamada Keiji LJ4FHJV , "Shinkyui to t6-eki no kigen" - L MACDL j,
KGS 2:63-73. Reference is made to the ducts several times in the Ma-wang-tui physical
cultivation texts (see n. 114 below). The role of the ducts in physical cultivation, and the
significance of the text on the ducts being placed alongside the Ma-wang-tui taoyin chart, are
discussed in Sakade Yoshinobu W[H-11P, "D6-in k6" iG|I, in Ikeda Suetoshi hakushi koki
kinen toyogaku ronshui t Ff *IJif?# (Hiroshima: Ikeda Suetoshi Hakushi
Koki Kinen Jigy6kai, 1980), pp. 225-39.
39 PS, "Yang sheng fang," columns 1-219 (and some additional text at the end), pp. 99-
119. One of the tonic recipes underscores the value of the egg in ancient dietetics (PS, col-
umns 35-36, p. 102): "Regularly in the morning break a chicken egg and put it into liquor.
Drink it before the meal. On the next day drink two eggs, and on the next after that drink
three. Then once again drink one, the next day drink two, and the next after that drink three.
Continue like this until you have used up forty-two eggs. It makes a person strong and
enhances the beauty of the complexion."
40 PS, columns 81-84, p. 107, is a recipe for a poultice which when applied to the penis
makes it "rear like a startled horse"; and columns 89-91, pp. 107-08, describe two other
preparations which are used during intercourse.

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558 DONALD HARPER
cinnabar used to detect illicit intercourse,4" for compounds which

are taken to increase one's speed on a journey,42 and for magic
charms to accomplish similar ends.43 "Yang sheng fang" also con-
tains one passage on sexological knowledge in which King T'ang is
the interlocutor and another in which the interlocutor is Yi.44
In addition to recipes for nutritive tonics, "Tsa liao fang" pro-
vides recipes for protecting oneself from the deadlyyu N and other
poisonous creatures, mostly by means of magic.45 There are also in-
structions for the burial of the placenta following the birth of a
child.46 Matters related to childbirth are further detailed in a third
41 PS, column 60, pp. 104-05. The two recipes given are similar to those in received
literature, e.g. Huai-nan wan pi shu iXf, quoted in T'aip 'ingyii lan 946.3a-b (ap. shou
kung "protector-of-the-palace"). It was believed that the paste left a mark on the woman
which vanished only if she engaged in intercourse.
42 pS, "Yang sheng fang," columns 172-88, p. 115.
43 PS, columns 189-96, p. 116. Three of the five recipes give incantations to be chanted
before departure, and the Pace of Yu (Yu pu r%+f) is performed in conjunction with two of
the incantations (this magical dance-step also appears in the recipe manual Wu-shih-erh ping
fang). For further information on the Pace of Yu in pre-Han and Han magico-religious tradi-
tion see Harper, "The Wu Shih Erh Ping Fang," pp. 98-101; and "A Chinese Demonography
of the Third Century B.C.," HJAS 45.2 (1985): 469-70 (and n. 25).
44 PS, "Yang sheng fang," columns 197-217, pp. 117-18. Both passages contain material
related to "Shih wen," "Ho Yin Yang," and "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an." Column 202 lists
several terms that denote parts of the female genitals; and following column 217, there is a
diagram of the female genitals with labels identifying the parts. Both sets of terms are in
fragmentary condition, but are clearly related to the twelve terms for parts of the genitals
listed in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 59-60, p. 166. Some of the terms are identical with
those used in the later sex manuals, e.g. mai ch'ih O; ("wheat tooth") and ku shih VI
("grain kernel"). See Ishimpo28.10b-12a (sec. "Lin yul" MIM) and 14b-16a (sec. "Chiu fa"
A&it). Ishihara, Ishimpo, bonai, p. 267, gives a labeled diagram of the female genitals along
with modern identifications for the Chinese terms (see also Maspero, "Procedes," p. 384).
45 PS, "Tsa liao fang," columns 1-79, pp. 123-29. Columns 58-70, pp. 127-29, deal with
the yii and its harmful relatives. Shuo wen chieh tzu chu XAfQ;4tS (reproduction of 1872
woodblock ed., Shanghai: Ku-chi Press), 13A.58b-59a, describes theyui, also known by the
name tuan hu E ("short bow") and several other names, as resembling a turtle with thr
legs which mortally wounds people by shooting them with its ch 'i "vapor. " It was regarded as
a denizen of the South, and in column 69 an incantation identifies theyii as inhabiting Ching-
nan i1TI (i.e. Ch'u). We may surmise that it represented an everpresent hazard to the
residents of Ch'ang-sha in Han times. Edward H. Schafer, The Vermilion Bird (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1967), p. 111, notes that theyui was the "most feared of the bogies
of the south" among men of T'ang, and discusses some of the possible identifications for the
creature (or creatures) known as yi.
46 PS, "Tsa liao fang," columns 40-42, p. 126. The text refers to it as the "method for the
diagram on burying the placenta according to Yui's interment" (Yui ts'ang mai pao t'ufa &M
fl?li). The placenta must be cleansed, sealed in a clay jar, and properly buried, for any

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SEXUAL ARTS 559
text on the silk sheet, assigned the title "T'ai ch'an shu" A IF
(Book of the production of the fetus), which describes the growth
of the fetus and various methods for conceiving infants and deter-
mining their sex. The method for burying the placenta, oriented
in a specific direction determined by the date of birth, is illustrated
in a diagram in "T'ai ch'an shu."47
It should be evident from my survey that the seven texts I identify
as texts on physical cultivation-"Shih wen," "Ho Yin Yang,"
"T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," "Ch'iieh ku shih ch'i," "Tao yin t'u,"
"Yang sheng fang," "Tsa liao fang" -do not constitute an isolated
set of esoteric writings within the corpus of Ma-wang-tui medical
literature. That is, the particular concerns of "nurturing life"
theory appear to be integrated into the general field of health science
as it existed in the second century B.C. Inasmuch as the techniques
and recipes in the texts were surely put to use by their owner, the
study of this literature will prove invaluable in reconstructing a por-
trait of the spiritual and intellectual trends of the period. Given the
firm terminus ante quem of 168 B.C. (the date of the tomb three burial)
and the likelihood that the physical cultivation texts are redactions
of older texts, they provide unprecedented documentation of the
harm to the placenta affects the well-being of the infant. Further, the placenta must be buried
in a particular direction whose auspiciousness is determined by the month of birth. The
diagram in "T'ai ch'an shu" illustrates how to determine the correct direction for each of the
twelve months (see n. 47 below). Ishimpo 23.19a-b, cites a passage from the Ch'an ching &K
in which Yu teaches a mother how to bury the placenta so that her children will no longer die
in infancy. "Tsa liao fang" and the diagram in "T'ai ch'an shu," which is labeled "Yui
ts'ang, " attest to the antiquity of the legend associating Yu with the proper burial of the in-
fant's placenta.
47 PS, "T'ai ch'an shu," pp. 133-39. A line drawing of the "Yui ts'ang" diagram is on p.
134. There is a box for each month, and within each box numbers are assigned to the twelve
directions. Certain directions are labeled ssu tE ("death"). According to "Tsa liao fang, " the
placenta should be buried in the direction with the highest number. Thus consulting both text
and diagram, the placenta of an infant born in the first month should be buried in the direc-
tion NNE 3/4 E, which is assigned the number 120 (while both ENE 3/4 N and E are labeled
ssu).
The written portion of "T'ai ch'an shu" is on columns 1-34, pp. 136-39. The growth of
the fetus over a ten month period is described in a teaching presented to Yu in columns 1-13.
The passage is remarkably similar to two seventh-century descriptions of gestation: Ch'ao
Yuian-fang's At7) Chu pingyuan hou lun MAMMA (Peking: Jen-min Wei-sheng Press,
1985), 41.1141-52 (sec. "Jen chen hou" AMR{f); and Sun Ssu-mo's , Ch'ien chinfang
-T!& (HY 1155), 2.18b-30a (sec. "Hsii Chih-ts'ai chu yuieh yang t'ai fang" ; X
n A f)

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560 DONALD HARPER
links between pre-Han "nurturing life" hygiene and the practices

of Taoist adepts. With respect specifically to the literature on sexual
arts, it is possible for the first time to identify with precision the pre-
Han origins of the theory and practice described in the later sex
manuals.
THE FIRST SECTION OF "HO YIN YANG"
The first line of the first section of "Ho Yin Yang" states that
what follows is a "recipe for whenever one will be conjoining Yin
and Yang." The enumeration of sexual procedures in "Ho Yin
Yang" does indeed provide a guide for accomplishing the sexual
union of feminine Yin and masculine Yang. While "T'ien hsia chih
tao t'an" contains similar information, it does not have the well-or-
dered organization of "Ho Yin Yang. " Neither do the references to
sexual procedures in the interviews of "Shih wen" summarize the
sex act from start to finish. Thus of the three bamboo-slip texts,
"Ho Yin Yang" offers the most concise yet thorough account of sex-
ual practice in the ancient "nurturing life" tradition.
The essentials of the technique are covered in the first section,
first in verse and then in prose. The subsequent seven sections of
"Ho Yin Yang" elaborate on procedures named in the prose
passage of the first section. The verse is composed mostly of rhym-
ing trisyllabic phrases-a monosyllabic verb followed by a bisyllabic
object-in which the verbs are hortatory and the objects designate
regions on the female body. The verse appears to teach the male
partner how to proceed with his mate from foreplay to penetration
and on to the final goal of sexual cultivation. These stages of inter-
course are also described in the prose passage, thus reiterating what
has already been conveyed in highly metaphorical poetry.
The use of poetry in "Ho Yin Yang" can be related generally to
the role of rhymed passages which occur throughout rhetorical and
didactic discourse in pre-Han literature. Such literature was meant
to be recited and memorized, and so it naturally made use of poetic
modes of expression. The belief that artfully composed discourse
persuaded the listener by enchanting him, a process which is de-
scribed in Hsuin tzu Q-T, must have been influenced to some extent
by word magic and incantations in early magico-religious tradition.
Just as incantations attracted the attention of the spirit world, poetic

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SEXUAL ARTS 561
rhetoric captivated the audience.48 But the verse in "Ho Yin Yang"
is more specifically related to esoteric poetry intended for a limited
audience of initiates, for whom such verses serve to symbolize the
essential teachings of their occult practice. It is probable that both
the Lao tzu and "Nei yeh" r8T- were recited as canons of physical
cultivation theory; and that there existed an ancillary literature,
either written or oral, to explain the program of cultivation allusive-
ly described in the main canon. In the same way, the verse in "Ho
Yin Yang" serves as a symbolic digest of sexual technique which is
then followed by prose elaborations."
48 Although the Hsun tzu does not explicitly associate rhetoric with incantation, Hsiun tzu
seems to have believed that rhetoric had a spellbinding effect. For example, in Hsun tzu (SPPY
ed.), "Fei hsiang" r1U, 3.6b, there is the following statement:
The art of speaking and persuasion (t'an shui =RM):

Approach it with audacity and robustness;
Settle it in place with directness and sincerity;
. . .Present it using joyous enthusiasm and perfumed scents;
Treasure it, cherish it;
Prize it, spiritualize it.
If it is done like this then, regularly, none of one's persuasions will not be accepted. Even
when they do not persuade other people, none of the other people will not prize them.
Hsiin tzu'sfu poems appear to be prime examples of the kind of rhetoric advocated in the
above passage. The importance of word magic in this conception of rhetoric and in thefu
verse-form as it developed during the Han is the subject of my current research. For
arguments concerning Hanfu and incantation, see Harper, "Wang Yen-shou's Nightmare
Poem," HJAS 47.1 (1987): 277-82.
49 On the significance of the Lao tzu as a text for recitation in the Later Han Taoist sects,
see Seidel, Divinisation, pp. 74-79. The "Hsiang erh" commentary appears to have served as
a catechism which accompanied the recitation and adumbrated the religious precepts of the
Celestial Master movement. The "Ho shang kung" commentary often relates specific words
in the Lao tzu to physical cultivation theory and then explains the relevant ideas. For example,
"Ho shang kung" comments on the words hsiian p'in At ("dark feminine") in paragraph 6
as follows: "hsuian is heaven and in a person is the nose; p 'in is earth and in a person is the
mouth" (Ho shang kung chu Lao tzu, 1 .3b). The rest of the commentary to this paragraph pro-
vides explanations of breath cultivation and dietetic theory. Sources of equal antiquity
associate this paragraph of Lao tzu with sexual cultivation (see n. 102 below, and Needham,
Science 5.5:198-99). Neither the "Hsiang erh" nor the "Ho shang kung" are scholiastic com-
mentaries meant to explain an obscure text to a contemporary literary audience; rather, both
explain how to use the text by relating it to actual practices. I would judge that this type of ex-
egesis of the Lao tzu already existed among the ancient practitioners of physical cultivation.
Jeffrey K. Riegel, "The Four 'Tzu Ssu' Chapters of the Li Chi: an Analysis and Translation
of the Fang Chi, Chung Yung, Piao Chi, and Tzu I" (Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University,
1978; University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor), pp. 143-69, presents a critical edi-
tion of Kuan tzu, "Nei yeh," which reveals the original verse-form of the treatise. His

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Fig1 Th orgn l slp of th firs seto fH i an erdcdfo
.P... "Plats......p.
ill 110 109 108 107 106 105 104 103 102
Fig. 1. The original slips of the first section of "H

PS, "Plates, " p. 101 .

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SEXUAL ARTS 563
The fact that the "Ho Yin Yang" verse details a technique is
significant. The only other ancient example of an esoteric verse on
the subject of a physical cultivation technique is the one inscribed
on a Warring States dodecagonal block of jade presently in the care
of the Tientsin Antiquities Office.50 The first two words of the in-
scription identify the technique: "circulating vapor" (hsing ch'i
HA). Nine trisyllabic phrases follow, written in the form: ver
verb B, verb B All verb C, verb C AIJ verb D, and so forth. The
phrases describe breath cultivation from first swallowing the vapor
to the final stage of its circulation. The monosyllabic verbs that iden-
tify the stages are not obscure words and yet since the words repre-
sent keys to the methods for carrying out breath cultivation at each
stage, the exact nature of the overall technique is concealed in the
verse's brevity. Without further instruction a person would not
know how to practice the technique described in the inscription.51
The "Ho Yin Yang" verse represents the earliest example of
cryptic poetry composed in order to conceal a technique in a secret
code. The metaphorical language used in the verse to describe the
woman's body is reminiscent of the esoteric designations used in
transcription and division of the "Nei yeh" into eighteen rhymed stanzas are based on the
work of Gustav Haloun, originally presented in seminars at Cambridge (and recorded in
notes taken by Denis Twitchett). Composed mostly of tetrasyllabic lines, each of the stanzas
presents teachings on physical cultivation in lapidary and allusive language. Two other
treatises in Kuan tzu appear to be ancilla to the "Nei yeh": "Hsin shu shang" L' 4ii?, 13. 1a-
5b; and "Hsin shu hsia" TF, 13.5b-8a. And in Chuang tzu, "Keng-sang Ch'u" *AV, 8.4b,
Lao tzu recites a teaching on physical cultivation which is found in the "Nei yeh." The
evidence suggests that the "Nei yeh" was recited and its esoteric meaning given formal ex-
egesis in the ancient "nurturing life" tradition (see also the discussion in Rickett, Kuan-tzu,
pp. 151-58).
50 Rubbings of the twelve faces were published over fifty years ago, and the artif
referred to as either a jade hilt or a set of jade plaques. The artifact itself has only rece
resurfaced. Ch'en Pang-huai #IWM1, "Chan kuo 'Hsing ch'i yiu ming' k'ao shih"
i3?A't, ~ Ku wen-tzuyen-chiu tXC:IfflE 7 (1982): 187-93, describes the artifact and
studies the inscription. According to Ch'en, the jade is not a hilt and its original function re-
mains uncertain. He dates the jade to the late Warring States period based on an analysis of
the inscription (see also the early article by H. Wilhelm, "Eine Chou-Inschrift fiber Atem-
technik," MS 13 [1948]: 385-88).
51 Ch'en's transcription of the text corrects several errors in earlier transcriptions made
from the rubbings and he also shows that the text is rhymed. The trisyllabic structure of the
verse (following the first nine phrases, phrases 10-11 are tetrasyllabic while the last phrases,
12-13, are again trisyllabic) invites comparison with the "Ho Yin Yang" verse (see my com-
ments on trisyllabic meter immediately following). What is distinctive about both verses is

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564 DONALD HARPER
later Taoist literature. Learning the secret meaning of certain cryp-

tic poems and reciting them daily was an important part of Taoist
religious life. The Huang t'ing ching t (Scripture of the Yellow
Court), written in heptasyllabic meter, was a bible among Six
Dynasties Taoists for the practice of physical cultivation and medita-
tion. The work is a kind of poetic cipher, using a secret language to
describe the inner regions of the body and the spirits who dwell
there. While opaque to the uninitiated, for those who possessed the
key to its decipherment the scripture emblematized the core doc-
trines and practices of the faith. Embedded within the text of the
Huang t 'ing ching were specific instructions for performing all of the
practices essential to achieving the Taoist goal of corporeal perfec-
tion and spiritual transcendence, including sexual practice.52
The analysis of the "Ho Yin Yang" verse sheds light on the cryp-
tological aspects of early physical cultivation practices long before
the date of the Huang t 'ing ching. The trisyllabic meter and syntactic
form of its phrases-monosyllabic verb followed by bisyllabic ob-
ject-are also of interest. The same meter and syntax occur in
certain Han exorcistic incantations, where a monosyllabic verb of
attack is followed by a bisyllabic object that is the name of the
demonic creature to be attacked. Perhaps the hortatory style of the
"Ho Yin Yang" verse shows the influence of incantation literature
on didactic poetry.53 A tenth century Taoist poem on physical
that they are intended to present the stages of a technique, whereas paragraphs of the Lao
and stanzas of the "Nei yeh" appear to be theoretical in nature (and their precise relationship
to particular physical cultivation practices is a matter for explanation in commentaries and an-
cillary literature).
52 The divine charge to the Taoist adept, as stated in the opening of the Huang t'ing nei
ching, .Ab, is that the scripture: "should be carefully and zealously recited a myriad times,
whereby one ascends to the Three Heavens; the thousand calamities are thereby dispersed,
the hundred ailments cured, one does not fear the evil depredations of tigers and wolves, and
one also thereby reverses old age and perpetuates longevity." Recitation of the text rein-
forced the practices described in it. Passages related to breath cultivation and sexual cultiva-
tion in the Huang t'ing wai ching are translated and discussed in Maspero, "Procedes," pp.
237-46 and pp. 387-95. For the Huang t'ing nei ching, see the study by Rolf Homann, Die
Wichtigsten Korpergottheiten im Huang-t'ing Ching (G6ppingen: A. Kiimmerle, 1971).
53 Wang Yen-shou's - (second century A.D.) "Meng fu" NA (Dreamfu) uses these
trisyllabic phrases. The poem was inspired by, and borrowed from, incantations used to expel
the demonic aura that lingered following a nightmare. The incantatory nature of trisyllabic
meter and the verb/object syntax are discussed in Harper, "Wang Yen-shou's Nightmare
Poem," pp. 266-67.

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SEXUAL ARTS 565
cultivation, Ts'ui Hsi-fan's Wi$4 Ju yao ching kA (Mirror for

making the elixir penetrate), shows that the meter and syntax of the
"Ho Yin Yang" verse continued to be used in cryptic poetry.
Although most of the passages on sexual technique have disap-
peared from the received text of this poem, one which remains
presents a wondrous concatenation of esoteric instructions couched
in cryptic metaphors; and each phrase is composed of a mono-
syllabic hortatory verb followed by a bisyllabic object which has a
physiological referent. The rarity of this kind of verse in the received
literature does not permit definitive conclusions, yet the similarity
between the "Ho Yin Yang" verse and theJuyao ching is probably
not coincidental. A trisyllabic verse-form with origins in Warring
States and Ch'in-Han esoteric literature was used continuously
in later centuries.
Like the Taoist terminology, we may presume that the metaphor-
ical terms in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse have specific physiologi-
cal referents; that is, that they denote some part of the woman's
body. Learning the denotations would have been part of initiation
into the art of sexual cultivation. One obvious reason for the pur-
poseful obscurity is that such language shields secret instructions
from vulgar exploitation; only those who are properly initiated may
put the instructions into practice. However as is true of Taoist
scriptures, the esoteric terms in the verse are significant not only
because they constitute a secret language, but also because they are
the linguistic emblems of a subtle relationship that exists between
the body and its environment. They symbolize to the initiate the
magical correspondences that link the human organism to cosmolog-
ical, spiritual, and magico-alchemical transformations.55 Unfortu-
nately, in the case of the "Ho Yin Yang" verse the physiological
54 On theJuyao ching, see Needham, Science 5.5:196-97. The whole work is composed in
trimeter, although for much of the text the trisyllabic phrases do not adhere to the monosyl-
labic verb/bisyllabic object syntax. Ibid., p. 203 gives the text and translation of the sexual
technique passage. There are, of course, a number of other important examples of cryptic
verse on physical cultivation that I omit from discussion. The use of verse as a mnemo-
nic device should also be considered. Techniques and formulae were often committed to verse
as an aid to memorization. And the Sung primer San tzu ching -P took advantage of jing
trisyllabic phrases to make a great impression on the student's mind (like the earlier tetrasyl-
labic Ch 'ien tzu wen
55 Cf. Schipper, "The Taoist Body, " pp. 368-71, on the significance of such metaphorical
language in Taoism.

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566 DONALD HARPER
denotations of the metaphors are mostly lost to us. Of the nine

which occur I am able to identify only one with complete confi-
dence. While it is evident that the verse begins with foreplay and
concludes with achieving the goal of sexual cultivation, without be-
ing certain of the denotations of the majority of metaphors it is
difficult to ascertain the sequence of actions that come in between. I
attempt identifications of the terms and speculate on the meaning of
the instructions in the verse when possible. Even if some of these
cryptic metaphors resist decoding, the analysis of them in light of
evidence from other early literature as well as from later literature
on physical cultivation reveals how the language applied here to
female anatomy resonates within the framework of ancient somatic
conceptions.
The Verse56
1. The recipe for whenever one will be conjoining Yin and Yang.
2. Grip the hands, spit on the Yang side of the wrists.
3. Stroke the elbow chambers.
4. Go under the side of the armpits.
5. Ascend the stove frame.
6. Go under the neck zone.
7. Stroke the receiving canister.
8. Cover the encircling ring.
9. Descend the broken basin.
10. Cross over the syrupy-liquor ford.
11. Skim the Spurting Sea.
12. Ascend Mount Constancy.
13. Enter the dark gate.
14. Ride the coital sinew.
15. Suck the essence and spirit upwards.
16. Then one can have enduring vision and exist in unison with
heaven and earth.
56 See figure 2 for the transcription of the verse. To facilitate my analysis of the text
divided the translation into numbered lines, and the line numbers are identified in subscript
in figure 2. Line numbers in the translation of the prose text, transcribed in figure 3, continue
sequentially from the verse.

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SEXUAL ARTS 567
slip 102
(1) (2) (3) (4)

slip 103
fM1917K61 f M9Mafmami- wra t9
(5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (1 1)
slip 104
(12) (13) (14) (15) (16)
Fig. 2. Transcription of the "Ho Yin Yang" Verse

Note: The transcription of the verse and prose text (in fig. 3) is based on the transcription in
PS, p. 155, and on the plate of the original slips reproduced in fig. 1. I follow the PS transcrip-
tion in using standard orthography for the component parts of certain graphs (e.g. J is
transcribed 0). For graphs that are not attested in the received literature or are not
with the meaning they have in "Ho Yin Yang," I note the graph usually used in Han sources
for the word in question. The line nos. of the translation are indicated in parentheses beneath
the last graph in each line.
4Zt =1e
As in the later sex manuals it is understood in the Ma-wang-tui

texts that the instructions for intercourse are directed towards the
male partner.57 The term "conjoin Yin and Yang" 1 in line 1
occurs in later literature referring both to sexual coition and to the
fusion of Yin and Yang vapors in the internal alchemy of Taoist
physical cultivation practices.58 The synonymous term "conjoin
vapors" M% is used in the silk manuscript "Yang sheng fang" to
refer to sexual intercourse.59 The latter term is best known as the
name of the group sexual rite practiced among Taoists as early as
5 That the sex manuals are written primarily for men is quite evident in the manuals
quoted in Ishimpo, chapter 28. Even sections of the manuals concerning the woman in inter-
course are written from the point of view of what a man should know and recognize about his
partner.
58 Cf. Maspero, "Procedes," p. 397 and p. 401, n. 4. The passage from the Huai nan wan
pi shu on gecko paste (see n. 41 above) also refers to coition as "conjoining Yin and Yang" (ac-
cording to the recipe, the paste must be made using a pair of geckos who have just copulated).
59 PS, "Yang sheng fang," column 215, p. 118.

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568 DONALD HARPER
the Later Han.60 Although line 1 rhymes with lines 2-7, I regard it
to be introductory and thus not part of the esoteric verse proper.
The trisyllabic phrases begin in line 2 following the preliminary
instruction to the man to grip the woman's hands. All of the phrases
through line 14 are composed of a verb instructing the man to take
some action, followed by the part of the female anatomy where the
action is to be performed. Line 15, which is tetrasyllabic ,61 refers to
the action the man takes within his own body as the result of the sex-
ual union; and line 16 is a one line epilogue to the verse. Lines 1-7
all end with the rhyme *-ang (rhyme category Mi), and lines 8-10
and 12-16 with the rhymes *-an (rhyme category 5d) or *-en (rhyme
category g).62 The change in rhyme at line 8 perhaps indicates a
shift in the nature of the action as well. In reading the verse I conjec-
ture that lines 2-7 are related to foreplay and that line 8 marks a
transition to more direct sexual action.63
According to line 2, the man's first move is to grip the woman's
hands and place saliva on the Yang side of her wrists, which I take
to mean the exposed or outer side of the wrists.64 Rubbing the body
60 Cf. Maspero, "Procedes," pp. 400-13; van Gulik, Sexual Life, pp. 88-90; and Schipper,
"Science, Magic, and the Mystique of the Body," pp. 26-30.
61 Perhaps the word shang FI in line 15 is excrescent.
62 The rhyme categories are those for the Han period in Lo Ch'ang-p'ei Rs* and
Tsu-mo M11g, Han Wei Chin nan pei ch 'aoyiin puyen-pienyen-chiu E
9t, vol. 1 (Peking: K'o-hsiieh Press, 1958). Rhyming between words in the xd and ,
categories is common in Western Han literature (and Eastern Han as well; cf. ibid., pp. 36-
37). The cross-rhyming suggests that the verse was composed not long before the Han,
although even the mid-third century B.C. would not be too early for evidence of a sound shift
that became widespread in Han times.
The word hai a (*Xmag) in line 11 does not fit in the rhyme scheme, and there are no
variants of the toponym Po hai that would yield a plausible rhyme. If there had existed
another version of the "Ho Yin Yang" verse in which line 11 rhymed, the bisyllabic object
would not have been a reference to the Spurting Sea. I prefer reading the text as it stands, and
treat line 11 as an exception to an otherwise consistent use of rhyme.
63 See p. 575 below. The verbs in lines 2-7 also suggest foreplay using the hands (especially
the repetition of "stroke" in lines 3 and 7, and "go under" in lines 4 and 6). A routine of
foreplay that must precede penetration is detailed in lines 20-26 of the prose text (where it is
called the "way of disportment"). Lines 2-16 of the verse also appear to be arranged in
triplets (lines 2-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, 14-16), with each triplet representing a stage of inter-
course.
64 I am following the use of Yin and Yang to designate "unexposed" and "exposed"
geographic positions, and to distinguish other contrasting pairs like "bottom/top" and "in-
ner/outer." Shuo wen 12A.28b, glosses wo tX with o Mg; both words refer to grasping

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SEXUAL ARTS 569
with saliva is recommended in practicing self-massage in "Shih

wen. " >65 Stimulating the woman by rubbing her with saliva during
foreplay is mentioned in later sexual literature.66 In the verse, hav-
ing placed saliva on the woman's wrists the man must then begin to
stroke the woman, moving first to the elbows (line 3)67 and then to
the armpits (line 4).
The use of metaphors for parts of the woman's body begins in
line 5. Tsao kang SM. ("stove frame") is not an attested term in the
received literature. Kang has the sense of "cord supporting a net,
mainstay which supports other things." Originally tsao kang prob-
ably denoted a part of the stove itself, for example the mouth of the
stove or the wells on the top surface which hold the cooking pots.66
something by wrapping one's fingers around it. While the most likely meaning of the instruc-
tion to "grip the hands" is that the man should grip the woman's hands, in later Taoist
physical cultivation literature the term wo ku M1 ("grip the fist firmly") refers to a fist pos
tion in which the adept lays the thumb in the palm of the hand and wraps the fingers around
it. For a precise definition of the fist position see Ishimpo 27.20b, which quotes the Six
Dynasties Yang shengyao chi a f V. The locus classicus for the term is Lao tzu, paragraph
in the description of the "red infant" (ch'ih tzu *j=4 ) who represents the ideal of physi
perfection. Another interpretation of the instruction in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse might be
that the man is to fist his own hands and then stroke his partner with fisted hands.
65 PS, "Shih wen," slip 50, p. 148: "One who follows the Way, at daybreak spits on his
hands and strokes his arms, massaging the abdomen along the Yin side and along the Yang
side. "
66 See, for example, the description in Po Hsing-chien's TMM poem on sex, in the same
section cited in n. 84 below: "The woman grips the man's stalk and her heart flutters, the
man holds the woman's tongue in his mouth and his mind blurs. Just then, daub on saliva
and rub, smearing it up and down." PS, transcription n. 2 to slip 102, p. 155, proposes
reading text t'u ? as tu Ft, which I reject.
67 The wordfang , ("chamber") occurs as a suffix for names of certain body parts in early
literature (see Shih chi 105.20a and commentary, where the term for the breasts isjufang LM),
which is the way I interpret its occurrence in line 3.
68 Hayashi Minao i; ;,- Kandai no bumbutsu fl;, 0D t (Kyoto: Ky6t6 Daigaku Jim-
bun Kagaku Kenkyusho, 1976), pp. 168-69, discusses Han literary and archeological
evidence on the form and use of the tsao. The wells for holding pots on the stove are sometimes
referred to as ch 'uan V. As for the possibility that kang might refer to the front opening of the
stove, the analysis of ts'uan X (V "cook on stove") in Shuo wen 3A.40a-b is suggestive: " aN
depicts holding the steamer, is the mouth of the stove (tsao k 'ou a Fl), f are hands putting
wood into the fire." Perhaps tsao kang is synonymous with tsao k'ou.
Another piece of equipment in the Han kitchen discussed in Hayashi, Kandai no bumbutsu,
p. 227 (and illustrated in plate 5-70), was a trivet-ring of metal that was used to hold pots
over an open fire (it has the name wu te Hit). It is possible that kang in the term tsao kang
denotes such a trivet (in which case tsao would refer to cooking in general, rather than to an ac-
tual stove, for the metal trivet was used over an open fire).

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570 DONALD HARPER
In considering a physiological denotation for tsao kang we should

keep in mind that line 4 left the man at the armpits, from where he
is to "ascend the stove frame. " Perhaps tsao kang refers to the thorax
or to some part thereof.69 Ling hsiang $fif ("neck zone") is also unat-
tested in the received literature. Ling by itself refers to the back of
the neck,70 suggesting to me that the compound ling hsiang might
refer to the region from the back of the neck down, that is, the spine.
If so, the movement between lines 5-6 is from the front of the
woman's upper body to the back.
With his hands now behind the woman the man must "stroke the
receiving canister" (line 7). Ch 'eng k 'uang *M is attested in the Shih
ching and the I ching f, and its significance in these sources bears
directly on our verse. Discussion of the term should begin with the
word k 'uang. The k 'uang is a square basket without a cover used prin-
cipally for gathering and for offering foods, hence my translation
"canister" in the old Greek and Latin sense of an open basket for
holding bread, fruit, and other foods. According to Han sources,
k 'uang denotes the square canister and chli g the round canister; the
square and round shapes of the two types of canister are correlated
with feminine and masculine qualities respectively.7' The square
canister appears frequently in the Shih ching along with other baskets
which women use to gather plants, and Han stone reliefs depict a
woman gathering mulberry leaves in a square canister with a han-
dle.72 From early times there was a constellation known asfu k'uang
69 The idea that a cooking apparatus was incorporated in human physiology is evident in
the existence of the "three burners" in ancient physiological theory (see n. 27 above). For un-
derstanding the relationship of an internal stove to physical cultivation practices, the Taoist
theory that the inner workings of the body center around the three tan t'ien jFfl ("cinnabar
fields") is particularly significant (cf. Maspero, "Procedes," pp. 192-97; and Needham,
Science 5.5:38-39). The middle tan t'ien is situated in the chest cavity and includes the heart as
one of its chambers. Might not tsao kang in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse be related to it?
Taoist alchemical symbolism also correlates the man's sexual function with the furnace and
the woman's with the reaction-vessel in sexual cultivation (cf. van Gulik, Sexual Life, pp. 79-
80; and Needham, Science 5.5:211-12). The introduction of stove terminology into the "Ho
Yin Yang" verse may reflect a similar alchemical symbolism, although the pairing of
woman/reaction-vessel does not match with the term tsao kang as a female anatomical term.
70 Shuo wen 9A.4a.
71 The relevant glosses are discussed in Hayashi, Kandai no bumbutsu, p. 256.
72 Ibid., p. 256 and plate 5-179.

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SEXUAL ARTS 571
tg ("canister holder") which had special influence on feminine oc-

cupations, especially sericulture.73
The nature of the k'uang as a natural feminine receptacle for
magical treasures is most graphically illustrated in the account of
the avian impregnation of Chien ti MIA that resulted in the birth of
the Shang ancestor Hsieh M. The record of the event in the Lu shih
ch'un ch'iu F%fekK describes how God (Ti ;) sent a swallow to ex-
amine Chien ti and her sister. The girls caught the bird and covered
it with a jade square-canister (yii k 'uang iEtI). When they raised the
canister the swallow flew off, leaving behind the eggs which im-
pregnated Chien ti.74 Later stories of legendary feminine prowess
repeat the motif of the magic egg dropped into the square canister.
The term in line 7, ch 'eng k 'uang, occurs in the poem entitled "Lu
ming" (Deer cry) in the Shih ching.76 The opinion of Han scholiasts
that the poem concerns the king's entertainment of retainers not-
withstanding, the language of the poem strongly suggests a scene of
feminine enticement. In the first stanza a "lucky guest" (chia pin i
W) is regaled with music and then propositioned:
I have a lucky guest.

Sound the zither, blow the mouth-organ.
Blow the mouth-organ, sound its reeds.
The receiving canister, take hold of this.
The music and the receiving canister filled with offerings attract the
The old astrological sources are cited in K'aiyiian chan ching xW (Ssu k'u ch'uian sk
El*i ed.), 69.7a-b. See also G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1875),
pp. 204-05. The constellation corresponds to stars in Draco. The association with sericulture
is perhaps due to the use of the basket for gathering mulberry leaves.
74 Lu shih ch'un ch'iu, "Yin ch'u" 'j JJ, 6.335.
75 The Hsi-ching tsa chi NA*k (SPTK ed.), 4.5b, recounts an auspicious portent early in
the life of Queen Dowager Yuan 7 wife of Thearch Ch'eng )Ai; (r. 33-7 B.C.) and Wang
Mang's TW paternal aunt: "When Queen Dowager Yuian still lived in the family home
there was once a white swallow holding in its mouth a white stone the size of a finger. It drop-
ped it into the Queen Dowager's silk-thread canister (chi k 'uang rx). The Queen Dowager
took it out and the stone split in two. Inside there was writing which said 'Be mother of
heaven and earth.' The Queen Dowager then put the two halves together and it was once
again sealed." The career of the lady nee Wang certainly fulfilled the prophecy of the stone
that dropped into her canister, for she dominated court politics during the last quarter of the
first century B.C., and was instrumental indengineering Wang Mang's rise to power.
76 Shih ching, "Lu ming" (Mao 161), 9B.2b.

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572 DONALD HARPER
"guest," drawing him into the feminine presence. This type of

poetic enticement is a feature of the shamanistic songs in the Ch 'u
tz'u, "Chiu ko" JtA (Nine songs), and I would judge the
hierogamous union of shamaness and spirit to be the theme of "Lu
ming" as well.77
Basket imagery in other Shih ching poems conveys similar sexual
nuances. In "Pi kou" kg (Broken fish-basket), for example, the
basket used to trap fish becomes a metaphor for the female while the
fish which swim into the basket represent the male.78 That the receiv-
ing canister is used in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse to designate an
area of female anatomy is strong evidence that the basket metaphors
of the Shih ching found their way into the amorous lexicon of later
literature, a point to which I will return shortly.
The sexual significance of the receiving canister is equally strik-
ing in the I ching. The term occurs in the mantic line-text attached to
hexagram 54, "Kuei mei" X". The name of the hexagram refers
to the youngest sister in the marriage entourage, and the two
77 Shirakawa Shizuka bJI I, Kanji no sekai i*4QODtW, 2 vols. (Tokyo:Heibonsha, 1976),

2:117-18, notes that in early religion pin and k 'o X referred to the ancestral spirits summoned
to sacrificial celebrations; he also observes (pp. 23-24) that the "guest" in several Shih ching
poems is just such an ancestral spirit, and that the poems are to be associated with the incanta-
tions used in summoning the spirit guests at ancestral sacrifices. Shirakawa, Shikyo flf
(Tokyo: Chuo6 K6ronsha, 1970), p. 190, identifies "Lu ming" as this type of poem. The
theme of hierogamous union in Chinese religious thought, either in the form of the s
shamaness who had the power to attract the spirits or in the feminine treasure-objects that
were the vessels for spirits, is the subject of a definitive study by M. Kaltenmark, "Ling-pao:
note sur an terme du Taoisme religieux," Melanges Publie's par l'Institut des Hautes Etudes
Chinoises 2 (Paris, 1960): 559-88. Viewed in light of these religious ideas, the receiving
canister in "Lu ming" may be seen to function both as a material object which attracts the
spirit and as a metaphor for feminine sexuality.
78 Shih ching, "Pi kou" (Mao 104), 5B.8b. Wen I-to 1 Shen-huayii shih <
(Peking: Ku-chi Press, 1956), p. 120, analyzes the sexual significance of the basket imagery
in the poem. Wen I-to regards the basket metaphor in this poem as a veiled reference to a lasciv-
ious woman. However, it would be better to treat the sexual nuances in the poem in the same
way as in "Lu ming. " Concrete evidence of baskets as snares for spirits occurs in the Ma-
wang-twii recipe manual Wu-shih-erh pingfang. A recipe for ridding a house of "child sprite
(ch'i U) calls for making an exorcistic carriage whose chassis is a winnowing basket (ch
and wheeling it around the house, thereby trapping the child sprites in the basket (see
Harper, "The Wu Shih Erh Ping Fang," pp. 612-14). The later use of the winnowing basket to
hold the spirit in Chinese automatic writing reflects the same magical associations with bas-
kets. Cf. Chao Wei-pang, "The Origin and Growth of thefu chi (Planchette), " Folklore Studies
1 (1942): 9-27.

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SEXUAL ARTS 573
trigrams which compose it represent the matching of minor Yin

(shao Yin ?/I) with senior Yang (chang Yang AM): tui M on the bo
tom and chen a on the top.79 This configuration coincides with the
ancient sexual theory that the man benefits most from intercourse
with young women. Thus the eulogy to the account of the royal
wives in the Hou Han shu _Ma makes reference to "Kuei mei" by
way of praising the joy that the wives bring to the monarch.80 The
Five Phase treatise in the Han shu correlates the "Kuei mei" hex-
agram with impregnation in discussing the nature of thunder and
lightning:"
In the I, thunder emerges in the second month and the hexagram for it is "Yu"
(hexagram 16), which signifies that the myriad things emerge from the earth along
with thunder and are all in a state of incipient readiness AR. (Thunder) enters in
the eighth month and the hexagram for it is "Kuei mei," which signifies that
thunder once again returns P. When it enters the earth, it impregnates the roots
and kernels and provides a protective repository for dormant bugs.
Given the overall significance of the "Kuei mei" hexagram, there is

clearly a sexual connotation when the term ch'eng k'uang is used in
the mantic statement for the uppermost line of the hexagram:82
Woman-receiving canister is without fruit.
79 I ching, " Kuei mei, " 5.31 b.

80 Hou Han shu chi chieh ' (reproduction of 1915 woodblock ed., 1-wen Press,
Taipei), IOB.13b: "The Shih 51 glorifies the 'desirable mate' (hao ch'iu #fX; cf. Mao 1,
"Kuan chii" NO). The Ipraises the 'homeward-coming sister' (kuei mei ;,% the woman of
the eponymous hexagram)." As explained in the Li Hsien 4 (651-84) commentary, kuei
mei signifies a virgin maid (shao nui ?PI42). The reference to the "Kuei mei" hexagram alludes
to a blissful marital match.
8' Han shupu chu 27B-1 .9a. The general context of the passage concerns the annual cycle of
fertilization, growth, and maturation in nature as this cycle is revealed in the symbolic system
of the I hexagrams. The correlation of "Kuei mei" with the re-entry of thunder in the eighth
month, signaling a period of gestation in preparation for nature's rebirth in the second
month, is good evidence of the sexual symbolism associated with this hexagram.
82 I ching, 5.34b: k* ?-'I#. )IiO. *I1J. Conventionally, the first two lines
are read as "the woman receives the canister, it has no fruit; the knight slaughters the sheep,
it has no blood. " In the Shih ching poem and "Ho Yin Yang" verse, ch 'eng k 'uang functions as
a compound term for a particular kind of canister. In my judgment it is also a compound in
"Kuei mei" and I have translated the lines accordingly. The text of "Kuei mei" in the
Ma-wang-tui manuscript of the I ching is the same as the received text. See Anonymous,
"Ma-wang-tui po shu 'liu-shih-ssu kua' shih-wen" . '\tEIl|[ : Wen-wv
1984.3:4.

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574 DONALD HARPER
Knight-slaughtered sheep is without blood.

There is nothing which will be benefitted.
Reflecting on the possible physiological denotation for ch 'eng

k'uang in line 7 of the verse, I would suggest associating it with the
pelvic region, the "osseous basket" which holds the sexual organs.
His hands already behind the woman, the man moves them down to
cradle her by the pelvis.
I have noted that one point of particular interest in the occur-
rence of ch 'eng k 'uang in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse is the confirma-
tion it provides of the continued use of certain Shih ching metaphors
in the later literature of love. Indeed, the verse helps to clarify sex-
ual allusions found centuries later in a T'ang poem on sex that until
now have been poorly understood. The poem, which is extant in a
Tun-huang #k manuscript and ascribed to Po Hsing-chien bfti
(d. 826), the younger brother of Po Chii-i bS0, is entitled "T'ien
ti Yin Yang chiao huan ta le fu" KPAM:;k*M (Fu of the great
ecstasy of the coital joys of heaven and earth and Yin and Yang).83
One section of the poem describes the union of husband and wife on
their wedding night. At the point when the husband has penetrated
his wife and sexual essences are flowing, the poem says:84
The six bands, rub with them.

The receiving canister, take hold of this.
Thus achieve consummation in the relationship of
husband and wife:
It is what is called conjoining in Yin and Yang.
The second line is an exact quotation from the Shih ching poem "Lu
ming" already cited above. The "six bands" (liu tai ,Y\) in the first
line suggest the many lines in the Shih ching that describe the six
reins (liu p 'ei /*) by means of which the driver controls his horses .85
Taken together, perhaps the first line portrays the man as rider (a
83 I use the critical edition of the text made by Yeh Te-hui Vtf$ and transcribed in va
Gulik, Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period, 2 vols. (Tokyo: priv. published, 1951), 2:75-87.
84 Ibid., p. 77. These lines occur in the fourth section of the poem as edited by Yeh Te-hui.
85 For example, Shih ching, "Ssu t'ieh" MM (Mao 127), 6C.6a; "Hsiaojung" 'J,FZ (Mao
128), 6C.9a; "Huang huang che hua" QQ j (Mao 163), 9B.8a; "Chii hsia" -t. (Mao
218), 14B.13b; and "Pi kung" MIM (Mao 300), 20B.la.

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SEXUAL ARTS 575
common simile for the man's role in intercourse); and the second
line the woman as the sexual receptacle.86 These classical allusions
signify the climax of coition. I think the T'ang poet quoted from
"Lu ming" knowingly; that is, he was aware of the sexual connota-
tion of ch 'eng k'uang in the original poem.87 Thus in spite of the or-
thodox exegetical tradition in which the Shih ching was encased, the
sexual nuances of Shih ching imagery were still apparent in T'ang
literary culture.
Returning to the "Ho Yin Yang" verse, the verb in line 8
("cover") indicates that the man is to place his body over the
woman's. By line 12 it is clear that the verse has been leading up to
sexual penetration, which is accomplished in line 13. I think that
the shift from foreplay to copulation occurs in line 8, coinciding
with the shift in rhyme. The term chou huan MJ ("encircling ring")
occurs in Han literature in a description of the circular path ringing
the grounds of a palace. It is undoubtedly synonymous with AM,
which refers to a circular arrangement or a circumference.88 Perhaps
in the "Ho Yin Yang" verse the "encircling ring" refers to a
region on the top side of the woman's body, such as the ring outlin-
ing the abdominal cavity.
The lines following the instruction to lie on top of the woman ap-
pear to be a kind of tour of the feminine landscape that concludes on
reaching the vagina (in line 13). The locales mentioned were prob-
ably important in physical cultivation theory, and the verse lists
them in order to map the sexual terrain. It is also probable that each
line indicates specific actions for the man to perform as he prepares
to penetrate the woman, but exactly what those actions are is
obscure to us now. Ch'ueh p'en ;k ("broken basin") in line 9 is
86 On the man as rider, see n. 103 below. It is possible that the term liu tai also ref
towels used in intercourse. Ishimpo 28.1 la (sec. "Lin yii"), mentions wiping the genitals dry
with a cloth in the middle of intercourse before proceeding further.
87 In his synopsis of the poem, van Gulik, Sexual Life, p. 204, misses the allusion to the Sh
ching and, thinking that sex is over, translates: "Afterwards they wipe their parts with the
Six Girdles, and these are placed in a basket. " His mistranslation becomes the basis for an un-
sound speculation on the towel "stained with the defloration blood, as proof that the bride
was a virgin" (p. 207)
88 Wang Yen-shou's "Lu ling kuang tien fu" 4SMfiV, Wen hsuian IICIX (SPP
11.13a, uses MPM in the sense of a circular path. ME occurs in Hou Han shu 88.12b
circumference (it is identical with chouyyuan MJA[).

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576 DONALD HARPER
given in the Shih chi as the name of a bone located above the breast
(most likely the collar bone).89 This denotation could fit the context
of the verse, meaning that the "tour" begins near the woman's
bosom and gradually descends.
The li chin NW ("syrupy-liquor ford") crossed over in line 10 is
clearly parallel to the 1i ch 'uan R7 ("syrupy-liquor spring"), which
in Taoist physical cultivation scriptures (beginning with the Huang
t'ing ching) refers to the reservoir of saliva under the tongue, also
known as the jade pool. Regularly swallowing the saliva that gath-
ers there invigorates the body.90 In the "Ho Yin Yang" verse
the syrupy-liquor ford lies somewhere between the breast and the
vagina. In later physical cultivation literature the esoteric vocab-
ulary used for breath cultivation is also applied to sexual cultiva-
tion." An examination of the origin of the li ch'uan in Han and
earlier mythical geography indicates that the elixir which gushes
from this source could easily have been identified with the female
essences which nourish the male in sex.
Repeating a tradition of an earlier era, Ssu-ma Ch'ien PIM
notes in the Shih chi that the syrupy-liquor spring and the blue-gem
pool (yao ch 'ih 9S&) are to be found within the precincts of Mount
K'un-lun P,, the olympian paradise of the Queen Mother of the
West (Hsi wang mu 991JU).92 In the prophecy and weft-text
literature of the Han, the emergence of the ii ch 'uan from the earth
signifies that the cosmic axis has been struck and betokens divine
blessings; a belief that derives from the topography of Mount K'un-
lun, the archetypal cosmic peak in Chinese lore. Forming a pair
with the 1i ch 'uan, which is the elixir of the earth, is sweet dew (kan lu
ttS), the blessed gift from heaven.93 Applied to human physiology,
89 Shih chi 105.20a.

90 For the 1i ch 'uan as a reservoir of saliva, see Maspero, "Procedes, " p. 366, n. 6 (see also
the discussion of the synonymous yu ch 'uan in n. 25 above).
91 See n. 25 above.
92 Shih chi 123.19b.
93 Wang Yen-shou, "Lu ling kuang tien fu," Wen hsuan 11. 13b, describes the auspicious
site of the ling kuang tien (Numinous radiance basilica), including the fact that: "Dark syrupyli-
quor gushes through hidden channels; sweet dew descends, covering the eaves." The com-
mentary quotes the Ch 'un ch 'iuyuan mingpao 4#jfptal, on the syrupy-liquor spring: "When
the axis of heaven is obtained, then the syrupy-liquor spring issues forth. " And it quotes the

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SEXUAL ARTS 577
the body might also possess such a source of earthy nourishment,

perhaps situated near the navel which is the axial point on the
human frame.9
The significance of ii ("syrupy-liquor") in connection with
physiological and alchemical analogues should not be overlooked.
According to the Han scholiasts, 1i is a sweet, unfiltered liquor made
by fermenting the ingredients for only a day and a night. Because
the liquor is a mixture of sediments, the Yin component, and liq-
uid, the Yang component, it is correlated directly with t 'i 0
("body"), for both graphs share the same etymonic and phonetic
root.95 In later literature fermentation is described as a Yin and
Yang transformation. Likening the process to the reaction of lead
and mercury, the leaven is said to be the Yin ingredient and the
millet the Yang ingredient. Fermentation occurs when the Yin
leaven is added to the Yang millet. It is likely that this theory was
already current during the Han.96 Thus the syrupy-liquor ford
located in the body emblematizes the same alchemical union of Yin
and Yang as the lead-mercury transformation which is one of the
Hsiao ching yuan shen ch'i . on sweet dew: "When virtue reaches its culminant
greatness, then sweet dew falls. " For further references to kan lu and 1i ch 'uan see th
to the individual volumes in the compendium of prophecy and weft-text literature edit
Yasui Kozan %c-FLU4 and Nakamura Shohachi 444MA, Ju-shuz isho shu-sei
(Tokyo: Meitoku Shuppansha, 1971-).
94 The axiality of the navel (chi M) was expressed geographically in the tradition that
cient state of Ch'i A was so named because it was the navel of heaven. Ch'i's "nav
situated at a spot where five springs issued forth in one stream (Shih chi 28.9b and com
tary). On the human body, the region just below the navel was the location of the lower
t'ien "cinnabar field" in Taoist physiology. Schipper, "The Taoist Body," pp. 370-71,
argues that the tan t 'ien below the navel was the original one, and that the middle and upper
tan t'ien were derivative. His source is a second or third century A.D. physical cultivation scrip
ture, the Lao tzu chung ching , f Pt1 (Scripture of the inner of Lao tzu), which describes th
tan t 'ien as the place where men and women store their seminal essence. The relevant passage
from the Lao tzu chung ching is in Yuin chi ch'i ch'ien @ (HY 1026), 18.13a.
95 Cf. Hayashi Minao, "Kandai no inshoku" iftMDftOiA, Toho- gakuho V* 48
(1975): 76.
96 The Chou i ts 'an t 'ung ch 'i PA9 %MJ; (second-third century A.D.) alludes to the action of
leaven in fermenting liquor in the context of alchemical theory. Cf. Needham, Science 5.4
(1980): 316-17. The Pei shan chiu ching ALLU'PR of Chu I-chung *;WP (twelfth century)
describes the alchemical correlations in detail. See Ku chin t'u shu chi ch'eng F
(reproduction of 1726 movable type ed., Shanghai: Chung-hua shu-chu, 1934), "Shih huo
tien" -ARA, ts'e 698, 273. lb.

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578 DONALD HARPER
most prevalent analogues for sexual union.97 It is also worth noting

that in Han times the square canister was one of the baskets used for
drip filtration.98 It is probably not a coincidence that the "Ho Ying
Yang" verse locates the source of liquor in the vicinity of the receiv-
ing canister.
I have not found a reference in the received literature to indicate
the physiological counterpart to the Spurting Sea (Po hai fi), the
body of water into which the Yellow River drains. In the Chuang tzu
and elsewhere we are told that at its easternmost edge the sea spills
out through the Gate at the Tail (Wei lii %).` In later physical
cultivation literature, wei lui denotes the coccyx; in the male it is a
point at the lower end of the channel which conducts semen up the
spine to nourish the brain in the practice of semen retention."10
However, in lines 11 and 12 the direction of movement is not
eastward, but westward from the Spurting Sea in the direction of
Mount Constancy (Ch'ang shan S1i), the Holy Peak of the North.
There is a pairing of the Spurting Sea and Mount Constancy in a
Chuang tzu passage about the mighty sword of the true Son of
Heaven. No ordinary weapon, the parts and attributes of this sword
encompass the whole world; it is "wrapped around by the Spurting
Sea and hung by the belt of Mount Constancy.' I cannot deter-
mine how the Chuang tzu description relates to the "Ho Yin Yang"
verse, if at all. From the context we might surmise that Mount
Constancy refers to the rise of the female genitals, the pudendum
femininum. Could the Spurting Sea refer, then, to a region below
the navel and above the genitals?
In any case, line 13 describes unambiguously the penetration of
the penis into the vagina. Hsuan men ArU1 ("dark gate") is probably
derived from hsuian p 'in chih men LtzP,m ("gate of the dark
feminine") in Lao tzu, paragraph 6. While the "Ho shang kung" /I
JiR commentary explains the Lao tzu passage as instructions for
97 Cf. van Gulik, Sexual Life, pp. 80-84; and Needham, Science 5.5:211-16.
98 Hayashi, Kandai no bumbutsu pp. 223-24.
99 Chuang tzu, "Ch'iu shui" {)7JK, 6.6b.
'00 Cf. Needham, Science 5.5:203, n.c.
'1' Chuang tzu, "Shuo chien" NIJ, 10.2b. The "Ho Yin Yang" verse uses ch'ang rather
than heng F3 in the name of Mount Constancy to avoid the personal-name taboo of Thearch
Wen :i;M (r. 179-157 B.C.).

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SEXUAL ARTS 579
breath cultivation, the "Hsiang erh" ,RM commentary identifies

the "gate of the dark feminine" with the vagina.102
The verbyii P ("ride") in line 14 is commonly used to refer to
the action of the man in intercourse; the termyui nui 'tf ("ride the
woman") is attested in Han literature.103 Chiao chin 32)5 ("coital
sinew") is not attested in the received literature. Fortunately, the
prose text following the verse begins with a gloss of the term (lines
17-18). It refers to the duct (mo) inside the vagina that triggers
orgasm.
Line 14 is the last in the sequence of trisyllabic phrases in which
the object of the verb names a female body part. Line 15 concerns
what the man must do at the moment of orgasm. It appears to refer
to the practice of semen retention whereby the man blocks the
ejaculation of semen and instead makes it pass into his body.'04 In
physical cultivation theory the internal cycling of the semen which
has been nourished by the female essences is the ultimate benefit of
102 The full line in Lao tzu, paragraph 6, is: L;$t2.QIPkl2 . The "Ho shang ku
commentary, which explains hsian p'in as the nose and the mouth, is discussed in n. 49
above. The "Hsiang erh" commentary (Jao, Hsiang-er Commentary on Tao Te Ching, p. 9) says
of the same line: "P'in is the earth. The female is the image of it. The Yin hole (Yin k'ung M
RL; i.e. vagina) is the gate, the office of death and life. It is the most essential, hence it is called
the root (ken i). The male stalk (nan t'u ?; i.e. penis) is also called the root."
103 According to Ts'ai Yung t (132-92), in Tu tuan ]ffi (Han Wei ts'ung shu ,
[reproduction of 1592 woodblock ed., Shanghai: Han Fen Lou, 1925]), 1.4a,yii refers to the
downward-directed actions of the monarch, including his sexual relations with consorts. In
the termyi nu, yu might also be rendered as "lie with, take to bed," referring to the man's
selection of a woman for intercourse (cf. van Gulik, Sexual Life, pp. 60 and 78, who cites Han
ritual literature on conjugal life and translatesyi as "copulate"). In line 14,yui does not refer
to bedding the woman in a general sense, but to the action of the penis on the "coital duct."
Here and in other contexts related to sexual cultivation, I think thatyi is better translated in
its primary sense as "drive, ride."
There are references to Jung Ch'eng's art of "riding the woman" in Hou Han shu 82B.8b
(the account of Leng Shou-kuang i and 82B. 14b-15a (the account of Kan Shih U#,
Tung-kuo Yen-nien : and Feng Chun-ta i ). Cf. Ngo Van Xuyet, Divination,
Magie, et Politique dans la Chine Ancienne (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1976), pp.
126 and 142.
104 Perhaps the theory that the semen rose up the spinal column to "replenish the brain"
was not yet formulated in the second century B.C., for the words huan chingpu nao "return the
seminal essence and replenish the brain" which refer to the practice of semen retention in
later sexual cultivation literature (see n. 21 above) do not occur in the Ma-wang-tui texts.
There are, however, numerous references to circulating sexually generated essences inside
the body, and I think it can be inferred from line 15 that ejaculation has been prevented.

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580 DONALD HARPER
intercourse for the man. And the verse concludes by extolling the
spiritually rejuvenating virtues of sex.
The prose text of the first section of "Ho Yin Yang" and the
seven sections which follow it read like the later sex manuals.
Although these sex manuals did not survive as separate books in the
received literature, significant portions of the manuals in circulation
during the T'ang have been preserved in the chapter on sexual prac-
tice (chapter 28) in the tenth century Japanese medical compen-
dium Ishimpo WLJ) (Heart of medicine recipes). Of five sex
manuals quoted extensively there, three were already in circulation
during the Six Dynasties and a fourth appears to have been a T'ang
edition of earlier sexological material: Yii fang pi chiieh /i UtNV
(Secret instructions of the jade chamber), Su nii ching * tc 4 (Scrip-
ture of the Immaculate Maid), Hsuian nii ching Atcgi (Scripture of
the Dark Maid), and Tung hsuian tzu pA-J (Master Penetrator-of-
darkness).'05 While the quotations from these works are arranged
under the thirty section headings of the IshimpJ chapter, it has been
cogently argued that the sequence of these sections roughly imitates
the order of the contents of the original Chinese sex manuals.'06 The
first sections in chapter 28 are introductory, placing sexual practice
within the conceptual framework of cosmological and physical
cultivation theory. Several sections that provide a preliminary over-
view of intercourse follow. And then comes the heart of the chapter:
105 See the bibliographic notes on the sex manuals quoted in the Ishimpo in Ishimpo, in
troductory volume, pp. 24-25. The first three titles are recorded in the bibliographic treatise
of the Sui shu. The Tung hsuan tzu appears to have been written by the T'ang Taoist Chang
Ting 3 whose religious name was Tung hsuian. The T'ang shu bibliographic treatise lists
a book by Chang Ting entitled Ch 'ung ho tzu yii fang pi chiieh 4?fWfKMIJ6%'k (Master Sub
merged-in-harmony's secret instructions of the jade chamber), which suggests that the Tung
hsiian tzu quoted in the Ishimpo is a T'ang edition (perhaps expanded) of the Six Dynasties Yu
fang pi chuieh compiled by Chang Ting (Ch'ung ho tzu is the name of a figure in the Yiifang pi
chueh, not of Chang Ting). Cf. Maspero, "Procedes," p. 383, who associates the Tung hsuian
tzu with a seventh century medical official, Li Tung-hsiuan tif|i; (but this ascription has
nothing to substantiate it other than Li's given name). The fifth sex manual quoted in the
Ishimpo, the Yii fang chih yao 3EMMt1 (Guide to the essentials of the jade chamber), is n
recorded in the bibliographic treatises of the Sui and T'ang standard histories.
106 This was the methodological principle followed by Yeh Te-hui in his reconstructi
the Ishimpo sex manuals in Shuang mei ching an ts'ung shu It'W VIR"t. Cf. van Gulik, S
Life, pp. 122-24.

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SEXUAL ARTS 581
a series of sections whose headings are the numerical procedures

into which the various aspects of the sex act are subdivided.'07
Intercourse-intercourse, that is, for the sake of physical cultiva-
tion rather than as a consequence of passion-had to be carefully
controlled so that the couple at no point committed a tactical error
that would lead to failure. The primary function of the sex manuals
was to transform the erotic subtleties and complicated permutations
of intercourse into a technique that, like other cultivation techni-
ques, guided the practitioner toward success. Thus, each of the
numerical headings in the Ishimpo isolates one aspect of sex and
represents it in terms of a formula that can be learned and has
calculated results.'08
It is precisely this kind of numerical expression of a technique
that we find in "Ho Yin Yang. " The verse and prose of the first sec-
tion may be seen as providing a general introduction to the whole
technique, while the other seven sections detail the contents of each
of the numerical procedures that constitute the technique. The ar-
rangement of sections in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" is similar. Com-
parison of the Ma-wang-tui texts with the Ishimpo shows many
points of correspondence between the numerical procedures in the
respective writings. In some cases the correspondence is nearly ex-
act and in others it is still possible to identify the correspondence,
even though there are significant differences. No doubt sexual
techniques were still in the process of being formulated when the
Ma-wang-tui texts were redacted. That their general formulation is
so close to the techniques described in the later sex manuals,
however, suggests that we should regard the Ma-wang-tui texts as
evidence of an already evolved art of sexual intercourse the origins
of which are considerably older.
107 The chapter concludes with sections on semen retention, selecting a fit woman, child
conception, remedies for sexually related ailments, etc. Some of this material has parallels in
the other Ma-wang-tui physical cultivation texts.
108 While this type of literature may have provided for a healthy sex life from the Chin
point of view, the prescribed technique was not designed to heighten the purely erotic aspects
of sexual relations (a subject which is not dealt with in the sex manuals; see n. 19 above).

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582 DONALD HARPER
The Prose Text
17. The coital sinew is the coital duct inside the dark gate.
18. When one is able to get hold of and stroke it, it causes both
bodies to experience ecstasy and nourishment and to have a
thriving appearance which is joyous and lustrous.
19. Although one is desirous, do not act.
20. Perform mutual exhalation and mutual embracing, following
in sequence'09 the way of disportment.
21. The way of disportment: The first is "the vapor rises, the face
is flushed-slowly exhale."
22. The second is "the nipples harden, the nose sweats-slowly
embrace. "
23. The third is "the tongue spreads and becomes slippery-slow-
ly press.'"'l0
24. The fourth is "down below secretions form,"' the thighs are
damp-slowly take hold."
25. The fifth is "the throat is dry, swallowing saliva-slowly
agitate. "
26. These are what are called the "signs of the five desires."
27. Upon completion, then ascend.
28. Jab upward but do not penetrate inside, thereby causing its
vapor to arrive.
109 Tz'u 4Z ("follow in sequence") occurs again in PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slip 112, p. 155,
where it refers to carrying out a sequence of one hundred repetitions counted by tens (see n.
124 below). The PS transcription of slip 106 suggests reading 4Z as t ("as desired, ad lib."),
in which case the phrase in line 20 would mean "perform the way of disportment ad lib. " I
think that the meaning "follow in sequence" is the correct one for this line.
1o I have translated text t'un FP as "press" partly on the basis of a parallel passage in PS,
"Shih wen," slip 54, p. 166, where the text readsfu W. Shuo wen 1B.1b, analyzes it as a
depiction of a sprout breaking through the ground. Perhaps the connotations of germination
are relevant to the use of t'un in line 23. T'un also has the sense of "amass, array" (cf.
Shirakawa, Kanji no sekai 2:248) which may explain its use in the text. It is equally probable
that in writing the graph fi the scribe intended a word usually written with an added signific
element in the received literature, or was using the graph to represent another homophonous
word.
III Hsi j7 is attested in post-Han sources as the name for the evening tide. See Morohashi
Tetsuji $R&, Dai Kan-Wa jiten .:fIIP (Tokyo: Taishiikan Shoten, 1966-68), no.
17122. PS, transcription n. 6 to slip 107, suggests reading the graph (the phonetic is *dziak) as
a scribal variant ofyeh A (*ziak). This is probably the correct identification of the word, and
in the context of line 24 it refers to the secretions that form in the vagina.

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SEXUAL ARTS 583
29. When the vapor arrives penetrate deeply inside and thrust it
upward, thereby dispensing its heat.
30. Then once again bring it back down.
31. Do not let its vapor spill out, lest the woman become greatly
parched.
32. Afterward practice'12 the ten movements.
33. Conjoin in the ten postures.
34. Intersperse the ten refinements.
35. Conjoin forms after sunset,"13 vent the vapor to the progenitive
gate.
36. Then observe the eight movements.
37. Listen to the five sounds.
38. Examine the signs of the ten intermissions.
Lines 17-18 are an explanation of line 14 in the verse: "ride the

coital sinew. " As I have already mentioned above, ancient physical
cultivation theory used the physiological model of the ducts (mo rI
to account for the movement of vapor and essence inside the body;
the sinews (chin A)i) in the body constituted yet another life-support
system. References to chin and mo in the Ma-wang-tui texts confirm
that both the ducts and sinews were important in the practice of
physical cultivation. "' Lines 17-18 state that success in sexual
112 The distinction between the graphs A (je, "heat") and A (i, "cultivate, pract
not strictly maintained in the text; for example, the word rendered as "flushed" in line 2
which is written A in the text. I suspect thatje , in line 32 should be read as i A1L, alt
also has the sense of heated action.
113 Rendering mo & as "sunset" is based on a parallel passage in "T'ien hsia chih tao
t'an" (see n. 130 below): I think that the evidence in the parallel passage is decisive (KGS
1:332, interprets mo in the sense of "finish" and translates the phrase as "having finished the
conjoining of bodies").
114 According to PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 127-28: "Using my seminal essence to nur
the woman's seminal essence, the sinews (reading the original graph as chin 61, not ch
as transcribed in PS) and ducts all move; the skin, integument, vapor, and blood are all ac-
tivated. Thus one can open barricades and penetrate clogs; the central magazine receives the
inflow and is filled." PS, "Shih wen," slips 68-69, p. 150, also emphasizes the circulation of
the vapor and blood: "The continuity of the vapor and blood and the meshing of the sinews
and ducts cannot be discarded and ignored. " Huang ti nei ching su wen, " Sheng ch'i t'ung t'ien
lun" * XAfU, 1. 13a, summarizes the program of cultivation for the sage in similar terms:
"Thus the sage arranges Yin and Yang, the sinews and ducts are harmonious and united, the
bones and marrow are firm and solid, the vapor and blood all follow in consort. " Perhaps the
earliest reference to the physiological significance of the system of sinews and ducts is Kuan

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slip 105
(17)
slip 106
(18) (19) (20) (21)

slip 107
Hl ELS kH Wim M5LPiE H T iR
(22) (23)
slip 108
(24) (25) (26) (27)

slip 109
1 URAA-='MMIt K1 ffi MTa) O

(28) (29) (30)
slip 110
(31) (32) (33) (34)

slip 111
(35) (36) (37) (38)
Fig. 3. Transcription of the "Ho Yin Yang" Prose Text
Note: In slip 105, t, is a punctuation mark also used in other Ma-wang-tui texts. The sign
indicates a repetition of the preceding graph (e.g. in slip 106, NZ=i6 is i
a H?l _
c @ 5

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SEXUAL ARTS 585
cultivation is the result of finding the sensitive spot known as the

coital sinew or coital duct. Orgasm occurs when it is found and
stimulated. The terms chiao chin and chiao mo as well as the descrip-
tion of the benefits of intercourse in line 18 imply a belief that there
is an important junction of the ducts and sinews in the sexual
organs, and that it is from this junction that the essences generated
during intercourse are distributed."5
While I have not found the terms chiao chin and chiao mo in later
sexual literature, the section on "Yang Yin" A (Nurturing the
Yin) in chapter 28 of the IshimpoJ describes sexual cultivation f
woman in language that closely resembles line 18 and also refers to
the function of the ducts: "6
If one knows the way of nurturing the Yin and having the two vapors conjoin in har-
mony, then it will transform to become a boy. If it does not go to making a son, it is
recycled and forms a fluid that flows into the hundred ducts (pai mo MlK). If one
uses the Yang to nurture the Yin, the hundred ailments all dissipate, one's com-
plexion is joyous and lustrous, and one's skin has a thriving appearance (yen seyiieh
tse chi hao ffit'RMK).
The section on "Yang Yang" * (Nurturing the Yang) uses the

same compound yiieh tse ("joyous and lustrous") to describe the
youthful radiance of the man's skin when he practices semen reten-
tion. "' The "thriving appearance which is joyous and lustrous" in
line 18 describes sexual cultivation using the same language as the
later sex manuals.
Following an injunction against proceeding willy-nilly into sex
tzu, "Shui ti" KtII, 14.1 a, -in praise of water: "Water is the blood and vapor of the eart
flow) is like the penetrating flow through the sinews and ducts." See n. 38 above for
references to scholarship on the term mo. Lu and Needham, Celestial Lancets, p. 51, briefly
discusses the term chin.
115 In later physiological theory thejen mo /f"Jjr and tu mo ffa are both associated with the
sexual organs. See Huang ti nei ching su wen, "Ku k'ung lun" , 16.2a-3a and commen-
tary. Needham, Science 5.5:116, 202, 234, 238, and 254-56, discusses the circulatory chain
formed by thejen and tu ducts in later physical cultivation theory (the pressure-point used to
prevent ejaculation so that the semen might "replenish the brain" is on thejen duct; and the
tu duct carries the essence up the back to the brain, while thejen duct forms the downward
path for vaporous essences in a circulatory cycle). Later physiological theory also identifies
the sexual organs as a major junction of the sinews. See Huang ti nei ching t 'ai su t; (Ts 'ung
shu chi ch'eng ed.), "Ching chin" f , 13.170 and commentary.
116 Ishimpo 28.7b-8a.
117 Ibid., 28.6a.

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586 DONALD HARPER
(line 19), lines 20-26 describe the proper stages of foreplay in the
"way of disportment. " In line 20, "mutual exhalation" (hsiang hsui
VThDi) refers to kissing, specifically to a form of kiss in which the part-
ners suck in the exhaled breath of their mate and thus mingle Yin
and Yang essences."8 This exchange of breaths and saliva is detailed
in the Ishimpo, which notes the exact position of the man's lips on
the woman's. 119
The "signs of the five desires" enumerated in lines 21-25 are the
signs of arousal which the man must look for in the woman.120 With
the manifestation of one sign the man proceeds to stimulate his
mate until she exhibits the next sign, gradually setting the stage for
penetration. The numerical procedures in lines 36-38 are also
keyed to observation of the woman's behavior during intercourse-
for if there is to be a fusion of Yin and Yang the man must be cer-
tain that his mate experiences an equivalent sexual stimulation.
The section "Wu cheng" KM (Five signs) in the Ishimpo provides a
textual parallel for the "signs of the five desires" in lines 21-25, but
there are significant differences. Most important is the fact that the
man's actions in response to the five signs in lines 21-25 are limited
to foreplay, while in the Ishimpo penetration occurs when the
woman exhibits the second sign.'2'
118 The mingling of the male and female (Yang and Yin) breaths in kissing is referred to in
the commentary to Huai nan tzu (SPPY ed.), "Shu chen" RA, 2.5b. The text, which con-
cerns the cosmic harmony uniting all things, has the phrase: 1PjgMPJfi ("that into which Yin
and Yang exhale"). The commentary explains: OWMJ J Df e1f2if ("the word hsii 0'J is re
like the word hsui :f as in mouths exhaling into each other"). Another Han term for kissing is
wu chiu AX ;l, defined in Shuo wen 8B.21a, as "mouths going to each other."
"9 Ishimpd 28.8b (sec. "Ho chih" ?8*X11): "The two mouths join in a smile. The man places
his mouth over the woman's lower lip, and the woman places her's over the man's upper lip.
Each sucking at the same time, they ingest the fluid of the reservoir (i.e saliva)." Ishimpo
28.1 lb-12a (sec. "Lin yii"), indicates that the mouth contact and exchange of breaths is to
continue during intercourse.
120 There is a parallel passage in PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 54-55, p. 166.
121 Ishimpo 28.12b. The first sign (line 21) corresponds to the first sign in the Ishimpo; in th
latter, the man responds by "conjoining with her" (ho chih A). The second sign (line
corresponds to the second sign in the Ishimpo. Whereas line 22 says that the man is to respond
by embracing her, the Ishimpo instructs the man to "penetrate her" (na chih E'E?/). The third
and fourth signs and responses (lines 23-24) do not have a textual parallel in the Ishimpo.
However, the fifth sign (line 25) corresponds to the third sign in the Ishimpo. In the Ishimpo,
the man responds by agitating his penis inside her; and the fourth and fifth signs in the
Ishimpo are also associated with penile action.

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SEXUAL ARTS 587
That penetration is not among the actions that the man under-
takes in response to the five feminine signs of desire in "Ho Yin
Yang" is clear from line 27, which stipulates that he must complete
the sequence of signs and only then "ascend" (i.e. initiate the
action of penetration). Precisely how penetration is to be accom-
plished is described in lines 28-31. According to line 28, the penis
should "jab upward" without actually penetrating the vaginal open-
ing. The vapor which is caused to arrive by this action is the vapor of
the man's penis. "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" describes three stages in
the arousal of the male organ, known as the "three arrivals" (san chih
i) :122
If it is aroused and yet not large, this is a case of the skin not arriving; if large and
yet not hard, this is a case of the sinews not arriving; if hard and yet not hot, this is
a case of the vapor not arriving. When the three arrivals occur then penetrate.
Thus, with the arrival of its vapor the penis is ready to enter the
vagina and dispense its heat to the woman (line 29). As his penis
moves back and forth the man must be careful not to break the sex-
ual seal formed when it first entered the vagina (lines 30-31). 123
At this point the prose text begins to name numerical procedures
which are identified in subsequent sections of "Ho Yin Yang. " The
"ten movements" (line 32) are described in the second section and
122 PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slip 56, p. 166. There is a parallel passage in ibid., sl
15-16, p. 163; and "Yang sheng fang," columns 198-99, p. l116. Although the "Ho Yin
Yang" passage does not mention the "three arrivals," the "arrival of the vapor" in lines 28-
29 undoubtedly refers to the arrival of the vapor which causes the penis to become "hot" (je),
at which point this vital heat can be dispensed to the woman. Ishimpo 28.13b-14a (sec. "Ssu
chih" Eli), discusses four stages of arousing the penis in similar terms, and the stage when
the penis is "hot" marks the arrival of the "spirit vapor" (shen ch'i 4A).
123 The importance of maintaining a sealed environment once penetration occurs is related
to the alchemical analogue-the transformation of Yin and Yang can only occur when the
seal is tight. Both hsieh :9 ("spillage") and k'o 4P ("parching") are listed among the "se
detriments" of intercourse in PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an, " slip 32, p. 164 (see n. 34 above).
The description in lines 28-31 is similar to instructions in Ishimpd 28.1 lb (sec. "Lin yii):
"(The man) beats with his jade stalk, striking both the east and west sides of her gateway.
Having done this for the amount of time elapsed in eating, he slowly inserts the jade stalk.
One which is fat and large is inserted one and a half inches (on the technical definition of ts 'un
in this context, see Ishihara and Levy, The Tao of Sex, p. 36, n. 26). One which is soft and
small is inserted one inch. Do not agitate it. Slowly draw it out and insert it again. The hun-
dred ailments will be eliminated. Do not let anything leak out from the four sides. When the
jade stalk enters the jade gate, heat is spontaneously generated, and so also a feeling of
arousal. "

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588 DONALD HARPER
refer to the counting of times that the man moves his penis back and
forth without ejaculating. Ten thrusts constitute one "movement,"
so that by the tenth movement in the sequence there have been a
hundred thrusts. Upon completing the first movement without
ejaculating, the man's "ears and eyes are clear and bright." If he
makes it through the ninth movement he "penetrates to spiritual il-
lumination, " and by completing all ten movements his "body
achieves constancy."'24 The same sequence of ten movements oc-
curs in the Ishimpo section on semen retention, "Huan ching" -P
(Returning the essence).25
The "ten postures" (line 33) refer to sexual positions, such as the
"tiger gait" (huyu tt) and the "cicada affixture" (ch'an fu Wt).
They are listed in the third section of "Ho Yin Yang."'26 The two
aforementioned positions are among those described in the sections
"Chiu fa" AtM (Nine methods) and "San-shih fa" EitM (Thirty
methods) in the Ishimpo.l27 The "ten refinements" (line 34) are the
ten ways for the man to move his penis. According to the fourth sec-
tion of "Ho Yin Yang" they are: up, down, left, right, quick, slow,
few times, many times, shallow, and deep.'28 Similar indications
124 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 112-15, p. 155. There are parallel passages in "T'ien hsi
chih tao t'an," slips 22-24, p. 163; and "Shih wen," slips 19-22, p. 146 (in which they are
referred to as nine chih _). While there is a general correspondence between the three
passages, the points where they differ are numerous enough to suggest that no one of the three
is the original text from which the other two are derived. Each is an independent account of
the procedure.
125 Ishimpo 28.22a. As in "Ho Yin Yang" and "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," the Ishimpo
describes ten tung "movements." The benefits that accrue from completing each "move-
ment" are similar to the three Ma-wang-tui passages. Of the four passages, only "Ho Yin
Yang" explicitly states that ten thrusts constitute one "movement."
126 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 116-17, p. 155. There are parallel passages in "T'ien hsia
chih tao t'an," slips 42-43, p. 165 (called the ten l Al); and "Yang sheng fang," column 201,
pp. 116-17 (a list of six positions). The three lists are clearly related, but there is great varia-
tion in the graphs used to write the words and some of the names are difficult to interpret.
127 Ishimpo 28.14b-15a (sec. "Chiu fa"), has the "tiger pace" (hupu F and the "cicada
affixture" (ch'anfu Rft); 28.17b (sec. "San-shih fa"), has a "dark-cicada affixture" (hsuian
ch 'anfu ARt). Other positions named in the Ma-wang-tui texts, most of which are derived
from attributes of certain creatures, are probably related to those in the Ishimpo.
128 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 118-19, p. 156. There are parallel passages in "T'ien hsia
chih tao t'an," slip 46, p. 165 (called the eight tao j-, and missing "few times" and "many
times" from the list of ten "refinements"); and "Yang sheng fang," columns 202-03, p. 117
(a list of seven, missing "quick," "slow," "few times," and "many times," while adding
"rabbit charging").

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SEXUAL ARTS 589
may be found in the section "Chiu chuang" AL A (Nine manners) in

the Ishimpo. 129
Performance of the above three procedures leads to the climax of
coition for the man and in line 35 he is instructed to send the sexual-
ly generated vapor to the "progenitive gate" (tsung men EJ). I inter-
pret the word mo ZR in the first half of line 35 as elliptical forjih mo El
a4 ("sinking of the sun, sunset"). This interpretation is supported
by a parallel to lines 32-37 in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" in which
the sense of line 35 is phrased more explicitly. Following a triad of
male actions, the "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" passage continues:
"Conjoin forms in the evening (hun -). Sweat should not reach the
point of flowing. Vent the vapor to the blood gate (hsueh men ffrEI). X '13
The significance of the evening for the male in sexual cultivation is
explained in the seventh section of "Ho Yin Yang": "In the even-
ing (hun) the essence of the man flourishes, in the morning the
essence of the woman gathers."'13' I have not found sexual denota-
tions for the terms tsung men "progenitive gate" and hsueh men
"blood gate" in the received literature. Judging from the context,
they both refer to a receptacle for storing sexual essence following
successful intercourse. Perhaps we may identify them with the
"gate of life" (ming men *US) where the man's semen is stored in
later physical cultivation literature.'32
129 Ishimpo 28.18a-b. The first "manner" is: "The jade stalk either strikes to the left or
strikes to the right, like a ferocious general breaking through a row of soldiers." Most of the
other eight liken the thrusting of the penis to the actions of various creatures (similar to the
"rabbit charging" in "Yang sheng fang"), with indications like "quick" or "slow" forming
part of the description. Among them, all of the "ten refinements" are accounted for.
130 PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 47-48, p. 165. The fact that the "T'ien hsia chih
tao t'an" passage parallels the sequence of actions described in lines 32-37, and uses hun 4;
"evening" in place of mo "sink," is what leads me to interpret mo as the "sinking of the
sun." Without this parallel, the most likely interpretation would be to take mo in the sense of
"finished, completed," making the phrase mean "having finished the conjoining of forms"
(which is the translation in KGS 1:332).
131 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slip 127, p. 156 (the rest of the passage is translated in n. 114
above). The preference for evening for the man reinforces the interpretation of mo as a
reference to this time of day.
132 Cf. sources cited in Needham, Science 5.5:186-87 (it is also where the woman's
menstrual blood is stored). Another frequent name for this repository is ching
("abode of essence"; cf. Maspero, "Procedes," p. 380). The term ming men itself has
numerous denotations in later physical cultivation theory: it is identified with the lower "cin-
nabar field" (cf. Maspero, "Procedes," p. 194), it is the umbilical cord and is associated with

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590 DONALD HARPER
The last three lines of the prose text, 36-38, name three more
numerical procedures. Whereas lines 32-34 concerned actions for
the man to perform, these final three focus again on the woman and
on the need for the man to pay attention to her state of sexual
stimulation. It is unlikely that placing these three procedures at the
end of the text means that in actual intercourse they came after a
climax had occurred and the man had absorbed the sexual vapor.
Their placement here is simply a matter of arranging lists in a text.
In intercourse they would be part of the technique leading up to the
successful fusion of Yin and Yang, of female and male.'33
The "eight movements" (line 36) are the movements that the
woman makes with her body which indicate what she wants the
man to do. According to the fifth section of "Ho Yin Yang," when
the woman clasps hands she wants the man to press against her with
his belly, when she locks her thighs around him she wants him to
make powerful thrusts, and so forth.'34 The section "Shih tung" +
0b (Ten movements) in the Ishimpo lists many of the same move-
ments with similar explanations of what they indicate about the
woman's wishes.'35 The "five sounds" (line 37) are listed in the
sixth section of "Ho Yin Yang." They are the sounds emitted by
the woman which are indicative of her state of desire.'36 A parallel
passage in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" comments on the purpose of
the "eight movements" and "five sounds": "One examines the
five sounds thereby to know her heart. One examines the eight
"embryonic respiration" (ibid., p. 198), it is identified with the kidneys as a repository for
vital essences (ibid., p. 208), and it sometimes denotes sexual or reproductive organs (Schip-
per, "The Taoist Body," pp. 370-7 1). I suspect that terms like tsung men and hsueh men had a
similar range of meaning in ancient physical cultivation theory.
133 In addition to "Wu cheng" (see n. 121 above), three other sections of the Ishimpo
chapter also concern signs that the man should watch for in the woman: "Wu yii" Ka
(28.13a), which describes the growth of the woman's sexual desire during intercourse; "Shih
tung" +t (see n. 135 below); and "Chiu ch'i" At (28.14a), which describes the signs the
woman exhibits as each of nine vapors arise within her (from internal organs, bones, sinews,
blood, and flesh). During intercourse the man would have had to observe all of these signs
simultaneously, as well as keep track of his own progress.
134 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 120-24, p. 156. There is a parallel passage in "T'ien hsia
chih tao t'an," slips 49 and 52-53, pp. 165-66.
135 Ishimp6 28.13a-b.
136 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 125-26, p. 156. The terms for the sounds ar
technical words for different kinds of breathing and are difficult to interpret.

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SEXUAL ARTS 591
movements thereby to know what she finds pleasurable and pene-

trating."'37 I have not found a procedure comparable to the "five
sounds" in later sexual literature.
Similarly, I have found nothing comparable to the "ten intermis-
sions" (line 38) in later sexual literature. They are listed in the
eighth section of "Ho Yin Yang."''38Judging from this section, the
ten intermissions refer to ten stages of transformation of the wom-
an's sexual essence during intercourse. The transformation appears
to be a concentration of the essence with each "intermission" until
a cycle is completed. For example, following the first "intermis-
sion" the "clear and cool" (ch 'ing liang W) emerges, following the
second "the smell is like burning bones" (ch/ou ju fen ku A001 ),
and following the ninth the essence is like "gelatin" (chiao W). Up-
on reaching the tenth stage, the next transformation returns the
essence to its condition at the first stage, the "clear and cool. " The
text refers to this cycle as the "great completion" (ta tsu t4):
The signs of great completion. The nose sweats, the lips are white, the hands and
feet all move, the buttocks do not adhere to the bedmat but rise up and away, press-
ing as if she is going to die. 139 Precisely at this time the vapor expands in the inner
bourne (chung chi 44).14O The essence and spirit enter the depository (tsang 9),141
then giving birth to spirit illumination.
The description suggests female orgasm. It also seems to indicate

that successful sexual cultivation for the woman requires com-
pleting the cycle of the ten intermissions.142
137 PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 50-51, p. 166. There are other parallel passages in
ibid., slips 63-64, p. 166; and "Yang sheng fang," column 203, p. 117.
138 PS, "Ho Yin Yang," slips 129-33, p. 156. There is a parallel passage in "T'ien hsia
chih tao t'an," slips 56-58, p. 166, in which the description of the stages is, rather different.
139 There is a parallel to the final phrase (ch'eng ssu wei po L.W) in PS, "T'ien hsia
chich tao t'an," slip 60, p. 166: ch'eng ssuyu po VEtR. These descriptions of the woman's
state when nearing the climax of intercourse are similar to Ishimpo 28.1 la (sec. "Lin yii):
"The woman must be as if seeking to die and seeking to live, begging for life and begging for
fate. "
140 According to Huang ti nei ching su wen, "Ku k'ung lun, " 16.2a, thejen duct (see n. 115
above) rises below the chung chi, which is associated with the womb. In Ishimpo 28.14b (sec.
"Chiu fa"), chung chi refers to the vagina.
"4i The tsang is probably like the tsung men and hsueh men (see n. 132 above), and could also
refer to the womb.
142 The "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an" parallel states that when the cycle is completed, "the

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592 DONALD HARPER
A fundamental premise of ancient Chinese physical cultivation

philosophy was that the path to physical and spiritual perfection did
not lie in repressing the natural appetite for sex, and that it could be
put to good effect through cultivation. What was important was that
one learn how to cultivate the appetite. This point is made succinct-
ly in a passage in "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an'':143
When a person is born there are two things that do not need to be learned: the first
is to breathe and the second is to eat. Except for these two, there is nothing that is
not the result of learning and habit. Thus what assists life is eating; what injures li-
fe is lust (se t). It is for this reason that the sage person when conjoining the male
and female invariably has a model.
It is such a model for intercourse that is provided in "Ho Yin

Yang. "
References to sexual practice in the received literature of the pre-
Han and Han periods are both rare and vague. "Ho Yin Yang"
demonstrates that practical manuals based on "nurturing life"
theories of sexual cultivation were circulating in the early second
century B.C.; it further demonstrates that the Later Han and Six
Dynasties sex manuals have their antecedents in the sexual litera-
ture of the third-second centuries B.C. "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an"
contains additional material, not included in "Ho Yin Yang,"
which also anticipates the contents of the sex manuals preserved
in the Ishimpo. Thus, while there is still room for speculation as to
exactly when certain ideas concerning sexual relations arose and
how they developed into a model for intercourse, the Ma-wang-tui
texts indicate that the essential formulation of sexual practice was
accomplished before the Han and within the context of Warring
dawn vapor then emerges, " which must be related to the idea that dawn is the time when the
woman's essence is most potent (see n. 131 above). In the Ishimpo section "Chiu ch'i" (see n.
133 above) it is stated that the "nine vapors" should all be activated during intercourse or in-
jury may occur. The attention given to the development of the woman's essences is similar to
the passages concerning the "ten intermissions. " The possibility of sexual cultivation for the
woman is also treated in the Ishimpo section "Yang Yin" (see n. 116 above). Cf. Needham,
Science 5.5:205-09, which discusses several sources on sexual cultivation for the woman.
143 PS, "T'ien hsia chih tao t'an," slips 40-41, p. 165. There is a similar statement in
"Yang sheng fang," columns 200-01, p. 116; and the epitome to the "intra-chamber"
category in the Han shu bibliographic treatise (Han shu 30.81a-b) is in the same vein.

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SEXUAL ARTS 593
States "nurturing life" theories. Of course, in the past we have not

had detailed documentation of any of the practices that developed
under the influence of ancient physical cultivation philosophy. This
deficiency has been remedied by the discovery of the corpus of Ma-
wang-tui physical cultivation literature of which the sexual litera-
ture is but one part.

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The Sexual Arts of Ancient China as Described in a Manuscript of The Second Century

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2719191

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N addition to their interest in procreation and in satisfying

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was classified under the rubric "intra-chamber" (fang chung N r4i) as

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of the program for spiritual transformation in Later Han and Six

4 Although by Han times physical cultivation practices were observed assiduously by

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In order to introduce the Ma-wang-tui sexological materials I pro-

Translation and Prolegomena" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley,

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procedures. The division of the sex act into a sequence of procedures,

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9T, "Nei yeh" NV31 (Operat

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THE MA-WANG-TUI PHYSICAL CULTIVATION LITERATURE

Of the seven Ma-wang-tui texts related to physical cultivation

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haled and then circulated through the body; in dietary observances,

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A wondrous transformation occurs when the adept learns to culti-

Essence and spirit overflow like a spring.

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be referred to in Jung Ch'eng's teaching.25 I suspect that ling

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ch 'ih.26 Jung Ch'eng's teaching continues with concrete and detailed

The way for sucking in vapor:

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parallels between all three texts identified. It is worth noting now

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ling Chang-chia-shan Han chien kai-shu" iffiJ*L IN, Wen-wu 1985.1:13-14. On

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cinnabar used to detect illicit intercourse,4" for compounds which

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links between pre-Han "nurturing life" hygiene and the practices

THE FIRST SECTION OF "HO YIN YANG"

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The art of speaking and persuasion (t'an shui =RM):

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Fig. 1. The original slips of the first section of "H

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later Taoist literature. Learning the secret meaning of certain cryp-

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cultivation, Ts'ui Hsi-fan's Wi$4 Ju yao ching kA (Mirror for

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denotations of the metaphors are mostly lost to us. Of the nine

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(1) (2) (3) (4)

(12) (13) (14) (15) (16)

Fig. 2. Transcription of the "Ho Yin Yang" Verse

As in the later sex manuals it is understood in the Ma-wang-tui

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