Allowing the semen to return [in order to] strengthen the brain

Huan-ching pu-nao Chin., lit. “allowing the semen to return [in order to] strengthen the brain”; Taoist sexual technique (fang-chung shu) for strengthening the ching essence and prolonging life.

When practicing huang-ching pu-nao the man firmly grips the root of his penis between two fingers prior to ejaculation, while deeply exhal­ing through the mouth and grinding his teeth (k’ou-ch’ih). This causes the semen to ascend to the upper cinnabar field (tan-t’ien) in the brain. Huang-ching pu-nao should only be prac­ticed on certain days and at certain hours of the day. In addition, the practitioner should be in a state of meditative absorption.

The alleged reason for the rejuvenating effect of this practice is that the semen (ching) can combine with the vital energy (ch’i). There are divergent views as to where in the body this fusion of ching and ch’i occurs. Some maintainit takes place in the respiratory tract, to which the essence ascends; others say it occurs in the lower cinnabar field, to which the breath de­scends. Once combined, the semen and the vital energy circulate through the body until they once again rise from the lower to the upper cinnabar field more precisely, that part of it known as ni-huan, whereby the brain is repaired. Some Taoists practice huang-ching pu-nao as a preliminary to meditative breathing exercises of the Inner Alchemy School (nei­-tan).

Taoists are convinced that this method of prevent­ing ejaculation was already known at the time of the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang-ti), who is said to have had successive sexual intercourse with twelve hundred concubines, suffering no damage to his health. In any case, it is certain that the practice was wide­ spread by the time of the Han Dynasty.

Most Taoist works stress that the essential generat­ing factor of this technique is the primordial essence of the semen rather than the semen itself. The process of the huan-ching pu-nao practice begins at the mo­ment an erection becomes manifest and sexual energy is aroused. In the Taoist view an erection need, howev­er, not always be dependent on sexual arousal; rather it is taken to indicate that energy is present in sufficient quantity to circulate freely through the body. Further­ more, an erection may occur during meditation if the practitioner reaches a state free of thought and desire.

Huan-ching pu nao can thus also be practiced by Taoists who reject sexual techniques involving a part­ner of the opposite sex.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Huan-ching pu-nao documents

Books on Huan-ching pu-nao

External links