Yü-chiang Chin., lit. “jade liquid”; euphemism for saliva. In Taoist health exercises saliva is considered to be an important substance that has to be carefully preserved within the body, because its loss -e.g., by spitting- can result in a dangerous reduction of vitality. For that reason a practice known as t’un-t’o (“swallowing the saliva”) frequently forms part of Taoist breathing exercises. When the practitioner has swallowed the accumulated saliva in small quantities, it ascends to nourish the brain and then descends to moisten the five organs (wu-tsang). In Taoist terminology this process is known as “feeding the embryo” (t’ai-shih). By swallowing his saliva, a practitioner may also succeed in expelling the three worms (san-ch’ung). Furthermore, the practice is said to strengthen the teeth, the growth of hair, and general resistance to illness.
Swallowing the saliva which, according to the Taoist view, is produced in two containers below the tongue is best practiced at dawn. The practitioner adopts a sitting position, closes his eyes, dispels all disturbing thoughts, and claps his teeth together twenty-seven times (k’ou-ch’ih), causing the cavity of the mouth to fill with saliva. He rinses his teeth with it and, after swallowing it, guides it by the power of the mind first to the brain and then downward to the “ocean of breath” (ch’i-hai). In this way the “three foundations” (san-yüan) are nourished.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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