The art of sexual intercourse has a long history in China, which is accompanied by China people's pursuit of immortality. Throughout ancient and modern history, those who successfully practice the art of sexual intercourse are people with long life, especially Peng Zu, Laozi and Sun Simiao, who are outstanding in sexual intercourse practice.
Taoism believes that Tao is a way of the operation of the universe, and its trajectory is guided by natural events, and virtue is the power to promote these natural events. In the traditional core of Taoism, the concept of Yin and Yang corresponds to Tao and virtue, and Yin and Yang are the foundation of the universe. This view coincides with the theory that the modern universe is composed of time and space, which are interdependent and constitute the whole universe, while the Taoist theory holds that the universe is composed of Tao and virtue, and their relationship is as interdependent as Yin and Yang.
Taoist teaching should be combined with the laws of the universe through wisdom and transcendental behavior, and the ultimate goal is to achieve harmony with Tao. Pursuing longevity or immortality is another and subsequent goal of Taoism.
▲ Portrait of Taoist Sanqing
Taoism takes the nature of all things as the premise, and believes that all things in the world are reasonable as long as they exist objectively, including secular desires. In order to achieve the goal of harmony between Yin and Yang, intercourse between men and women is not shameful in Taoist view, but a manifestation of conforming to nature. Taoist practice is regarded as one of the most important means to achieve harmony between Yin and Yang, which promotes better health and potential immortality.
Before the combination with Taoism, the development of bedroom art also went through a long period of time. When the ancient ancestors just faded away from the wildness and ignorance of animals and eagerly observed their companions in this world, they gradually knew and understood themselves.
Reproduction, an unavoidable topic for both individuals and groups, filled ancient ancestors with curiosity. A process of life from scratch gave birth to primitive reproductive worship. After thousands or even tens of thousands of years of development, reproductive worship has gradually evolved into a sexual culture. On this basis, Tessa in ancient China developed sex art with China cultural characteristics.
Historically, it is generally believed that Motome and Xuan Nv were the ancestors of sexual intercourse. We don't know whether Motome and Xuan Nv really existed in history. From the second half of the medical classic Huangdi Neijing, almost all of them were written by later generations under the pretext of Conversation between Huangdi and Motome, it can be seen that the ancients recognized Motome's position in the study of sexual intercourse and health preservation.
Laozi, an outstanding thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period, pointed out in his classic Tao Te Ching that the three elements that constitute human life are essence, qi and spirit, and essence is the basic substance that constitutes human life.
▲ Laozi Tao Te Ching
Laozi is regarded as the ancestor of Taoism, and Tao Te Ching is also regarded as a teaching scripture. Many medical works in later generations were written on the basis of Tao Te Ching, including the ideological basis of Huangdi Neijing, a classic of Chinese medicine. It can be said that Tao Te Ching is the basic theory of China's ancient medicine, health preservation and sexual art.
There are many expositions about sex in Tao Te Ching. In the sixth chapter, there is such a discussion:
"God is immortal, and it is Xuanzang. The gate of Xuanzang is the root of heaven and earth. If it is continuous, it will not be used often. "
What Lao Tzu emphasizes here is to hide the essence of Yuan deeply, cherish the essence and cherish the spirit. This view of Laozi is the guiding principle of research-based health preservation in later generations. Although there are thousands of schools and methods in later generations, they are basically based on this theory.
Archaeologists once found a walking stick in an ancient tomb in the mid-Warring States period. The head of the walking stick is covered with a jade ornament, which is a dodecahedron with the edge cut off. There are three characters of seal script engraved on each side from top to bottom, and nine symbols are repeated, totaling 45 words. The first two words are "Qi", so it is named "Yu Pei Staff Handle with Bright Qi":
"Qi: swallowing is twitching, and twitching is stretching. Stretching is downward, and downward is fixed. The rules are firm and clear. Ming is long, and long is complex. After that, it's a day. The sky is above and the earth is below. The opposite is death. "
This is the earliest existing historical relic specializing in sexual intercourse in China, and it is a very valuable sexual intercourse rhyme.
▲ Huangdi Neijing
Qin and Han Dynasties is an important period for the development of bedroom art. During this period, Taoism gradually developed into the theory of Huang Lao. In the name of the Yellow Emperor, Taoism reformed and developed the theory of Lao Zi, which integrated the important contents of the pre-Qin theories and formed a new Taoist theoretical system. The school attaches great importance to the research of medicine, health preservation and human life science, especially the research of room middle school, which has become an important part of health preservation in China. Thanks to the continuous efforts of the Huang-Lao School, China's medicine has been highly developed. The appearance of Huangdi Neijing marks the basic formation of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, in which the problem of seven damages and eight benefits of sexual intercourse is specifically discussed. At this time, Fang middle school introduced bionics, sexual psychology and anatomy on the basis of the previous ones, and the content was greatly enriched compared with the past.
Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty was a master of many research arts at that time. He mentioned five volumes of Sutra of Plain Woman in Biography of Women, which is a monograph on the art of sexual intercourse and can be regarded as the representative work of the development of sexual intercourse in ancient China. This book discusses a series of problems such as sexual intercourse, health preservation and disease removal, which has a great influence on later generations. Unfortunately, this classic of sexual intercourse was lost soon after its spread.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling founded Taoism and studied it as a special subject. Combined with Taoist health qigong, both men and women practice it, which adds new content to the art of sexual intercourse. It can be said that the establishment of Taoism is the beginning of all-round development of sexual intercourse. However, Confucianism was in power at that time, which conflicted with the asceticism that had just been introduced into Buddhism in China. Therefore, Taoist sexual intercourse is often regarded as a lewd technique.
▲ Records related to sex art books
The period of Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties was the low point of Taoism. At that time, China was divided for hundreds of years. The precarious life makes people only pin their hopes on the afterlife, and the Taoist doctrine of "eat, drink and be merry" has gradually lost its market. Despite losing the support of the royal government, Taoism is still circulating among the people. Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing are the leading figures in the study of sexual art in this era. Ge Hong's "Bao Pu Zi", Tao Hongjing's "The Record of Nourishing Life and Prolonging Life" and "Imperial Women's Profit and Loss" are all monographs on the art of sexual intercourse. The publication of Huang Tingjing opened a precedent for the later single crystal school to seek longevity.
Although the national strength of the Tang Dynasty was strong and Taoism was supported by the royal family, there were not many new works of house art in this period. It is worth mentioning that the famous Taoist priest of the Five Dynasties and the bodhi old zu of Chen Tuan left a book "The Mystery of Chen Xiyi House Art" in China Cave, which was later acquired by the Taoist priest of the Ming Dynasty and renamed as "The Strange Book of House Art". Different from the works of Qianzhong Middle School, this is a monograph of Fangzhong Middle School for aristocratic literati to indulge in lewdness and prolong their life. The appearance of this book marks the beginning of the demonization of the art of sexual intercourse. In addition, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Taoist alchemy was divided into two parts, and the theory of gathering yin to replenish yang was misinterpreted by some inner alchemists, which led some people with ulterior motives to commit fornication in the name of nurturing children.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the art of sexual intercourse showed a downward trend. Especially after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, Lamaism was regarded as the state religion. In order to cater to the Mongolian emperor and vigorously develop the content of sexual intercourse, Lamaism practitioners often harm others and themselves, and their reputation is ruined.
▲ Zhang Sanfeng portrait
Although there was a master of living room art like Zhang Sanfeng in Ming Dynasty, it still could not save the fate of living room art becoming a heresy. In the Ming Dynasty, dozens of generations, almost every emperor believed in Taoism, and Taoist house art was also one of their themes. It's just that these emperors practice sexual intercourse only for their own selfish desires, and their understanding of sexual intercourse is only superficial. The result of practice is often counterproductive and becomes a talk after dinner.
Buddhism rose in Qing Dynasty, and Taoism was gradually marginalized. After the interpretation of novelists in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the art of coitus has basically lost its true colors and turned into a lewd art. In addition, after hundreds of years of cultural imprisonment and the promotion of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism and Buddhist culture, asceticism has become the ideology of China people, and at this time, China people are ashamed to say it.
The art of living room was born in the process of China people's pursuit of nature and nature. With the passage of history, it gradually absorbed and merged to form the discipline of health preservation. The decline of the art of sexual intercourse has both the pressure of feudal culture and the reasons of practitioners themselves. With the rise of health science, sex art has once again returned to the sight of Chinese people, but it is no longer brilliant.
Official team work of the History Museum: Zeng Fucheng