Traditional Herbal Wisdom

A qigong enthusiast wrote: “I deeply believe in qigong, have studied under many masters, and feel my skills have greatly improved, even developing special abilities like diagnosing illness. But I’m confused about sex life. Some teachers told me to abstain completely from sexual desire and preserve essence.
I believed this and refrained from intimacy with my wife for a long time, causing serious marital tension—but I felt no benefit. Others secretly told me: ‘Take essence from women, supplement yang, use humans to enrich oneself,’ which boosts qigong power and allows ‘returning essence to nourish the brain,’ supposedly very beneficial. I followed their advice, but felt uneasy—afraid it might harm my body and my wife’s. I don’t want to give up qigong, but I’d like to live a normal sexual life. Is this possible?”
Qigong practice and normal sexual life should not conflict. If a qigong method requires abandoning normal sexual relations, its value must be minimal, and the cost to the practitioner too high.
China’s sexual health preservation tradition dates back to Zhou and Qin dynasties. The most representative view came from Laozi, who argued that excessive desire leads to disasters. Sexual indulgence drains essence and yin, accelerating aging. Preserving essence and maintaining tranquility aligns with health preservation. Laozi’s views were adopted by later practitioners, forming the principle of “moderation and preserving essence.” For example, the Han-era medical texts unearthed at Ma Wang Dui quote Shun: “To keep the penis firm, reduce sexual activity and control intimacy—limit frequency and avoid reckless coupling.” The "Huangting Neijing" says: “Guard the essence chamber carefully—do not waste it recklessly. Close and protect it, and you may live long.” “Longevity requires strict caution in sexual matters—abandon lust and concentrate on essence.” These lines are attributed to Lü Dongbin: “A woman of twenty-eight, soft as butter, her waist bears a sword to cut fools.”
Today, these ideas sound absurd.
Important note: ancient advocates of moderation didn’t call for total abstinence. Later generations wrongly opposed health preservation and sexual release—like the idea that qigong requires complete celibacy—this is extreme.
If we examine medical history, after the Han and Wei dynasties, sexual health practices flourished, shifting from “moderation and preserving essence” to “preserving essence while indulging freely.” “Preserving essence while indulging” means minimizing ejaculation during intercourse while maximizing frequency and partners. Historical records say Cao Cao learned sexual techniques from Gan Shi and Zuo Ci, once sleeping with seventy women in one night. Practitioners claimed mastering “preserving essence” allowed unlimited sexual encounters. Sun Simiao in the "Qianjin Fang" said: “If one can control twelve women without ejaculating, one won’t age and will retain youthful appearance. If one controls ninety-three women and maintains control, one can live a thousand years.” He also claimed: “The Yellow Emperor once slept with 1,200 women and ascended to immortality.”
“Preserving essence while indulging” shares roots with “moderation and preserving essence”—both emphasize the importance of semen. But “preserving essence” evolved from passive avoidance of sex to active sex without ejaculation. After advocating “preserving essence while indulging,” Sun Simiao repeatedly warned: “Less essence leads to illness; depleted essence leads to death—never ignore this, never be careless.”
Wanting to indulge while preserving essence is extremely difficult. To achieve this, ancient people devised many techniques. Some proposed “taking qi”: during intercourse, stay still, let the woman’s qi rise and heat, then draw her qi through the mouth—key is stopping immediately upon intention. Others developed “taking battle” techniques—male draws yin from female to replenish yang. The man must first arouse the woman’s passion: “Passionate and aroused, her vaginal fluids overflow.” Then he “closes mouth, bites teeth, focuses mind elsewhere, thinks of other things,” and “during intercourse, move slowly, withdraw gradually—no haste, no breathlessness.”
Technically, these methods work: less movement reduces friction and stimulation, “thinking of other things” lowers central nervous system excitement, enabling delayed or prevented ejaculation. But “taking qi” or “taking battle” theories are utterly nonsensical. Modern sexology shows that both male semen and female vaginal secretions contain minimal nutrients. Believing that preserving semen can strengthen the body or enhance spiritual cultivation is clearly irrational.
One detail in “taking battle” deserves mention: the specific technique. Ming dynasty scholar Hong Ji recorded in "Comprehensive Essentials of Life Preservation": “The penis can absorb the woman’s essence upward, like water flowing backward.” Sounds unbelievable—but physically possible. In the 1930s, someone publicly demonstrated inserting a penis into a bowl of water, and after a while, the water vanished—fully absorbed. If viewed as a supernatural ability, it’s understandable. With special training, some people can achieve this. But applying it to sex life is heretical—it treats women as objects, prioritizes self-gratification over partner well-being. Not only useless, but ethically unacceptable.