 Outstanding collection and translation, 2006-04-10
This book collects nearly two dozen classical writings on the use of sexual energy in achieving health and long life. It's a distinctly non-Western tradition, but presents a unified, interlocking set of ideas.
The largest part of this lore corresponds to Western alchemy. It uses many of the same metaphors, such as mercury, lead, and the crucible, and much of the same elliptical language. In a few places, the metaphors or code-words are so obscure that translators disagree wildly on their meanings, and even on whether the meanings can be reconstructed correctly. Other parts of the writings draw on mystical Taoism, Buddhism, and the same vital energies that explain acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Not surprisingly, much of the tradition is aimed at male readers, with relatively little concern for the women. Despite the over-all male orientation, the last few selections do address women, with needs that sometimes match and sometimes differ from the men's. Even the men's writings address the importance of the woman's excitement, though, and describe the outwardly visible signs of its many stages.
However it is phrased or whoever it is addressed to, this set of practices is based on summoning and channeling sexual energy. Many of the authors use the "paired way" of coition to raise that power. Others use solo exercises in self-stimulation for the same purpose. This seems especially common in the women's texts, possibly because placing her needs before the man's would have been culturally unacceptable. The emphasis is on yogic self-discipline rather than exotic poses. Still, one author does offer a list of couplings with poetic names such Mandarin Ducks United (a pose I enjoy very much, because of range of additional caresses it makes possible). I recommend this book very highly to students of Asian thought and to anyone else who wants to see different perspectives on the practice and power of human sexuality.
//wiredweird
Simply Fabulous!, 2009-10-19
I'm not going to get into all the details, but for anyone seriously interested in the process of transformation of consciousness - through the reversal of the flow of physiological/reproductive substance and the normally outward flow of mental activity (attained through regular practice, hard work, study and discipline) this book is a highly recommended work of art. It is also written in such a way, that it does not feel like you have to 'huff and puff' to get your way through it. It is as pleasant to read as it is rich in its content. A very worthy book!
 A Historical Resource, 2010-03-06
I found this book to be in mildly poor taste.
It says a lot about sources, morality, and translation fallibility. It also says a lot about "orientalism" and "occidentalism."
My interest started as a bad Jack Nicholson joke. The interest grew when a middle age Chinese American computer programmer smugly commented on the superiority of Chinese distinctions of love and lust.
There is a time and a place for pressure points, tantra, and domestic order.
The book is well sourced - and is thus a good historical resource - much in the same way as an old phrenology book or a 18th century barber's manual.
Historians might enjoy - but there is so much other literature available.
I would have preferred to read "The Three Kingdoms" a Lu Hsun anthology, a treaty by Wang Chung or "The Art of Love" again if I had my time back.
Excellent!, 2010-08-24
If you are practicing any of the modern Chinese-style sexual practices and want to ground your understanding in tradition, don't hesitate -- you will love this book. Scholars of Chinese spirituality won't need to be told, since Livia Kohn endorses strongly on the back. Anyone else (as the 3-star review here demonstrates) might be a little confounded by what they read.
Wile is truly a consummate scholar, and plainly a practitioner as well, and his introduction is priceless. He charts the territory and chronology expertly, mops up past western scholarly mistakes, shows a great appreciation for the subtleties of terminology, and handles cultural clash with aplomb: "For the Christian, sex is for procreation; for the Chinese, orgasm is for procreation, but sex is for pleasure, therapy and salvation." Exactly!
I have no Chinese but I suspect the translations -- copiously annotated -- are very reliable. The texts themselves are full of eye-openers; for example P'eng Tsu's wonderful elaboration on what the Hermetics (after Franz Bardon) call 'sexual larvae', in the Su Nu Ching, is more or less identical to modern understandings. The early herbal recommendations are very interesting. Especially if these kinds of books and practices mean anything to your personal way at all:
Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating Male Sexual Energy
The Tao of Sexology: The Book of Infinite Wisdom [Illustrated] (Hardcover)
Energy-Karezza: How To Make Every Wife Sexually Wild About Her Husband: Fascinating And Powerful Sex For Marital Fidelity And Bliss
... etc., don't miss this opportunity to deepen your understanding. Those first two books are themselves intelligently reviewed by Wile as well, and you will be very interested in his enumeration of the different locations of tan tiens and different terms for the microcosmic orbit that appear over the many, many centuries during which these practices developed.
I can't imagine a better book on this subject.
"The ignorant regard this as indecent, but it is not a teaching that encourages lust and leads people to desire. In reality it is the marvellous art of cultivating life." -- Su Nu miao lun
Outstanding, please read further ..., 2008-03-20
This is the best translation of Taoist sexual practices available. The translation formatting is excellent. If you have any degree of previous exposure to Chinese language and Taoist concepts this is not a spring board to further knowledge, it is a rosetta stone. Not an ounce of this text is watered down, like so many of the other books on this subject. Further, the full inclusion of herbal formulas in this text are incredibly vital to understanding the true value of huang di's teachings from su nu.
Best of all ... there are no pictures.
A fine text by a true scholar.
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