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The following information, taken from a technical site on Chinese medicine, shows that the Eastern medicinal system corroborates the talmudic dictum that 99 men out of 100 die from spilling too much seed. As in the Kabbalistic system, Semen is seen as the essence of a man's lifeforce, and wasting it a terrible health hazard. It is similar to what the Rambam writes: "Semen is the energy of the body and the light of the eyes. As long as it is excreted in excess the body withers and life is lost. All those that are saturated in this, old age jumps on them, his strength leaves him, his eyes go weak, bad breath pours out of his mouth. His hair and eyebrows fall out, the hair of his legs and armpits become thick and his teeth fallout. Many additional health problems occur."
From http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/5organs.htm Excessive sexual indulgence by males is considered to be a major health hazard in all genres of traditional Chinese writing. Since most men cannot control their urge to ejaculate, every means an irrevocable giving away of jing. Although Chinese medical texts consent that this may be affordable for young men (who have a rich supply of jing and who can easily replenish jing through post-natal sources), they generally warn that the health of elderly males will suffer serious consequences from frequent ejaculations. "What gives life will take life" is therefore a common admonition that spans two thousand years of Chinese medical literature. While most Daoist and medical writings take up both the general topic and the detailed techniques of safeguarding jing, it is the realm of literature which best reflects the Chinese fear of continuous jing loss by way of sexual indulgence. The epic Ming Dynasty novel, Flower In the Golden Vase (Jin Ping Mei), narrates the story of the erotomaniac Ximen Qing who peddles his money and political influence to assemble a harem of six women, then resorts to tonic drugs to bolster his flagging virility, and finally comes to a horrid end after a final ejaculation of "mercury-like fluid, followed by blood and a gust of cold air." A Daoist physician who is called to the deathbed comments: "The candle flickers once the oil is used up." Both mercury and lamp oil are often used metaphors for the kidney jing. To avoid such a gruesome death, the handsome protagonist of the second moralist novel of the Ming dynasty, Prayer Mat of Flesh (Rou Putuan), decided to become a Buddhist hermit, cut off his surgically amplified penis, and utilize his jing for spiritual cultivation. Those who are knowledgeable in the art of nourishing life take care to shut off the lower exit [of jing via ejaculation] while striving to keep the upper pathway [of jing, nourishing the organs and brain] open and unobstructed. In this fashion, there will be a nourishing cycle that is free of leaks. Physical vitality (jing) and mental clarity (shen) will be abundant, nutritive qi (ying) and protective qi (wei) will be strong, inside (water essence) will be sufficient to control fire, and outside (qi) will be sufficient to ward off noxious influences. This is what the art of expelling disease and the art of longevity is all about. From Zhang Huang, A Compendium of Illustrated Texts (Tushu Bian), Ming Dynasty: In relation to the other organ networks, the kidney is situated in the lowest position. It is associated with the phase element water, and it is in charge of storing essence (jing). Just like water was the first substance to emerge from heavenly oneness, the kidney is the source of the human body, the initial sprout of physical life. Everything between heaven and earth that is made from qi and blood has the urge to mate. Once fire and water separate and desire finds a match, the essence leaves the source, and what creates the body will turn into what kills the body. If you are a student of the Book of Change (Yijing) and align your desires by fooling around with the lofty hexagram 41 [Sacrifice, Decrease], then this is like being worried about floods at one moment and about water leakage the next-you 'sacrifice' again and again, thus using yourself up until there is nothing left to spare. Therefore, if you want to protect your source of longevity, there is no better way than to guard yourself against sexual desires. |