Sexual energy

Conservation of sexual energy

Classical Taoist sexual techniques are designed to increase a person's sexual energy and to retain it. This is because sexual energy is life-enhancing.

Taoist texts recommend that men should conserve their sexual energy by not ejaculating during sexual activity, as this involves losing sexual energy. A similar practice is recommended for women by some writers, although other texts teach that the female orgasm does not involve losing sexual energy but in some way increases it for both the woman and her partner, and that there is therefore no reason for women to avoid it.

This second philosophy leads the texts to recommend that men should have many sexual partners in order to gain access to the female release of beneficial sexual energy.

To Western eyes there may be a contradiction between the basic Taoist philosophy of not interfering in the natural course of events, and the highly interventionist sexual strategy recommended by Taoism. To Western eyes there may also be a rather distasteful favouring of the sexual experience of men against that of women, although it can be argued that the prolonging of intercourse by delaying male orgasm may in fact benefit women.

Taoist teachings on sex are clearly intended for adepts rather than ordinary people - if ordinary people practiced this level of sexual control all the time, then Taoism would cease to exist in a few generations.