Pengzu Yinyang Harmony Method Lineage History · Vol. II

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, rites collapsed and music deteriorated, and the hundred schools contended. In this era of intellectual liberation, Pengzu's bedroom wellness art also underwent a critical transition from court secret to socialized learning. Though the hundred schools held different positions, nearly all absorbed and transformed the intellectual resources of bedroom wellness to varying degrees.

The Daoist Laozi, with "the Way follows nature" as his core, incorporated the bedroom act into a cultivation system of "non-action" and "tranquility." Laozi declared that "the five colors blind the eye, the five sounds deafen the ear, the five flavors cloy the palate, galloping and hunting madden the heart," holding that excessive indulgence depletes essence and qi, and that only by returning to simplicity and restraining desire can one achieve long life and enduring vision. Zhuangzi went further, linking the bedroom arts with "sitting in forgetfulness" and "fasting of the mind," proposing the realm of "sloughing off the body, dismissing cleverness, leaving form and discarding knowledge, merging with the Great Universality."

The Confucians Confucius and Mencius, though rarely discussing bedroom technique directly, valued the ethical norms of "husband and wife," "marriage," and "filial piety." Confucius edited the Three Hundred Poems (Book of Songs), preserving numerous love poems and affirming the legitimacy of male-female affection. Mencius stressed that "of three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no heir," linking the bedroom act to family continuity and social responsibility. This ethical orientation gave the bedroom arts social legitimacy.

The Yin-Yang school's Zou Yan used the generation-and-overcoming of the Five Phases and the waxing-and-waning of Yin-Yang through the four seasons to explain cosmic operation, providing the bedroom arts with a natural-philosophy framework. The Mohists, starting from "universal love" and "moderate expenditure," criticized aristocratic extravagance and indulgence, advocating simple and restrained sexuality. The Legalists, though emphasizing agriculture and war, also concerned themselves with population growth, objectively acknowledging the social function of the bedroom act.

The pluralistic interpretation of the hundred schools expanded Pengzu's bedroom wellness art from a single technique into a comprehensive learning integrating philosophy, ethics, medicine, and politics, establishing its broad influence in traditional Chinese culture.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the various vassal lords competed to recruit fangshi (method masters) and wellness experts, and the study of the bedroom arts flourished in the courts. King Wei of Qi, King Xuan of Qi, and King Zhao of Yan all favored immortal arts and sent men to sea to seek immortals and into mountains to visit the Way. The bedroom arts, as an important component of the longevity techniques, naturally received high regard.

The court of Chu showed particularly notable acceptance of the bedroom arts. The bedroom silk manuscripts unearthed from the Han tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha can be traced culturally to the Chu region. Chu culture inherently possessed a shamanic tradition, and male-female love was also expressed in the Chuci (Songs of Chu), as in "The Mountain Spirit" and "The Lady of the Xiang" from the Nine Songs, both using deity-human romance as their theme. This cultural soil allowed the bedroom arts to be preserved and developed in the Chu region.

After the Qin unified the six states, Qin Shi Huang's pursuit of immortality reached its zenith. He made multiple eastern tours, performed the feng and shan sacrifices at Mount Tai, and dispatched Xu Fu with boys and girls to seek immortals at sea. Xu Fu, as an important transmitter of Pengzu's teachings, not only bore the mission of seeking immortality but also brought Pengzu's bedroom arts to the Eastern Sea, becoming a key node in the later spread of East Asian wellness culture. Though Qin Shi Huang himself may not have been versed in bedroom detail, his promotion of the arts of longevity objectively propelled the prominence of the bedroom arts in the court.

However, the sovereigns' reverence for the bedroom arts also planted the seeds of deviation. When the bedroom arts were simplified into techniques of "intercourse with countless women" and "harvesting Yin to nourish Yang," their wellness intent was distorted. This forward-reverse dynamic played out repeatedly in the courts after the Qin and Han.

During the Warring States period, as social mobility increased and private authorship arose, the bedroom arts entered the stage of textual solidification. Previously orally transmitted technical knowledge was gradually recorded as text and disseminated among the literati.

The "Treatise on Literature" in the Hanshu (Book of Han) records "eight schools of bedroom arts, one hundred and eighty-six scrolls," including the Rongcheng Yindao (Lord Rongcheng's Way of the Bedchamber), Wucheng Zi Yindao, Yao-Shun Yindao, Tang-Pangeng Yindao, Tianlao Zazi Yindao, Tianyi Yindao, Huangdi Sanwang Yang Yang Fang, and Sanjia Neifang Youzi Fang. Though these titles are mostly lost, their existence shows that from the Warring States to the early Han, the bedroom arts had formed multiple lineages, classified under categories such as "Way of the Bedchamber," "Yang-Nourishing Formula," and "Fertility Formula."

The vassal patronage of scholars in the Warring States provided a platform for the theoretical fusion of the bedroom arts. The Jixia Academy of Qi gathered Confucian, Daoist, Yin-Yang, Logician, and Legalist thinkers, and bedroom arts thought also exchanged and collided there. Zou Yan's Yin-Yang and Five Phases theory, Song Xing and Yin Wen's doctrine of "desires are few and shallow," and Shen Dao's principle of "following what is natural" all contributed to the theorization of the bedroom arts.

Furthermore, the development of medicine in the Warring States also provided a scientific foundation for the bedroom arts. Though the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) was compiled in the Han, its core content was largely formed during the Warring States. The work placed male and female development, reproduction, and aging within the theoretical framework of meridians, viscera, and qi-blood, proposing the physiological cycle theory of "women's seven-seven" and "men's eight-eight," providing a medical basis for the moderation of the bedroom arts.

Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, the first emperor in Chinese history, pursued immortality with such relentlessness that Pengzu's bedroom arts received unprecedented promotion during the Qin. After unifying the six states, Qin Shi Huang not only established the centralized imperial system but also attempted to consolidate his status as "the one emperor of the ages" through fangshi arts, sacrifice, and the feng-shan ceremonies.

Qin Shi Huang's reverence for ancient sages such as Pengzu and the Yellow Emperor was concentrated in his multiple eastern tours and immortality-seeking activities. He believed that immortal mountains existed in the Eastern Sea, held by immortals in possession of deathless medicine, and the legend of Pengzu's eight-hundred-year lifespan was the best proof that mortals could cultivate immortality. He therefore recruited fangshi widely, treating them generously, hoping through ingestion, Daoyin, and bedroom arts to extend his life.

Xu Fu's eastern voyage was the climax of Qin Shi Huang's immortality campaign. According to the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), Xu Fu submitted a memorial claiming that three immortal mountains—Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou—existed in the sea. The First Emperor then dispatched him with several thousand boys and girls. Whether Xu Fu failed to find immortals and remained abroad, or had other intentions, remains historically debated. From the perspective of wellness-culture transmission, Xu Fu's expedition likely brought Pengzu's bedroom arts, ingestion, and Daoyin techniques overseas, profoundly influencing the ancient wellness culture of the Japanese archipelago.

Qin Shi Huang's quest for immortality ultimately ended in failure; he himself died of illness at Shaqiu during his fifth eastern tour. This outcome became a classic case for later criticism of sovereign indulgence and misgovernance. Yet it cannot be denied that the Qin's promotion of the bedroom arts elevated them from regional, class-specific knowledge to a state-level pursuit, expanding their social influence.

As the bedroom arts flourished in the court, their instruction gradually became standardized, and specialized management institutions emerged. Though the Qin was known for harsh laws, within the court there were officials overseeing medicine, fangshi arts, and sacrifice, some of whose functions touched upon bedroom wellness.

The "Grand Medical Director" and "Attending Physician" medical officer system was responsible for the sovereign's healthcare, with bedroom regimen as part of its work. Additionally, positions such as "fangshi" and "academician" also included wellness techniques. Lu Sheng, Hou Sheng, Han Zhong, and others in Qin Shi Huang's retinue all gained favor through fangshi arts, and what they transmitted likely included bedroom Daoyin techniques.

One manifestation of standardization was the systematic compilation of bedroom movements, breathing, and intention. The silk manuscripts excavated from Mawangdui—the "He Yin Yang" (Conjoining Yin and Yang) and "Tianxia Zhi Dao Tan" (Discourse on the Supreme Way Under Heaven)—though early Han documents, clearly inherit Warring States and Qin traditions. These texts describe in detail the terms "ten movements," "ten postures," "ten cultivations," "eight motions," "five sounds," and "eight signs," decomposing the bedroom process into observable, trainable, and evaluable normative actions.

The "ten movements" refer to ten thrusting actions, emphasizing the coordination of rhythm and breath. The "ten postures" refer to ten positions, modeled on animal postures. The "ten cultivations" refer to ten principles of cultivation during intercourse, including harmonizing intention, accumulating qi, and maintaining fullness. The "eight motions" refer to eight bodily responses of the woman, used to judge her pleasure. The "five sounds" refer to five vocal expressions of the woman during intercourse. The "eight signs" refer to eight physical indicators that the woman has reached climax. The formation of this terminological system marks the bedroom arts' ascent from accumulated experience to systematized technical standards.

Xu Fu's maritime voyage was not only part of Qin Shi Huang's immortality campaign but also a critical turning point in the transmission history of Pengzu's bedroom wellness art. Before this, the bedroom arts primarily circulated within the Central Plains Huaxia cultural sphere; after Xu Fu's eastern voyage, their range of transmission expanded to the islands of the Eastern Sea, forming a bidirectional transmission pattern between the Central Plains and overseas.

Xu Fu, also known as Xu Shi, was a native of Langya in the Qi region, skilled in fangshi arts, and claimed he could obtain the deathless medicine for the First Emperor. According to the Shiji, Xu Fu's first voyage yielded no result after several years. He returned claiming that a great fish blocked the way and requested that the emperor send archers. The emperor complied, and Xu Fu set out again, "finding a plain with broad marshes, he stayed and became king, never returning." Later generations mostly believe that Xu Fu ultimately reached Japan, becoming an important external factor in the development of ancient Japanese civilization.

From the perspective of wellness-culture transmission, Xu Fu's eastern voyage had threefold significance: first, it brought Central Plains medicine, agriculture, weaving, and shipbuilding technology to Japan; second, it carried Pengzu's bedroom arts, ingestion, and Daoyin wellness techniques overseas; third, it opened a maritime channel for Sino-Japanese wellness cultural exchange.

Xu Fu is revered in Japan as the "God of Agriculture" and "God of Medicine," and some regions have Xu Fu shrines and tombs. Though these cultural memories carry legendary coloring, they reflect the profound influence of the Huaxia wellness culture represented by Xu Fu on the Japanese archipelago. Pengzu's bedroom arts, preserved, mutated, and developed overseas via the Xu Fu lineage, became an important component of the East Asian wellness cultural sphere.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the textual accumulation of the bedroom arts reached a peak. Though many early works have been lost, their theoretical outlines can still be glimpsed from the Hanshu "Treatise on Literature" and later citations.

The Rongcheng Yindao was one of the early classics of the bedroom arts, attributed to Lord Rongcheng, teacher of the Yellow Emperor. The work advocated "minimal emission, maximal return" and "returning essence to nourish the brain," emphasizing the internal retention of essence during intercourse. The Wucheng Zi Yindao was attributed to Wucheng Zi, teacher of Shun, and covered qi ingestion, Daoyin, and bedroom arts. The Yao-Shun Yindao and Tang-Pangeng Yindao all used the names of sage-kings to lend authority to their teachings.

The core theories of these early works can be summarized as follows: first, essence-qi is the foundation of life, and the bedroom act depletes it, thus restraint is necessary; second, the bedroom act can promote wellness, the key lying in proper method so that Yin and Yang are harmonized; third, men should control emission through breath and intention to achieve "intercourse without emission" or "minimal emission"; fourth, women can also derive wellness benefits from the bedroom act, rather than being mere objects of harvesting; fifth, the bedroom act must accord with the right timing, place, and human harmony—it must not be done carelessly.

Additionally, the Suwen and Lingshu chapters of the Huangdi Neijing, though not exclusively about the bedroom, discuss male and female physiology, reproduction, and aging, providing a medical-theoretical foundation for the bedroom arts. Concepts such as "kidney qi," "tian gui" (heavenly fertility essence), "chong and ren meridians," and "governing vessel" became important components of the later bedroom arts discourse. By this point, the core theoretical framework of Pengzu's bedroom arts was essentially formed.

The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period was the golden age of Pengzu's bedroom wellness art. During this period, the bedroom arts completed the transformation from court secret to socialized learning, from experiential technique to theoretical system, and from single method to comprehensive wellness framework. The intellectual nourishment of the hundred schools gave it a deep philosophical foundation; the patronage of the vassal courts gave it broad social dissemination; the accumulation of written works allowed it to transcend the oral tradition and enter the stage of textual transmission.

This period left three important lessons: first, the vitality of the bedroom arts lies in their "wellness" fundament; once they depart from wellness and become tools of indulgence, they invite social criticism and even political suppression; second, the development of the bedroom arts requires dialogue with the mainstream thought of the era—the participation of Daoists, Confucians, Yin-Yang theorists, and physicians enriched and perfected them continuously; third, the transmission of the bedroom arts has cross-regional and cross-cultural potential, and Xu Fu's eastern voyage foreshadowed that they would become a shared wellness heritage of East Asian civilization.

The transmission lineage of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, inheriting the ancient tradition of the Yellow Emperor and Pengzu above and inaugurating the institutionalized development of the Qin-Han empires below, holds a critically pivotal position in the history of the Pengzu Yin-Yang Harmonization Art's transmission. Understanding this period is the key to grasping the entire comprehensive history.