Session 03: Worldviews, values and other contexts—Early Asian worldviews: Animism, Shamanism, Daoism

Topics for this session

◊ Brief note on animism and shamanism
❖ Ancient Chinese cosmology / Daoism: yin-yang (陰陽) and the five elements (五行, wuxing: wood 木, fire 火, earth 土, metal 金, water 水) — gender, balance (blending), correspondences (layering)
❖ Daoist sexual alchemy as described in the Ishinpo / Ishimpo (醫心方・医心方, late 10th c. Chinese medical text)—an example of an alternate way to think of sexual intercourse

Thoughts*

(I have more organized statements about Confucianism and Buddhism on the "Course Rules" page. My thoughts on Daosim, however, at this point anyway, are only here.)

While Confucianism has had a huge impact on many facets of daily life, and especially how humans should interact with one another, including humans that are in loving relationships, and while Buddhism has had a narrowed but very deeply penetrating effect on how romantic relationships are viewed, in my opinion, "Daoism" (that is, the very early formulations of Chinese cosmology that were later organized into Daoism and which have blended into Confucian thought and Chinese Buddhism) is more sweeping in its influence.

As we will discuss it, Daoism:

posits a gendered universe in its very essence,
makes a fundamental argument for spiritual (and emotional) balance (laying the groundwork for restraint in the expression of emotion),
blurs borders (since yin is incorporated in yang and vice versa) leading to all sorts of ambiguities in terms of truth-speaking and ethical behavior,
suggests a cosmos held together via perpetual correspondences, and
offers a cyclic view of time (subverting romantic notions of goal-oriented pursuits and subverts the value placed on agency).

We also consider Daoist sexual alchemy, that is, sexual practices that were meant to lengthen lifespan. This gives us an alternate way of thinking about sexual intercourse and not an act of intimacy but rather a service that the woman provides for the health-benefits of the man and not romantic by any measure.

Required—to be completed for today's session

✓ Some Chinese cosmology diagrams (bSpace, PPT). You do not need to memorize these slides. Just think of the overall concepts they suggest: balance, yin and yang never separate, correspondences, and such. This will probably be covered in class.
✓ After class, for those interested, I provide selections from the Ishimpo. Since this material is sexually explicit, I like to mention this in class first, before providing the reading, so that students know what they are about to read. It is not required reading. See folder "Ishimpo" (bSpace, PDFs).

Other

These are the texts, in part, on which today's lecture was based. Also, we don't do a lot of sexuality as a class but this can be a topic of an individual essay, as long as it connects to the themes and goals of the course.

Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Including Women’s Solo Mediation Texts, Douglas Wile, SUNY 1992
The Essential of Medicine in Ancient China and Japan: Yasuyori Tamba’s Isimpō, Emil C. H. Hsia, Brill 1986
The Culture of Sex in Ancient China, Paul Rakita Goldin, Hawaii 2002
Harmonizing Yin and Yang: A manual of Taoist Yoga, Eva Wong, Shambala 1997
Women in Daoism, Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, Three Pines Press, 2003

*UNDER CONSTRUCTION: If this has not been erased it means something on this page is incomplete. Perhaps I want to recheck information or perhaps I haven't converted the page from the version of the previous class. It is available but should be taken dubiously.

*THOUGHTS: My hope is that you look at this portion BEFORE a session. If there is content here it might help you focus on the main points of the day. However, I add various things here at various times. When I feel I haven't succeeded in class stating something clearly, I might restate it here. Of if it is a difficult concept in might be given in written form here. I will assume that you have read and rechecked for changes this session in preparation for any midterm or other quiz or test.