Session 03: East Asian Frameworks: Chinese cosmology and love, Confucianism and love

Topics for this session

❖ Ancient Chinese cosmology: yin-yang (陰陽) and the five elements (五行, wuxing: wood 木, fire 火, earth 土, metal 金, water 水)
❖ Daoist sexual alchemy as described in the Ishinpo (醫心方・医心方, late 10th c. Chinese medical text)
❖ "Love" within a Confucian perspective

Thoughts*

Per yin-yang I suggest that the whole of the universe is derived by the separation from chaos of yin and yang and that, for this class, at least these two things should never be forgotten:

• These two formulations of the original energy have been characterized as male and female and as long as that association is maintained it also follows that a unisexual environment cannot be normative.
• Further, yin-yang require the presence of each other and evolve from each other so conflict resolution is fundamentally seen not as overcoming and eliminating the other (good vanquishes evil) but establishing a workable relationship.

In discussion sexual alchemy I note the goal of Daoists who were seeking to lengthen their life spans was the accumulation and balanced circulation of energies and to this point intercourse with women is said, in the Ishinpo, to provide yang energy for the man. We discuss these details to some degree, but the larger point is that intercourse with multiple women, within this system, is viewed as a means towards health for the man with the benefits flowing from woman to man, not mutually. I present this way of thinking primarily to drive a wedge between the modern notion of sexual intimacy as an expression of romantic intimacy and sexual intimacy as primarily an act of benefiting oneself and not particularly connected to romantic feelings at all. Additionally, it is a reminder of the unequal and chauvinist world within which the premodern narratives we read were fashioned.

In terms of Confucianism, which is often the most overt component of the cultural world of the premodern texts we read, I suggest various things that I think need to be kept in mind. Confucianism as it was practiced preserved a clear demarcation between men and women. This doesn't create a great deal of difference in narratives among the three countries we study, but does stand in contrast to 21st-century young America sensibilities. I suggest that as readers we train ourselves to keep in mind this basic assumption that was held by both writer and reader at the time the texts we read were composed and read.

We also discuss the Confucian commitment to orderliness (both as a cosmology and an ethics) including the necessity of submitting to hierarchies and embracing one's social role. Related to this, I suggest that "layering" is a narrative technique that we often see in these premodern texts and that, in part, derives from a Confucianism that is grounding in ancient Chinese cosmology where "correspondences" are important and Chinese Buddhism that emphasized the illusory nature of the world we move about in, with truth coexisting in a sense with it. Being in a dream or out of a dream is common Buddhist phrasing for being ignorant or enlightened and is paired with the "swoon" of the romantic frame of mind.

Although sometimes there isn't enough time in lecture to get this far, I hope to be able to note the importance of ren (仁—benevolence, humaneness towards others; the highest Confucian virtue), xiao (孝—love within the family: love of parents for their children and of children for their parents), zhong (忠—loyalty), xin (信—honesty and trustworthiness, faithfulness) and li (禮・礼—ritual, propriety) as frameworks for thinking about "love" within the Confucian framework. I do note that marriage without love in a strict Christian system is not considered a full marriage but that in Confucianism, while love is welcome between husband and wife, in theory if they fulfill their roles there can be a functioning family unit without it. I suggest that xiao is seen as more essential and powerful than romantic love between a man and a woman.

Required—to be completed for today's session

✓ Attendance.

✓ Read "Ishimpo". This is an ancient Chinese medical manual. It is on bSpace, Premodern texts > Japanese premodern texts. (Yes, "Japanese" because it is a version preserved in Japan. The original was lost in China.) This text is sexually explicit, really. If you are uncomfortable with graphic details regarding intercourse and sex anatomy, you can skip this assignment and read "Essentials of the Ishimpo Reading Assignment", at the bottom of this page. Otherwise, read it in full but of course don't worry about the details. Look at it critically. Please read it for its heavy reliance on Chinese cosmology, its attitudes towards the role of sex, the role of women, and, where did romance go? NOTE: Do not print out this reading assignment or any other PDF I provide. Please read my Green Policy. I design classes to reduce paperwork and do not run them in a way that it is an advantage to have a paper copy.

✓ View the PDF "Relationship Phases" [bSpace > Misc, PDF]. It gives schemes for three types of relationships: the inner circle represents relationships that are always difficult from beginning until end, the middle circle represents one's first successful relationship, the outer circle representions successful relationships after the first one is over. The arc in the center shows the difficult relationship never enters the top half of the chart, where one feels optimistics, hopeful, settled down or whatever. So, top half of the circles on is "up-right"; bottomw half of the circles one feels "upside down". Given this, answer these questions ahead of class. They might be the basis for discussion or I might ask you just to hand them in in the first three minutes or so of class.

Imagine a pre-modern (for these questions that means "before significant exposure to Western ideas") situation in either China, Japan or Korea and then answer ....

Question 1: Given what you know about Confucianism, which single location on the chart (1A, 2C, whatever) do you think might play the greatest role?

Question 2: Thinking of Circle 2 (A, B & C) name what you consider to be the three most important aspects of Confucianism relevant to this series. Be succinct.

Some of you might need to get a quick orientation on Confucianism.

Texts, multimedia notes, links*

• 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 Ishimpō, Emil C. H. Hsia, Brill 1986
• The Culture of Sex in Ancient China, Paul Rakita Goldin, Hawaii 2002

Other*

"Essentials of the Ishimpo Reading Assignment" — This reading is to remind us, to make crystal clear, that the place of sex in most of the premodern texts we read is quite far from a modern characterization of sex as an expression of love or tenderness. Ishimpo, a Chinese text meant as a medical argument for healthy behavior and also used by Daoists as a practice towards immortality, will argue that sex is for the benefit of the man's health by drawing energy from the woman. It gives details on how to arouse a woman so more energy can be drawn from her. It also warns against the male climax, since semen is considered as the life essence and should be kept within the man.

*THOUGHTS: Reading before class probably helps follow session content, reading afterwards might help consolidate notes, revisiting for tests is recommended. Content might be added before class or anytime up until about 24 hours ahead of a midterm.

*TEXTS, MULTIMEDIA NOTES, LINKS: If I have read from something, shown something or presented audio that is not elsewhere mentioned, I usually include that information here for the curious, sometime after the class (since I often make last-minute decisions about including something). It might take a while and sometimes I forget. You can email me.

*OTHER: When possible I note here names, places, and other details that I have mentioned in a lecture that would otherwise not be accessible in the assigned materials or easily located on your own. As with "TEXTS ..." this is usually sometime after class and, again, I might not be able to get around to doing it.