Answers to Frequent Questions about Sacred Sexuality

What is Ching or Jing?

The word 經 ching is Chinese, alternately Romanized as jing, tsing, etc), and literally means, "sexual energy." Perhaps the most famous appearance of this word is in the title of 易经, "The Book of Changes," or I Ching.

Ancient Chinese philosophy says there are three life forces:

1. physical sexual matter (ching-ye)
2. energetic sexual matter (ching chi)
3. Consciousness (ching-shen)

These three are mutually interdependent and interconnected.

According to Chinese medicine, ching is the basis of life and health. If there is little ching (life force) then health suffers and life is shortened. This is the basis for sexual continence or retention of the sexual matter. In Taoist alchemy, this understanding is extended by simple logic as the basis for immortality.

In the most ancient Chinese dictionary, ching is defined as "cleaned rice, seed, source of life." This corresponds to the mystical symbolism in other traditions of rice, wheat, or corn as a reference for the sexual matter.

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