The Symmetrical, Integrated, and Pre-Sexual Body Concept: From the Vitality Narrative in Daoist Female Alchemy

Abstract

Daoist female alchemy (nüdan 女丹) texts articulate a bodily paradigm in which humans and nature mutually enfold one another, and in which yin and yang interact in harmonious complementarity. Through an analysis of three key dimensions, the yin-yang cosmology embedded in these texts, the ways menstruation, desire, and the female breasts are reconceived in the course of cultivation, and the ideal of gestating an a priori (xiantian 先天) embryo, this article argues that nüdan writings present a gender-symmetrical, pre-sexual symbolic culture. This culture both acknowledges gender difference and ultimately transcends it, seeking a return to the undifferentiated, yin-yang combined condition of primordial Dao. These texts reveal that women and men possess complementary yin and yang attributes that must be reintegrated in order to return to the a priori state and attain infinite vitality. They likewise suggest that both women and men harbor active, originary desire, and that only through equivalent processes of bodily transformation, reverting the sexualized, adult bodies into the unsexualized bodies of the girl and boy, can practitioners acquire the power to gestate the inner elixir, symbolizing inexhaustible vitality. In this sense, nüdan writings develop a pre-sexual narrative centered on vitality, offering a resonant response to concerns within postmodern feminism regarding how to dismantle centralized, phallogocentric narratives while enriching non-gender-centralized symbolic cultures. They thus provide a special path to reconsider gender not by advancing forward, but by stepping back into a more primordial, integrated ideal.

1. Introduction

A defining feature of Daoist thought lies in its emphasis on the harmonious integration of yin and yang, a dynamic balance between softness and firmness. In contrast to many other religious or philosophical traditions, Daoism displays a pronounced resistance to monolithic and male-centered narratives. Joseph Needham already noted that, compared with Confucian or Legalist traditions that elevate the symbol of the masculine, Daoist texts exhibit an unusual valuation of the symbol of the feminine (Needham 1956, p. 59). Roger T. Ames similarly argues that Daoism does not begin its reflection on humanity from either a masculine or feminine premise; rather, its ideal ground is fundamentally androgynous, rooted in the fusion and mutual transformation of yin and yang (Ames 1981).

Female alchemy (nüdan 女丹), a corpus of Daoist writings dedicated to women’s cultivation practices, embodies this non-gender-centered understanding of the body. These texts articulate a vision of human embodiment that is continuous, integrated, and harmonious, resisting binary oppositions. Their non-dualistic body paradigm seeks to return the practitioner to a primordial state of Dao in which the human and nature, male and female, had not yet differentiated. In doing so, nüdan texts respond meaningfully to concerns central to contemporary postmodern feminism, mainly on the critique of gender-centered symbolic system. The “pre-sexual” orientation embedded in these texts, an interpretive retreat to an a priori (xiantian 先天) state from a sexual perspective, is precisely what this article seeks to explore.

The concept of the “pre-sexual” is defined as a sexual concept grounded in Daoist cosmology, which necessitates transcending developed secondary sex characteristics to pursue an a priori state of harmony and yin-yang balance in both body and mind. It emphasizes the transformation of male and female bodies from the a posteriori (houtian 后天) condition back to the a priori state, explicitly signifying the regression of secondary sex characteristics to recover a child-like physique. Therefore, the pre-sexual represents a specific sexual perspective on the a priori state in Daoist alchemy; crucially, because pre-sexual bodies retain primary sex characteristics, this concept remains distinct from the radical notions of “genderless” or “de-gendered.”

Female alchemy constitutes a specialized branch within Daoist Inner Alchemy (neidan 内丹), focusing specifically on female cultivation. As Hao Qin (郝勤) notes, Inner Alchemy arose from the long-standing Chinese quest for longevity and immortality, integrating classical Outer Alchemy (waidan 外丹), which relied on refining substances such as lead, mercury, or cinnabar into elixirs, with meditative and energetic practices resembling qigong. Because ingesting mineral elixirs often resulted in poisoning and death, practitioners eventually shifted their attention inward, conceptualizing the human body itself as a cauldron (luding 炉鼎) for refining an inner elixir. Within the body, jing (essence), qi, and shen (spirit) are understood to function analogously to the metallic ingredients of Outer Alchemy, and gained the name so called Medicine (yaowu 药物),while the flow of qi corresponds to the mysterious fire that drives transmutation (Hao 1994, pp. 46–52).

Since the human body, understood as a refining furnace, possesses distinct forms and properties, these distinctions influence the methods through which the inner elixir can be cultivated. Alchemical methods tailored specifically to women gradually emerged in response to earlier male-centered models that either addressed only male practitioners or assumed that men and women cultivated completely the same. Female alchemy, therefore, denotes a set of practices designed to address the particularities of the female body.

According to Xiao Dengfu (蕭登福), the Daoist alchemy specifically for women emerged during the late Tang Dynasty (618–907). The Taixuan Baodian 太玄宝典 at that time established an essential concept that women should focus on blood in their cultivation, while men focused on jing. However, the scripture is too concise to put into practice. Until the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279), Xue Daoguang 薛道光 detailed the exact procedures about how to circulate the qi within women’s breasts in his Ziyang Zhenren Wuzhen Pian: Sanzhu 紫陽真人悟真篇·三注. Even after the main methods of cultivation had been established, alchemy for women remained largely outside the spotlight. Until the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912), alchemy for women finally gained attention by numerous cultivators and entered its flourishing period (Xiao 2019). Elena Valussi further suggests that it was not until the emergence of nüdan texts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that female alchemy finally constituted as a completely separate category. This development entailed retrofitting the history of inner alchemy to redefine the pre-existing tradition as Male Alchemy (nandan 男丹) (Valussi 2022, p. 451), reflecting the growing prominence of female readership (Valussi 2008b).

Additionally, as Valussi observes, the actual authors of nüdan texts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were primarily collectors or editors who frequently ascribed their works to Daoist immortals and patriarchs to enhance their authority. Consequently, these texts typically appear under the attributed authorship of female immortals, such as Xi Wangmu (西王母) and He Xiangu (何仙姑), or founding masters like Sun Bu’er (孫不二)1. In reality, most nüdan scriptures, including Xi Wangmu Nüxiu Zhengtu 西王母女修正途 [XiWangmu’s Ten Precepts on the Proper Female Path], Qing Jing Yuan Jun Kun Yuan Jing 清净元君坤元經 [Scripture on the Origin of Kun by the Pure and Quiet Princess of the Origin], and Nüdan Fa 女丹法 [Methods for Female Alchemy], were composed during the Qing Dynasty by figures such as Min Yide (閔一得), Fu Jinquan (傅金銓), and Liu Yiming (劉一明) (Valussi 2008b).

Given the considerable temporal separation between the initial emergence of general female cultivation references and the later formation of the formal nüdan category, we have chosen to exclude early texts from the Tang and Southern Song dynasties for the purpose of this study. Consequently, the nüdan texts analyzed in this essay were primarily composed and compiled during the Qing Dynasty. However, our scope extends slightly to include key works immediately preceding the Qing period, such as the Chinese traditional medical paratext called Yixue Zhengyin Zhongzi Bian 醫學正印種子編, which was completed in 1635 (Yue 2012, p. 1). Due to the lack of precise publication records for most pre-modern texts, and to provide a clearer understanding of the chronological interactions, the approximate dates of composition or first appearance for Chinese primary sources are indicated in parentheses where possible. Any complex dating issues or uncertainties are further clarified in the Notes.

Before initiating the main discussion, it is imperative to clarify that, constrained by the historical period of the nüdan texts, the terms “man/male” and “woman/female” within this paper refer strictly to individuals of the physiological male and physiological female sex, respectively. The term “gender” is likewise employed in a strictly biological, rather than cultural or psychological, sense. Crucially, within the nüdan texts, all discussions concerning male and female ultimately serve the pursuit of a non-gender-centered vitality.

Current scholarship on female alchemy tends to follow four major lines of inquiry. The first examines doctrinal interpretations and the technical details of various nüdan lineages and stages of practice (Y. Chen 1989, pp. 149–395; Liang 2019; Luo 2019, pp. 64–94). The second investigates the social meaning and psychological value of nüdan for women within specific historical contexts (Zhan 2011; Xia 2011; Zhu 1997). The third evaluates the physiological (Réquéna 2012; Lü 2016; C. Li 2008, 2009) and psychological or spiritual effects of female alchemical practice (Kohn 2016, pp. 195–228; Valussi 2008a). The fourth, most relevant to this article, focuses on the body conception embedded within nüdan texts.

Within this fourth direction, several scholars have emphasized the physiologically positive symbolism of women. Monica Esposito, for instance, examines the esteem given to tiangui (天癸, heavenly water, the a priori reproductive essence) as the source of menstruation, contrasting it with ambivalent attitudes toward guishui (癸水, a posteriori shed menstrual blood). She identifies that the practice of stopping menstruation represents women’s reclamation of control over their innate a priori power (Esposito 2014, pp. 225–38). Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn observe that nüdan recognizes women’s sexual energy, treating the inherent power of yin and blood as a primary source of transformative potency. This reflects a fundamental difference in cultural symbolism, as they further state: “The very substances and states in a woman’s body most polluting and most offensive in mainstream society and Buddhism—her menstrual blood and the birth of a child—in Daoism come to be key factors in the cultivation of immortality.” (Despeux and Kohn 2011, p. 251).

However, under the historical context of the Qing Dynasty, nüdan texts inevitably contain elements of sexism when describing the goal of female cultivation. Valussi notes that certain textual ideals risk reinscribing a masculinist framework: while the elimination of menses and breast reduction produce an androgynous, child-like body, some passages describe the accomplished female adept as “man-inside-the-women” (nüzhong zhangfu 女中丈夫) or directly “man,” thus indicating an inherent deficiency, since men hold the characteristic of the meta-order, the yang (Valussi 2014, pp. 201–24). While Geng Qiongke (耿瓊珂) argues that the imagery of “women change their bodies to become men” (nühuan nanti 女換男體) in nüdan should be understood not literally but symbolically, as a transition from a posteriori yin to a priori yang, a process that highlights the androgynous potential of women’s bodies rather than affirming masculine superiority, as she states: “Practitioners of inner alchemy for women believe that after a woman beheads the red dragon, her body at this stage possesses yang attributes, and thus classifies it as a ‘male body’.” (Geng 2025).

Furthermore, it is very important to pay attention to the Daoist context when we analyze and understand the opinions in nüdan texts. Geng Qiongke and Zhang Qin (張欽) contend that it is important to understand nüdan texts through the lens of Daoist cosmology. They point out that nüdan’s moral cultivation cannot be interpreted solely through Western sexual disciplinary frameworks, as this cultivation itself reflects Daoist cosmology, wherein ethical practices are seen to directly contribute to the physiological regulation of the internal organs (Geng and Zhang 2021). From the perspective of gender ideology, Geng contends that Daoist female alchemy embodies an androgynous ideal, rather than a masculine ideal, because “Daoist nüdan’s expectations for the gender role of female practitioners require them to possess both feminine qualities, such as gentleness, kindness, and dedication, and masculine characteristics, such as independence, resolute strength, and vigorous spiritual progress. 道教女丹對修道女性性別角色的期望既要其具備溫婉善良、樂於奉獻等女性特質，又要有獨立剛強、勇猛精進等男性特質。” (Geng 2020)

These studies have generated four significant insights, but several gaps remain for this essay to address:

(1)

Studies point out that traditional Daoist thought is based on a cosmology completely different from the one commonly held today. Nonetheless, yin-yang theory, a crucial component of Daoist cosmology in the nüdan texts, has not yet received sufficient attention. This groundwork will be discussed in the second part.

(2)

Studies show that women’s bodies and their nature are linked to positive symbolisms, even though the a posteriori shed menstrual blood is conventionally viewed negatively. However, this essay suggests that the primary issue with a posteriori menstrual blood is the process of leakage and loss, rather than the substance itself. The resolution of this problem lies in understanding nüdan’s attitude toward the physiological changes accompanying the maturation of the female body. This will be fully discussed in the third part.

(3)

Studies have engaged extensively with the phenomenon of gendered language asymmetry. This essay fully agrees with the conclusions reached in these discussions but aims to shift scholarly attention toward the description and understanding of the integrated body in nüdan and the final goal of the cultivation, which ultimately reveals a truly non-gender-centered body concept. This will be fully discussed in the third and fourth parts.

(4)

Studies have pointed out that nüdan exhibits an androgynous ideal, combining the characteristics of both women and men. This essay fully supports this concept and argues for the existence of a pre-differentiated vitality ideal in nüdan texts underlying the manifestation of androgyny. This ideal is the pursuit of a return to the child-like body to attain infinite vitality. This process recognizes the value of both men and women and further constitutes a pre-sexual narrative. This will be discussed in the subsequent parts.

Above all, this article argues that nüdan texts articulate a body narrative that transcends gender. It treats the female and male body as structurally symmetrical, redistributing symbolic capacities typically gendered in Chinese culture: desire is returned to women, and gestational power is extended to men. Its foundational orientation is one of fusion, vitality, and reciprocity. It affirms differentiated bodies while aspiring toward a pre-differentiated ideal, a primordial state in which yin and yang, male and female, had not yet completely diverged. This symbolic movement, at once physiological and cosmological, constructs what may aptly be called a pre-sexual narrative.

The following sections develop this claim through three dimensions: (1) the conception of yin and yang within nüdan as the foundational basis for a non-gender-centered cosmology; (2) the integrated understanding of the female body, expressed through the interconnection of desire, menstruation, breasts, and gestational symbolism; And (3) the gestating and pregnant symbolic metaphor for both female and male inherent in neidan writings. Finally, the conclusion further discusses how nüdan texts transcend Western phallogocentric narratives and resonate with postmodern feminism, illustrating how these three elements reveal a Daoist vision of the body that exceeds gendered dualisms and gestures toward a vitality-oriented, non-gender-centered symbolic system.

2. The Symmetrical Body: Integrating Yin and Yang

Yin and yang form the ontological foundation of Daoist cosmology and provide the essential framework through which Female Alchemy conceptualizes both the human body and the possibility of cultivation for women (and men). While yin-yang theory is pervasive across Daoist texts, its articulation in nüdan is distinctive because it explicitly engages the gendered body as an arena in which cosmic dynamics unfold. For this reason, a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of yin and yang is indispensable.

If one engages only selectively with yin-yang symbolism, the system may appear to privilege the yang and devalue the yin, thus reinforcing a negative view of women. In Daoist thought, the a priori state is associated with yang and with the subtle movement of qi, whereas the a posteriori state is associated with yin and with watery forms. The alchemical ideal of Pure yang (chunyang 純陽) thus appears, at first glance, to be an escape from yin. Moreover, yin is frequently associated with femininity. As Jinhua Zhizhi 金華直指 (before 1859)2 states:

“A female’s nature is fundamentally yin. Within this real yin, there was originally a point of real yang, which transformed into a meta-pearl and was contained within the pin (牝)3.”

“女本陰質，真陰之中，原有一點真陽，變為元珠，含於牝中。”

and

“Man is the symbol of the sun, and woman is the symbol of the moon.”

“男為日象，女為月象。”

(X. He 2019, p. 285)

If yin is taken to be what Daoist practice seeks to transcend, and if yin is equated with womanhood, nüdan would inevitably be reduced to a masculine or masculine-centered narrative.

However, this interpretation collapses once the full complexity of yin-yang cosmology is restored. Yin and yang are not static opposites but dynamically interdependent forces that create, transform, and sustain life. They never appear independently; their generative capacity emerges only through mutual resonance. The Chinese understanding of life as continuous transformation stems precisely from the productive tension between yin and yang. Furthermore, both nature and the gendered human body are understood as mixed, composite formations of yin and yang that cannot be separated without undermining vitality.

To begin, the term Pure yang does not refer to sexual masculinity. It belongs to a conceptual pair, a priori and a posteriori, not to the pair masculine and feminine. Li Zhenren (李真人) explicitly state that achieving Pure yang is equivalent to achieving Great yin (taiyin 太陰), because the two ultimately originate from the same undivided Dao. As Li writes:

“Having achieved Pure yang, one is then called the Great yin. 既成純陽，則是謂太陰。”

(Z. Li 1988, p. 178) (Song Dynasty, 960–1279)

In other words, Pure yang is not about gender; it is about returning to the Dao before yin and yang divided.

Before discussing yin and yang as gendered concepts, it is crucial to recognize their nongendered a posteriori functions. A posteriori yin and yang produce the multiplicity of the natural world, but they do so only through mutual collaboration. As the Qing Jing Yuan Jun Kun Yuan Jing (1680–1683)4 states:

“Yin alone cannot flourish, yang alone cannot thrive. They can give birth to all things only when rigidity and softness achieve their golden mean (zhongyong 中庸), water and fire unite and achieve equilibrium.”

“獨陰不長，獨陽不生。剛柔得其中庸，水火始能既濟，孕生萬物。”

(Qing Jing Yuan Jun Kun Yuan Jing 1992, p. 357)

Nature thus emerges from the combined power of yin and yang, and this combined power is also embedded in the human body. When the balance of yin and yang in the body is disrupted, illness arises. For example, Sun Bu’er Yuan Jun Chuan Shu Dan Dao Mi Shu notes:

“A deficiency in jing manifests as inflammation above; a deficiency in qi leads to leakage below.”

“精虛則炎上，氣虛則下走。”

(Sun Bu’er Yuan Jun Chuan Shu Dan Dao Mi Shu 1992, p. 806) (before 1906)5

Illness therefore reveals the same cosmological principle: bodily vitality depends on the harmonious interplay of yin and yang.

Because the human body replicates the structure of the cosmos, both being generated through yin-yang interaction, cultivation aims to reunify the divided forces of yin and yang and thereby return to the a priori, undifferentiated state. Thus, Chen Zhixu (陳致虛) described the neidan practice as a process of reverting:

“To conform is to be mortal, to revert is to be immortal.”

“順之則凡，逆之則仙。”

(Z. Chen 1988, p. 23) (1335)

Returning along the path of generation leads one back to the Dao. Pure yang cultivation is thus not an elevation of masculinity but an affirmation of transformative vitality, the inseparable coexistence of yin and yang.

Having clarified the nongendered foundation of yin-yang dynamics, we may now examine how nüdan understands gendered embodiment. In the nüdan corpus, the differentiation of male and female bodies emerges from a posteriori yin and yang, but this differentiation is symmetrical, non-hierarchical, and mutually necessary. Thus, gender marks distinction, not inequality.

As the texts observe, men and women both originate from the same a priori qi; their difference lies only in the a posteriori distribution of purity and turbidity, movement and stillness:

“Man and woman are one and the same in qi, yet they diverge in their clarity and turbidity, and in their activity and stillness.”

“男女本一炁，清濁動靜異。” (Qing Jing Yuan Jun Kun Yuan Jing 1992, p. 358)

This differentiation is cosmologically grounded. Just as Earth (represented by the kun hexagram 坤卦 ☷) generates women and Heaven (represented by the qian Hexagram 乾卦 ☰) generates men, both operate according to the same structural logic of yin-yang complementarity:

“Heaven is yang, Earth is yin. Heaven is active, Earth is still… The way of qian creates the male; the way of kun creates the female.”

“天陽地陰，天動地靜……乾道成男，坤道成女。”

(Qing Jing Yuan Jun Kun Yuan Jing 1992, p. 357)

In line with this model, the attributes of male and female bodies are also symmetrical:

(1)

Kun embodies yin, stillness, turbidity,

(2)

Qian embodies yang, activity, clarity.

This conceptual model was established at least as early as the Tang Dynasty6, when the Qingjing Jing 清靜經 [Scripture of Clarity and Stillness] associated Heaven with clarity, activity, and the male, while connecting Earth with turbidity, stillness, and the female. This text profoundly influenced the Quanzhen School, notably, Sun Bu’er was also known as Qingjing Sanren (清靜散人), and her followers later established the Qingjing Sect (清靜派) in the late Ming Dynasty7. As the Qingjing Jing states:

“The Dao holds clarity and turbidity, activity and stillness. Heaven is clear and Earth is turbid, Heaven is active, and Earth is still. The male is clear and the female is turbid, the male is active and the female is still. Descending from the origin and flowing to the end, the myriad things are born. Clarity is the source of turbidity, stillness is the foundation of activity.”

“夫道者，有清有濁，有動有靜。天清地濁，天動地靜。男清女濁，男動女靜。降本流末，而生萬物。清者濁之源，靜者動之基。”8

(Taishang Laojun Qingjing Xinjing 1988, p. 156)

Yet, neither stillness nor turbidity is inferior; both contain aspects closer to the a priori Dao. Thus, women, being associated with stillness, must cultivate the clarity of qian, while men, associated with clarity, must cultivate the stillness of kun. Each gender supplements what it lacks in order to return to the undivided a priori state.

Nüdan emphasizes that male and female bodies are not wholly yin or wholly yang but composite formations with inner-outer inversions. This principle is substantiated by a wide range of nüdan texts, among which Xue Xinxiang (薛心香)’s Jinxian Zhizhi Xingming Zhenyuan 金仙直指性命真源 offers the classic formulation:

“Therefore, man is born of the qian body. The singular impulse within it is yin, its image being li (li hexagram 離卦 ☲), yang on the outside and yin on the inside. Woman is born of the kun body. The singular impulse within it is yang, its image being kan (kan hexagram 坎卦 ☵), yin on the outside and yang on the inside. This is but a borrowed vessel, the wonder of change and transformation.”

“蓋男秉乾體而生，中一動則為陰，其象為離，外陽而內陰也；女秉坤體而生，中一動則為陽，其象為坎，外陰而內陽也。此寄體也，變動之妙也。”

(Dong and Sheng 2012, p. 24) (1825)

This passage encapsulates the logic of alchemical cultivation: each body contains an internal seed of its opposite force, and each body also possesses the potential for transformation. Crucially, yin and yang are not fixed images; rather, they are inherently relative and position-dependent. Isabelle Robinet highlights this concept through the sexual imagery of the li and kan trigrams. She summarizes this relativity concisely: “Since alchemy is concerned in the first place with the inner lines of the trigrams li and kan, the paradox of reversal consists in considering li as female, while logically it should be male because its yang-masculine lines are predominant. Analogously, kan should be female, but is considered to be male.” (Robinet 2011, p. 5)

This relativity of yin and yang holds the possibility for transforming the a posteriori bodies of both women and men. Sometimes, this relativity manifests as the blending and even mutual inclusion of yin and yang. The female body, which may typically be stereotyped as purely yin, is re-described by the Daoist He Xiangu (靈陽道人) as a locus where real yin contains real yang:

“A female’s nature is fundamentally yin. Within this real yin, there was originally a point of real yang, which transformed into a meta-pearl and was contained within the pin.”

“女本陰質，真陰之中，原有一點真陽，變為元珠，含於牝中。”

(X. He 2019, p. 285)

Kun Jue 坤訣 goes even further, arguing that this internal yang allows women to progress more readily in cultivation:

“Women’s nature is rooted in the yielding virtue of kun and naturally holds a core of real yang within their real yin. This inherent balance gives them a greater ease in cultivation.”

“夫女子秉坤柔之德，而真陰之中具有真陽，修煉較易。”

(Kun Jue 1992, p. 539) (before 1813)9

Whether women find cultivation easier is not a definitive conclusion, as Su Meiwen (蘇美文) stated, it is influenced by many factors (Su 2008). Nevertheless, the broader point stands: nüdan consistently frames both male and female bodies as transformative, symmetrical, and capable of returning to the a priori oneness through the harmonious recombination of yin and yang.

In summary, in nüdan texts, yin and yang are isomorphic within the human body as they are within nature. When yin and yang enter the sexed body, they manifest symmetrical attributes, which grants both men and women the possibility of cultivation. The female is yin containing yang (or yang containing yin) and is characterized by stillness; the male is yang containing yin (or yin containing yang) and is characterized by purity. When both sexes seek to achieve the ideal of yin and yang harmony and return to the a priori state of undifferentiated yin and yang, they must embrace and accommodate certain attributes of the opposite party, thereby realizing the integration of “opposing” attributes. This holds true despite the apparent duality. For Daoists, these “opposing” attributes are not truly oppositional. On the contrary, they are mutually presupposing and inseparable, underscoring that the distinction between yin and yang is always relative rather than fixed.

In this sense, nüdan texts present a unique pre-sexual narrative. Although they pay close attention to the sexed body and its cultivation differences, their fundamental pursuit of yin-yang harmony and the original force of vitality must be grounded in the a priori perspective of yin and yang unity, rather than a specific masculine/male-centric or feminine/female-centric viewpoint. Consequently, this no longer constitutes a gender-centric narrative.

Next, this paper will further detail the specific views of nüdan texts regarding various parts of the female body, thereby demonstrating nüdan’s full respect and affirmation for the integrated female body.

3. The Integrated Body: Claiming the Non-Masculine-Centric Subject

Grounded in the Great Yin Form-Refining Method (太陰煉形法), female alchemy offers a distinctive contribution precisely through its recognition and positive valuation of women’s physiological particularities. These techniques are built upon the affirmation of women’s inherent vitality-generating potential. The central procedure, beheading the Red Dragon (zhan chilong 斬赤龍), functionally serves the same purpose in cultivation as the male method of taming the White Tiger (xiang baihu 降白虎). Although the exact methods for working with these physiological forces differ, both aim to prevent vitality leakage and return the practitioner to a pre-sexual, pre-differentiated bodily state resembling that of a child whose secondary sexual characteristics have not yet emerged.

Chen Yingning (陳攖寧) explains that the “Red Dragon” refers to menstruation; to “behead” it means to stop the menstrual leakage (Y. Chen 1989, p. 159). Sheng Keqi (盛克琦) further elaborates that practice should be performed near the huo zishi (活子時), the transitional days surrounding menstruation, when the shift between yin and yang is imminent. At this moment, the body’s essence can be refined before it transforms into physical menstrual blood and is lost (Dong and Sheng 2012, pp. 44–45). According to Hao, because menstrual blood represents the a posteriori manifestation of a woman’s tiangui, beheading the Red Dragon is also referred to as “Refining Blood to Transform into Qi” (lianxue huaqi 煉血化炁) (Hao 1994, p. 319).

As He Longxiang (賀龍驤) contends, although Beheading the Red Dragon is a practice unique to women, its underlying logic is symmetrical with the male practice of Taming the White Tiger (L. He 1991, p. 4) (1905)10. In the male method, semen serves as the medicine (called the Tiger or White Tiger), and the lower dantian (xia dantian 下丹田, at the lower abdomen) functions as the cauldron. Hao briefly summarizes the process: during the practice, semen is refined and circulated upward (following the Governor Vessel on the back of the body) to the niwan gong (泥丸宫) in the head, and then circulated downward (following the Conception Vessel on the front of the body) back to the lower dantian (Hao 1994, pp. 236–37). After a man tames the White Tiger successfully, his penis will shrink, resembling that of a child.

In the female method, the blood serves as the medicine, the qi gate (炁穴) located on the middle of two breasts as the cauldron. Hutian Xingguo Nüdan Shize 壶天性果女丹十则 (before 1905) directly describes the process: During the practice, blood from the uterus would be refined and circulated upward (following the Governor vessels in the back side of human) to the niwan gong in the head and then circulated downward (following the Conception vessels in the front side of human) to the qi gate between two breasts (L. He 1991, pp. 11–12). After a woman beheaded the Red Dragon successfully, her menstruation will cease, and simultaneously, her breasts will shrink, back to a prepubescent state.

At this point, three critical questions arise, questions that often determine whether nüdan is interpreted as reinscribing masculine-centered norms:

(1)

Does stopping menstruation reflect a rejection or devaluation of the natural female body?

(2)

Does the emphasis on menstruation imply that nüdan values women mainly for their reproductive function while ignoring their sex desire as a lived body, compared to the cultivation methods for men which value men directly on sex desire?

(3)

Does the reduction of the breasts reenact a masculinizing ideal, thereby erasing femininity?

The answer to all three questions is no. The answers to these questions are unified: they all stem from the nüdan writings’ affirmation of the original vitality of the female body. Nüdan constructs a vision of the female body that is continuous, integrated, and fundamentally life-generating, not as an object for male use or reproduction, but as an autonomous subject capable of transforming its own vitality.

For the first question:

The practice of stopping menstruation might appear, on the surface, to express a rejection of the female body. Yet within the symbolic logic of nüdan, beheading the Red Dragon is not a negation of menstruation but rather a profound affirmation of it. Menstrual blood is understood as the a posteriori manifestation of women’s primordial vital force, tiangui. As Esposito notes, tiangui represents a woman’s original sex energy, which, under the cyclical influence of the moon, takes physical form as menstrual blood. Because menstruation continuously drains this primordial essence, aging and death inevitably follow its decline (Esposito 2014, pp. 225–38).

This understanding is clearly articulated in Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 大女金丹诀:

“Upon the first descent of tiangui, the primordial qi is broken, and the true blood is released… Though menses reappear each month, each month they also harm one’s essence. Thus a woman’s ming (命) is rooted in tiangui.”

“至天癸一降，元氣遂破，真血遂泄……雖月月有信水復生，卻月月有信水復傷，故女子以命本在天癸也。”

(Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 1992, p. 701) (before 1834)11

Under this framework, to halt menstruation is not to reject the female body but to preserve its most essential vitality, to reverse the outward flow of life. Female alchemy thus begins with the recognition that the menstrual cycle is the gateway through which women lose their primordial power, and cultivation must therefore reclaim and transform this flow.

For the second question:

Nüdan does not reduce women to reproductive functions, nor does it erase female sexuality. Instead, it sees desire as inseparable from women’s vital force and menstrual cycle.

Da Nü Jin Dan Jue directly links menstruation to the flourishing of affections and desire:

“Women are of the nature of water and the sentiment of flowers… When the congenital menses stirs in the pinhu (牝户), desire arises… Their desires grow more agitated after marriage… All these acts damage their true xing (性).”

“夫女子者，水性也，花情也……當先天一點初經含人牝戶之內……一見嫁娶，而欲動情勝……皆損喪真性。”

(Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 1992, p. 701)

Here, menstruation, affections, and desire are depicted as different expressions of the same reproductive vitality. Desire arises not from external provocation but from the internal rhythm of life itself. Sex desire is not shameful but the precious manifestation of original vitality which is proactively showing itself.

However, just as the leakage of female menstruation indicates the loss of female vital force, the expression of female affections and sexual desires also implies the consumption of this original vital force. This leads to the exact same requirement for asceticism or sexual continence as in male cultivation. Therefore, on the surface, nüdan texts seem to negate the expression of female sexual desire, but at its core, just as neidan texts do for men, the negation of female sexual desire is precisely a manifestation of its affirmation.

This is stated unambiguously:

“When men of the qian reach sixteen and women of the kun reach fourteen, their qi and blood are full, and their affections and sexual desire gradually begin. The jing of man and woman entangle with each other, the myriad things transform and generate. The transformations and generations are their innate knowledge and innate ability, creating the great human world. The pity is that most people do not realize they need to cultivate themselves. They indulge their affections and wantonly squander their sexual desires, causing the precious treasure of their origin to gradually wear away. In a short time, their bones wither and their vital fluids dry up, leading to a slow death. This is truly a pitiful state.”

“乾男二八之歲，坤女二七之年，氣血充盈，情竇漸開，男女媾精，萬物化生，皆本良知良能，乃造成人民一大世界也。所可惜者，人多不知修煉，縱情恣欲，本來至寶漸即消磨，未幾，骨枯水盡，天折喪亡，實堪憫惻。”

(Kun Yuan Jing 2012, pp. 193–94) (1905)12

“Most people are driven by desires, and thus are far from the Dao. A person of ultimate attainment is without desires, and thus reaches the Dao. Regardless of man or woman, anyone who understands how to have few desires can enter the Dao.”

“總之世人多欲，所以遠道。至人無欲，所以造道。不論男女，能知寡欲可以入道。”

(Fu 1992, p. 529)

Yan Zehuan (顏澤寰) further equates male semen and female menstruation, stating that men must preserve their semen and women their menstrual essence (Yan 1992, p. 454) (1903). In both cases, cultivation requires reversal, but reversal does not necessarily mean suppression or shame, as we have already stated clearly.

Nüdan even identifies the moments of strongest desire as the best time for cultivation. Yue Fujia (岳甫嘉) writes:

“The Alchemy scripture says: In a month there is but one day, and in a day there is but one hour. Whenever a woman’s menses occurs, there is a day with yinyun (氤氳)13 within a single hour. The qi steams and generates heat, causing a feeling of dizziness and stuffiness, with an irresistible desire for intercourse. This is the precise moment. To reverse the process and seize this moment leads to the formation of the dan (丹); to follow the natural course and bestow it leads to the formation of a fetus. It is said, ‘in three days the moon emerges from geng (庚)’14, and also, ‘the lukewarm lead cauldron, its light penetrates the curtain.’15 Both describe this phenomenon. When the desire and affection are intensely active, the scene within the uterus is like a lotus bud just beginning to blossom. If one were to cleanse the lower body and explore with a hand, they would know it for themselves, but they are just too shy to speak of it.”

“《丹經》雲：一月止有一日，一日止有一時。凡婦人月經行一度，必有一日氤氳之候於一時辰間，氣蒸而熱，昏而悶，有欲交接不可忍之狀，此的候也。於此時逆而取之則成丹，順而施之則成胎矣。其曰‘三日月出庚’，又曰‘溫溫鉛鼎，光透簾幃’，皆言其景象也。當其欲情濃動之時，子宮內有如蓮蕊初開，內人洗下體以手探之自知也，但含羞不肯言耳。”

(Yue 2012, p. 14) (1635)

Three types of female agency appear here:

(1)

The proactiveness of sexual desire. Female sexual desires are the spontaneous force that complies with her own internal vitality, rather than being provoked or stimulated by external people or events.

(2)

The proactiveness of procreation. Nüdan texts attribute the reproductive force to the woman, portraying her as a proactive generator rather than a conceiver, link to someone who is merely bestowed with a seed or someone who carries the seed of another.

(3)

The proactiveness of reversal. To change the ending of death and attain immortality, the woman must actively reverse the a posteriori leakage. This cultivation must be completed by the woman herself and cannot rely on anyone else, whether man or woman.

Thus, nüdan does not see desire as morally corrupt or socially threatening; it sees desire as a reservoir of alchemical potency, and specifically as women’s autonomous potency. The logic of cultivation applies symmetrically to both sexes. Just as the male practice of semen retention is widely understood as a technique for physiological sublimation rather than degradation, the parallel female practice should be interpreted through the same constructive lens. Both are essentially symmetrical responses to the universal problem of aging caused by the loss of vitality. The negation of outward expression is, paradoxically, the supreme affirmation of the internal value of these sexual forces.

For the third question:

Within the symbolic physiology of nüdan, the breasts are not sexualized organs nor objects for male use or maternal nourishment. Instead, they function as an essential alchemical hub linking the upper organs (heart and lungs) with the lower organs (uterus and blood). Because menstrual blood, uterine essence, and the fluids of the heart-lung system are interrelated, transforming one necessarily influences the others.

Da Nü Jin Dan Jue explains this interconnection in detail:

“The breasts connect upward to the fluids of the heart and lungs, and downward to the true juice of the sea of blood (xuehai 血海)16. Refining the breasts into the shape of a virgin’s or a child’s, just like a woman transforming her body into a man’s. This practice is also within the third practice17, with only one additional step: when transporting the Sweet Dew (ganlu 甘露)18, it must not be sent downwards but only to the jianggong (絳宮)19. One must use conscious intent to guide it into the two breasts. The upper and lower teeth should be tightly clenched, and the two nostrils closed. With inner breathing, operate the cycle within the breasts, while externally, use both palms to massage the left and right sides seventy-two times each, first gently then urgently, first lightly then heavily. In one hundred days, breasts can become like two walnuts.”

“夫乳房，上通心肺之澤液，下徹血海之真汁，煉得乳房如處女小兒形，便是女換男體。其功亦在第三則內，只中加一功，於送甘露不許送下，只許送在絳宮，用意注在兩乳。將唇門上下二齒緊咬住，以二鼻孔關閉，用內呼吸在乳內收拾，外以兩掌心，各在左右揉七十二次，先緩後急，先輕後重，如此一百日，可如兩核桃形也。”

(Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 1992, p. 702)

This passage reveals several critical aspects of female alchemical physiology:

1. As the place of cauldron within the body, the breasts are the crucial central connecting the bloods from the heart, lungs, and uterus.

2. Breast refinement is an essential component of “small circulation” (xiao zhoutian 小周天) in women. Male practitioners send refined essence upward from the genitals to the brain and then downward through the chest to the lower dantian. Female practitioners, however, use the qi gate between two breasts as the primary cauldron, from which refined qi descends into the uterus. When the medicine is refining in the cauldron, massaging the body physically can help the process from the outside. Thus, women’s small circulation is anatomically and symbolically distinct, structured around breast–uterus connectivity.

3. Stopping menstruation and reducing the breasts are linked processes. The breasts shrink not because femininity is rejected, but because the ganlu is being redirected inward to nourish the whole body rather than being expressed outwardly.

Breast milk, menstrual blood, and life essence are interchangeable substances nüdan texts frequently describe menstrual blood transforming into alchemical liquid through stages of color change: red → yellow → white → none → qi (炁). As Kun Yuan Jing explains, the gradual transformation of menstrual blood marks a fundamental alchemical process:

“When menses changes from red to yellow, from yellow to white, from white to nothingness, and from nothingness to qi (炁), then it returns to its primordial state and establishes the foundation for the elixir.”

“自驗月經，由紅變黃，由黃變白，由白化無，由無化炁，方還元貞，始立丹基。”

(Kun Yuan Jing 2012, p. 213)

This sequence indicates that menstrual blood, breast milk, and primordial essence are understood as different manifestations of a single underlying substance. The same idea appears in Fu Jinquan’s text, which describes the upward return of blood into the breasts as part of this transformation:

“To refine the blood, one must first forge the qi. When the qi is transformed, the blood returns upward and enters the breasts. As it changes from crimson to white, circulating throughout the body, one naturally avoids the affliction of inflamed desire. When the fire of desire is extinguished, the true fire emerges.”

“欲化其血，先鍛其氣，氣化而血返於上，入於乳房。以赤變白周流一身，自無欲火炎躁之患，欲火消而真火出。”

(Fu 1992, p. 514) (1813)

This passage reveal a continuous alchemical metamorphosis in which the visible red of menstruation, the yellow or white liquids, and the formless state of qi (炁) constitute successive stages of the same vital substance.

Hutian Xingguo Nüdan Shize makes this even more explicit, noting that once true qi is generated, blood becomes liquid and circulates throughout the body beginning from the area between the breasts, nourished by the breath which is called the jade-like breast or milk:

“If a female cultivator can faithfully follow the preceding oral instructions and try to practice, the true qi will naturally be generated day by day. Once the true qi has been generated, the blood transforms into liquid. This liquid circulates through the hundred pulses, starting from between the two breasts, nourishing the entire body. This liquid is transformed from blood and is usually nurtured by the yuru (玉乳, literally means jade-like breast or milk) within the body. Only then can it stabilize the zhongtian (中田)20, which serves as the foundation for transcending life. Yuru is the breath within the body.”

“女真修士，果能照前口訣盡心行持，自然真氣日生。真氣既生，血化為液。其液自兩乳中間流通百脈,潤澤周身。此液是血化成，常用身中玉乳以養之,始能鎮靜中田，以為超生之本。玉乳者,是身中呼吸之氣也。”

(L. He 1991, p. 18)

Within this physiological framework, the reduction of the breasts in female alchemy does not signify masculinization but reflects a deeper internal shift: fluids that once manifested outwardly are redirected inward; the body returns to a prepubescent state prior to reproductive expenditure; and the practitioner prepares to gestate an a priori embryo rather than a physical child. Nüdan texts repeatedly describe this condition as a return to a child-like body. The Nannü Dangong Yitong Bian 男女丹工異同辯 illustrates the symmetry clearly:

“When a man’s White Tiger is tamed, his body returns to that of a child, and his a posteriori essence no longer leaks out. He can then form the elixir and extend his years. When a woman’s Red Dragon is beheaded, her body returns to that of a child, and her yin-and-turbid blood no longer flows downward. She can then exit death and enter life.”

“男子白虎降則變為童體，而後天之精自不洩漏，可以結丹，可以延年。女子赤龍斬則變為童體，而陰濁之血自不下行，可以出死，可以入生。”

(Yan 1992, p. 451)

Such descriptions make it evident that the goal of nüdan cultivation is neither to transform a woman into a man nor to erase femininity, but to dissolve a posteriori sexual differentiation and re-enter the unity of the a priori state, the pre-sexual state. Breast refinement thus represents not the negation of womanhood but the restoration of vitality circulation. Far from viewing the female body as a mere sexual object or incubator, nüdan texts portray it as complete, integrated, and self-sufficient. In this alchemical vision, the woman is endowed with full autonomy and subjectivity. She possesses overflowing vitality and is proactive in procreation, affections, sexual desires, and cultivation, actively striving to reverse the a posteriori leakage of vitality.

4. The Gestating Body: Realizing Infinite Vitality

Female alchemy is not limited to the differentiated concerns of gendered embodiment. Instead, it moves toward a far more expansive vision. The transformation into a child-like body, accomplished through beheading the Red Dragon, the cessation of menstruation, and the reduction of the breasts, is not the final goal but the foundation for a deeper alchemical aspiration: to gestate, once again, a new form of life within one’s physical body.

In Daoist writings, the Neidan is frequently described through the metaphor of pregnancy. The entire process of forming the elixir is referred to as “The Miraculous Dao of the Primordial Embryo” (taiyuan miaodao 胎元妙道) (Sun Bu’er Yuan Jun Chuan Shu Dan Dao Mi Shu 1992, p. 806). The moment the inner elixir forms is depicted as the stirring of a fetus:

“A woman’s yuye (玉液) is the marrow of White Phoenix, refined from her Red Dragon. It is fully combined and refined in the dantian of the lower abdomen. Suddenly, it is like a child bumping the pin; suddenly, it is like the top of a half-cooked egg pushing up; suddenly, there is a clanging sound. This is the yuye returning to dan.”

“女子之玉液者，即赤龍化為白鳳之髓，充足結煉於丹田下腹，忽如小兒犝牝，忽如半邊熟雞蛋像頂，忽有款乃之聲，便是玉液還了丹也。”

(Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 1992, p. 702)

This metaphor is not incidental; it signals that after the erasure of a posteriori sexual differentiation, the practitioner gains the ability to reconceive the self, to form within the body a new, a priori source of life.

Carrying the inner elixir is also described as a pregnant state, not in a literal, physical sense, but as holding within the body the concentrated essence of the a priori world. As Nü Jin Dan 女金丹 (before 1905) states:

“After the dan is formed, shen unites with qi (炁) and congeals… This is just like a person being pregnant, and so it is called the Embryo. It is not a real fetus; rather, it is where the breath of shen resides.”

“丹结之后，神即炁而凝… 如人怀孕一般，故谓之胎，非真有胎也，神息住于此也。”

(L. He 1991, p. 73)

The enlivened, sacred respiration that occurs after the elixir is formed is called embryonic breathing (taixi 胎息). Numerous texts, including Kun Dao Gong Fu Ci Di 坤道功夫次第 (Sun Bu’er Yuan Jun Fa Yu 1992, p. 805) (before 1906)21, Hu Tian Xing Guo Nü Dan Shi Ze 壺天性果女丹十則 (L. He 1991, pp. 19–20), Nü Jin Dan 女金丹 (L. He 1991, p. 73), and Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 大女金丹訣 (Da Nü Jin Dan Jue 1992, p. 702), describe embryonic breathing as an essential method in later stages of female cultivation.

Thus, once a woman fully retracts her secondary sexual characteristics through beheading the Red Dragon, she gains the capacity to carry an a priori embryo, that is, to crystallize the Inner Elixir within her own body. This ideal resembles the notion of the “Virgin Conception” in the Bible, but with one crucial difference: the Daoist a priori embryo is not “given” to the woman, it is created by her own cultivation. It does not descend from outside, nor is it implanted by an external force. It forms only when the practitioner reverses the flow of essence, refines jing, qi, and shen, and returns her bodily energies to their primordial state. Therefore, the a priori embryo in nüdan originates from women’s own proactiveness: an infinite vital force achieved by striving with all her might to return to the origin and attain immortality.

What is striking in the Daoist textual imagination is that men, too, “become pregnant.” Terms such as “Embryonic Immortal” (taixian 胎仙), “Suckling” (buru 哺乳), and “Fetus Coming Out (of the body)” (chutai 出胎) are commonly used to describe the neidan itself, or certain stages and states of men’s cultivation (Hao 1994, pp. 193, 220). When a man successfully tames the White Tiger, similarly changing his body to revert his penis to its pre-pubescent state, he also gains the ability to gestate an a priori embryo.

This means that the ability to generate life is not gender-exclusive; it is a universal human capacity rediscovered through reversing a posteriori differentiation. From the perspective of inner alchemy, both women and men must undergo the same structural process. They must undo the expenditure of sexual essence, reverse the flow of jing back into the body, and congeal this refined vitality into an a priori embryo. This symmetry illustrates the central doctrinal conviction that pregnancy represents the deepest cultural metaphor for vitality. The ability to gestate symbolizes access to the cosmic origin of vitality.

In this sense, Daoist inner alchemy quietly reverses the gender metaphor found in many symbolic systems. Where Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis take the phallus as the core of the symbolic system, which refers to men’s penises in a cultural sense, and where women are often defined as lacking the fundamentally symbolic phallus (Lacan 2006, p. 583), Daoist nüdan begins from the opposite premise: the power of the vitality is the highest symbolic center, and it is attainable by both women and men through cultivation.

Gestation thus becomes the shared human ideal, dissolving gender boundaries at the deepest symbolic level. At the symbolic core of nüdan lies a striking conceptual shift: the ultimate aim is not to exalt femininity, masculinity, or to produce an androgynous hybrid, but to undo the a posteriori sexual differentiations that cause the loss of vitality, and thereby return the human body to its a priori, undivided state. After reversing menstruation, restoring the body to a prepubescent form, and cultivating the a priori embryo, the female adept achieves not a masculinized body but a pre-sexual body, a body prior to gender separation, prior to reproductive expenditure, filled with the potential of undivided life.

This special symbolic direction becomes clearer when it emerges in the male alchemy: once a man also reverses his a posteriori sexual characteristics, by taming the White Tiger and returning the penis to its prepubescent form, he too gains the ability to conceive an a priori embryo. Both women and men must undergo a reversal of a posteriori differentiation, a recovery of a priori vitality, and a re-entry into the primordial oneness before yin and yang separated.

Because gestation is a bodily process structurally grounded in the female reproductive system, male alchemical imagery must borrow female metaphors to describe the highest achievement. Symbolically speaking, male cultivation must pass through a “feminine” form, not because men become women, but because the capacity to gestate is the sign of returning to origin. In this sense, the female body is reinterpreted as a symbol of life’s point of origin rather than as a site of deficiency. The male alchemical path must likewise return to a symbolic structure grounded in the capacity to gestate. The embryo functions as the emblem of the a priori, the infinite, and the original vitality.

This profoundly inverts the psychoanalytic tradition that elevates the phallus as the center of symbolic power. Instead of a masculine-centered symbolic order that construes the female body as lacking, nüdan positions the ability to generate life, not the phallus, as the cultural center. And because this ability is attainable for both men and women after reversing their sexed bodies, the symbolic center becomes pre-sexual.

Geng has argued that nüdan reflects an “androgynous” worldview (Geng 2020). While this captures the symmetry of male and female practices, it still presumes a model built on two genders whose attributes are combined. But radically speaking, nüdan follows a different logic. The movement described in the texts is not a transition from one gender to another, nor a fusion of the two sexes into a hybrid form, but a return from gender to the undifferentiated One that existed before gender emerged. This movement is not additive but subtractive.

Nüdan does not aim to produce a body with more genders or a mixture of genders. Rather, it seeks to dissolve a posteriori sexual markers, remove reproductive expenditure, return jing, qi, and shen to their a priori unity, and re-enter a state where the distinction between male and female is not yet meaningful. This state is best described as pre-sexual, rather than androgynous; as the state that prior to gender, rather than genderless. This explains why nüdan texts repeatedly emphasize returning to childlike body, dissolving menstruation or semen leakage, reducing breasts or penis, and gestating an a priori embryo. These processes are not about masculinity or femininity, they are about returning to the pre-differentiated state where vitality is whole.

5. Conclusions

The connotations of the pre-sexual concept in nüdan texts are clear based on the preceding discussion. However, the process of regressing the female body may inadvertently evoke misogynistic imagery if the non-gender-centric and vitality-oriented specificity of nüdan is obscured by the lens of Western phallogocentric narratives. The psychoanalytic school places the phallus at the center of the symbolic order, using it to designate the signifier and represent the presence of desire (Lacan 2006, pp. 579–80). It argues that men can directly fantasize about occupying the position of the signifier by identifying with the symbolic function of the phallus. Conversely, because women lack the penis, they are viewed as symbolically lacking the phallus—and thus the signifier. Upon entering the symbolic order, women can only choose to be the phallus in order to be desired by others (Lacan 2006, p. 583). From this standpoint, beheading the Red Dragon, shrinking the breasts and ceasing menstruation, would amount to denying female agency and establishing a fantasy wherein a woman finally “becomes” a man. Indeed, if confined strictly within the perspective of phallogocentric narrative, nüdan texts would appear to construct a negative and deficient cultural symbol of women.

Nevertheless, nüdan texts are complex, exhibiting traditional hues that intertwine both patriarchal elements and a proto-feminist consciousness that resonates with postmodern feminism. On the one hand, it is undeniable that certain nüdan texts contain problematic expressions describing the child-like female body as a “male body,” as discussed in the third section. Furthermore, there exists a tension between actual practice and theoretical ideals within their historical context. As Valussi has noted regarding this discrepancy: “Once they complete the practice, women still have to wait until the gods come to their rescue, while men can directly ascend to the skies. As the Nudan Hebian notes: ‘A man can ascend [to Heaven] on his own; a woman, instead, needs to await salvation’. In order to be accepted as ‘realized people,’ women have to perform more ‘good work’ in society to cancel lingering structural imbalances.” (Valussi 2010).

On the other hand, it is equally true that within the other nüdan texts analyzed above, there emerges a positive, active, and integrated body concept for women, which is quite similar to the propositions of postmodern feminism. Specifically, nüdan texts offer a symbolic system that is non-phallocentric, non-masculine, and non-gender-centric, effectively transcending the framework of phallogocentric narratives through the pre-sexual perspective of the body and cultivation theory. The following summary synthesizes the insights gained from the preceding discussion:

In contrast to the masculine narrative that marginalizes women and views female symbolism merely as a lack of male symbolism, nüdan texts are feminine, because women in them occupy the subject-position as do men. In the masculine narrative, female organs and the body are isolated and exist for the sake of men and children, for example, the vagina as a man’s sexual tool, the breasts as food for children, the uterus as an incubator, and menstruation as a painful monthly representation of child-bearing. Conversely, in nüdan texts, a woman’s body is integrated, coherent, and not utilized by others. Starting from a narrative of the unified female body, it recognizes the primordial vital force of a woman’s breasts, uterus, vagina, and menstruation, maintaining that they are whole, interconnected, and exist as and for the woman herself.

Yet, nüdan texts do not merely stop at the feminine narrative; they are simultaneously non-gender-centric. They propose that the forms and attributes of male and female bodies are viewed as a differentiated mix of yin and yang, each with its own unique characteristics. Both sexes are self-sufficient, capable of being proactively affectionate, having desires, gestating life, and reversing the tendency of vitality leakage. Furthermore, neither sex can easily enter a centralized narrative because the attributes of male and female are complementary. They must embrace and accommodate the attributes of the other in order for people to achieve the ideal of a harmonious union of yin and yang and return to the a priori state where man and woman, yin and yang, are undifferentiated. We can thus acknowledge that nüdan texts merely present a view that regards women as equal to men. It is centered neither on the male nor on the female, and is therefore non-gender-centric.

Furthermore, nüdan texts are pre-sexual, rather than non-sexual. Although they respect and affirm the differentiated bodies of women and men, they are not satisfied with this differentiation. They maintain that the integrated, harmonious, and unified a priori state is the most worthy pursuit. In their highest ideal, they aspire to transcend gender difference, or rather, they aspire to regress to the state of unity that existed before sexual and gender difference was fully developed. Fundamentally, it upholds a reverting or regressive logic, viewing a person not as a woman or a man, but simply as a human being. Therefore, nüdan texts fully utilize differentiated bodily energy, attempting to transcend the body based on respecting sexual and gender differences, and then revert the body to dissolve sexual differences.

This subtractive logic, this pre-sexual mindset within the Daoist nüdan texts, offers a decentered perspective for today’s centralized symbolic system, a system that over-emphasizes the significance of “addition” while neglecting the significance of “subtraction”. It provides a path of thought that dissolves opposition, thereby contributing to the collective breakthrough of the centralized dilemmas facing modern humanity and the reconstruction of a diversified symbolic system.