Work

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

Year: 2026

Type: article

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.

Source: Religions

DOI: 10.3390/rel17020154

Authors: Yuerong Xin, Tao Xu

Institution: Wuhan University

Language: English

Topic: Chinese history and philosophy

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Gender equality

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172