Product Description

The Tao of Seduction consists of two texts on ancient Taoist sexual alchemy, discovered while excavating the Mawangdui archaeological site in Hunan province. Lin Liao Yi, a specialist in Chinese literature and philosophy, has translated and commented on this two-thousand-year-old treatise on ancient Chinese ways of love, which teaches the art of “nourishing life.” The first of these texts is a series of questions, from the emperor to his high functionaries, concerning Taoist precepts for enjoying a healthy and spiritual sex life. For example, the advisors recommend breathing only five times through the mouth during lovemaking to energize the members of the body. In addition, this portion of the book includes recipes for erotic dishes such as pan-fried beef, tea with dates and eggs, and sheep’s kidney. The second half of the book is illustrated with sexual positions, including the tiger’s ballad, the grasshopper’s landing, the caterpillar on a stem, the Phoenix’s takeoff, and others. This title is bound in the style of a traditional Chinese text, along with a lavish casing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #756491 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Yi's translation of the oldest existing treatises on human sexuality-some of the texts date as far back as 453 B.C.-receives a fittingly lush treatment in this impressive Taoist guide to sexual health and well-being. Though the passages are brief, much of the ancient advice is as relevant today as it was centuries ago. Readers may be pleasantly surprised by how much attention is paid to pleasing both partners, as well as the book's sophisticated guide to positions and techniques. Emphasizing a holistic approach and the acquisition of proper balance, much focus is put on breathing, sleep and a proper diet. Yi does a fine job of letting the material speak for itself, choosing to comment only when it's necessary to clarify or expand upon a given passage. Supplemented with elegant color illustrations of courtship and lovemaking from the 16th to 19th centuries and a selection of recipes to alleviate symptoms as varied as fatigue, digestion and (of course) impotence, this thoughtful, elegant treatment should delight those interested in Chinese art, medicine and philosophy.
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About the Author
Lin Liao Yi studied Chinese philosophy and literature at the University of Hong Kong. After completing her studies, she moved to France and joined the Department of Direction and Production at the film school FEMIS in Paris. She has written, directed, and produced a number of documentary and fiction films. She also teaches qi gong, tai chi, and Chan (Zen) meditation in France and abroad.

Customer Reviews

Lovely and engaging
This gorgeous book reproduces many specimens of erotic painting from China's 17th to 19th centuries, all taken from the Bertholet collection. Most reproductions fill an entire page, clearly presenting the players and their play. Although the basics of human coupling never change, these paintings all present a happy, consensual tone that's all too often missing from Western erotica.

The text does a lot to explain that affectionate tone. Extracts from Chinese classics of Taoism and medicine show how sexual energy was integrated into wider range of beliefs, spanning the range from earthy and pragmatic to esoterics of religion and alchemy. Most of the texts address a male readership, prescribing sexual exercises that enrich the man's energies by tapping into female sources. The man's rituals can not be complete without the woman's full arousal, however, so significant parts of the text describe the stages of her arousal and techniques for engaging it to the fullest. Clearly, that requires the happy cooperation we see in the beautiful reproductions of people engaged in reproduction.

Although the imagery and text both offer plenty to enjoy, both have appeared elsewhere before. Nearly all of the paintings presented in this book also appear in Dreams of Spring, an earlier sampling of the Bertholet collection's Chinese holdings. Most of the text has also appeared in Art of the Bedchamber, often in more complete forms. Any collector who already owns both of those books will find little new here. That takes nothing away from this book in itself, though. The lush and distinctively non-Western look will charm many readers, and the translations will open doors to a culture of sexuality completely free of Puritan contamination.

-- wiredweird

great medieval illustrations, little else of practical value
While I agree with the other reviewers comment's on the illustrations, I feel they are overstating the value of the text.

If you've ever read any book on the Tao and sex, you already know everything that is in the text of this book, probably more. The translated texts have little or nothing of practical value - they are vague enough that you must already know more than what they specify in order to be able to understand them at all.

What this book does have is a large number of color illustrations of medieval Chinese erotica - all of which are Very Explicit. There is nothing about seduction in the book, and other than the illustrations nothing that is secret.

There is a collection of recipes, presumably based on trad. Chinese medicine, for sexual healing. Hard to know what their value / quality is.

great medieval illustrations, little else of practical value
If you've ever read any book on the Tao and sex, you alread know everything that is in the text of this book, probably more. The translated texts have little or nothing of practical value - they are vague enough that you must already know more than what they specify in order to be able to understand them at all.

What this book does have is a large number of color illustrations of medieval Chinese erotica - all of which are Very explicit. There is nothing about seduction in the book, and other than the illustrations nothing that is secret.