Valussi also touches upon the history of nüdan texts and defines five main stages in the development of female alchemy and women’s practices. This tradition started in the 17th century with the texts by Fu Shan and Cao Heng, developed to a more logical variant in mid 18th – mid 19th centuries, exemplified by the works of Liu Yiming, Min Yide, Fu Jinguan, and others. By 1980s-1990s it turned rather into a medical tool without any religious hint. Later the tradition turned to its religious and spiritual essence.
Valussi also covers several problems women faced during practices. First and foremost, men had historically more opportunities to practice and attain immortality, since unlike women they could leave home seeking the teacher, had more literature and were more literate themselves. Women also faced many obstacles in social, economical, and family spheres. Some of them stepped the wrong way and lost their face and entity. In most tractates focused on female tradition, women are advised to start practicing only after their family duties are accomplished, i.e., in the middle and old age.
The article also touches upon the physiological aspect of transformation. The author studies in detail how blood transformation can help to escape death as being the basis of energy which is discharged through menstruation, feeds the unborn child and turns into a breast milk. Blood therefore must turn into an ethereal substation. The woman must also control her sexual desire. Her body must lose the sexual features of a woman and turn into a man-like one. The author also examines the differences between the male (yang/Qian/Li) and the female (yin/Kun/Kan). If the woman accomplishes all these stages successfully, she will turn into a “man-inside-the-woman” and further complete the Dao. However, men have always been considered to have more chances to do it rather than women.
It was really exciting for me to read this article since the Oriental world has always been a closed book for me and it was interesting to learn such differences in the society and the beliefs. For me, a person growing in the Western tradition, such gender differentiation seems very unjust regarding women and their personal life. I cannot even accept the point of view, which is customary in that culture. For me the attempts to deprive a woman of giving birth to children and providing future generation in order to achieve immortality and become like a man doesn’t sound like an award, but rather like a punishment. My reaction once again proves the fact that culture inevitably influences the worldview of a child and all his future life: the way of life and the way of enlightenment that nobody from the Western hemisphere or even some Eastern countries would ever choose.
All in all, it was beneficial and interesting information, which can make one look at his/her world from another perspective and ponder on his/her inner values and convictions.
Works Cited
Valussi, Elena. "Female Alchemy Transformation of a Gendered Body." 201-204. Print.
