The Principle of Seminal Plenitude and the Cessation of Sexual Desire

A disciple asked: One morning during walking meditation while practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, a thought suddenly arose to relax the dantian. Upon relaxing the dantian, a warm current filled the area, feeling warm and hot. To this day, the dantian still feels warm. With the appearance of this warm current, the disciple noticed something particularly special: when seeing members of the opposite sex, thoughts no longer arise, and there is no longer a need to apply counteracting methods. It feels as natural as looking at someone of the same sex or an ordinary object, and the dantian area no longer stirs. (Normally, upon seeing the opposite sex, uncontrollable improper mental formations arise, and there is a physiological stirring in the dantian area, requiring the use of a second thought to counteract it.) Please, Master, guide me on this situation.

Reply: Through sitting meditation and walking meditation, you have cultivated concentration and unblocked the qi and blood in the dantian area. The sign of warmth has manifested—the dantian is warm, the qi and blood throughout the body flow smoothly, and both body and mind become soft and pliant. This causes the dantian area to be full of qi, full of spirit, and full of essence, eliminating the need for external energy replenishment. Consequently, physiological demands decrease, leading to less need for food and sleep, and no longer requiring sexual desire. It is only when the essence, qi, and spirit are insufficient that external energy replenishment is needed, and physiological demands are greater.

All these physiological needs belong to the necessities of life within the human realm of the desire realm. When cultivation progresses beyond the human realm, the Five Hindrances—such as food, sleep, and desire—are gradually eliminated, and one ascends to the realms of the desire heavens and the form heavens. This means the Undistracted Concentration of the desire realm is attained, and the first dhyāna (meditative absorption) of the form realm is nearly achieved. After human desires are subdued, the meditative concentration will rise to the first dhyāna. Within the first dhyāna, greed and desire are severed.

Heavenly beings of the form realm at the level of the first dhyāna and above have no distinction between male and female because they lack sexual desire. Since they do not require food, they also lack the nose consciousness that smells scents and the tongue consciousness that tastes flavors. They possess only eye consciousness, ear consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness, and the manas (mind faculty). Therefore, the conscious minds are established based on the needs of sentient beings. When there are no needs, the conscious minds need not exist. For example, in the Nirodha-samāpatti (Cessation of Perception and Feeling), only the manas exists; the six consciousnesses are absent, and the manas has also extinguished the two mental factors of feeling (vedanā) and perception (saṃjñā).

The fact that your dantian area no longer stirs indicates that your essence and qi are full. Naturally, there is no need for sexual desire, and you have lost interest in it. When essence and qi are insufficient, it is like a half-filled bottle of water that always sloshes around, requiring more water to be poured in from outside. When the water is sufficient and full, it no longer sloshes. When the essence and qi in the dantian are full, it also does not stir, and there is no need to replenish it through sexual desire. The World-Honored One, in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, when speaking about the state of severing desire, said that for a person who has severed desire, engaging in sexual intercourse feels like chewing on a candle—utterly tasteless—a sense of humiliation that must be endured, merely to complete a task.

You are currently in the stage of severing the obscurations of the Five Hindrances. The Undistracted Concentration is attained, and the first dhyāna is about to arise. Within this concentration, the conditions for severing the view of self and realizing the mind (enlightenment) are complete, while conditions such as merit, virtue, and wisdom await further perfection. If, after severing the view of self and realizing the mind, you also possess the foundation of concentration power from the first dhyāna, you can eradicate the fundamental afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, becoming a Stream-enterer (Sotāpanna) or even a Once-returner (Sakadāgāmin) in the Hinayana path. Your future is bright! Continue to strive diligently!