The Three Treasures

A major practice of Taoist internal alchemy is the transformation of jing, chi and shen, often translated as essence, energy and spirit, also known as nadi, prana, and bindu in Sanskrit and tsa, lung, and thigle in Tibetan. It is in refining these three energetic areas of the body that the Taoists reached enlightenment or what they called Immortality.

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THREE TREASURES. In Taoist internal alchemy (nei dan) the Three Treasures are jing, said to reside in the kidneys and rule sexual and creative energy as well as the body constitution; chi or life energy, which has many functions in the body—circulation, digestion, breathing, holding the organs in their place, the immune system etc.; and shen or spiritual energy, which is said to reside in the heart and also regulates cognitive function as well as consciousness. The goal in internal alchemy is to transform the jing into chi, the chi into shen and then the shen back to wuji (primordial void) and then to Tao. This is done by a combination of meditation, visualization, breathwork and various chi gong practices, including sexual yoga.
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The first of the Three Treasures is jing. This is sometimes referred to as prenatal chi and is a combination of the chi of both of our parents at the moment of conception. Jing regulates our hormonal and reproductive systems, controls our growth throughout life, and regulates our central nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord and bone marrow. It also governs our constitution.

It is said that it takes seven mouthfuls of food to make one drop of blood. It then takes seven drops of blood to make one drop of jing. This is why it is called essence and considered extremely precious. This is one of the reasons that, in Taoist thought, sexual activity is not advised if both or even one of the parents is under the influence of alcohol, seriously unhealthy, or even emotionally overwrought. This will result in the baby being born with poor jing, and hence a poor constitution. Jing is said to reside in our kidneys and is also the repository of our creative and sexual energy. To the Chinese, sexual essence governs not only our sex drive and the reproductive system but our creative energy as well. Someone with strong jing will also have strong kidney energy, which translates to a solid energy body with lots of creative juices flowing.