We've had a rash of posts recently -- like this one and this one -- that have focused on male ejaculation and semen retention, and there is the usual sharp divide between people who believe that semen contains Qi, or "life force," energy that needs to be conserved, and people who think that's an ancient superstition and that modern medicine has demonstrated that regular ejaculation is beneficial and essential for good male reproductive health.

I'm with the pro-fap group, but since the no-fappers mostly seem to draw on Taoist ideas about Qi, I thought it would be interesting to put this into perspective by seeing how often the teachers and sages in Taoist writings actually thought young guys should ejaculate.

Fortunately, Taoist writer (and Mantak Chia co-author) Kris Deva North has thoughtfully done the hard work for us and has compiled the answers from extensive research on Taoist texts. And, as he discovered, the answers are not what many people seem to think.

Of immediate importance for the young guys posting here about their no fap efforts, NOT ONE traditional Taoist source recommended that a young men should actually abstain from regular ejaculation.

Some of them recommended ejaculation frequencies that were tied to the number of sexual encounters with women, or depended entirely on seasons of the year. I'm going to ignore these as outliers that aren't relevant to young men who mostly aren't having sex every day or even every week.

But two sets of answers do seem relevant. These are drawn from 1) historical sources that based their recommendations only on age, and 2) other historical sources that based their recommendations on age and strength.

Here's what Kris Deva North found for the first group:

Recommended frequency of ejaculation, based only on age:

Teens and twenties 1:4 [that's 1 ejaculation every 4 days]

Thirties 1:8

Forties 1:16

Fifties 1:21

Sixties 1:30

"With the additional advice that men whose Qi is exceptionally strong must not repress themselves too long."

The sudden drop to ~twice a month at age 40 is ridiculous, but I love the last loophole. My husband is 40 and averages around 5x/wk, so I told him his Qi must be "exceptionally strong"! :)

However, if you're under 30 and thinking that limiting yourself to once every four days doesn't sound very challenging, the second group definitely counts as PROFAP for you:

Recommended frequency of ejaculation, based on age and strength:

Teens and twenties, twice a day for the strong, once for the weak.

Thirties: strong once a day, weak every other day.

Forties: strong 1:3 once in three days, weak once in four days 1:4

Fifties: strong 1:5, weak 1:10

Sixties: strong 1:10, weak 1:20

Seventies: strong 1:30, weak 0, not at all.

So there you go, guys. If you're under 30, the historical Taoist authorities say you should come anywhere from twice a week to twice a day! And in your 30s it should be anywhere from daily to weekly!

According to ancient Taoist teaching, Qi is a renewable force. Indeed, many Taoist masters believed that sex itself was a Qi generator. And even if you buy the idea that it is depleted by ejaculation, it appears that younger men produce so much of it that they need to get rid of it.

So it turns out that there is no conflict between ancient teachings and modern medicine, at least for men under 40: come often, at least once a week, for maximum health and energy!

On the other hand, not all Taoist teachers believed in semen retention, and some strongly opposed it:

Having duly noted the above, you will find different Taoist teachers teaching various methods: while some declare non-ejaculation injurious, others condemn ejaculating too fast in too much haste. Another says that with the right partner no harm will come even if not following the formulas.

Finally, I especially liked the following, since my guy can do the dry orgasm trick and usually has several dry ones for each wet one:

There is another formula I have not seen written anywhere, which checks out with the Fang Shi (Masters of the Formula) who have no texts, only the oral transmission: after recycling three times in one sexual encounter you can go on to full release without energy-loss.

(Fang Shi FTW! :)

P.S. I'm spelling "Daoist" with a T to be consistent with North's article. Both spellings are correct.

Edit: added some links.