Cultivation in Pregnancy
Inspired by the course on “Nurturing the Fetus” that I am currently teaching, here is just a little reminder of the significance of ethical cultivation in addition to mental and physical “hygiene,” in the larger and older sense of daily practices to cultivate health, as expressed in the early Chinese medical texts. In traditional Chinese medicine and culture, these instructions for pregnant ladies strike me as far weightier and broader, and a very different flavor, than our modern ideas about nutrition and supplements, or the many well-meaning but sometimes intrusive warnings against exposure to environmental toxins and seemingly innocuous things like raw honey and cheese, Guiness, and hot tubs that a modern pregnant person gets bombarded with in North America today, whether they ask for that advice or not. Not wanting to idealize ancient China in that Orientalizing fashion that I find really annoying, I sense a misogynistic undertone of blaming the mother if the baby turns out malformed or otherwise impaired in both cases, ancient China and modern US. But if we can move beyond that, I find a lot of beautiful sentiments and food for thought in the ancient instructions, and do believe that my exposure to this information during my dissertation research when I was pregnant with my own daughter might have led me to be just a bit more conscious about my external environment. For all I know, consciously or not, this was probably what led me to play a lot of Bach on the piano to my growing belly.
So without further ado, here is my literal translation of the introduction to the second chapter on “Cultivation During Pregnancy” in vol. 22 of the Medicine Heart Classic, a tenth-century Japanese compendium of medieval Chinese medical texts. This section follows right after the “Vessel Pictures and Monthly Prohibitions for Pregnant Ladies,” which is the first chapter in this volume and contains these beautiful images of a pregnant woman going through the ten months of pregnancy:
“A quote from the Classic of Childbirth:
In all cases, during pregnancy, align the heart properly and sit up straight, and become pure and empty, resembling Oneness.
When sitting, your mat must be properly aligned; when standing, do not lean to the side; when walking, stay in the center of the path; when sleeping, do not lie crosswise; when raising the eyes, do not look at perverse sights; when lifting the ears, do not listen to perverse sounds!
Do not speak recklessly; avoid joy and anger and grief and rage; make your thoughts harmonious!
This is how you end up giving birth to a sagely child and avoid breech birth and other complications during delivery. And all those situations of children being born who are mentally impaired, blemished, or repugnant, these fates all lie with their mother. How could you not investigate this with great vigilance?
Another quote: When King Wén was first conceived, his mother sat up straight, did not listen to perverse words or repugnant speech, did not speak recklessly, and walked straight and sat properly aligned. This is the reason why she gave birth to a sagely child.
All the various mothers of paragons of virtue paid appropriate attention to this.
Another quote: In the [first] three months of pregnancy, before the fetus has assumed a fixed form, it changes when it is exposed to things. For this reason, the mother should look at kings and lords, queens and imperial concubines, princesses and princes, and beauties. She should avoid looking at hunchbacks, weaklings and dwarfs, repugnant and decrepit people, and at monkeys.
If she wants to give birth to a male child, have her handle bow and arrow and shoot male pheasants, ride stallions and roam in the wild, and observe tigers and leopards and galloping horses.
If she wants to give birth to a female child, have her adorn herself with hair ornaments and earrings and wear jade bracelets.
If she wants to make her child beautiful, have her often look at white jade and beautiful gems, observe peacocks, and eat carp.
If she wants her child to be full of wisdom and strength, she should eat beef hearts and barley.
If she wants her child to have great virtue, she must not sit in improper alignment and she must not lean to one side while standing.
This is what we refer to as “Outer Manifestation and Inner Transformation”!”
妊婦修身法第二
《產經》云︰凡妊身之時，端心正坐，清虛如一。坐必端席，立不斜住，行必中道，臥無橫變，舉目不視邪色，起耳不聽邪聲，口不妄言，無喜怒憂恚，思慮和順，卒生聖子，產無橫難也。而諸生子有痴、疵、丑惡者，其名皆在其母，豈不可不審詳哉。
又云︰文王初妊之時，其母正坐，不聽邪言惡語，口不妄語，正行端坐，是故生聖子，諸賢母宜可慎之。
又云︰妊身三月，未有定儀，見物而為化，是故應見王公、後妃、公主、好人。不欲見僂者、儒侏、丑惡、瘁人、猿猴。其欲生男者，操弓矢射雄雉，乘牡馬走田野，觀虎豹及走馬。其欲生女者，著簪珥施環 。欲令子美好者，數視白玉美珠，觀孔雀，食鯉魚。欲令子多智有力者，當食牛心，御大麥。欲令子賢良者，坐無邪席，立無偏行，是謂以外像而內化者也。
Lastly, here is a silly video on youtube that walks you through another account of the most famous case of “fetal education” in Chinese history, namely the mother of King Wen from the Zhou Dynasty!
