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how can I ensure that the amount of jing that a person has at birth is completely random?

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Spiritual energy, or jing, is a powerful substance that forms the essence of who and what we are. It is the primal energy of our life. Jing is the deep foundational energy reserves of the body and it is this energy that determines one's ultimate vitality and the quantity and quality of one's lifespan. Jing is our material body, cellular density, energy stores, our reproductive potential, our DNA and our seed. It also determines a person's magical potential.

Individuals are born with different levels of spiritual energy, with some having more than others. Certain clans or families have been blessed with members who naturally have high levels of energy. However, this energy can be increased in life through training and practice. Jing is used during magical spells or physical activity, but slowly recharges itself over time. A man summons his jing and focus it in his nether regions before intercourse in order for conception to happen. This process takes about one hour through meditation. Instead of shooting out white little swimmers, he passes on his energy to the woman during release.

The issue is that if a man can summon his jing to pass on, it stands to reason that he can determine the amount of jing that is passed on, willingly making his offspring stronger in spiritual energy. I would like this process to be randomized, so that nobody can intentionally be given an advantage over others. How can I make this happen?

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/135526. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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So is this real-life jing (also), part of Traditional Chinese Medicine and related disciplines, with maybe some supernatural/fantasy twists? Or some made-up thing that is similar and has the same name?

The real-life kind is inherited, in a way. Chinese and Western terms often do not overlap well, but jing essence can in part be said to be DNA.

When two people come together for sex, there is an exchange and blending of sexual energies. When a man and a woman have sex and conception results, the sexual energy blends to form "Pre-Heaven Jing" in the newly conceived individual. Both the father and the mother supply Jing.

The developing embryo and fetus has no independent Jing of its own. It's totally dependent on the Pre-Heaven Jing supplied by the mother and father and on nourishment from the mother's Kidneys. One of the functions of Jing is it acts like a blueprint and master control. It turns things on an off during development. In Western terms, think heredity and DNA, though like so many TCM terms, Jing cannot be reduced to Western concepts. Jing includes many of the functions of DNA and the laws of heredity but isn't limited to these. (ref)

It's important to realize that both men and women have jing and both pass it on in equal measure to their offspring during conception. Just like we can not control which alleles we pass on (which half of our DNA), we can not control the jing that goes to our children. We can only stay healthy to preserve our own jing.

Obviously you're bringing in fantasy elements but I see no reason not to keep the original meaning of jing intact. It's a real thing, just not one described in Western terms.

So why not simply leave it that men and women can not control the amount of quality of the jing they pass on to their children? Families whose members have a lot of jing will be naturally more likely to have children with a lot of it, but the process is still mostly random.

There are other essences in Chinese Medicine and other energies both there and in fantasy. The meditation before sex could easily be to control one of those. Perhaps the man meditates not to control his sperm, but to pass along extra energy for his partner, who will surely need it should she conceive. Pregnancy and birth take a lot out of you! A strong healthy mother is a child's best chance of survival and his or her best way to thrive.

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