The first of ancient China's "Three Sovereigns" was Fuxi, who is credited with the discovery of the bagua - the eight trigrams which are the foundation of the Yijing. Fuxi is pictured above intertwined with Nuwa - who is sometimes named as his sister, sometimes as his wife.

According to one Chinese creation myth, Fuxi and Nuwa were siblings, and the sole survivors of a massive flood. After the flood, Fuxi and Nuwa received Divine approval to procreate, in order to re-establish the human race.


This was a big job, so in addition to the usual means of procreating, the two were also empowered to create clay figures, into which they infused the breath of life.

On one level, this story can be understood as representing the dance of Yin and Yang - the primordial feminine and masculine energies whose interpenetration births the "ten-thousand things." On a less abstract level, Fuxi and Nuwa represent one of the earliest examples of a spiritual partnership between a man and a woman. Such partnerships are an aspect of Taoist practice in which the often-sticky issues of gender and sexuality can be worked with - hopefully to the benefit (viz. Immortality/Enlightenment!) of both partners.

Last year I had the opportunity to attend a talk with Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally - Tibetan Buddhist practitioners whose openly-acknowledged spiritual partnership has been ruffling all kinds of feathers. What are your thoughts on partnerships of this sort?