FREMONT — The ancient Greeks worshipped it. Freud said women envy it. And Tuesday, a man pulled a truck with it.

Yes, you read that right.

He pulled a truck with his penis.

Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, best known for his "Iron Crotch," attached himself not once but twice to a rental moving truck and pulled it several yards across a parking lot in Fremont. In lace-up leather boots and a black tank top, the 50-year-old tied a strip of blue fabric around the base of his penis and testicles and tugged to make sure it was on tight. An assistant kicked him hard between the legs before he lashedhimself to the vehicle.

He groaned, grunted and pressed against two men for resistance.

Then, slowly, the truck began to roll forward.

About 20 people, most of whom study Qigong, the ancient Chinese art of movement and breathing to increase energy, gathered for the truck pull in an unassuming office park just off Interstate 880.

A documentary film director and producer from London were on hand to shoot the jaw-dropping feat for a three-part series called "Penis Envy," scheduled to air next year on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Footage from the truck pull will be used for the series' piece on building the perfect penis.

"He's very special. Powerful. Superman," said an awe-struck Shawnee Wang, who studies Qigong with Jin-Sheng at his gym in Cupertino. "I just came here to watch my master perform."

Jin-Sheng, the grandmaster of Iron Crotch, a branch of Qigong also known as 99 Qigong, is said to have 60,000 followers worldwide. Qigong practitioners are known to lift hundreds of pounds with their genitals to increase energy and sexual performance. One of Jin-Sheng's most famous students, a 70-year-old man in Taiwan, is said to have lifted more than 660 pounds with his penis. The grandmaster teaches Iron Crotch and Qigong in Fremont and Cupertino.

Jin-Sheng's performance Tuesday drew a hearty applause (and only a few gasps) from the sparse crowd. He wrapped a piece of fabric around his waist to conceal his genitals, but in the heat of the second truck pull, when he tied the cloth around his testicles only, it was pushed aside to reveal a ball of flesh that looked ready to burst.

Jin-Sheng wiped the sweat from his brow after the show and said through an interpreter that he felt comfortable and warm.

When asked if he was in any pain, he laughed.

"If it's painful," he said, "then you will see it bleed."

His wife, Sandy, snapped photos while her husband warmed up and then pulled the truck. The couple originally is from Taiwan and has lived in San Jose since 2003.

So is Sandy the envy of her friends?

"Yes," she said, flashing a wide smile. "Of course."

Jin-Sheng was featured in the April edition of Penthouse magazine, in a story titled "Facts and Phalluses of America's Favorite Organ." In November 2003, he and his penis made the Weekly World News.

"He believes that the sexual organs are a source of great power," said Gene Ching, associate publisher of the Fremont-based Kung Fu Magazine, which claims to have introduced Jin-Sheng to the United States and featured him on its March/April 2003 cover. "So it's sort of a vitality exercise."

Ching, who does not study Iron Crotch, has heard that it does help in the bedroom.

"I imagine that if you can tow a truck, that is going to give you some skills," he said.

The grandmaster said the most challenging object he ever has pulled was a 60-foot truck — and that was with another man. These days, however, he is looking to up the ante. Jin-Sheng hopes to strap a dozen of his top students to a 747 for the biggest penis pull of all time. All he needs is an airplane.

"What can you say?" said Krishna Govender, the documentary film director who came from London specifically to meet Jin-Sheng and watch him work. "The strength of this guy — it's phenomenal."

Govender has seen and heard many things during the making of the documentary. He flew to Russia to meet a doctor who grew a penis on a man's arm and later grafted it to his genitals. He interviewed countless men about their most private, and treasured, possession.

But he never had seen a man pull a truck with one.

"The most fraught relationship is that between man and his penis," he said. "It's the most enduring one, as well."

For more information about Jin-Sheng and Iron Crotch, go to http://www.99qigong.com.