The red thread : Buddhist approaches to sexuality / Bernard Faure.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Faure, Bernard.

Series:

Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series

Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series ; 1

Standardized Title:

Sexualités bouddhiques. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Sex.

Buddhism--Social aspects.

Buddhism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 338 pages)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Is there a Buddhist discourse on sex? In this innovative study, Bernard Faure reveals Buddhism's paradoxical attitudes toward sexuality. His remarkably broad range covers the entire geography of this religion, and its long evolution from the time of its founder, Xvkyamuni, to the premodern age. The author's anthropological approach uncovers the inherent discrepancies between the normative teachings of Buddhism and what its followers practice. Framing his discussion on some of the most prominent Western thinkers of sexuality--Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault--Faure draws from different reservoirs of writings, such as the orthodox and heterodox "doctrines" of Buddhism, and its monastic codes. Virtually untapped mythological as well as legal sources are also used. The dialectics inherent in Mahvyvna Buddhism, in particular in the Tantric and Chan/Zen traditions, seemed to allow for greater laxity and even encouraged breaking of taboos. Faure also offers a history of Buddhist monastic life, which has been buffeted by anticlerical attitudes, and by attempts to regulate sexual behavior from both within and beyond the monastery. In two chapters devoted to Buddhist homosexuality, he examines the way in which this sexual behavior was simultaneously condemned and idealized in medieval Japan. This book will appeal especially to those interested in the cultural history of Buddhism and in premodern Japanese culture. But the story of how one of the world's oldest religions has faced one of life's greatest problems makes fascinating reading for all.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Hermeneutics of Desire

Chapter 2. Disciplining Sex, Sexualizing Discipline

Chapter 3. The Ideology of Transgression

Chapter 4. Clerical Vices and Vicissitudes

Chapter 5. Buddhist Homosexualities

Chapter 6. Boys to Men

Afterthoughts

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-331) and index.

ISBN:

9786612753459

9781282753457

1282753452

9781400822607

1400822602

9781400811557

1400811554

OCLC:

700688561