Items related to The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality
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.
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About the Author:
Bernard Faure is Associate Professor of Religion at Stanford University. He is the author of The Rhetoric of Immediacy, Chan Insights and Oversights, and Visions of Power (all from Princeton University Press).
Language Notes:
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French
Original Language: French
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherPrinceton University Press
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0691059985
- ISBN 13 9780691059983
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages324
- Rating
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The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality
Published by
Princeton University Press
(1998)
ISBN 10: 0691059985
ISBN 13: 9780691059983
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Hardcover
First Edition
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Former owner name in ink on front paste down. Fine unmarked content that looks unread. NO DUST JACKET. Seller Inventory # 171-F
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