Overview

Artfully presented, Zen's eternal principles are applied to love making--illuminating the rich spiritual and sensual possiblities of fully savoring each moment of sexual intimacy.

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9780062516794

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Enjoy, then look past his erotic words. Enjoy, then look past his confident wordsto the spiritual awareness invoked. Sudo's finger points to the moon. Followwhere he points and find the truth of zen sex. --Deng Ming-Dao, author of 365 Tao and Everyday Tao Ah, so. --Lily Pond, Editor of Yello Silk II In this Zen guide to sex, Hawaiian journalist Sudo...portrays lovemaking as a glorious pathway to self-fulfilment.Despite the fact that Zen Buddhism demands celibacy on the journey to enlightenment, Sudo constructs sexuality as a positive force within a Zen paradigm. He reads the poetry of iconoclastic Zen master Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) in order to support his mission to integrate a healthy sexuality into the celibate principles of Zen Buddhism. Through this goal, Sudo attempts both to help people achieve emotionally and spiritually satisfying sex lives and to appreciate the beauty of life around them. In threee units, the book addresses the seven ways of the mind (desire, fantasy, discovery, initiating, anticipation, surprise, familiar), the seven ways of the body (entering, accepting, touch, scent, the eyes, the mouth, the cry), and the seven ways of the spirit (interplay, giving, clouds, union, release, creation, birth and rebirth). Following each of these 21 chapters, Sudo includes a homework exercise of reflective questions entitled the was to zen sex ; these assignments direct the reader to ponder issues such as what form will your lovemaking take tonight? how will you enter? how will you exit?.. .Ultimately, Sudo's message is that we should focus on the experience of life and sex in order to perceive the beauty and completeness of ourselves. Although the book is primarilydirected to a heterosexual audience, sudo makes inclusive gestures to the homosexual reader as well, as enlightenment through sexuality is not dependent on the sex of one's partner.A gentle and thoughtful book about sex and its place in a full life... -- Kirkus Reviews The way of zen is to give all to the moment, no matter what we are doing. According to this tradition, we are connected to sex by the red thread of blood at birth. Although certain elements of Buddhism stress celibacy and emphasize abstinence, Philip Toshio Sudo ( Zen Computer) is convinced that sex can enrich the experience of enlightenment.One of the most honored zen masters in history, Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481), had little respect for a paint-by-numbers approach to zen. In one of the many poems of his quoted in this work, he says: The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sterile sitting meditation. For him, the Way of Desire served as his koan.Sudo has divided this combination of eros, desire, sexual practice, and lovemaking into sections on the seven ways of the mind, the seven ways of the body, and the seven ways of the spirit. The text is spiced up with examples of the Japanese art form known as shonga or spring pictures that were used as illustrations for love novels, posters for pleasure quarters, and instruction manuals for young wives and married couples from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Great sex, Sudo writes, is sheer abandonment, letting go of inhibition and self-consciousness and giving in to the heat of the moment. The author shows how zen salutes the aphrodisiac of fantasy, conquering haste in the bedroom, making the mostof improvisation and the least of perfection, engaging all the senses, and giving for the sheer pleasure of giving. Zen Sex by Philip Toshio Sudo makes a good case for the transcendent communion that can take place in the act of making love. -- Spirituality and Health magazine Journalist Sudo (author of Zen Guitar and Zen Computer) says that Zen and sex and two ways to attain true wisdom. What could be better than marrying the two together? Zen sex, Sudo promises, is the best sex you can possibly have. While Sudo warns that the book is not a modern-day Kama Sutra containing techniques and exercises, it offers broad principles to augment sexual pleasure. Familiarity, Sudo says, is essential: good sex requires knowing your own style and preferences and those of your partner. But to ensure that sex doesn't become routine, he suggests having sex to an offbeat piece of music or in the middle of the day. Another sine qua non to Zen sex is acceptance: lovers can diet, exercise and wear slenderizing black outfits, but they also need to accept their bodies. -- Publisher's Weekly It is, along with Sudo's previous books, a thoughtful invitation to a way of thinking diametrically opposed to the Western. ---- The Honolulu Advertiser [O]ffers broad principles to augment sexual pleasure... --Publisher's Weekly Zen Sex ... makes a good case for the transcendent communion that can take place in the act of making love. --Spirituality and Health magazine A gentle and thoughtful book about sex and its place in a full life. --Kirkus Reviews

A gentle and thoughtful book about sex and its place in a full life. --Kirkus Reviews

[O]ffers broad principles to augment sexual pleasure... -- Publisher's Weekly

Author Information

Philip Toshio Sudio is the author of Zen Guitar and Zen Computer. An award-winning journalist and a black-belt martial artist, he lives in Maui, HI.

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