“Oblivious to the incongruities involved, temple artists used couples tenderly making love as decorative illustrations for stern sutras preaching total abstinence from sex.”

from Lust for Enlightenment (1990)

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“Buddhism was one of Japan's earliest and most important imports [but] there was one aspect of that doctrine that the Japanese could not embrace: celibacy... In Japan, celibacy never had a chance... Phallicism has always been the norm in Japanese religion.”

from Lust for Enlightenment (1990)

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“An interesting feature of Buddhism is that courtesans are recorded as faithfully observing all the precepts – evidently because their occupation was an accepted one, their professional behavior was not classified as sexual misconduct.”

from Lust for Enlightenment (1990)

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“Unlike other world religions that possess elaborate theologies of marriage, Buddhism has very little to say about the subject, considering marriage (and divorce) a matter of secular concern... [in] Tibet, the mere presence of a Buddhist priest at a wedding ceremony is thought to bring bad luck.”

from Lust for Enlightenment (1990)

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