Zen Sex: The Way of Making Love

By Philip Toshio Sudo

Zen philosophy tells us that the great truth of the universe applies to all things at all times. Every moment of life, from guitar playing to working at the computer, to making love, offers a chance for Zen realization. Just awaken to that truth, Zen masters say; how and where do not matter. Sex offers the same opportunity for enlightenment as anything else. Zen Sex guides readers to the realization of that opportunity with "The Ten Stages of Zen Sex" and "The Six Principles in the Way of Making Love." Philip Sudo reminds our sex-obsessed age that not only is sex a fundamentally spiritual endeavour, it is indeed sacred.

This elegant, gorgeous book will appeal not only to Zen practitioners, but to any one looking for enlightenment and spirituality in all aspects of life.

Great gift potential.

Good for the sex book audience, Zen practitioners and readers looking for meaningful sex.

While there are quite a few books that deal with spirituality and sex from the Tantric and Taoist tradition, no other book has brought together Zen and sex.

Easy-to-do practices help readers learn and experience Zen sex.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 8, 2008
• ISBN: 9780061980923

Philip Toshio Sudo

Philip Toshio Sudo (1959–2002) was the eldest son of Japanese-American parents. He attended Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a Liberal Arts degree. He then went on to Columbia University, where he received his Master’s Degree in journalism. He is the author of Zen Guitar, Zen 24/7, Zen Sex, and The Book of Six Strings.

Book preview

the seven ways of the mind

The ways of proclaiming the Mind all vary, but the same heavenly truth can be seen in each and every one.

—Ikkyu

the ways of Desire

Fantasy

Discovery

Initiating

Anticipation

Surprise

The Familiar

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the way of desire

this lust my ceaseless koan

—Ikkyu

In formal zen training, one of the central techniques used to help students discover their true nature is the study of koans. Koans are paradoxical stories or questions that point to the nature of ultimate reality. The most famous koan asks students to contemplate, What is the sound of one hand clapping? There is no way to answer the question logically. It forces students to transcend the limits of thinking until they break through to a higher level of understanding. A single koan can be an endless source of revelation, peeling away deeper layers of truth en route to greater and greater awareness.

For Ikkyu, the Way of Desire served as his koan. When one is thirsty, one dreams of water; when one is cold, one dreams of fire, he says. I dream of a girl’s boudoir; that’s my nature. Defying the strictures of the day, he sought to transcend institutional zen and discover truth in the real world of bars and pleasure quarters:

those old koans—meaningless, just ways of faking virtue

this gorgeous young whore wears silk robes that hang open about an inch

There, in that inch, lay his koan.

To Ikkyu, the sight of a beautiful courtesan, her kimono open suggestively, could lead to a meditation as profound as the sound of one hand clapping: What is the source of this arousal? Why do I have sexual desires? How does lust reveal the ultimate truth? In Ikkyu’s zen, the more we dig into those questions, the closer we come to knowing the divine energy that manifests all things and every action.

According to zen legend, Ikkyu first achieved enlightenment upon hearing the piercing caw of a crow. In succeeding years, as he began to engage in sex and mingle in the ordinary world, he wrote,

the crow’s caw was ok but one night with a lovely whore opened a wisdom deeper than what that bird said

To this day, Ikkyu’s refusal to renounce sex remains controversial. The strictures of monastic zen forbid being unchaste, and the Buddha himself taught that enlightenment required celibacy. The Buddha warned that those who succumbed to desire risked being reborn in hell. But Ikkyu believed that even the Buddha’s rules were meant to be transcended. Who needs the Buddhism of ossified masters? he asked. Once, after eating a meal of fresh octopus (forbidden by zen rules), he remarked, The taste of the sea, just divine! Sorry, Buddha, this is another precept I just cannot keep. He rejected conformity of any sort, and heaped scorn upon those who believed in a zen by numbers approach to