From Publishers Weekly
This book opens with an intriguing question: Why have so many prominent Buddhist leaders in recent times (e.g., roshi Richard Baker, Osel Tendzin, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche) been involved in scandals of excess, especially sexual? Faure's answer is that behind such "antinomianism" there is a deep-seated ambiguity in Buddhism, rooted in the pivotal place that desire (the "red thread" of the title) holds in the Second Noble Truth. The author, a religion professor at Stanford, finds this ambiguity at its height in the Mahayana tradition, particularly in its notion of the Two Truths (bodhisattva-ultimate and lay-conventional), and most especially and predictably in Tantric Buddhism. But more telling, perhaps, is the evidence in the canonical and extra-canonical stories of Gautama himself, as well as in the ostensibly rigorist Vinaya (monastic discipline) of the more conservative Theravada school. Though the book is informative and at times entertaining with its numerous anecdotes and stories from Buddhist tradition, the warning to the reader in the introduction is well founded: the thesis and line of argumentation tend to get lost, sometimes hopelessly, in the veritable barrage of source material, most of which is far more illustrative than probative and is thus ultimately distracting.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The author of major works on Zen, Faure (religion, Stanford) here turns his gaze to sexuality in Buddhism, which binds its practitioners to human existence as if by a red thread. His focus is on Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, with lesser emphasis on India, Tibet, and Korea. Progressing through an examination of passion and discipline, transgression and vice, the book culminates in two chapters dealing largely with the tradition in Japan of "male love" (nanshoku) and its manifestations both in and beyond the monastic life. The principles that passions are no different from awakening and that ultimate truth is beyond good and evil receive a thoroughly documented, cross-cultural explanation. Faure's examination also touches on other transgressions, such as drinking or eating meat. The relative silence on transgressions by females emanates from their irrelevance in the system. Faure plans a companion volume in which women will play a more prominent role. Recommended for academic collections.?D.E. Perushek, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
