Customer Reviews

Sex, Orgasm, and the Mind of Clear Light: The Sixty-four Arts of Gay Male Love

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The premise of this work is that, as nearly everyone engages in sexual activity, it seems a shame to divorce it from one's (Buddhist) spiritual path since sexual activity offers one many opportunities to achieve knowledge and direct experience of the nature of one's mind. This book is a gay (male) adaptation by Dr. Hopkins of his earlier publication, a translation of Gendun Chopel's heterosexually oriented "Tibetan Arts of Love." Both books are a combination sex-primer (more detailed than the Kama Sutra) and introduction to some ways of thinking about sexuality in Buddhist and especially vajrayana contexts. Dr. Hopkins' gay adaptation is very well done, and it is illustrated with photos of two handsome models discreetly demonstrating the attitudes described in the "practical" chapters, though not the actual positions themselves (some of which are quite difficult to visualize from the text alone). Given that this is a close and faithful adaptation of the earlier work, its lack of interpretive material is understandable but sorely missed. I particularly wanted more on the different types of (gay) men and their subtypes. However, this is a groundbreaking work, and will continue to be a valuable resource for years to come. It definitely conveys a gay-affirmative view of sex and spirituality - something which is not easy to find anywhere, but is particularly difficult to find within the American Buddhist community.

Those who are actually familiar with tantra know that certain generation practices may entail generating oneself as a consort regardless of one's current external gender. So for those who find the idea of polarity confusing - fear not, you have all the yab and all the yum you need regardless of what hangs betwixt thy knees. I cannot say more on this. In general, this book does wonders to correct the silly ideas regarding the relationship between gender versus sexuality (they ARE different you know) and the difference between inner channels and outer physical genitalia. Well, this book does that if you can read between the lines. The book makes much more sense if you have a background in both the shared and exceptional teachings. This book adds to the massive collection of evidence that says no gay practitioner should EVER doubt that his or her body, speech, and mind are a suitable basis for every possible realization. So go practice! The other shore awaits!

Thank you Jeffrey Hopkins. I've been practicing tantra for over 20 years alone and with partners. To hold back together with a friend and then allow the energy to shoot thru the body-mind is , indeed, bliss. The bliss then turns into compassion, so that what one thought was just sex turns out to be an opening of the heart. That opening breaks down barriers, defenses and if you are well defended it can dissolve them. Make sure you are with someone if you know you have alot of unresolved issues. It happened to me once when a young guy, who had buried a secret did the tantra with me.The blissful energy broke his defenses; he began to cry and he spoke about the issue as i held him dearly. We waste so much sexual energy by just releasing, quickly.
The trick is to , little by little , learn to bear the beams of love, as Blake said. Or , learn to bear the pleasure , letting it nourish your body and spirit. Pleasures heals and keeps the heart open and vivacious. Sex is not just genital--it's a holistic experience. So practice holding back and stopping when you are ready to come. Rest and start over and enjoy what is our birthright brothers.

For anyone unfamilar with various Gay sexual activities or the theory of Tantra, this book can be enlightening. For anyone seeking revelatory practices or ideas, it is disappointing.

For anyone unfamilar with various Gay sexual activities or the theory of Tantra, this book can be enlightening. For anyone seeking revelatory practices or ideas, it is disappointging.

Everyone is worthy of compassionate understanding. Some people are just constituted differently. Nevertheless, re-writing this book to serve the gay community is problematic, when the underlying premise of the original (Tibetan) text was the ultimate union of the 'yab-yum' (Tibetan equivalent of yin-and-yang) - the 'male' and 'female' principles in the cosmos. Does it make any sense, when viewed as a union of two 'yabs' or two 'yums'? Without 'yab-yum' - none us could be born in the first place, the same applies to the phenomenal universe. How much so, then, must the ultimate union embrace finding ourselves in a 'union of the opposites.' Can you have a magnet, with two 'north poles' or two 'south poles'? Wil your electrical utilities work, with two positive or two negative wires? We all know the answer to that.