SEXIS WRONG

“Yes. One, and only one. That prince over there in the simple
robe and radiant smile. At last, a real man.”
In one text the girl is named Splendor of Delight, and she calls
out to the prince:
When I saw you, young man, excellent
In form and strength, endowed with virtue,
All my senses were delighted,
And immense joy arose in me.
Your complexion is like a pure shining jewel,
Your hair is black and curly,
You have a fine brow and nose;
Your tongue is long and broad,
Coppery red, soft, shining like a jewel
I offer myself to you.
You have excellent features.
Resplendent, you are like a mountain of gold.
In your presence I do not shine;
I am like a pile of charcoal.
Your eyes are large and dark,
Your jaw is like a lion’s, your face like the full moon.
The fine sound of your voice is irresistible;
Please take me in.
Your tongue is long and broad,
Coppery red, soft, shining like a jewel;
With your superb, clear voice
You delight people when you speak.
Your teeth are even, shining white,
Clean and well-spaced;
When you show them as you smile,
You delight people, O hero.
Then the girl’s mother, the supreme courtesan called Beautiful,
extols her daughter’s charms to the prince:
With dark hair, lotus-blue eyes,
A clear voice, and golden complexion,
Finely clad in garlands, she emerged
From the lotus, resplendent as pure light.
Her limbs are bright, her body evenly balanced;
Her limbs are complete, her body well-proportioned;
She shines like a golden statue adorned with jewels
Illuminating all directions.
The finest fragrance of sandalwood wafts from her body,
Filling the air around her;
As she speaks, with celestial sweetness,
A scent like a blue lotus comes from her mouth.
Whenever she smiles,
Heavenly music plays;
This treasure of a woman should not be abandoned
To control of the vulgar.
She is not short or too tall,
Not stout or too thin;
She is slender at the waist, full-breasted,
Suitable for you with an impeccable body. 13
A splendid ceremony was performed, and the couple retired
to the palace to partake of the joys of wedded life.
Since the king’s ministers suggested that the prince be enticed
with all the pleasures of love in order to keep him addicted
to the palace, in addition to his wives Gotama was waited on
by an army of the most beautiful, accomplished, and adoring
women in the kingdom, all vying to provide him the utmost in
attention, service, amusement, and comfort.
It is possible to conjure up an idea of what
these pleasure girls looked like from ancient
Indian texts on love and classical Hindu and Buddhist iconography—indeed,
Buddhist iconography is dis tinguished by its
lavish use of the female form in all its sensuous glory. 14
A pleasure girl of the Buddha’s time was typically dressed in a
red and gold girdle, with bracelets around her wrists and ankles.
Her long, jet-black hair was adorned with flowers and ornaments.
She possessed a face as lovely as the full moon, with
doe eyes, a delicate nose, and red lips set off against a golden
complexion. Naked above the waist, she wore necklaces and
strings of pearls to grace her swelling, close-set breasts, which
were shaped like golden cups, black-nippled, and rubbed
with sandalwood oil. Her skin was as soft as rose petals; her
navel was deep, her belly rounded with soft folds of skin, her
hips ample, her buttocks high and firm, and her thighs like the
stem of the banana tree. Her yoni (vulva) resembled a lotus
bud and had the fragrance of a newly burst lily or fresh honey.
She had a voice a cuckoo would envy, and she moved like a
swan. The girl was well-versed in the arts of speaking, singing,
dancing, and playing musical instruments; she was a teller of
erotic tales, a weaver of spells, a creator of aphrodisiacs and
potent perfumes.
Supremely skilled in the practice of love, having been taught
by the sages of divine love, she was expert in imparting bliss
to her partner; she was a sexual gymnast of the highest order.
The girl was a master of the various types of kisses—moderate,
con tracted, pressed, soft, clasping, throbbing, the “war of
tongues,” the “secret of the upper lip”—and all other forms of
oral love: side-biting, outside pressure, inside pressure, “kissing
the stalk,” “suck ing a mango,” “swallowing up.” She was
talented in every sort of embrace, familiar with the most effective
love bites and scratches, and well-schooled in the
techniques of physical union—widely open, yawning, clasping,
twining, feet in the air, one leg up, in verted, reversed,
supported, suspended, rising, all-encompassing, “packed,”
and the other specialties: “wheel of love,” “opening and blos-
332 EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT SEX IS WRONG