SEXIS WRONG

soming,” “the bow,” “splitting a bamboo,” “fixing a nail,” “pair
of tongs,” “spinning top,” “the swing,” and the postures of the
crab, the tortoise, the crow, the monkey, the cow, the mare,
the bird, the jumping tiger, the union of cats, the pressing of
an ele phant, the rutting of the boar, the bee buzzing over the
honey, and (with another girl) the union of three. The girls also
teamed up to perform the yogini chakra with the prince, a rite
in which he made love simultaneously with three, five, seven,
or nine partners. 15
The king had a special “chamber of love” constructed for Gotama,
decorated with erotic art and illumined with subdued
light “like that of the hazy autumn sun.” 16 Captivated by sexual
extravagance, the prince spent his days and nights in continual
dalliance, experiencing every imaginable sensual delight of
heterosexual intercourse with the indefatigable beauties of his
vast harem and, when he tired of them, with the professional
goddesses of love in neighbor ing pleasure groves. 17 Gotama’s
life consisted largely of opening women’s
skirts, unfastening their girdles, pressing their
swelling breasts, caressing their secret parts,
and devouring them with love. 18 So intense was
Gotama’s lust that even the miracles attributed
to him had to do with sex: Once in hot pursuit
of one of his maidens, Gotama inadvertently
stepped off the roof of the palace and found
himself suspended in midair. 19
Gotama’s life revolved around the five elements of physical
delight beautiful women, excellent music, pleasing scents, fine
food, and the best in raiment—corresponding to the senses of
sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
Yet despite his incomparable comfort, the prince was not at
ease. His father made every effort to shield the prince from
anything re motely unpleasant or upsetting by imprisoning
him in a fantasy land, but Gotama was sorely troubled by his
rare glimpses of the real world. Once, as a boy, he was taken
to a plowing festival that marked the beginning of the planting
season. Instead of enjoying the festivities, Gotama was appalled
at the sight of sweat pouring off the men and oxen as
they scarred the earth with their plows. Blood dripped from
the bridles of the struggling oxen as man and beast strained
and suffered in the scorching sun. Flocks of birds swooped
down to feast on the hapless insects unearthed by the plow,
and hawks, in turn, preyed upon the smaller sparrows and
swallows. Filled with pity at the plight of all these creatures,
the prince said to his father, “I need to be alone,” and he went
to sit beneath a tree to contemplate the meaning of it all.
Years later, Gotama received several more rude shocks. Despite
the king’s command to clear the streets of all refuse, material
and human, when the prince was on an outing, Gotama
was eventually confronted with the three ugliest facts of life.
First, he encountered a decrepit old man, bald, toothless, bent
with age, racked by a rasp ing cough, staggering along on
crutches; next, he saw a diseased person with a swollen belly
and crooked limbs, pale and miserable, covered with filth and
flies and gasping for breath; then he wit nessed a shroud-covered
corpse being carried through the streets, the dead man’s
relatives following behind, wailing terribly and beat ing their
breasts. When he asked his attendant the significance of each
incident he was told, “All human beings face the same fate.”
After each of these frightful experiences Gotama tried to further
abandon himself to the world of the senses, but to no
avail—he be came increasingly self-absorbed and withdrawn.
On another trip outside, Gotama caught a glimpse of a serene
mendicant monk; the homeless sage seemed to be at peace
with himself and with the world. Gotama was neither, and
he cut short his trip in disgust with himself and returned to
The girls also teamed up to perform
the yogini chakra with the prince,
a rite in which he made love
simultaneously with three, five,
seven, or nine partners.
the palace. On the way back, one of the young women who
thronged to the balconies for a glimpse of the dashing prince
as he drove by saw him and sang out his praises: “Blessed indeed
is the mother, blessed indeed is the father, blessed indeed
is the wife of such a glorious Lord!”
Upon hearing that, Gotama realized that he would only truly
be blessed when he solved the riddle of life. In appreciation
for the girl’s prompting, Gotama sent her a pearl necklace
(which she mistakenly took as a declaration of his love for her).
Thereafter, he longed to break free from the confines of his
pleasure palace and seek the truth before his mind was hopelessly
clouded and his spirit totally debauched.
The king and Gotama’s stepmother sensed the prince’s growing
dissatisfaction with his life; Mahāprajāpatî ordered the
concubines to envelop the prince in “a cage of gold,” taking
care never to staunch the flow of narcotic wine or erotic entertainment.
20 In desperation, the king invited all the damsels
in the realm to sport with the prince in a pleasure garden. The
girls—intoxicated by wine, redolent of sweet perfume, and
overcome with desire—rubbed against the prince with their
fragrant breasts, and wrapped their legs around him. They
slipped out of their robes and made every sort of tantalizing
proposal, all to no avail. 21 Gotama’s heart was elsewhere. “How
can there be mirth and laughter,” he sighed, “with so much
suffering present in the world?” 22
THE SEX LIFE OF THE BUDDHA 333