What did the Buddha think about sex? (1)

Women in Buddhism? Gays in Buddhism? Flamboyant freaks (pandakas) in Buddhism?

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Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender (edited by UCSB Professor Jose Ignacio Cabezon) explores sex and Buddhism in a historical, textual, and social context.

Questions it addresses relate to the position and experience of women and gays in the Buddhist world from India and Tibet to Sri Lanka, China, and Japan.

The focus is on four key areas:

1. Buddhist history
2. contemporary culture
3. Buddhist symbols
4. homosexuality.

It covers Buddhism's entire history, from its origins to the present day. The result of original and innovative research, the collected authors offer new perspectives.

They review the history of attitudes toward, as well as the self-perception of, women in ancient and modern Buddhist societies.

The editor explores key social issues such as abortion and examines the use of rhetoric and symbols in Buddhist texts and cultures. He also discusses the neglected subject of Buddhism and homosexuality.

"It  fills an important gap in the field -- a

serious, textually close reading of gender's

influence on Buddhist thought and vice versa."

- Anne Klein