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Powers begins with Sanskrit and Pali narratives of the Buddha s life, high-
lighting relevant tropes such as the many epithets that liken him to powerful
male animals, his military and sexual prowess as a young nobleman, his physical
attractiveness to women, and the ease with which he trounces the fearsome
Mãra. Because the male is preferred to the female in patriarchal ancient India,
the celibate Buddha, who has achieved the highest spiritual state, is not androgy-
nous but fully masculine, the very finest of men. Powers then turns to vinaya
literature, outlining the ways in which rules governing sexuality and deportme
for monks construct a monastic community that is suave, well groomed,
bursting with sublimated sexual power. As such, Power argues, Buddhis
monks were easily distinguishable from other less disciplined ascetic gro
and attractive to wealthy lay donors.
lighting relevant tropes such as the many epithets that liken him to powerful
male animals, his military and sexual prowess as a young nobleman, his physical
attractiveness to women, and the ease with which he trounces the fearsome
Mãra. Because the male is preferred to the female in patriarchal ancient India,
the celibate Buddha, who has achieved the highest spiritual state, is not androgy-
nous but fully masculine, the very finest of men. Powers then turns to vinaya
literature, outlining the ways in which rules governing sexuality and deportme
for monks construct a monastic community that is suave, well groomed,
bursting with sublimated sexual power. As such, Power argues, Buddhis
monks were easily distinguishable from other less disciplined ascetic gro
and attractive to wealthy lay donors.
Next, Powers provides background for Buddhist ideas about soma
virtue and sexuality by delving into analyses of the body in Buddhist a
Ayurvedic texts. Particularly germane are Indic theories about the beneficial
effects of semen retention through celibacy, and about embryology, which
links past actions to present physical endowments. The chapter following
which contains some of the most original material in Powers's volume, descri
how male friendship and communality is encouraged in monastic legal texts a
celebrated in Buddhist narrative, generating a culture of male sociality
that Powers suggests increased the sangha's ability to lure young male recruit
In his final chapters, Powers takes readers on a whirlwind tour of virtuous
male bodies and the religious uses of male sexuality in Mahãyãna texts and Bu
dhist Tantra.
