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Issue 13 Cover
Issue 13  /  Spring–Summer 1998
What Is the Relationship Between Sex and Spirituality?
Is sex an essential part of the spiritual path or is it an empty promise that distracts us from realizing our full human potential? Interviews with Margot Anand, Barry Long, Miranda Shaw, Father Thomas Keating, Bhante Henepola Gunaratana and Swami Chidananda.


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table of contents

Letters

From the Editors

Introduction to this issue by Andrew Cohen


Andrew Cohen
The Promise of Perfection
What would it be like to live life free from the haunting conviction that something essential to our happiness is always missing? A captivating investigation into the true nature of desire that reveals with stark simplicity the way to liberation.
Sex Is Neutral
Is it possible for a human being to sustain a relationship with the powerful force of sexuality that consistently reveals its impersonal nature?


Tantra - Introduction
Miranda Shaw
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Tantra . . . but Were Afraid To Ask
 The fascinating and informative discoveries of a pioneering scholar and author who journeyed to the Himalayas in search of the truth about Buddhist sexual tantra.
Interview by Craig Hamilton

Margot Anand
You Have to Do It All
Is sex really a shortcut to enlightenment? A no-holds-barred discussion with the mother of modern tantra.
Interview by Susan Bridle

Barry Long
I Am A Tantric Master
"Not every man can take on five women and talk about love, life, God, truth and death and keep everything in order. Only a tantric master can do
that."
Interview by Andrew Cohen

Sally & Jade
"Once made, this love is made forever." Two of Barry Long's former consorts tell us what it's like to be in relationship with a tantric master.



Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Don't Leave God Out of It
"While the Puritans wouldn't think of making love on the Sabbath, for Jews it's the opposite way around." A forward-looking traditionalist describes the sanctified sexuality of orthodox Judaism.
Interview by Amy Edelstein




Celibacy - Introduction

Father Thomas Keating
The Heart of the Matter
A venerated Trappist monk and leader of the Christian contemplative prayer movement explains why "celibacy is not just about chastity. It's about manifesting, in everything we do, the unconditional love of God."
A Dialogue with Andrew Cohen

Swami Chidananda
The Divine Life
"Celibacy is neither repressing sexuality nor avoiding it. It is bypassing sexuality for something a hundred times greater." A conversation with the revered Vedantic teacher and spiritual heir to the great Swami Sivananda.
Interview by Bill Eilers and Susan Eilers

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
What the Buddha Taught
We asked a renowned Buddhist abbot, ordained a celibate monk at the age of twelve, what the Buddha himself would have to say about the relevance of celibacy in these sexually "liberated" times.
Interview by Simeon Alev

Here's Looking at You
"Bogey is a little surprised when Ingrid steps on the plane without blinking an eye."A contemporary celibate describes her decision to renounce sexuality and her discovery of a liberating new perspective on the potential for real intimacy between men and women.
by Carin Jungmann