AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITYemphasis mine). The crucial term here is nehe, from neha, for the Sanskrit sneha,
which has a wide range of meanings, from 'affection', to 'friendship', to 'desire', to
'lust'. Particularly in Buddhism, its connotations are by no means always positive,
and Guenther's translation of it by 'love' would seem, at the very least, to limit the
term's ambiguity - particularly by downplaying the sexual connotations it some-
times has.
32 The completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra is generally divided by the dGe lugs
pas into five sub-stages: (I) isolated speech, where one's mental and physical ener-
gies are drawn into the central channel of the subtle body, (2) isolated mind, where
the energies are drawn into the heart cakra and one undergoes a series of visions like
those at the time of death, culminating in the clear light vision, which at this point is a
metaphoric equivalent of the realization of voidness, (3) illusory body, where, on the
basis of the metaphoric clear light realization of voidness, one generates from subtle
physical energies an unpurified image of the Buddha-body one will possess upon
enlightenment, ( 4) clear light, where one directly realizes the void nature of all phe-
nomena and (5) union, where, having utterly purified the illusory body through the
clear light realization, one joins the two inextricably together to achieve the Form and
Dharma bodies of a fully enlightened Buddha. For the clearest account of this process
in English, see Cozort.
33 The Action Seal is required at this stage if one is to attain enlightenment in this life-
time. The Seal may be used at the outset of the completion stage, to help draw one's
mind and pra(la into the central channel of the subtle body (Gyatso, p. 126; cf. previ-
ous note.) Hopkins gives a clear explanation of the rationale for this: 'Because the
more subtle levels of consciousness are considered to be more powerful and thus
more effective in realizing the truth of the emptiness of inherent existence, the
systems of Highest Yoga Tantra seek to manifest the mind of clear light by way of
various techniques. One of these techniques is blissful orgasm because, according to
the psychology of Highest Yoga Tantra, orgasm - like dying, going to sleep, and
fainting-involves the ceasing of the grosser levels of consciousness and manifesta-
tion of the more subtle. The intent in using a blissful, orgasmic mind in the path is to
manifest the most subtle mind-that of clear light-and use it to realize the empti-
ness of inherent existence.. .. A consciousness of orgasmic bliss is used because,
when the sense of pleasure is powerful, one's consciousness is totally involved with
that pleasure and thus completely withdrawn; this is why the subtler levels of con-
sciousness manifest during the intense bliss of orgasm, even if they are not noticed,
never mind realized, in common copulation. Without desire, the involvement in the
bliss consciousness would be minimal, and thus Highest Yoga Tantra makes use of
the arts oflove-making, and so forth, to enhance the process' (p. 95).
34 Note that I am using the term 'orgasm' differently than does Hopkins: in my usage, it
entails 'seminal release'; in his (see previous note), it does not.
35 See Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva,
London, Oxford University Press 1973.
36 See e.g. John Blofeld, Taoism: The Road to Immortality, Boulder, CO, Shambhala
1978, especially chapter 8.
37 See Alan Soble, 'An introduction to the philosophy of sex', in Alan Soble (ed.), The
Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings, Totowa, NJ, Rowman and Little-field
1980, pp. 1-56.
38 Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality. vol. 1: An Introduction, translated by
Robert Hurley, New York, Pantheon 1978.