the meaning of the blues
Here are some rules from the Theravada Sangha, which I assume must have been instituted because these situations kept coming up.
Here are... offences which deserve suspension, and which should every fortnight be recited. These forbid a monk:
1. Intentionally to emit his semen, except in a dream.
2. With a mind excited and perverted by passion to come into bodily contact with a woman; he must not hold her hand or arm, touch her hair or any other part of her body, above or below, or rub or caress it.
3. With a mind excited and perverted by passion to persuade a woman to sexual intercourse, speaking wicked, evil, and vulgar words, as young men use to their girls.
4. With a mind excited and perverted by passion, in the presence of a woman to speak highly of the merit of the gift of her own body, saying: 'That is the supreme gift, dear sister, to offer intercourse to monks like us, who have been observing strict morality, have abstained from intercourse and lived lonely lives!'
5. To act as a go-between between women and men, arranging marriage, adultery, or even a brief meeting.
[...]
The offending monk will first be put on probation, then for six days and nights he must do penance, and thereafter he must undergo a special ceremony before he can be rehabilitated. But he can be reinstated only by a community which number at least twenty monks, not less.
It's a doozy, that libido. But I suppose it augurs well that synchronicities are showing up between my fiction and other people's weblogs... Jen confirms the existence of socially awkward men named Roland, and Lauren links a Pixies lyrics page which reveals that "Havalina" (last song on Bossanova) was recorded after a javelina (variant spelling) chased Black Francis and his girlfriend in Arizona. And there was that big old javelina head in The Royal Tenenbaums, too. Kim Deal sez:
So he decided to write a real pretty love song. I've been thinking about this... I don't think there's anything innately erotic about pigs. But generally they are sweet, shy, mysterious creatures. Especially the little ones. When they get big, they get kinda gross.
