The Carnal Prayer Mat by Yu Li Essay -- The Carnal Prayer Mat

Vesperus masculine beauty is a central theme in Li Yus moral comedy, The Carnal plea Mat. Whats more, his smell trajectory parallels non-Mahayana Indic accounts of Siddharthas path to enlightenment, particularly on the emphasis placed on descriptions of both mens physical perfection and their subsequent sexual appetite and prowess. Both Vesperus and Siddharthas masculine beauty propels them forward on their life paths, positioning them in the simultaneously instructive and destructive feminine sphere of the inner quarter. The wealth of sexual experiences gives both men the necessary insight for their particular realization of the superficiality and emptiness of a life guided by carnal desires and sexual pursuits of women. As a result, masculine beauty becomes a life-sustaining component in and indication of a mans ultimate karmic destiny in The Carnal Prayer Mat. Beautiful women consequently are positioned as Vesperus sexually instructive tools and immoral opponents. Their furthe r importance as sites of masculine karmic retri furtherion speaks to the degree to which the novel works within a Buddhist simulation of gender dichotomies. Ultimately, The Carnal Prayer Mat places sightly men in a privileged position destined to enlightenment, as their physical perfection affords them entrance to the critical sexual experiences and lifestyles that they must reject in order attain enlightenment. While The Carnal Prayer Mat is laced with Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist doctrine, this paper aims to fancy Buddhist concepts of destiny, karma, and enlightenment through an analysis of representations of masculine ideal beauty in late Imperial China. Vesperus and Siddharthas parallel life journeys, particularly with compliancy to experiences i... ...on for all human beings Desire is almost as defiling as the act itself, however.Desire, in the form of love (raga, a word meaning color, but also lewdness, concupiscence, lust, attraction), is therefore one of the three p oisons that pollute and maintain human existence (Faure 17). Thus his experiences within inner quarters, defined by his desire for beautiful women that spark sexual excess that simultaneously affirm his virile masculinity, are fundamental components in his journeys to enlightenment.Works CitedFaure, Bernard. The Red Thread Buddhist Approaches to Sexulity. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1998. Li, Yu. The Carnal Prayer Mat. Honolulu University of Hawaii Press, 1990. Powers, John. A Bull of a Man Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 2009.