Emily Eslami - Black Vipers & Cold Rocks (Precepts pt 4 - Sex & Desire)

"I lack therefore I want. I get what I want and I want more. I get what I want and it didn’t make me happier, so I’m going to push it away. This is why we sit. We're not advocating for celibacy or abstinence, We're advocating for awareness; for looking very carefully at yourself and your actions at all times."  - Emily Eslami In the latest installment of her all encompassing and ever timely precept series, Emily takes on that stickiest and trickiest of precepts - "Not holding excessive desires," aka not misusing sex. But what can we lay people learn about this most seductive of desires from a celibate monastic tradition? Fortunately Emily is here to give us a raw look at the real lives and trials of these monks all while trying to answer the question of what to do with our own desires and how to handle the hurt they might inevitably involve. From Buddhist sex scandals, to the right and wrongs way to show a sex worker your gratitude, to a formerly married monastic couple slipping off in the woods to renew (/test?) their vows right under Buddha's scolding gaze, Emily gives us the full story in a must listen episode for anyone out there who's ever wrestled with any kind of desire. What do we truly want when we want?? Find out here!