Phallic Meditation

As illustrated in the traditional shunga print reproduced above, it was common for Japanese monks to develop erections while sitting in meditation. This could be a spontaneous occurrence, or it could be that the monk was using his penis as the object of his meditation exercise. The benefits of meditating on a phallic image, both for male and female practitioners, are described in my ebook Sex Meditation. Sexual arousal is widely recognized as conducive to mystical experience: The 11th century Indian text called the Kulacudamani describes a meditating guru as stark naked, sexually aroused, and with eyes rolling from the effects of psychoactive drugs.