sex, religion and the keyhole

There is no escaping the tabloid-titillation aspect of placing sex and religion in the same confines.

Religion is sedate. 

Sex is ungovernable.

Put the two together and the excitement of peeking through a keyhole rises up.

But both sex and religion concern human beings and those human beings have hearts -- hearts that can be broken, sometimes despite all caring efforts and sometimes in consequence of careless ones.

Idly, I chew on this mental bubble gum in anticipation of the publication of Mark Oppenheimer's "The Zen Predator of the Upper East Side," a book that examines, among other things, the manipulative sexual adventures of the 'Zen teacher' Eido Tai Shimano. Will the book come out today or has it been pushed forward yet again? It doesn't matter much. 

What I wonder more seriously is the extent to which the book may pander, in subtle or gross ways, to the delights of the keyhole.