Arousing the Goddess : Sex and Love in the Buddhist Ruins of India

"[T]he only subjective account of a mystical experience induced during ritual tantric sex ever written. That Ward experienced it, and that this experience was profound, there seems little reason to doubt. . . . Diabolically funny at times, this is also a brave, wise, and brilliant book."—Toronto Star

"This book is . . . about learning. Its great strength, aside from its finely crafted prose, is Ward’s honesty about what he learned . . . The process of acquiring wisdom provides the narrative with its dramatic muscle . . . risky, bracing stuff."—The Globe and Mail

Tim Ward spent six years in the Orient wandering the Dharma trail. He visited temples and monasteries, desert ashrams, and mountain top holy places, seeking out monks and mystics.

In this, his third and most sensual book, Tim falls in love with Sabina, who has come to India to research the temptation of the Buddha by Mara (Hinduism’s devil) and his three daughters. The Buddha overcame his final temptation, in the moment before Enlightenment, by touching the earth beneath him, and asking the Earth to bear witness to his Realization. The Earth Goddess rose in his defense. For her thesis, Sabina must record and photograph rare Buddhist statues bearing this scene. Tim accompanies her as her assistant.

A mixture of sex, love, coming of age, and Buddhism, Arousing the Goddess is filled with humor and recognition of the absurdities of life. It has been praised for its honesty and insight.

Tim Ward is the author of What the Buddha Never Taught, which was a best-seller in Canada, and a Book of the Month selection in the United States. He has written for a variety of publications, including Reader’s Digest, The Toronto Globe and Mail, Common Boundary Magazine, and several Traveler’s Tales anthologies. He is president of Intermedia Communications Training, Inc., in Maryland where he lives with his -family.