"Speaking of Buddhism, I just started reading Liz Wilson's "Charming Cadavers" - a rather graphic study of the male practice of meditating on decomposing female corpses in order to quell desire."
It takes only a small effort to realize that the attempt to quell desire/lust/what-have-you is itself a form of lust. It is lust after spiritual gain rather than sensual pleasure, but lust just the same. "Chastity comes into being only where there is love. Without love, there is no chastity. And love is not a thing to be cultivated. There is love only when there is complete self-forgetfulness...then, the sexual act has quite a different significance; then that act is not an escape, it is not a habit."
Consider the process Brian describes above. A man proposes to put himself above pleasure by meditating on decomposing female corposes. He wishes to free himself from sexual desire by conditioning himself to associate a decomposing cadaver with female sexuality. He might succeed in turning himself into a necrophiliac, but other than that, this is a dead end. By the same token, it follows the logic of a lot of "religious" practices.
On the other hand, by whatever means he takes himself out of the running, women everywhere will be very grateful not to have to deal with such toxicity.
Joanna