The carnal prayer mat
By: Li Yu ; translated, with an introduction and notes, by Patrick Hanan.
Contributors: Hanan, Patrick.
Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Honolulu
Language: eng
Number of pages: 316
Description: In the three hundred years since its initial publication, Li Yu's The Carnal Prayer Mat has been widely read in China, where it is recognized as a benchmark of erotic literature and currently enjoys the distinction of being a banned-in-Beijing classic. The story centers on Scholar Vesperus, a handsome orphan and student of Zen. Before taking his monastic vows, Vesperus embarks on a career of licentiousness.

His adventures as "hero of the boudoir, a champion of sex" take both comic and calamitous turns, until eventually he attains "enlightenment on the carnal prayer mat."
Notes: Originally published: New York : Ballantine Books, 1990.