Abstinence
You ask me, 'Can't sex be transcended without going into it?' The only possibility is not to be born. Once you are born you are already a sexual being. Whether you make love to a woman or man doesn't matter. You can be a celibate, but to be a celibate does not mean to go beyond sexuality. Sexuality has already penetrated. The moment you were in the womb of your mother you became a sexual being. There is no way to avoid it. So all that you can do is repress it. You will become unnatural, and your whole life will be a perverted life. Repression is possible, but transcendence is not possible in the way you are asking about.
I have heard...
Ellen and Dolph had been married thirty years and never missed a night of connubial bliss. One day Ellen visited her doctor and was told that she must have complete rest and quiet for six months or she would not live.
Ellen and Dolph decided they should stay completely apart during this period. She moved into an upstairs bedroom and he remained downstairs.
After three months of complete abstinence and solitude, his will-power collapsed, and Dolph started for her bedroom. As he started to climb the stairs, he saw her coming down.
'Dear,' she said, 'I was just coming down to die.'
'I'm glad, honey,' he said, 'because I was just going up to kill you.'
Don't be mad, let things be simple. There is no need to kill or die. Repression will make things very complicated in your life; you will become split, schizophrenic -- just celibate on the surface, and deep down just the opposite of it.
-Osho, “The Secret of Secrets, Vol 1, #6”