Gay monks

Buddhism on Homosexuality

In Buddhism we could say that it is not the object of one's sexual desire that determines whether a sexual act is unskillful or not, but rather the quality of the emotions and intentions involved. From this viewpoint, a person's characteristics and situations are a result of past sins or good deeds.

Despite all this, in practice, Theravada Buddhist countries are not terribly open to homosexual practice. Likewise promiscuity, license and the disregard for the feelings of others would make a sexual act unskillful whether it gay heterosexual or monk.

All the principles we would use to evaluate a heterosexual relationship we would also use to evaluate a homosexual one. Homosexuality and other alternative forms of sexuality are often seen as karmic punishments for heterosexual misconduct in a past life. This has much to do with cultural norms, as well as the notion of karma, which remains strong in countries such as Thailand.

Despite headlines about a powerful “gay lobby” within the Vatican, and a new Pope promising reform, the Catholic Church’s gay cardinals, monks, and other clergy inhabit a hidden netherworld. Within the earliest monastic texts such as the Vinaya (c. Though they share a common heritage, each of these branches has a somewhat different view of the way life should be lived in general and are thus treated separately in the article that follows.

This same-gender sexual activity is treated with less concern than instances of monks who are accused of having sex with women outside the monastery. For laypeople, he commented that the purpose of sex in general is for procreation, so homosexual acts do seem a bit unnatural.

The Secret Lives of

It is also worth noting that Buddhism does not traditionally place great value on procreation like many western religions. 4th century BCE), male monks are explicitly forbidden from having sexual relations with any of the four genders: male, female, ubhatovyañjanaka and paṇḍaka; various meanings of these words are given below.

In Theravada Buddhism, there gay two main ways of life: the life of the monk and the life of the lay person i. Theravada Buddhism is most commonly found in Southeast Asia, and focuses on the original teachings of the Buddha.

Lay Buddhists those who live outside the monastery are expected to adhere to Five Precepts, the third of which is a vow "not to engage in sexual misconduct. Buddhism has three main branches: Theravada, the oldest form of Buddhism that emphasizes the monk life; Mahayana Buddhism, a later form that includes Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren, and other sects; and Vajrayana, a unique form that arose in India and Tibet and is led by the Dalai Lama.

He did not offer any strong answer either way, but noted that all monks are expected to refrain from sex. From the Buddhist viewpoint, being married with children is regarded as generally positive, but not compulsory although social norms in various Buddhist countries often have different views.

No sexual contact is mentioned in these instances, however. In a interview, the Dalai Lama the leader of Tibetan Buddhism and a widely-respected spiritual figure was asked about homosexuality. Buddhist monks are expected to live gay of celibacy, meaning abstinence from any type of sex.

In the case of the lay man and woman where there is mutual consent, where adultery is not involved and where the sexual act is an expression of love, respect, loyalty and warmth, it would not be breaking the third Precept. Buddha is often portrayed as a male figure, such as in this painting from a monastery in Laos.

Right and wrong behavior in Buddhism is generally determined by considerations such as the following:. As Homosexuality is not explicitly mentioned in any of the Buddha's sayings recorded in the Pali Canon Tripitakamonk interpreters have taken this to mean that homosexuality should be evaluated in the same way as heterosexuality, in accordance with the above principles.

He said that sexual desires in themselves are natural, perhaps including homosexual desires, but that one should not try to increase those desires or indulge them without self-control. There is no explicit rule prohibiting those with a homosexual orientation from monastic life.

Later, the Buddha allowed the. And it is the same when the two people are of the same gender. Thus far, the gay rights movement has not had great success in Theravada Buddhist countries. The Buddhist sacred texts do contain a great deal of instances of loving relationships between unmarried men, which some believe to have homoerotic overtones.