Can buddist be gay

The relationship between Buddhism and sexual orientation varies by tradition and teacher. According to some scholars, early Buddhism appears to have placed no special stigma on homosexual relations, since the subject was not mentioned. [1] It is likely that Chinese Buddhism was influenced by Confucian norms prohibiting homosexual marriage. Sexual orientation does not matter in regards to Buddhism.

As long as you do not commit sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct does not include the gender of your partner. As long as they are of age, consenting, and you make a commitment to them. Basically as long as you're not hurting anyone physically or mentally. Buddhist monks are expected to live lives of celibacy, meaning abstinence from any type of sex.

There is no explicit rule prohibiting those with a homosexual orientation from monastic life.

{INSERTKEYS} [1]. The closest would be a few Buddhists who equated homosexuality to disability or being a transvestite, but there was no condemnation in any sense (see also). Buddhist leaders throughout Asia accepted or even sanctified homosexuality. Some people may think Buddhism would be quite accepting of LGBTQIA+ people. There are, after all, no religious laws, commandments or punishments in Buddhism.

My research indicates, however. We tend to think that our true self is intimately linked to who we are as gendered and sexual beings, and so we tend to think that the answer to our spiritual quest must be grounded in our gender and our sexuality. Buddhism teaches to, and expects from, its followers a certain level of ethical behaviour. On the basis of the discrepancy between the OUT article and Beyond Dogma, I wrote an open, public letter to the Dalai Lama in January of , noting that many of us who so admired him were confused and distressed by the inconsistency of his statements and their worldwide ramifications.

JC: On the one hand, one could attribute it to misogyny—yet another instance of privileging men over women. At the same time, he has studied gay history and is involved with the pressing social issues raised by contemporary gay culture. Steve Peskind, This is unskillful because it requires subterfuge and deceit, it means that solemn promises made at the time of marriage are broken, and it amounts to a betrayal of trust.

There is no universal Buddhist position on same-sex marriage. Related data essay Jun 25, He is a vocal advocate of gay rights and has been a disciplined Buddhist monk. AE : Why especially gay men as opposed to gay women? His speaking to the irrelevant, false aspects of sexual misconduct teachings will certainly help the cause.

However, the Buddha sometimes advised against certain behaviour not because it is wrong from the point of view of ethics but because it would put one at odds with social norms or because its is subject to legal sanctions. Another essential aspect of liberation, or, more accurately, of enlightenment, is a dedication to helping others achieve that same state.

In the traditional Mahayana texts, there are arguments put forward for breaking up these dualisms and thereby achieving greater levels of insight. It goes against the ultimate social taboos regarding sexuality. For example, the Vinaya—the rules that monks and nuns must follow ; prohibits oral intercourse and anal intercourse.

Thailand, which had no colonial experience, still has no such laws. AE : Would you go so far as to say that this would be a limited or erroneous point of view from the perspective of ultimate awakening? I thought of a movement associated with an endless crescendo of epiphanies, with an ecstatic celebration of the divine in the human body, a movement propelled by a great energy, fueled by defying convention and breaking boundaries—in search, in search of something beyond, something ecstatic, exalted, something both immanent and transcendent.

But I still hold celibacy as an ideal, and I have tremendous respect for those who can keep to the discipline of celibacy. As the Buddha seems to have had a profound understanding of human nature and have been remarkably free from prejudice, and as there is not evidence that homosexuals are any more libidinous or that they have any more difficulties in maintaining celibacy than heterosexuals, it seems unlikely that the Buddha would exclude homosexuals per se from the monastic life.

On one hand, I think this had to do with the social setting in which the Buddha found himself. How does the seemingly inescapable fact of our gender identity go together with the Buddhist goal of freedom from all fixed and limited views? In June , the Conservative Jewish movement approved a ceremony to allow same-sex couples to marry.

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Gay buddhist monk

Someone who has real insight into the ultimate truth, into emptiness, is capable of seeing beyond gender and sexual orientation distinctions. My personal belief is that there is a kind of responsible sexuality that Buddhism calls for that commits Buddhists to keeping their sexuality within bounds. This being so, while homosexuality is unnatural in that it cannot leads to reproduction, it is quite natural for the homosexual in that for her or him it provides physical and emotional fulfillment.

The ritual for same-sex couples will not be mandatory.