Buddhism and Homosexuality Part One

So this is going to be very quick, and probably not as detailed as I would have liked but I have felt in the mood to write this week. What can I say? My creative juices are flowing and my mind is so clear it's crazy. I feel as if I could pen a whole thesis in three days...

But anyway, considering that it was my strong views on homosexuality and equal rights for everyone that first led me away from Christianity, it seemed only logical that I put Buddhism up to the test before I get too excited with my new found love of the religion. (On a side note. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. I seriously believe everyone should read it, even if you are not a religious person)

So I began to look into what Buddhism teaches on homosexuality.

Although I am so far not even close to touching the tip of the iceberg, the stuff that I have read so far seems to point to the fact that homosexual love should be viewed in the same way as heterosexual love. Buddha never condemned homosexuality and his instructions regarding sex were to stay away from "sexual misconduct", which basically has been taken to mean things such as adultury, child molestation etc, applied in the same way to homosexuals as heterosexuals.

In fact, there has been a long recorded history of homosexuality among the monks of Japan - where it was considered perfectly acceptable for men to love other men and have sexual relationships with each other. Apparently the recorded history of Japanese Buddhist homosexuality is incredibly large and complex and was not frowned upon in society!

I found this great article in the Western Buddhist Review about it that I highly reccomend you read. I could quote so many paragraphs but the article is very long and really deserves to be read in full. This passage however kind of sums up a little bit of what I was interested in - the differences in perception of homosexuality between Buddhism and Christianity.

Japanese Buddhism responded to the homoerotic environment created by a large number of monks living together with youths and boys in a very different way to Christianity which tended to respond to expressions of homoeroticism within monastic communities with vehement paranoia, characterising sodomy as the worst of sexual sins, even worse than incest[13]. Consider, for example, the tone of this passage from Peter Damian’s Book of Gomorrah, written in 1049:

In our region a certain abominable and most shameful vice has developed...The befouling cancer of sodomy is, in fact, spreading so through the clergy or rather like a savage beast, is raging with such shameless abandon through the flock of Christ that for many of them it would be more salutary to be burdened with service to the world, than, under the pretext of religion, to be enslaved so easily under the iron rule of satanic tyranny .[14]

Buddhism’s flexibility with regard to sexuality, as in other aspects of human nature, derives from the doctrine of hooben (Sanskrit upaaya) or ‘skilful means’ wherein actions are not judged in and of themselves but in terms of their motivation and outcome.

Hence, even sexual attraction, which in early Buddhism is considered a defilement, can be used as a means to communicate the Buddhist truth or Dharma. Given Buddhism’s prioritisation of intention and consequence over the act itself it was possible for monks (for whom sexual engagement with women was forbidden) to justify (or perhaps rationalize) their sexual engagement with youths in terms of creating a deeper or more lasting spiritual bond.

Another great article from Buddhanet Magazine showed a little more the Buddhist stance on homosexuality.

Basically, there are four considerations, as detailed here:

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." But what is sexual misconduct? Right and wrong behavior in Buddhism is generally determined by considerations such as the following:

Universalibility principle - "How would I like it if someone did this to me?"
Consequences - Does the act causes harm and regret (in oneself or others) or benefit and joy?
Utilitarian principle - Will the act help or harm the attainment of goals (ultimately spiritual liberation)?
Intention - Is the act motivated by love, generosity and understanding?

So the Buddhanet article i mentioned previously goes on to say:

Having briefly examined the rational foundations of Buddhist ethics we are now in a better position to understand what sort of sexual behaviour Buddhism would consider to be wrong or unskillful and why. The Buddha specifically mentions several types of unskillful sexual behaviour, the most common of which is adultery. 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. In another passage, the Buddha says that someone practicing the third Precept "avoids intercourse with girls still under the ward of their parents, brothers, sisters or relatives, with married women, with female prisoners or with those already engaged to another." Girls still under the protection of others are presumably too young to make a responsible decision about sex, prisoners are not in a position to make a free choice, while an engaged woman has already made a commitment to another. Although only females are mentioned here no doubt the same would apply to males in the same position.

As homosexuality is not explicitly mentioned in any of the Buddha's discourses (more than 20 volumes in the Pali Text Society's English translation), we can only assume that it is meant to be evaluated in the same way that heterosexuality is. And indeed it seems that this is why it is not specifically mentioned. 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. And it is the same when the two people are of the same gender. Likewise promiscuity, license and the disregard for the feelings of others would make a sexual act unskillful whether it be heterosexual or homosexual.

Of course, in Buddhism, there is still alot of discontent surrounding the issue.

Take the Dalai Lama, who still has not given a proper answer, although he has said gay sex is generally considered a "form of misconduct", but then stated that homosexual relationships could be "of mutual benefit, enjoyable, and harmless."

And the Dalai Lama advocates for human rights and this includes the rights of gay people.

From a Tibet government spokesperson:

"His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation. He urges respect, tolerance, compassion, and the full recognition of human rights for all."

More to come....this is only the tip of the iceberg and is probably not anywhere near coherant.