Gay buddhist
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Buddhism
BACKGROUND
Though it is impossible to present a comprehensive overview of Buddhism within this context, we hope this brief overview will direct you to further travel the religion.
Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhism is considered a way of existence for more than 500 million individuals across the globe. The fourth largest religion in the earth, Buddhism is largely built on concepts that foster individual enlightenment and cheer personal responsibility. It is sometimes described more as a philosophy or psychology than a religion.
Though varied in practice and beliefs, the majority of individuals who subscribe to Buddhism belong to one of three major schools of thought: Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism or Vajrayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism, also known as Southern Buddhism, is viewed as the more traditional form of Buddhism. Practiced primarily in southern areas of Asia, Theravada Buddhism is considered the oldest and most traditional school of the three. Conversely, Mahayana Buddhism, also known as Northern Buddhism, is considered a more diverse form of Buddhism, whereas Vajrayana Bu
Being Gay and Buddhist: What did the Buddha say?
Editor’s notes: This article has been kindly contributed by Bhante Shravasti Dhammika whose works can be create on Budblooms. In addition, he has launched a recent book Footprints in the Dust: The Life of the Buddha from the Earliest Sources, now available on Amazon. TW: Content covers the topic of suicide.
The Hesitating Question
Occasionally someone, usually a young man but sometimes a juvenile women or an older man or women, will approach me and after a few minutes of hesitation or beating around the bush, ask me what the Buddhist position on homosexuality is.
When they execute I tell them that intentional deeds (kamma) modify mind and that our kamma conditions our future.
Positive intentional acts have positive effects (vipaka) and negative intentional acts possess a negative effect.
Sexual acts motivated by the usual intentions, feelings and emotions which exist between two people who love each other, would have a positive effect and would not infringe the third Precept, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual.
Buddhist Ethics and Sex
I underline this direct by saying that Buddhist ethics about sex are
We’re Queer And We’ve Been Here
It’s no secret that many LGBTQ people contain found refuge in the dharma, and it’s easy to see why. It helps us perform with the wounds of homophobia, knowing internalized self-hatred for the delusion and dukkha [suffering] that it is. Yet when queer people interact with the dharma, there is often something missing: visibility. It’s kind that Buddhism doesn’t say many horrible things about us, but does it say anything good? Where are we among the Dogens and Milarepas and Buddhaghosas?
This is not, of course, a question limited to Buddhism. Everywhere, queers have been erased from history. Often we find ourselves only when we are being persecuted; we have to read in between the lines of our interlocutors, trying to reconstruct a lost past.
But there is much to be gained from the endeavor. Finding ourselves in history, for improve or for worse, reminds us that we have one. We can notice the different ways in which gender and sexuality were understood across second and cultures, and we are reminded that sexual and gender diversity has always been a part of human nature.
The history of queer Buddhism does not always coat a rosy picture. We find a mixed tapes
Homosexuality in Buddhist texts (sutras/commentaries)
Hello, I am genuinely interested how unlike traditions view homosexuality in Buddhism. I always heard that Buddhism did not diffirentiate between heterosexual and homosexual conduct. I believed that too and had the impression that Buddhism was very lgbt friendly. Now I stumbled across this wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_sexual_orientation and have some questions.
How does the Theravada and Mahayana standpoints differ on this subject? Why is it that homosexual behavior are talked about in various buddhist text but not sapphic actions? Do these texts or commentaries really talk about that homosexuality per se is sinful/unwholesome or were these views (particular the mahayana/tibetan ones against homosexuality in realtion to hygenie or coerceful sex with minors/boys?
How does Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana interpret the texts of Buddhaghosa, Shantideva, Asvaghosa, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Tsongkhapa etc about this issue? Do these teachers draw their conclusions from canonical sutras or are these their own personal opinions?
Are the stances against homosexuality in sutras or texts like Saddharma-smrty up