CC Liu and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit, 2/2/21
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| Is that natural? It seems unnatural! |
- The relationship between Buddhism and sexual orientation varies by major tradition and individual teacher. According to some scholars, early Buddhism (represented by the Theravada school) appears to have placed no special stigma on homosexual relations, since the subject was not mentioned [Note 1].
Laypeople versus monastic practices
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| What kind of gay? This man washes other men's feet. |
In Buddhism's earliest sutras or discourses, "accepted or unaccepted human sexual conduct" for laypersons "is not specifically mentioned" [2].
"Sexual misconduct" (kamesu micchacara) is a term defined as having sexual intercourse with any of the ten forbidden persons who are to be considered out of bounds:
- anyone under the protection of (1) mother, (2) father, (3) brother, (4) sister, (5) guardians, (6) religious community, (7) protected by law, (8) marriage, (9) betrothal/engagement, or (10) promised in marriage.
The term, however, has been treated as if it were subject to interpretation according to one's likes, dislikes, and relativistic social norms. Early Buddhism appears to have been silent concerning homosexual relations [1].
According to the Pali canon and the Āgamas (the early Buddhist texts), there is nothing that says that same gender relations have anything to do with sexual misconduct [3, 4]. Some Theravada monastics hold the view that same-gender relations do not violate the rule to abstain from sexual misconduct, which means abstaining from having sex with someone who is underage (or under the protection of parents, guardians, or the law), someone betrothed or married, or who has taken vows of religious celibacy [5].
Some later traditions feature restrictions on non-vaginal sex. (Some Buddhist texts mention non-vaginal sex as sexual misconduct, including men having sex with men or paṇḍakas) though some Buddhist monastics interpret such texts as referring to forced sex [6, 7, 8]. This non-vaginal sex view is not based on what the Buddha said but rather on later commentarial texts such as the Abhidharma or "Teaching in Ultimate Terms" [9,10].
Regarding Buddhist monks, the Vinaya (code of monastic discipline) bans all sexual activity, but does so in purely physiological terms, making no moral distinctions among the many possible forms of intercourse it lists.[11]
Among Buddhists, there is a wide diversity of opinion about homosexuality. Buddhism teaches that sensual enjoyment and desire in general are hindrances to enlightenment, and inferior to the kinds of pleasure (see for example pīti, a Pali language word translated as "rapture" or "bliss") that are integral to the practice of the meditative absorptions (jhāna).
Ubhatovyañjanakas
The word ubhatovyañjanaka is usually thought to describe people who have both male and female sexual characteristics: hermaphrodites (intersex) [14].
In the Buddhist Monastic Code (Vinaya), it is said that ubhatovyañjanaka should not be ordained as monastics, on account of the possibility that they would entice a fellow monk or nun into having sex [15].
Paṇḍakas
The paṇḍaka is a complex category that is variously defined in different Buddhist texts. In the earliest texts, the word seems to refer to a socially stigmatized class of trans-feminine and/or cross-dressing people, some of whom may have been sex workers [16, 17].
Paisarn Likhitpreechakul argues that these people are grouped together with groups who are excluded from ordination as well: those with physical disabilities such as deafness or dwarfism or those who have committed certain crimes [18].
"The Story of the Prohibition of the Ordination of Pandakas" from the Buddhist Monastic Code claims that the ban is a response to the example of a paṇḍaka (presumably gay) monk with a desire to have [gay] sex. Being rejected by other monks, he offered to have sex with animal handlers [farm hands], who then told the wider community and brought disgrace upon the Sangha [19, 20].
In the Lotus Sutra, it said that a bodhisattva [person intent on becoming a fully enlightened buddha] should not go near paṇḍaka [21, 22] like the monastic rules say in the Vinaya.
The "Questions to King Menander" (the
Milinda Panha), claims that
paṇḍakas let out secrets through their [untrustworthiness, disloyalty, and] imperfection [23, 24].
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