The ladyboys of gay Buddhist Thailand

(Max Stoli) I found out WHY there are so many "ladyboys" (katois, kathoeys, kathoys) in predominantly Theravada Buddhist Thailand (and it's not what one would expect).

• Travel Guides and Travel Inspiration (Lonely Planet)
• Pattaya Beach (Thailand's Santa Monica/Venice Beach)
• Bangkok, capital of Thailand: "One Night in Bangkok"

Can I have SEX with AI? (Seductive Art Intel)

Digital Engine, Oct. 7, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Could silicone robots be made realistic, moving and conversing like organic human beings?

Robotic head of sexbot can talk back, which means interacting with A.I. (NY Times)

• Will we ever want to have sex with robots? (BBC News)

Seductive AI has no rules. It will change our lives (or end them)

How to sell the idea? Sex robots will make humans 'better lovers' (The Scottish Sun)

Campaign Against Sex Robots

(Digital Engine) Genocidal Oct. 7th, 2023: Its name is "Art Intel" (aka A.I.), and it has stunning new skills.

To learn A.I., visit brilliant.org/digitalengine, where there are loads of fun courses on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science). AI robots: Max Tegmark, Dario Amodei, Emad Mostaque, Tesla Bot, Ameca, Digit, Pi AI, and GPT-4. Thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring this video.

Will human beings ever want to have sex with robots? (BBC News)

• "Having sex with robots is really, really bad," says Campaign Against Sex Robots (The Washington Post)
• Sexbot brothels? What we might see in an era of sex robot prostitutes for women (CBS News)

(The Joe Rogan Experience) Sex robot explains se robots to Rogan

• "Theory of mind" may have spontaneously emerged in large language models: gsb.stanford.edu/faculty...
• Letter signed by 1,500 professors (and thousands of other experts): futureoflife.org/open-letter...
• Statement on the risk from the leaders of AI firms: safe.ai/statement-on-ai-risk
• 1.5m people take Turing Test: arxiv.org/abs/2305.20010
• RT-2: New model translates vision and language into action deepmind.com/blog/rt-2-ne...
• Embodied AI: Bridging the Gap to Human-Like Cognition humanbrainproject.eu...
• AI and robots help understand animal language: scientificamerican.com/ar...
• Karen Bakker: Could an orca give a TED Talk? ted.com/talks/karen_bakker...
• Synthesizing Physical Character-Scene Interactions (learning from simulations) dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/35...
• Smarter people tend to have more advanced moral reasoning skills: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti....
• Why are smarter people more pro-social? sciencedirect.com/science...
• IQ and society: blogs.scientificamerican.com....

Paris Hilton forced to spread legs as teen

Leena Nasir, Daily Caller via MSN, 10/12/222; Crystal Q., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Paris Hilton on her revealing new documentary: “I’m Not a Dumb Blonde...” | Vogue

.

Why did the school staffers molest me?

Paris Hilton revealed she was sexually abused at Provo Canyon School and described in detail the way she was sexually violated, according to a video published Tuesday by The New York Times (NYT).

Hilton previously discussed the emotional, physical, and verbal abuse she suffered when she was a teen at the school, according to a 2020 interview with the NYT.

Now, during a new video for the NYT, Hilton shared the details surrounding the sexual abuse she endured at Provo Canyon School.

BOOK: Confessions of an Heiress

The beautiful 41-year old socialite claimed a male staff member from the school “performed medical exams,” on her and other students in the middle of the night.

“It was with a couple different staff members, where they would have us lay on the table and [play Doctor?] put their fingers inside of us, and I don’t know what they were doing, but it was definitely not a doctor, and it was really scary,” Hilton told the NYT. More

• Forced to ‘spread my legs and submit to cervical exams’: multi-millionairess heir Paris Hilton reveals she was sexually abused as a Teen (msn.com)

Buddhism's "sexual misconduct" defined

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly (2009 revised Summer 2021)

What does the Buddha say is "sexual misconduct" (kamesu micchacara)? Here are two definitions in the Buddha's own words.

Sexual misconduct is when "one conducts oneself wrongly in matters of sex: one has sexual intercourse with those under the protection of:

1. father,
2. mother,
3. mother and father,
4. brother,
5. sister,
6. relatives or clan,
7. their religious community;
8. or those promised to someone else,
9. protected by law,or
10. those betrothed with a garland" (Book of Tens, Anguttara Nikaya, X, 206).

What about obsessive pornography?

"Abandoning sexual misconduct, one abstains from sexual misconduct: one does not have intercourse with persons who are protected by their mother, father, mother and father, brother, sister, or relatives, who have a husband, who are protected by law, or with those already engaged."

(See Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation, In the Buddha's Words, p. 159, based on MN 41; Saleyyaka Sutra; I 286-90).

Sexual misconduct or "wrong sensual indulgence" is karmically harmful behavior. On account of karma (intentions of mind, speech, body -- or unrestrained thoughts, verbalizations, or deeds) it will result in suffering (disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, pain) now and/or in the future.

Kama or "sensuality" (not to be confused with kamma or karma) denotes pleasure associated with the senses, particularly the poster child for it, sexual pleasure -- as in the legendary Sanskrit classic, the Kama Sutra.

Sensual misconduct is wrongdoing for the sake of satisfying sensual desires (raga) or cravings (tanha). This harm may be to oneself and/or others.

• These two should be clearly distinguished from ethically-neutral ordinary will, volition, or desire (chanda) not based on inappropriate craving or harm.

Judeo-Christian Commandments

For example, there can be harm to oneself by overindulgence, such as gluttony/obesity, addiction, foolishness based on intoxication, lack of guarding oneself, nonrestraint. This is because craving arises, and one habitually tries to satisfy it in an ultimately unsatisfactory manner.

Any excessive or addictive sensual (kamesu) indulgence may constitute "misconduct" (miccachara), not simply sex. Strictly speaking, however, the term "sensual misconduct" is defined only in sexual terms, as the Buddha makes clear by his definition.

• Compare this to the use of the word "volition" (cetana, intention) as a stand in for all 50 of the mental formations (sankhāra-khandha) not already mentioned in the Five Aggregates clung to as self (khandha).

Right speech example

This limited definition makes sense when sex is viewed as representative of sensuality in general -- much in the way as the ordinary Buddhist thinks that right speech (samma vaca), the third factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, means only abstaining from lying.

Lying is simply the grossest form of "wrong speech" or verbal misconduct. 

In fact, right speech refers to "speech that is timely, true, gentle, purposeful, and uttered kind-heartedly" (Book of the Fives, AN 198).

Right speech means abstaining from speaking falsely, unseasonably (at the wrong moment), harshly, maliciously, or idly. After all, the honest truth -- or the situation as one sees it and claims it to be -- may be more harmful when spoken in any of these other ways than even a fib or silence.

The problem with thinking that kamesu micchacara ("sexual misconduct") only refers to sex is that one soon becomes accustomed to the shorthand and neglects to consider that kamesu really refers to all six senses (the ordinary five plus the mind).

Fornication

Stop! Don't put ideas in their heads.

Moreover, "sexual misconduct" has been hastily defined by early British, German, and French scholars based on Judeo-Christian thinking and mores as "fornication and adultery" (sex before marriage and infidelity or cheating).

The Buddha taught that it is wise to abstain from sexual misconduct not conduct for lay persons. He did not teach that householders must abstain from sex, sexual behavior, nor did he proclaim that they can engage in sex only in the context of marriage or with the goal of pregnancy or child-bearing as many Christian sects teach.

It is mistaken and off-putting to confuse the puritanical teachings of other religions with the ethical universals taught by the Buddha.

Consenting individuals of legal age who are not under the protection of others are free to engage in and enjoy sex without being admonished or told they are doing wrong. (It will not be satisfactory because it intrinsically cannot be satisfactory, which is to say it will ultimately disappoint, as all sensuality does, and it is likely to be accompanied with much dismay and trouble, of course).

What is important is that in so doing, in pursuing sex, we are neither being harmed nor causing harm to others, including the society, relatives, and acquaintances.

"Sexting" (texting sexual images by phone), harmless child's play or a worrisome trend?

.

Explanation

Pandaka? Not everything is clear cut.

Therefore, definitively speaking "sexual misconduct" means engaging in  consensual sex with anyone under protection, which makes them unable to give that consent, or sex with any non-consenting individual (as in rape, coercion, or fraud).

This means that any dependent supported by parents, guardians, the community, state, or a spouse or fiancée is out of bounds.

The state (or a monarch) may decree someone as "off limits," such as the common early English translation of a "female convict." This meant someone who was not free under a legal mandate, for example a court order, edict, a royal decree, or under penalty.

It would clearly be harmful to engage in sexual intercourse with anyone under duress (pressure, threat, or force). That would be harmful to all three parties -- oneself, another, and both (where "both" means the community).

In the same way, to a lesser degree, harm is being done when one has sex with someone promised (by parents or guardians) to another, or who is betrothed, engaged, or already married.

In brief, one avoids doing harm by abstaining, not from all sex but from all "misconduct."

To over extend or distort the meaning of misconduct leads to hypocrisy and even guilt for those trying to live as Buddhists. What about masturbation then? And what about homosexuality?

Celibacy

Sex, no sex, it's time to meditate and clear the mind (Life in Hell/Matt Groening).

.

Complete abstinence (brahmacariya) is said to be the supreme way of living, the shortest path to awakening, enlightenment, liberation, and complete freedom from suffering. But chastity and celibacy is only incumbent on those who willingly adopt such a stringent rule, namely those at an intensive retreat keeping the Eight Precepts, or as a monastic (nun or monk).

• Three Poisons of the Mind/Heart: Lust, Hate (Fear), Delusion

Buddhist monastics are celibate and do not masturbate. That is not to say they do not cheat on this rule with some consequences in accordance with the Monastic Disciplinary Code.

Penetrative sex entails immediate expulsion from the Sangha (Buddhist Monastic Community) for life. Masturbation requires a meeting of the Sangha for discipline and a subsequent meeting. (In practice, an abbot or abbess may demote one to the end of the line, where one is bound to be embarrassed as others speculate why that was done).

As for lay Buddhists who choose to temporarily keep more than Five Precepts, for example during a meditation retreat, celibacy and refraining from masturbation and even sexual and sensual fantasizing and other indulgences is the name of the game.

Celibacy is not imposed on independent adults. But it is sometimes voluntarily adopted as a form of training and self-discipline to bring craving under control. There are many ways to remain celibate, and the worst is by force. Meditation on unattractiveness or the foul intrinsic nature of things (asubha bhavana) done correctly and under supervision is perhaps the most powerful.

One will not even think of sex or sensual indulgence with constant mindfulness of the foul or unification of mind (concentration, samadhi, piti or the blissful rapture accompanying successful attainment of the initial meditative absorptions). So it is NOT a strenuous effort of a hypocritical priest or "holy" person, gritting one's teeth, or the "extreme" austerity of a hermit or recluse.

Final word

Your goal? Samsara or Nirvana?

The fact of the matter is that one who would avoid "misconduct" in sexual matters is best advised to follow the customs and sensibilities of one’s era and culture -- not because these are right but because in this way one avoids reproach, social harm, hurt feelings, and many unnecessary troubles. That is a good practice of virtue, public ethics, and personal morality (sila). One avoids temptation and harm by obsession, awkward pursuit, or addiction.

This is, in fact, what many Buddhist monks advise. But let's keep in mind what the Buddha actually taught and not make Buddhism just another hypocritical "religion." In addition, be mindful of what our society teaches, but go to the source following the message of the Kalama Sutra, which is not "do whatever you think" but rather "avoid what even you can see is harmful and practice what you yourself can see as beneficial."

• 
  For more on this subject, see Buddhism and Sex by the British scholar and translator Maurice Walshe (Buddhist Publication Society, Wheel No. 225)
• Rules to live by for lay Buddhists (Sigalovada Sutra)
• Pope condemns sexual violence against women
• After horrific sexual trial, Austria struggles to move on

When the first celibate monk had sex

Academic researcher Achim Bayer, Dongguk University, Seoul (buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (DBM), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Sudinna Tale in the Pāli Vinaya and Its Interpretation

Restraint of the eyes is good.

[Then the Buddhist monk Ven. Sudinna had sex with his ex-wife and was the first to commit such an offense which was not yet a specific violation of the Vinaya or Monastic Disciplinary Code.]

Filled with remorse (kukkucca), Sudinna returned to his fellow monks and confessed his deed. They scolded him harshly, and "then these monks, having rebuked Venerable Sudinna in various ways, told this matter to the Buddha."

The Buddha, after questioning Sudinna, again rebukes him in a similar way as the monks had done. Mocking Sudinna as a "foolish person" (moghapurisa), he tells him that what he has done is unfit (ananucchaviyam), disorderly (ananulomikam), unseemly (appanirūpam), not samana [wandering ascetic]-like (assāmanakam), unsuitable (akappiyam), and not to be done (akaranīyam).

"Why are you...unable to exert the supremely complete full ascetic behavior for as long as you live?" [9].

"Has not the Dhamma [Dharma] been taught by me in manifold ways in order to be free from passion (virāgāya), and not in order to have passion (sarāgāya)?" [10]. "How can you, O foolish person, when the Dhamma is taught by me in order to be free from passion, be intent on (cetessasi) having passion?" [11].

"The Dhamma has been taught for the sake of being without fetters (visamyogāya), being without attachment (anupādānāya)," and still, the Buddha says, Sudinna is intent on doing the opposite.

"The Dhamma has been taught to subdue haughtiness (madanimmadanāya) [12] and so on, for cessation (nirodhāya), and for nirvana. The abandoning of the sensual pleasures has been taught, and the calming of the fever of [craving for] sensual pleasures (kāmaparilāhāna), too.

It would be better if Sudinna (or any "foolish person") were to put (pakkhitta) his "specific organ [or limb]"  (angajāta) into the mouth of a venomous snake or a fire-pit rather than into the "specific organ" of womenfolk (mātugāmassa angajāte).

Why is that so? It is because with the former he will die or experience agony (maramamatta, vā dukkham, lit. "suffering as if dying"), but he will not go to hell [niraya, naraka, purgatory, perdition], to a lower realm [13]. But with the latter (i.e. sexual intercourse), he will go to hell, to the lower realms (niraya).

Through that karmic deed, Sudinna will enter (samāpajjissasi) upon the untrue dhamma (asaddhama), "village dhamma" (gāmadhamma), vile dhamma (vasaladhamma), badness (dutthulla), "what ends with ablution" (odakantika), secrecy (rahassa), "coming together of the two" (dvayamdvayasamāpatti) [14] ― Sudinna has just done the first of many unwholesome things [15].

Finally, the Buddha states ten reasons why sexual intercourse is forbidden for monastics, such as:

1. for the excellence of the Sangha (sanghasutthutāya),
2. for the comfort of the Sangha (sanghaphāsutāya),
3. for the suppression of badly confused persons (dumma puggalāna, niggahāya),
4. so that the well-behaved monastics may live with ease (pesalāna, bhikkhūna, phāsuvihārāya),
5. for restraining the inflows/defilements (āsavāna, samvarāya),
6. for the piety of those who are not pious (appasannāna, pasādāya),
7. so that those who are pious may increase (pasannāna, bhiyyobhāvāya),
8. so that the true Dhamma may be stable (saddhammatthitiyā),
9. for assistance in the vinaya (vinayānuggahāya) [16].
10. 
    

Thus the Buddha proclaims the prohibition of sexual intercourse for monastics, the transgression of which makes one liable to the state of asamvāsa, a loss of "fellowship or communion" with other members of his monastic community [17].

Interpretation of the Story

Hmm, what dos this story tell us?

THE PROHIBITION What, then, do the single elements of the narrative tell the reader? Ven. Sudinna himself is shown as not actively interested in sexual pleasure.

There is also no real danger that he would break away from the community: The agreement with his mother was clear, and for his part, Ven. Sudinna was ready to remain in the community as before [18].

From the point of view of lay ethics, there were no objections of caste, and the act happened with the

consent of his wife's superior in the family hierarchy, Ven. Sudinna's mother, who accepted the fact that Ven. Sudinna had neglected his duties as a husband and was intent on doing so in the future.

Therefore, I think the message of the story is as follows: Even if the conditions are highly favorable, even if there is apparently no harm to a third party, sexual intercourse is forbidden. That is to say, under no circumstances should any monastic have sexual intercourse or contact [19].

Soteriology: The liberation of the individual

Ven. Sudinna is accused of not having inferred the prohibition of sex from the fundamental precept of the Dhamma: moving away from sensual craving towards the cessation of sensual desire. That is, of course, a soteriological goal [20].

And indeed, celibacy fits in well with the general ascetic lifestyle, which consists of restraint of the senses for goals such as overcoming craving (tanhā, lit. "thirst") or the attainment of peace [21].

That being true, how does expulsion from the ascetic community fit in here? Does Ven. Sudinna's single transgression really endanger his ascetic lifestyle to such an extent that there is no hope for his return to his formerly exemplary monastic discipline? Is it really justified to truncate the career of a wandering ascetic such as Ven. Sudinna, giving him up as a hopeless case? More

Sex and monks and nuns (Monastic Rules)

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (eds.), Ven. Ariyesako, Monks' Rules: Laypeople Guide, Wisdom Quarterly

They have sex! They're hypocrites, liars, deceiving the world for minimal gains. We knew it!

.

(II) Relationships

It's hard not to stare when you're still only human.

Buddhist monastics cannot live in complete isolation from laypeople, for their mutually supportive relationship is intrinsic to the monastic way of life.

However, it should never become an intimate or sexual relationship, for that would go against the whole purpose of leaving behind the "family or household life" with its endless "closed in" complications [43],

The "supreme life" (brahmacariya) is one that checks the display of any form of erotic desire through the actions, speech, and thoughts of a monastic. In fact, restraint from gross sexual misconduct is already part of the Five Precepts. [See Note 4].

The Eight Precepts as well as the Ten Precepts immediately refine this then the Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya) manages it with even greater subtlety. One's Dharma life can then advance toward the letting go of all craving through development of the heart/mind through meditation (cultivation).

The most potent object for strong sexual craving, which the mind/heart is pining for and grasping after, is usually associated with the other sex. Therefore, many rules involve this relationship [44].

Sexual intercourse

Transgender "monk" in Tibet

The first offense of the 227 listed major rules of the Rules Recitation (Patimokkha) concerns a monastic engaging in sexual intercourse.

It is a hot issue, perhaps more today than before, going by the number of sex scandals that rock the Buddhist world in the East and West. Ven. Thiradhammo writes:

"While some of the guidelines may seem somewhat rigid or prudish, it is important to reflect upon the volatility and durability of rumor, even if untrue. The incessant sex-scandals in religious circles may provide a sufficient incentive to encourage the greatest measure of prevention and discretion" (HS, Chp.13).

The rule of celibacy (chastity) was originally laid down because of rich Ven. Sudinna. He was the son of a rich merchant, who left home to become a wandering ascetic (Buddhist monastic) only after great opposition from his family. He went away to practice Dharma, and when he came back to visit, his parents were overjoyed to see him.

So they plotted to lure him back into the lay life again. They invited him for a meal then laid out their wealth in front of him, piled up in two huge heaps of gold, while the wife he had left behind dressed herself in her most irresistibly alluring way.

Ven. Sudinna remained unmoved by all of this. After telling them to throw the gold away in the river, he referred to his former wife as "sister."

Nevertheless, when his elderly mother pleaded with him at least to give them a grandson and heir, he foolishly gave in. He had sexual intercourse with his former wife.

This first defeat offense is summarized: "A monastic who engages in any form of sexual intercourse [penetration] is defeated" (Parajika 1, BMC, p. 45).

Every form and variety of sexual intercourse with sexual penetration — be it genital, oral, or anal, whether with a female, male, or animal — is forbidden. The penalty is the heaviest one of defeat (parajika).

Intimacy — touching

I can't believe that hypocrite touched me.

The modern West is full of stories of sexual harassment. The ways the Buddha dealt with such matters should therefore not seem very strange.

If a monastic touches a person in a sexual way, one commits a very serious offense requiring formal meetings of the Monastic Community (sangha) and probation (sangha-disesa).]

The scrupulous monastic wants to remain above suspicion so, if able, will avoid all physical contact.

Hence monk's and nun's attitude toward shaking hands is to avoid them. Or if one wishes to avoid offending, because it is a warm social custom, they are kept brief. This also explains why, at least in Thailand, a receiving cloth is used to receive offerings from females. (See EN 85).

Buddhist monks are not alone in this. Catholics.

The rule was first set down by the Buddha after a Brahmin and his wife had gone to inspect Ven. Udayin's fine dwelling. [See Udāyī (2).] As Ven. Udayin was showing them around, he came up behind the lady and "rubbed up against her limb by limb."

After they had left the husband praised Ven. Udayin, but the wife was critical and explained what had happened. The Brahmin then complained, "Isn't it even possible to take one's wife to a monastery without her being molested?" This rule was then set down:

"Should any monastic overcome by lust, with altered mind, engage in bodily contact with a woman, or in holding her hand, holding a lock of her hair, or caressing any of her limbs, it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Monastic Community" (Sanghadisesa 2, BMC, p. 100).

To be at fault the monastic must usually do some action to bring himself in contact with a female as lust overcomes his mind [45]. If he accidentally stumbles and bumps into a female, or vice-versa, or if he is accosted by one, as long as there is no intention to come into lustful contact with her, there is no offense.

However, the average monastic's mind tends to be so quick and unruly — for one is, after all, still in training and therefore not yet enlightened — that one may prefer to be super-cautious about such situations.

If a monastic touches his mother out of affection, this is still an offense but the lesser one of wrong-doing (dukkata) [46]. While gratitude to parents was strongly emphasized by the Buddha, the monastic having left the home-life and family should not cling to worldly relationships.

The only true way to fulfill one's filial obligations is by gaining insight into the Dharma and then teaching one's parents.

If a monastic is acting with lustful intentions, one incurs a grave (thullaccaya) offense for making bodily contact with a pandaka ("sex-aberrant") [homosexual, deviant, pervert, transgender, transsexual, prostitute, or eunuch] and an offense of wrong-doing for sexual contact with a male. (See BMC, p. 103).

The previous rules dealt with the monastic's physical actions. The next two rules are offenses — again of the very serious category — that concern his wrong speech towards females.

Flirting

Are you still a monk? - That was just temporary.

This rule came into being when many female visitors came together to look over Ven. Udayin's dwelling. He spoke to them in a lewd, flirtatious way so that some of them said, "It is improper. Even from our husbands we wouldn't like to hear this sort of thing." Therefore, the Buddha laid down this rule:

"Should any monastic, overcome by lust, with altered mind, address lewd words to a female in the manner of young men to a young woman alluding to sexual intercourse, it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Monastic Community" (Sangh. 3, BMC, p. 110).

Propositioning

The following rule is very relevant today when some misguidedly believe that submitting to sex with spiritual teachers can help in their spiritual development.

Again, it was originally a lustful Ven. Udayin who was the cause of this offense. This time, he suggested to a beautiful and devout female follower that she make a "special offering" to him, that of sexual intercourse. The Buddha then set forth this rule:

"Telling a female that she would benefit from having sexual intercourse with oneself is [an offense requiring initial and subsequent meetings of the Monastic Community]." (Summary [47] Sangh. 4, BMC, p. 117). More

Sexual misconduct, good/bad, karma (video)

Sue Tissue/Suburban Lawns ("Janitor"); Whitney Cummings; Ven. Nyanatiloka (Anton Gueth), Buddhist Dictionary; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I want to be sexy, sensual, and live it up.

I want to be good. Everyone, especially my mom, tells me to. But what in the world does "good" mean? It's ALL relative...isn't it?

The Buddha taught that intention (cetana, volition, underlying motive) distinguishes "good" from "bad." There are only six root-motivations for good and bad deeds. These motives color karma (our actions of thought, speech, or deed), making them skillful or unskillful, wholesome or unwholesome, bearing desirable or undesirable results, ripening in pleasure or pain, good or bad:

1. nongreed (letting go, generosity)
2. nonhatred (loving kindness, compassion)
3. nondelusion (wisdom, insight)
4. greed (liking, clinging)
5. hatred (disliking, aversion)
6. delusion (ignorance, wrong view).

When one knows and sees, one agrees with the B

Why did the Buddha call any act "good"? It's good because it ripens in happiness when it finally ripens (which can be many lifetimes from now). It's "bad" because it ripens, when it finally ripens, in disappointment/suffering.

When we do something, we feel either good, bad, or neutral as a result, but that karma has not yet born fruit. When it does, that's what the Buddha was talking about. For example, kill or steal and you may not feel bad about it now. But you sure will when that karma of killing or stealing comes to fruition with unfortunate rebirths in miserable destinations, shortened lifespans, sickliness, poverty, and so on.

It is NOT one to one, one cause to one effect. A single act produces an exponential number of results. (Why? There are many "mind moments" or cittas behind an act, each leaving a trace or seed that bears fruit, or so the Abhidharma explains. Karma is the action, and the results are called the vipaka and the phala, the karmic resultants and fruit).

Our culture says, "You reap what you sow" or "What comes around goes around." These are apt descriptions of karma because one seed leads to many fruits, and what goes around goes around many times. This revolving around making karma and reaping the results is called samsara, the Wheel of Life and Death.

Karma is not one and done. "Cast your bread upon the water" and watch it multiply. But this is actually good news if we use the knowledge skillfully: Doing good produces many more wished for results: one seed, many fruits. Plant many good seeds now when it's possible. There comes a time, reborn in certain places, that it is not possible to do any good. This is the place to plant. "Karma: It's everywhere you're going to be."

Ten deeds are very "good" because they bring about desirable results, wished for outcomes, fortunate destinations.

In one sutra in the Book of Sixes (Numerical Discourses), the Buddha lists six wished for things that are hard to come by. He teaches that they cannot be obtained by wishing, for if they could, Who would not already have them?

The Ten Courses of Action or karma-patha are ten kinds of wholesome deeds and their opposites, the ten unwholesome actions:

I. Ten wholesome courses of action (kusala-kamma-patha)

• 

  Yeah, but what is "sexual misconduct" exactly?*

  three bodily actions: refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct;
• four verbal actions: refraining from lying/bearing false witness, slandering, speaking harshly, and foolish babbling (and instead engaging in true, conciliatory, mild, and wise speech);
• three mental actions: letting go (unselfish giving), friendliness, developing right views.

Both lists occur repeatedly, for example, in A.X.28, 176; MN 9; they are explained in detail in MN 114, and in the Commentary to MN 9 (R. Und., p. 14), Atthasālini Tr. I, 126ff.

NOTE: To really do the Pali language terms justice in translation, it would be necessary to include the positive English words. It is not simply a matter of refraining from doing harm, as there is also the active-good implicit in each of the six terms. "Nongreed" literally means letting go, liberality, giving, generosity, unselfishness, sharing. "Nonhatred" means more than the absence of anger and animosity; it means the presence of loving-kindness, friendliness, helpfulness, and goodwill. "Nondelusion" means wisdom, right views, insight, knowing, understanding, penetrating the truth.

II. Ten unwholesome courses of action (akusala-kamma-patha)

• three bodily actions: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct;
• four verbal actions: lying/bearing false witness, slandering, speaking harshly, foolish babbling;
• three mental actions: covetousness, ill-will, wrong views [also called the Three Poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion or passion, aversion, and confusion all rooted in ignorance].

I'm going vegan, recycling, avoiding synthetics.

Unwholesome mental courses of action comprise only extreme forms of defiled thought: The greedy wish to appropriate others' property, the hateful think of harming others, and the foolish cling to pernicious wrong views.

Milder forms of the mental defilements are also unwholesome, but they do not constitute "courses" of action, which have the power to lead to a fortunate or unfortunate rebirth.

"Sexual misconduct" DEFINED

WARNING: Profanity, graphic sexual references, loving relationships, marriage, divorce, and sex!

So then sex between consenting adults is OK?

The meaning of SEXUAL MISCONDUCT (kamesu micchacara) is "to conduct oneself unskillfully (badly, wrongly) in matters of sensuality." The Buddha got much more specific. At a minimum, it means not having sexual intercourse with any of these ten "out of bounds" persons:

1. those under the protection of a father,
2. under the protection of a mother,
3. of a father and mother,
4. of a brother,
5. of a sister,
6. of extended family,
7. of their religious community (a),
8. or those promised in [an arranged] marriage (b),
9. or those forbidden (c),
10. or those betrothed [engaged] with a garland (d).

One gives up sexual misconduct and abstains from it. One does not have sexual intercourse with any of those ten "off limits" people. In this way, there is success [in living] rather than tainted failure.

• a) Dhamma-rakkhita. Commentary: sahadhammikehi rakkhita, "protected by one's co-religionists."
• b) Promised at birth or in childhood.
• c) Sa-parida.n.da: literally, "under punishment." Commentary to MN 41: "This refers to a [person] about whom [the authorities] announce in the house, street, or village, 'One who consorts (sexually) with a person of such-and-such a name will be punished.'" — An alternative interpretation: "convicts" [who are being punished and are therefore off-limits and "forbidden" by the community or local authority].
• d) Maalagu.na-parikkhita. Commentary to MN 41: "One whom another has garlanded [engaged by some token such as a flower-garland or ring] to express the intention, 'This person will be my spouse.'"