I have said earlier I believe in that thread on "Buddhism, sense and nonsense in," that it would seem for some Buddhists in the West there is nothing to give up but to do meditation the Buddhist way. That was a brief digression from the topic, owing to my participation in the Buddhachat Forum where a Buddhist was seeking guidance from fellow Buddhists about free sex -- he himself later fearing a Buddhists war on sex requested that the thread be locked up and it was locked up by the moderator in charge.
A member here, a Buddhist, asked me to try meditation and I would discover the benefits it could work in me, because he himself banished the unkind habit of gossip by meditation the Buddhist way. I told him that I don't have any problem with overcoming gossip, and the Golden Rule in the negative formula, "Do not to others what you don't want others to do to you," is enough to keep me from gossip.
This morning I was thinking of a thread on "Buddhist meditation, fact and fiction," and I came to a Buddhist site where they sell meditation courses for all purposes, like lessening stress -- it's really internet commerce.
On looking up the Buddhist folks running this website, it turned out they are members of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. Further searches brought me to an interesting pronouncement of faith and practice in this Buddhist group. Here read about it.
Now, that is really interesting, because most established religions have a negative bias toward sex, and if it has a positive bias toward sex it is accompanied with explanations making sex acceptable as a concession to the flesh, to the duty of human propagation.
I think it was Kopji here who told me in that thread of mine on "Buddhism as amusement," that masturbation is almost a sacrament with Buddhists; I disagreed because I have read that traditional Buddhism as cultivated in the Far East, home of the birth and development of Buddhism, has a negative bias toward sex, except for a fringe sect called Tantra.
Anyway, I believe that sex in Buddhism is an absorbing topic for me to do research on, to find out exactly what is the role of sex in the whole karmic cosmos of Buddhism.
Right away I will say that I have read in the web that Gautama himself was not so happy about sex, he is reported to have expressed at least regrets about sex, it being the vehicle of rebirths which Buddhists want to stop.
Once you are no longer subject to rebirth, then you have arrived at Nirvana, the be all and end all of Buddhism. So, if sex is or if Buddhists should have achieved the feat of abolishing sex in the phenomenon of sentient life forms, then no more rebirth for Buddhists.
Is that or isn't that an example of Buddhist illogic?
But seriously, I am interested as a student of human institutions of nature and civilization in what Buddhism teaches as regards the role of sex in Buddhism and for the sentient life form that is mankind.
Yrreg
A member here, a Buddhist, asked me to try meditation and I would discover the benefits it could work in me, because he himself banished the unkind habit of gossip by meditation the Buddhist way. I told him that I don't have any problem with overcoming gossip, and the Golden Rule in the negative formula, "Do not to others what you don't want others to do to you," is enough to keep me from gossip.
This morning I was thinking of a thread on "Buddhist meditation, fact and fiction," and I came to a Buddhist site where they sell meditation courses for all purposes, like lessening stress -- it's really internet commerce.
On looking up the Buddhist folks running this website, it turned out they are members of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. Further searches brought me to an interesting pronouncement of faith and practice in this Buddhist group. Here read about it.
Now, that is really interesting, because most established religions have a negative bias toward sex, and if it has a positive bias toward sex it is accompanied with explanations making sex acceptable as a concession to the flesh, to the duty of human propagation.
I think it was Kopji here who told me in that thread of mine on "Buddhism as amusement," that masturbation is almost a sacrament with Buddhists; I disagreed because I have read that traditional Buddhism as cultivated in the Far East, home of the birth and development of Buddhism, has a negative bias toward sex, except for a fringe sect called Tantra.
Anyway, I believe that sex in Buddhism is an absorbing topic for me to do research on, to find out exactly what is the role of sex in the whole karmic cosmos of Buddhism.
Right away I will say that I have read in the web that Gautama himself was not so happy about sex, he is reported to have expressed at least regrets about sex, it being the vehicle of rebirths which Buddhists want to stop.
Once you are no longer subject to rebirth, then you have arrived at Nirvana, the be all and end all of Buddhism. So, if sex is or if Buddhists should have achieved the feat of abolishing sex in the phenomenon of sentient life forms, then no more rebirth for Buddhists.
Is that or isn't that an example of Buddhist illogic?
But seriously, I am interested as a student of human institutions of nature and civilization in what Buddhism teaches as regards the role of sex in Buddhism and for the sentient life form that is mankind.
Yrreg
