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Transgenderism and Buddhism

Medusa

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l found it interesting


Most Buddhist scripture does not distinguish same-sex sexual activity from heterosexual activity, both being seen as non-conducive to spiritual growth.[47]

In Thai Buddhism, being katoey (an umbrella term that roughly maps to a range of identities from MtF transsexuality to male homosexuality) is seen as being part of one's karma if it should be the case for a person. The response is one of "pity" rather than "blame". Katoey are generally seen as not likely to form lasting relationships with men, and the lay explanation of their karma is that they are working out debts from adulterous behavior in past lives. In the past they disrupted marriages, and now they are doomed to never marry.[48]

In Thailand, katoey were not allowed to legally become female or marry, until 2007 (following the 2006 Thai coup d'état) when the laws were changed and post-op katoey were allowed to change their legal gender. In practice, prior to this, katoey could and somewhat frequently did marry Europeans and leave Thailand.

In Theravada Buddhism monks take vows of celibacy, and self-control over sexual impulses is idealized as part of the path to Nirvanna. In the 1980s, in response to growing awareness of the AIDS crisis, some Buddhist writers drew on Buddhist teachings to argue that homosexual behavior was unnatural and unethical and demonstrated a lack of self-control. However, other Buddhist scholars have argued that karmic debt only accumulates around heterosexual immorality when patriarchal notions of male ownership of female sexuality are disrupted (for example, pre-marital sex is "theft of virginity" by a man from the woman's father). According to this view, the difficulties and pain of gender variant lives are part of how this debt is paid off in subsequent lives and as such it incurs no additional karmic debt.[49]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenderism_and_religion
 
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l found it interesting


Most Buddhist scripture does not distinguish same-sex sexual activity from heterosexual activity, both being seen as non-conducive to spiritual growth.[47]

**** buddhisme then. I uste to think you were cool buddah, but if you're against sex, then **** you.
 
l found it interesting


Most Buddhist scripture does not distinguish same-sex sexual activity from heterosexual activity, both being seen as non-conducive to spiritual growth.[47]

In Thai Buddhism, being katoey (an umbrella term that roughly maps to a range of identities from MtF transsexuality to male homosexuality) is seen as being part of one's karma if it should be the case for a person. The response is one of "pity" rather than "blame". Katoey are generally seen as not likely to form lasting relationships with men, and the lay explanation of their karma is that they are working out debts from adulterous behavior in past lives. In the past they disrupted marriages, and now they are doomed to never marry.[48]

In Thailand, katoey were not allowed to legally become female or marry, until 2007 (following the 2006 Thai coup d'état) when the laws were changed and post-op katoey were allowed to change their legal gender. In practice, prior to this, katoey could and somewhat frequently did marry Europeans and leave Thailand.

In Theravada Buddhism monks take vows of celibacy, and self-control over sexual impulses is idealized as part of the path to Nirvanna. In the 1980s, in response to growing awareness of the AIDS crisis, some Buddhist writers drew on Buddhist teachings to argue that homosexual behavior was unnatural and unethical and demonstrated a lack of self-control. However, other Buddhist scholars have argued that karmic debt only accumulates around heterosexual immorality when patriarchal notions of male ownership of female sexuality are disrupted (for example, pre-marital sex is "theft of virginity" by a man from the woman's father). According to this view, the difficulties and pain of gender variant lives are part of how this debt is paid off in subsequent lives and as such it incurs no additional karmic debt.[49]


Transgenderism and religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul wasn't big on sex either but he said it was better to marry than to burn. And so it goes.
 
**** buddhisme then. I uste to think you were cool buddah, but if you're against sex, then **** you.

Some denominations aren't. The idea being that an enlightened person could engage in any type of activity, as long as he didn't depend on it to create a false sense of self.
 
Some denominations aren't. The idea being that an enlightened person could engage in any type of activity, as long as he didn't depend on it to create a false sense of self.

I'm not really sure what thaat means, but I find porking my wife to be very englightnenting .
 
I'm not really sure what thaat means, but I find porking my wife to be very englightnenting .

Entities that experience awareness, sensation, and other mental processes exist, but the perception that these processes constitute a "self" or "ego" is an illusory one. The personal and collective belief in self results in mutually destructive behaviors. For example, a person who perceives their existence in terms of being an ego will compulsively nourish that perception by acquiring belongings and relationships (often toxic ones), exploiting and disordering the inward lives of other beings in order to do so. The realization that the attractions objects and persons exert on us actually come from within allows a person to resist and eventually dissolve those attractions. The more power to obtain over your attractions, the more enlightened you are.

Abstinence from many of life's staples (such as sex) is sometimes asserted as the method of acquiring enlightenment. However, some denominations would maintain a person could engage in a broad array of behaviors as long as their engagement met certain standards. One could enjoy cultivating a garden as long as this cultivation was not a fulfillment of craving. In such a case, the gardener would not be bothered if his garden was burned down, but would happily find alternative forms of recreation until he could regrow it, finding comparable enjoyment in all of the activities.
 
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**** buddhisme then. I uste to think you were cool buddah, but if you're against sex, then **** you.

He was a fat man who didn't see his penis for 40 years. it was, by all accounts, clinically dead.
 
He was a fat man who didn't see his penis for 40 years. it was, by all accounts, clinically dead.

so you would agree that buddha didnt advise people to practise fasting for spiritual reasons :lol:
 
**** buddhisme then. I uste to think you were cool buddah, but if you're against sex, then **** you.

I suspect that the reasoning behind this is a part of the basic philosophy, which says that one of the sources of suffering is attachment, and sexuality, whether it be same-sex or opposite sex, implies attachment. It's not that it is "against" sex, but an observation that sexual activity is one of the things we get attached to.
 
As I Zen Buddhist, I have to say I have never read anything about Buddhism and transgender issues. That's not to say that the issue isn't discussed. It's just not a hot topic. I would think most traditions are not concerned with transgender one way or the other. My Zen perspective is that you should have sex only with someone you love and that your sexual union hurts no one.

At the same time Lizzie is correct in that sex like chocolate or listening to good music or sleeping late is most pleasurable and is something we can easily become attached to. None are good or bad in and of themselves.
 
As I Zen Buddhist, I have to say I have never read anything about Buddhism and transgender issues. That's not to say that the issue isn't discussed. It's just not a hot topic. I would think most traditions are not concerned with transgender one way or the other. My Zen perspective is that you should have sex only with someone you love and that your sexual union hurts no one.

At the same time Lizzie is correct in that sex like chocolate or listening to good music or sleeping late is most pleasurable and is something we can easily become attached to. None are good or bad in and of themselves.
After ecstasy, the laundry.
 
As I Zen Buddhist, I have to say I have never read anything about Buddhism and transgender issues. That's not to say that the issue isn't discussed. It's just not a hot topic. I would think most traditions are not concerned with transgender one way or the other. My Zen perspective is that you should have sex only with someone you love and that your sexual union hurts no one.

At the same time Lizzie is correct in that sex like chocolate or listening to good music or sleeping late is most pleasurable and is something we can easily become attached to. None are good or bad in and of themselves.

As a Buddhist you must have been taught that your re-incarnation has no sexuality..And you can change from man/woman/animal..
 
As a Buddhist you must have been taught that your re-incarnation has no sexuality..And you can change from man/woman/animal..

Long before I even knew about Buddhism I believed in reincarnation. I'm certain of it, unfortunately. I'm never bought into being reincarnated as animals and all that. I do believe that we experience many lives as men and as women from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and different social and financial levels.
 
**** buddhisme then. I uste to think you were cool buddah, but if you're against sex, then **** you.

I have found there to be a pretty wide chasm between "western" and "eastern" buddhism. With the later being like any religion within a culture, and the former amounting to this weird form of spiritual justification and indulgence for rich westerners
 
As I Zen Buddhist, I have to say I have never read anything about Buddhism and transgender issues. That's not to say that the issue isn't discussed. It's just not a hot topic. I would think most traditions are not concerned with transgender one way or the other. My Zen perspective is that you should have sex only with someone you love and that your sexual union hurts no one.

At the same time Lizzie is correct in that sex like chocolate or listening to good music or sleeping late is most pleasurable and is something we can easily become attached to. None are good or bad in and of themselves.

I would imagine in Thai culture it has been discussed. Since tradition is that most people spend a small part of their life temporary ordained. I forget the exact term for it, though
 
I have found there to be a pretty wide chasm between "western" and "eastern" buddhism. With the later being like any religion within a culture, and the former amounting to this weird form of spiritual justification and indulgence for rich westerners

That would be an uninformed opinion.
 
That would be an uninformed opinion.

I don't know, it seems, for the most part, like a uber trendy form of 'spirituality tied up with all kinds of formalic rejection concerning dominate cultural norms in western culture. Even the general focus and approach they take to the religion is totally alien to what you see in the east, and is totally a product of leisure and excess.

Not that I have an issue with any of that, it just seems to clash with the "aesthetic" these people are going for
 
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