How The Ancients Did It

We often think of ourselves as living in a society of great sexual license and experimentation and assume that in this respects we are different from previous generations. A quick look through the Parajika section of the Vinaya will show that actually nothing is new when it comes to sex; that it has all been done before. The Vinaya is familiar with bestiality, various fetishes, incest, auto-sodomy, necrophilia, frotteurism (I had to look this one up in the encyclopedia) and several other types of sexual behavior not yet clinically named. It even mentions a monk who had - how can I put this? - a very close relationship with a wooden doll! (Vin.II,35).
And if that doesn’t convince you that nothings new, read the Kama Sutra’s section on rough sex, group sex, sex toys and penis enlargement. If you intend doing so, avoid Richard Burton’s translation, the most widely available and the most unreliable. Burton misunderstood much of the terminology and left out several sections, not because he thought them too racy for Victorian readers, but because he couldn’t make head nor tail of them. Alain Danielou’s The Complete Kama Sutra is better but he imposes too many of his own prejudices into the text and I still don’t know what ‘buccal coitin’ is supposed to be a translation of. One good thing about Danielou’s book is his inclusion of selections from Yasodhra’s commentary which is not available anywhere else in English. Indra Sinha’s translation is very good and includes selections from the important but less well-known Koka Sastra and Anangra Ranga. Some editions also include reproductions of beautiful miniatures, not it should be noted, those poor quality fakes that were made for English tourists in the early 20th century and which are usually used to illustrate editions of the Kama Sutra. However, by far the best translation of the Kama Sutra is that of Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, recently published by Oxford World’s Classics.

Although written many centuries after the Buddha (perhaps 4th century CE), the Kama Sutra helps to give some background to the early Buddhist attitude to sensuality; the second of the two extremes which the Middle Way avoids.

The Third Precept

Sexual behaviour (kama or methuna) is any actions motivated by erotic desire and usually involving the genital region. This includes all forms of coitus, intercrural sex, masturbation, sexual fondling and perhaps even voyeurism. The third of the five Precepts, the basic principles of Buddhist ethics, says that one should avoid sexual misconduct (kamesu micchacara). What would make a sexual (kama) behaviour (cara) wrong (miccha)?
Once, while addressing an audience of brahmans the Buddha said that intercourse with (1) girls under the guardianship of their parents (maturakkhita, piturakkhita), i.e. under-aged; (2) protected by Dhamma (dhammarakkhita), nuns or those who have taken a vow of celibacy; (3) married (sassamika); (4) undergoing punishment, (saparidanda), i.e. prisoners; or those (5) bedecked in garlands (malagunaparikkhitta), i.e. engaged to be married, would be wrong (A.V,264). Because this discourse was addressed to men the Buddha spoke only of female sexual partners. Had he been addressing to women he would of course had spoken of male equivalents.
A child is unlikely to have the maturity or experience to make an informed decision concerning sex while having sex with 2, 3 and 5 would involve them in breaking a solemn vow or promise, i.e. lying. An incarcerated person can be cohered into doing something they really don’t wish to do and thus cannot make a genuinely free choice. It is clear from this that sex involving exploitation, dishonesty or cohersion or that is in any way non-concentual, would be breaking the third Precept. Although not mentioned here, using or threatening physical force (i.e. rape) to compel someone to have sex, and intercourse with an intoxicated or a mentally disabled person would also qualify as sexual misconduct. From the Buddhist perspective therefore, sex before marriage or during menstruation (forbidden in Hinduism and Islam), masturbation, homosexuality, with a person of a lower caste (forbidden in Hinduism) or sexual gluttony, while perhaps being inadvisable, socially unacceptable or not conducive to spiritual development, would not per ce be breaking the third Precept.
As in many societies, sex in ancient India was surrounded by numerous superstitions, restrictions and taboos. Brahmans believed that having intercourse when one's wife was pregnant would defile the foetus (atimilhaja) or when she was nursing make her milk impure and thereby defile the baby (asucipatipita). They taught that it was proper to have sex only to produce offspring and not for pleasure (kama), for sport (dava) or out of sensual delight (rati). They also believed that it was wrong for a couple to have sex during the wife's menstruation (utuni). The Buddha praised brahmans who followed such rules, not because he agreed with them, but because they were being true to what they preached (A.II,226). There are no examples of where he subscribed to any sexual superstitions or taught them to his disciples. Another widespread belief was that indulging in too much sex could cause cough (kasa), asthma (sasa), joint pain (daram) and lack of judgment (balaym, Ja,VI,295).
While accepting that sex is a normal part of lay life, the Buddha generally had a poor opinion of it. He dismissed it as ‘a village thing’ (gama dhamma, D.I,4); i.e. common, unsophisticated and worldly. He understood that a heightened desire for sensual pleasure (kamacchanda) causes physical and psychological restlessness and that this diverts one’s attention from spiritual aspirations and hinders meditation. He encouraged his more serious disciples to limit their sexual behaviour or to embrace celibacy (brahmacariya). Monks and nuns, of course, are required to be celibate. However, experience shows that taking a vow of celibacy when one is not ready for it can be anything but helpful. Constantly struggling against and denying sexual desire can create more problems than it solves and in fact can even be psychologically harmful.

The Olympic Spirit

Well, the Olympics have started. I’m going into hibernation for the next two weeks. Being just a simple monk, I find it difficult to get excited about one athlete beating another by 200 ths of a second. Or by someone I’ve have never heard of breaking a record set by someone else I’ve never heard of, in a sport I can’t understand. The recrimination, denials and legal maneuvers when an athlete is caught cheating also holds little interest for me. I happened to be in Australia staying with friends during the last Olympics. One evening we all sat watching the events broadcast from Athens. An Australian athlete was in a race and was expected to win. Everyone (except me) was glued to the television. When the Auzzie did win, my friends when completely berserk. ‘We won!’ they screamed and shouted, hugging each other and jumping up and down as they did so. Now for a simple monk like me this was difficult to understand. None of my friends normally take an interest in any sports, all of them are decidedly flabby and a bit overweight and none of them had moved from the couch for the last four hours. ‘We?’ I thought to myself. I at least, had nothing to do with the young man winning, although I am happy he did.
Now don’t get me wrong. I find the ideas embodied in the Olympic Spirit thoroughly noble ones. The idea of young people coming together to test their strength, their skills and their endurance against each other has the potential for much that is wholesome and good. According to legend, the Bodhisattva was quite the sportsman and competed in athletic games to win the hand of Yasodhara. However, the Olympic Spirit did not exist in ancient Greece where the purpose of the Games was to keep young warriors in shape for war. It was very much the creation of the eccentric Hellenphile dreamer Baron de Coubertin. We definitely needs more eccentrics- they do a great deal of good for the world. It’s the ‘realists;’ those who’s ‘heads are properly screwed on’ who spoil everything. They are the ones who have taken over the Olympics and turned them into a profit-making business and an exercise in jingoism. No wonder governments spend a fortune training their sports men and women – if their athletes win it ‘proves’ their country is better than the others. Is it a surprise that athletes cheat? – the endorsements they get if they win can make them millionaires. The Olympic Spirit was probably given the coupe de grace by Hitler when he used the Games as a showpiece for his ‘master race.’ I found the above cartoon from that time protesting Hitler’s perversion of the Games. The Chinese government is using the Games to win respectability from the outside world and divert their own peoples’ attention away from the rubber truncheons, the electric cattle prods, the public executions and the ‘reform through labor’ camps. This is, in de Coubertin own words, the Olympic Spirit – ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.’

Do you remember Mark Spitz? He had everything – stunning good looks, intelligence, stamina, grace and he won 9 gold medals, 1 silver, I bronze and set 33 world records. Then he quietly retired from sports to marry and raise a family and never used his fame to promote his ego or bloat his bank account. Now THAT’S the Olympic Spirit.

Tomorrow I will start my series of blogs on Buddhism and sex.

Three Images

Next time you are in India and if you happen to be visiting the holy places in Bihar, make a point of going to the Patna Museum. Its your typical Indian museum; housed in a once grand but now badly neglected British-period building, poor lighting, sometimes no lighting, dusty display cases, poor labeling and a book shop displaying a range of publications, none of which are available. The only innovation over the last 40 years seems to be that foreigners now have to pay R. 100 instead of the traditional 50 paice to get in. But for all that, the Patna Museum is a treasure-house of Buddhist art. There are Buddhas and bodhisattvas, Tantric deities and nagas and most of the bronzes from Kurkihar are there too. You could spend hours gazing at these products of Buddhist devotion. To me though, the finest pieces on display are a statue of Avalokitesvara and another of Maitriya which were originally placed on either side of a Buddha which happens to be in the museum also. The Buddha is okay but does not have the delicate proportions and the smiling expressions of its companions. It is also a little stiff and formal whereas the bodhisattvas have a pleasing, almost sensuous, fluidity. The eyes of both are downcast – Avalokitesvara as if to say; ‘I understand your pain’ and Maitriya as if whispering; ‘Be patient. I will come in good time.’
These three lovely statues are from the small village of Visnupur (Bishnupur on some maps) not far from Sobnath, just off the main road between Gaya and Rajgir. They were discovered, if I remember correctly, by Aural Stein during his tour of Bihar in the early 1900’s. In the report of his tour published in Indian Antiquary there is an interesting photo of the three statues in situ.

I am shutting down until the 12th because I will be on a teaching tour in Indonesia until them. Log in then when I will be exploring at all aspects of sexuality from a Buddhist perspective.

Disappering Act

There is a curious but persistent belief amongst some Buddhists that the Dhamma will soon disappear. Although this belief is usually in the background, it comes to the fore at those times and in those people who have a heightened awareness of the many inevitable inadequacies in Buddhist institutions. But is there any truth in this belief? Firstly we must be clear about what we mean by ‘Dhamma.’ The Dhamma is (1) the truth about the nature of reality, it is (2) that truth as realized and described by the Buddha in his many discourses and dialogues, and it is (3) the applying and practising of that truth by those who call themselves Buddhists. In this first sense the Dhamma cannot disappear any more than space, energy or time can. For as long as anything exists, Dhamma exists because Dhamma is the nature of reality. In the second and third sense, the Dhamma will eventually disappear because all compounded things (samkhara), including the Buddha’s words and human understanding and behaviour, are subject to change (anicca). Having disappeared, it will sooner or later be rediscovered by a new Buddha and proclaimed to the world again. The Buddha of the next era will be named Maitreya.
So when will the Dhamma in these last two senses be no more? Once the Buddha was asked what would lead to ‘the obscuration and disappearance of the good Dhamma’ (saddhammassa sammosaya antaradhanaya). He replied that there would be two things. ‘When the letters are wrongly pronounced and there is wrong interpretation of their meaning. For when the pronunciation is wrong, the interpretation will also be wrong’ (A.I,59). Here the Buddha was referring to his words as they were remembered by his immediate disciples, later committed to writing and as we have them today in the Tipitaka. In this sense, the Dhamma is in no danger of disappearing. In fact, with printing, books and electronic media it has never before been more secure, more easily available and more widely read. On another occasion someone put a similar question to the Buddha. ‘What is the cause, what is the reason, why the good Dhamma does not last long after the Thatagata has attained final Nirvana?’ The Buddha replied, ‘It is because the four foundations of mindfulness are not developed and cultivated that the good Dhamma will not last long’ (S.V,174). Here the Buddha was saying that for as long as people continue to purify and clarify their minds through meditation the Dhamma will endure. On this same issue the Buddha also said: ‘Earth, water, fire or wind cannot make the good Dhamma disappear. But foolish people right here will make it disappear’ (S.II,224).So this is the answer to the question of how long the Dhamma will last. The Dhamma does not have any set lifespan nor is it predetermined to disappear at any particular time. It will endure and flourish for as long as those who call themselves Buddhists practise it with commitment, sincerity, understanding and love and ‘foolish people’ (mogha purisa) are a minority.

Pictures Of The Month

I found so many interesting, unusual, funny, quirky, inspiring or beautiful pictures on the internet during the last month and couldn’t decide which to use for my Picture Of The Month. In the end it came down to two and as I just couldn’t make up my mind which of them to pick I decided, ‘What the heck! Use them both.’ As for the first one – what can I say! When I saw it I laughed for a whole five minuets. It’s someone’s idea of what would have resulted if Michelangelo had met his model for David 35 years later than he did. The second one evoked a very different response in me. It epitomizes the Buddha’s words ‘kalyanamitata kalyanasahayata kalyanasampavanakata’ (S.V,2). If you want to know what this phrase means have a look at the picture again. Next month, starting on the 12th I intend to examine everything the Buddha says about sex and sex-based relationships – no holes bared. No, wait! That last expression didn’t come out right. Please ignore.

Art Calling For Reform

Last October Doo Phra, the oil painting on the right, by Thailand’s Warthit Sembut, won one of the Young Thai Artist Awards meted out annually by the cultural foundation established by Siam Cement, one of the country’s leading corporations and one with close royal connections. The foundation invited Warthit to bring his family to the awards presentation in Bangkok; his parents drove all the way from Chiang Rai in the far north to attend. When they got to the venue, they found an empty frame dangling among the other prize-winning works. The foundation, supposedly made of concrete, had collapsed at the mere possibility that Warthit’s painting would draw complaints because of its depiction of Buddhist monks greedily looking over amulets. A few days later Warthit, accompanied by members of the Thai Artist Network, went to the offices of Siam Cement, handed back the trophy and cash and asked for his painting back. The Buddha advised us to detach ourselves from material things and be free of desire. However, most Thai monks neglect teaching the Dhamma and spend much of their time hawking blessed amulets, lucky charms and quack medicines. The title of the painting, Doo Phra means ‘monks watching’ or, if you turn the translation slightly, ‘watch the monks.’
The Siam Cement Foundation had reason to worry about complaints. The month previous there’d been an unholy row over another painting that showed monks in a bad light. Anupong Chanthorn’s Bhikkhu Sandan Ka, meaning ‘Monks With Traits of a Crow,’ a phrase which the artist says the Buddha used for bad monks (Vin.III,107 ?) - won the gold prize at the 2007 National Artist Awards and was displayed at Silpakorn University. This painting depicted two squatting monks with the beaks of crows rummaging through an alms bowl full of magic amulets as crows flutter around them. In Thai culture the crow is a symbol for avaricious opportunism. One of Chanthorn’s earlier paintings, entitled Ma-nus, showed mangy temple dogs reincarnating into monks. Unused to having their behavior questioned, dozens of monks and scores of laymen staged a series of protest rallies, demanding that the university withdraw the award and remove the painting from the show because it insulted the clergy. Some protesters burned a photo of Anupong while monks chanted a funeral prayer. The sound bites for the TV news came from a leader of the right wing People’s Network to Protect the Nation, Religion and the Monarchy. This group had been involved in the summer rallies outside Government House where the drafters of Thailand’s new constitution were prodded to include a passage declaring Buddhism the national religion. Several monks staged a hunger strike to underscore how much this meant to them. They only stopped their strike when Queen Sirikit said in her birthday speech that Buddhism shouldn’t be used for political ends. It is interesting that calls for the long overdue reform of the Thai Sangha are being left to mere artists like Sembut and Chanthorn rather than to the Dept. of Religious Affairs, the senior monks on the Ecclesiastical Council or the Sangharaja; yet more evidence of just how spiritually moribund the Thai Sangha is.

‘Too many of the 250,000 to 300,000 monks in this country do not observe even the most rudimentary precepts required of lay Buddhists - let alone the 227 precepts that those who take up the saffron robe are supposed to observe,’ The Nation said in an editorial concerning the recent controversy. ‘Buddhist temples used to be centres of learning, and monks were the guardians of our cultural heritage, but many temples have turned into dens of iniquity.’

Adapted from the Internet