Buddhism, Sexuality, Religion and HIV-AIDS
Society, in general, prescribes arbitrary rules on gender identities. Largely referring to one’s gender and society-defined attributes—man (masculinity) and woman (femininity)—they provide varying degrees of liberties and restrictions on how one should behave, talk, dress, etc. Biological makeup determines some specific functions (like reproduction for women), but societal norms may add some more dividing lines between a man and a woman (woman may be restrained from assuming some roles for being a “weaker sex”).
Sexual identity, on the other hand, is how a person thinks of oneself in terms of whom one is romantically or sexually attracted to. Most cultures remain rigid restricting “normal behaviors” to attractions of diametrically opposed genders. As such, sexual identities can be constrained by biologically-assigned and socially-defined gender identities.
Sexuality is such an important matter in understanding the behavioral fabrics of society. Beneath it dwells the many explanations on gender-based biases and ferocities and the multitude of threats and opportunities for being a man, woman, homosexual, bisexual or transsexual in a society.
Buddhism in Mekong
In the Greater Mekong Sub-region, a wide interplay of factors must be understood to untangle the male-female-society relationship.
Religion is one aspect in Mekong life that heavily influences a person’s providence from womb to tomb, and beyond. It has strong imprints on society, politics, on the arts and literature and practically on almost all aspects of everyday living. Two major branches of Buddhism are embraced by majority of people in Mekong –the Hinayana also called Theravada Buddhism (The Way of the Elders) and the Mahayana (Great Vehicle).
The Theravada Buddhism is practiced by a great majority of people in Thailand (90 percent), Cambodia (90 percent), Laos (85-90 percent), and Myanmar (85 percent). But while Mahayana is the dominant religion in Viet Nam, the Theravada sect exists in communities of ethnic Vietnamese along with Cambodians living in the Mekong Delta. About 70 percent of people in Viet Nam are either Buddhist or strongly influenced by Buddhism.
In Theravada, the Buddha is believed to be a human who went into deep meditation elevating him into a series of higher states of consciousness until he attained enlightenment with extraordinary wisdom. He is honored as a perfectly enlightened human teacher.
A splinter group, the Mahayana worships Buddha as an eternal, omnipresent, transcendental being. In its doctrine, Buddha has a threefold nature, or triple “body” (trikaya): the body of essence, the body of communal bliss, and the body of transformation.
A multitude of introduced and endemic beliefs and religions exist in the region. But except for Taoism and Confucianism, which are more of virtuous philosophies than religion, other traditional beliefs and religious persuasions have no impact as encompassing as that of Buddhism on Mekong societies.
Buddhism: Cyclical existence and the journey to nirvana
Buddhism teaches about the virtue of pure and simple living—free from wants and desires (tanha) for “worldly things.”
Sufferings of humanity, seen as a result of craving for wealth, fame and power, are innate to a person. Only by living with the right mind, attitude and deeds can someone be free from the bondage of a never-ending cycle of births-deaths-rebirths—a predicament largely determined by the Law of Karma.
The ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to be free from the loop of reincarnation and reach nirvana, a state of complete redemption and supreme happiness.
An average person (lay or laity) cannot achieve nirvana in his/her lifetime, but can only improve karma by having a virtuous life. Only through a monastic meditative living can one reach the state free from desires and sufferings. A lay can only get merits for good deeds that may improve his or her karma. Merits gained during one’s lifetime will largely determine a person’s fate for the next life cycle.
Renouncing earthly living, monks get their daily nourishment and sustenance from offerings made by the lays—an act considered with highly meritorious value and practiced mostly by women who have no special opportunities as men for merits making.
Value systems
The cannon of Buddhism are never prescriptive, providing healthy space for an individual’s valuation of phenomena. Its teachings put great emphasis on the practical aspects of ethical and benevolent existence making celestial goals achievable even in one’s lifetime.
Necessary tools are laid down however to make a sound judgment based on wisdom for the greater good of oneself and others
In Buddhism, the Five Precepts provides the basic parameters on how an individual may assess the rightness or wrongness of an action.
The Noble Eightfold Path is a practical guide to moral and mental development. It aims to free the individual from attachments and delusions that will finally lead to understanding the truth above all things. These are highly interdependent principles not to be seen in fragments but in their relationship with each other.
The Buddhist cannon, written some 2,500 years ago, are down to their barest essentials, leaving so much flexibility to make them relevant for Buddhist societies from generation to generation. One of the basic tenets of Buddhism after all is its belief in the impermanence (anitya) of all on earth, and beyond.
Buddhism at the same time does not allow for absolute freedom. The natural cosmic laws of Karma can be very punitive and vindictive as erring humans may reincarnate into animals, trees, or even the lowliest form of life on earth and the universe. A Buddhist may even live in hell or heaven depending on the merits or demerits gained during one’s lifetime.
Once Buddha cautioned his young son Rahula:
If there is a deed, Rahula, you wish to do, reflect thus: Is this deed conducive to my harm, or to others’ harm, or to that of both? Then is this a bad deed entailing suffering. From such a deed, you must desist.
If there is a deed you wish to do, reflect thus: Is this deed not conducive to my harm, nor to others’ harm, nor to that of both? Then is this a good deed entailing happiness. Such a deed you must do again and again.
Filial piety
Filial piety is in the core of the Buddhist family values system. Filial piety is a reciprocal kind of relationship where the boundless love and care of parents to their children are in turn recompensed.
A nurturing mother has to forego her own needs, a tradition of maternal self-abnegation for the utmost welfare of children. The father does everything in his disposal to provide for his family’s needs. As the child grows, his or her daily life is a mounting indebtedness to parents.
To reciprocate such kindness, children are bound to obey their parents, show utmost respect and take care of them in their old age. As such, the nature of family relationship in Buddhism is a kind of social contract based on love.
Buddhism and gender identities
The history of Buddhism can be traced back to the birth of Shiddharta Gautama in India in 553 BCE, who would later be known as Gautama Buddha or the Enlightened One. Buddhism developed in the context of a patriarchal Indian society.
The issue of prejudice against women in Buddhism remains a topic of fierce debates among scholars and theologians. Some would argue that nowhere in the scriptures of Buddhism can one find teachings that put women in a disadvantageous position with men.
This is not the case in the sacred writings of Christianity where at the very onset it has been established that woman (Eve) is simply hauled out from the rib of man (Adam) [Genesis 2:21-24]. Eve, by enticing Adam to commit a sin, would later bring about her own and Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden [Gen: 3:19]—a tragic incident that caused the entire Christendom to inherit a sin by virtue of birth.
It was the Buddha who ordained the first mae chii (female counterpart of monks who are sometimes erroneously referred to as nuns)—his auntie and his wife. Such action defied India’s prevailing cultural construct then that had little regard for women.
Also, the value system of patriarchy was deeply ingrained in the Mekong societies long before Buddhism found its way in the region from a more patriarchal society of its origin. Confucianism had made its imprints as well, particularly in Viet Nam, institutionalizing inequities in gender relationships. The Confucian doctrine promotes a hierarchical order in the family and society where women are subjects to be ruled by their father, husband, eldest son and the king.
Religious construct in Theravada
There are religious constructs in Buddhism, particularly in Theravada, that make womanhood a drawback however. The religious order of Buddhism does not allow for ordination of mae chii practically casting them out into the lowest rung of all women having neither secular nor formal monastic community.
But while the order of Bhikkhuni (religious order of mae chii) was established by the Buddha more than two thousand years ago, it never came into existence in Southeast Asia. Their lack of ordination makes secular offerings for mae chii of lesser meritorious value, compelling them to depend upon themselves or on relatives for sustenance.
A lay or laity, meanwhile, cannot achieve nirvana in his/her lifetime, but can only improve karma by living a virtuous life. Only through a monastic meditative living can one reach the state free from desires and sufferings. As such, being a monk or novice has become a mundane stage of many men’s life in a Buddhist society even if most will actually end up married laymen. A man who has gone through the Sangha (religious order of the monks) is believed to become a good family man.
Without such privilege, the only hope for a woman to reach nirvana is to be reborn a man and spend one’s lifetime in the Bhikkhus. For most women, who are deprived of the opportunity men have even of short-lived monkhood, their desperate hope to improve karma is symbolically portrayed as they cling unto their sons’ robe during ordination—the last and closest physical contact mothers are allowed of their sons who renounced “earthly living.”
Any form of physical contact is forbidden between monks and women. This has been for long a subject of differing interpretations and speculations. Some say the prohibition is meant to avoid providing sensual environment that may give monks unnecessary distractions. But only nonconforming behaviors may make mothers or grandmothers sexually attractive to their sons or grandsons. Others suggest that the tradition simply underscores how lowly women are viewed in a Buddhist society. A mere physical contact with them can cause a monk some steps backward in his pursuit to achieving enlightenment.
Menstruation and other folk beliefs
A woman’s menstrual period is not only a source of cyclical discomfort for women in a Buddhist society. During her monthly period, a woman is barred from visiting some sacred areas of Buddhist shrines. But while religious teachings cannot lend any support to this prohibition, it has been handed down for generations and faithfully followed by devout lays and mae chii.
Such belief found its root in Hinduism, which some scholars believe that beyond the issue of hygiene, as a common offered reason, women are feared for having the capability to nullify sacred mantras long practiced by Hindu men and priests. Thus Brahmin priests kept women out of sacred sanctuaries. The association of body fluid to women’s secret power can also be found in Thailand where menstruating women are not allowed near fermenting rice or it will rot.
But some Buddhists do not view it that way. They would even downplay the issue of hygiene. For them, women during their menstrual period are simply emotionally fragile for religious observance.
In some edifices containing sacred relics in Northern Thailand, women are totally not allowed with or without menstruation. Then woman Senator Rabiaprat Pongpanit, who was denied entry into one temple during a pilgrimage in 2004, took the issue on the Senate floor asking for explanation on the ban and vehemently protesting offensive signs “No Women Allowed.”
The issue provoked fierce debates in Thailand with many men, and even women, reprimanding the senator, telling her to respect the north’s religious tradition. She was even told by fellow women of brandishing an abrasive Western-type of feminism. Many came to her defense, but women groups generally kept mum on the issue. Rabiaprat eventually withdrew her case and offered a public apology.
Buddhism and sexual identities
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.” -- Gautama Buddha
In Asian societies, sexuality is almost always viewed within the context of sexual morality. Religions have explicit position and guidepost on how one should behave to live a moral life. In most cases, they lay down ethical parameters from an extremely conservative viewpoint. In Buddhism it is less so.
For example, the issue of same-sex relationship is considered a sin in Catholicism as it defies God’s will of procreation. In Islam, such behavior is a taboo being beyond the natural boundaries of union set by Allah. The Qur’an specifically mentions that same-sex intercourse is forbidden.
But while Buddhism does not cuddle same-sex relationship, it is at the same time not opposed to it. The different schools of Buddhism offer diverse views. Buddhism is seen to be more tolerant of variations in sexual identity as it does not try to impose a standard of morality.
In his essay Religions and Homosexuality, Dhananjay Kulkarni writes:
A Buddhist does not discuss issues of right and wrong and it would be very unusual for a Buddhist to tell others how to behave. Instead, Buddha encouraged people to introspect and find truth for themselves (even if it meant disregarding his teaching) and to put it into practice for themselves.
Viewed in the same vein, some have gone as far as suggesting that therefore, there is no reason in principle why Buddhists cannot be polygamous in the same way that they can be monogamous. Marriage after all in a Buddhist society is a simple civil rite not sanctified by religion. Even parents can officiate the ceremonial union.
Sex before marriage may not also be a big issue since the precept simply speaks of “sex within the context of lawful commitment.” The Buddhist laity lends greater importance on the nature of relationships in which sex has a role to play.
The issue of “sexual misbehavior” is largely determined by opinions of individuals and society in general. Though there are clear moral undertones in the teachings of Buddhism, the issue of right or wrong within the milieu of sexual identity is subject to varying ethical interpretations due in part to evolving social realities and value systems of Buddhist societies.
On the other hand, the concept of reincarnation and the opportunity to repent and fix one’s life for the next life cycle could also provide leeway for someone to engage in dissolute deeds. Such flexibility is never present in Christianity, where the mortal life exists only once and wrong deeds may mean eternal sufferings as one transforms into soul after death.
In the paper Buddhism and Sexual Ethics, the author put forward a hypothetical suggestion: So there is no reason why a Buddhist should not “practice monogamy (one partner for life), serial monogamy (a series of partners, one after the other), polygamy (many partners at the same time or, within limits, promiscuity (no concern about who you have sex with and when).”
However complex or simple or simplistic one may view the doctrines of Buddha, a Buddhist—lay, mae chii and monk alike—has one simple question to answer: “What do I want to be in my next life cycle?”
(This writeup is a section of a research made by the author on the correlation of sexuality, religion and HIV-AIDS in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.)
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