Sex and Religion
1. Siddhartha Gautama
· All living beings have Instinct to procreate
· Founder of Buddhism
· Mythologized early life
· Have to know 4 sights mentioned in the reading
· He counters Old age, death, Corpse, and all these stuff that make him think
· Giving up desires leads to this experience of truth, everything else is distraction
2. 5 Buddhist Precepts/Unskillful Activity
· Causing harm to others, stealing, lying, intoxication, sexual pleasure
· To give up desire is to escape
· Ethical sensibility
3. Marriage / procreation
· marriage is a secular arrangement. Unlike other religions, it is not referred as sacred
· Procreation – let go of desire, family is an attachment so get rid of it
4. Women in early Buddhism
· compare to the religions that surrounded buddah, buddhism was men centered.
· men and women are not equal in terms of spiritual development
5. Homosexuality in Buddhism/ 3 Aspects
· how individuals were allowed to pursue their spiritual life?
Buddhism wants to distinguish its identity
Homosexual relationship, identity, activity
Sep 15th 2015 – Guest Speaker
1. Shiva – the Diety of Contrasts – storing up sexual energy and deplete it through meditation – abstain sexuality. However he got married with parvati
· Contrast between Aesthesis and marriage
· Four lives stages :
1. Student
2. Household – ritual duty, maintain family obligation
3. Forest dweller – retreat : moving away from family obligation, sexual practice
4. Renunciant –
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