Jacking off… but in the most mindful way possible

During Brad Warner’s recent visit to Montreal, I was proud to see someone in the audience ask the question “Are Buddhists Allowed to Jack Off?” Montreal is quite a liberal city, so it was pretty much expected that someone in the crowd would ask about something in this territory.

I couple of giggles reverberated throughout the crowd showing how uncomfortable it can be to give mention to Buddhism and sex in the same sentence. I’ve seen few brave people provide their take on the questions surrounding “What the Buddha Taught” in relation to this specific topic in both layperson and monastics lives and I’ve been quite reticent myself to provide my take – perhaps out of sheer, adolescent giggilyness for fear of letting my private parts show on this blog.

I was so impressed to see Buddhist scholar José Cabezón tackle the mysteries around sexuality and Buddhism in and article he wrote for the Summer issue of Buddhadharma Magazine. You can check out the article and discussion around this via this link to the Shambhala Sun Space.

I admire José Cabezón’s dedication to exploring and writing about the nature of the label of ‘deviant’ as it is placed on sexual activities that we Westerers take as no big deal in this day and age. The controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama’s comments on homosexuality have caused much rancor and when asked how I can support a belief system that holds homosexuality as wrong, I can only respond that at the time when the sutras were written, the prescription to avoid suffering was to avoid these activities.

Times have changed and we aren’t there anymore, however, in my opinion,  there is so much wrapped up in the context of desire, attachment, ego and self that comes about from our sexuality and can understand how the ancients would believe that sexual activity can take us down a slippery slope (no pun intended).

The notion of the Middle Way is interesting as a means to navigate the choppy waves of sex, but I wouldn’t venture how best to explain how loose and tight strings could be best made into an analogy for use in the bedroom context! I’ll leave that to the more learned practicioners and scholars!!!

You can check out Brad’s response to the question “Are Buddhists Allowed to Jack Off” here:

Now for the answer to the koan, what is the sound of one hand… naw.. I won’t go there…