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There is nothing in the suttas that is “for” or “against” it if you talking about the orientation (besides vinaya rules for monks). “LGBT” as a social movement I would say do not bring that into Dhamma because making everything “LGBT” (like corporations do for money ie. greed) would cause more harm and ignorance just for the sake of “image”.
If you talking about people’s orientation my take is that the sense of pleasure for anything is the same inherently, if you carve from women it is no difference if you carve for the man same way whether you are heterosexual or homosexual or whatever in between it’s the same thing inherently. The other side is whatever societal impact it has, while often in Dhamma “things do not matter” in the sense that if you lust for black, pink, red or blue, or whatever color the mechanism behind is the same as the “outside” or societal structure may be different as it’s a lot of people with a variety of ignorance, gathi so this is where those things matter. Dhamma at its core has principles not related to this world, LGBT is related to this world and society so they do not work together on the same level.
Also, precepts are universal for every living being (those being spoken by Buddha) so it does not matter what kind of orientation you are but what person you are or what you trying to become, or unbecome in terms of Dhamma.
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Some of us have discussed this topic. I would like to hear the views of the dhamma friends here.
I know that in terms of spiritual achievement, the one that is required is to look at yourself.
But the deviant behavior in the eyes of the community is a bit confusing with the 5th precept.
I am personally in a position not to support or reject LGBT
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LGBT is primarily a mental issue.
1. There are two sexes in humans. However, abnormalities can occur in a tiny section of the population.
- There is also a tiny fraction born without any sex organs. That is comparable to being born without a sense faculty, i.e., some are born blind.
- All those are kamma vipaka.
2. When we grew up, this was not a significant issue. It has been the same throughout human history.
- How come some 10-20% of ONLY Western societies have this issue now? As I said, it is a mental issue.
- Teenagers are susceptible to all sorts of insecurities. It should be a crime for parents to allow sex change drugs and operations on their kids without careful consideration. For example, if a child has both types of sex organs (I don’t even know whether such cases exist), such actions make sense. But it is a drastic and immoral action to try to change the sex organs a child is born with.
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Changing genders becomes like “getting a tattoo” for teens. It’s just a harmful trend, you can undo a tattoo but can’t undo sex-change. People who have real identity problems and people who do it as a form of “tattoo” neither benefit from this “trend”.
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How come some 10-20% of ONLY Western societies have this issue now? As I said, it is a mental issue.
I’m not sure how true this is. People will freely identify as long as they don’t feel threatened but that hasn’t been the case for most of recorded history. For example, here’s what the Bible says about homosexuality:
If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:13)
Many societies are now more liberal and tolerant which is why people feel more safe to share how they actually feel. That includes many Western societies AND some eastern ones like Thailand for example: Why are there so many ladyboys in Thailand?
But even nowadays, not all societies are tolerant of trans/gay people. Some even go as far as public executions: The Islamic State’s Views on Homosexuality
To be honest, I had been thinking about this issue myself as it wasn’t something I was used to in my country Nepal, which is still intolerant. I knew that such people exist but they often hid themselves as many only show up past midnight in regional city areas. It wasn’t until I moved to USA for college that I saw many LGBTs freely expressing themselves. Mental Health America succinctly states that LGBT is not a mental health issue, even though they’re prone to mental health problems: LGBTQ+ Communities and Mental Health
Many researchers argue that gender is likely a neurochemical phenomenon that is different from the biological sex which is a chromosomal phenomenon (see for example, Neurobiology of gender identity and sexual orientation). From the Dhamma, I have learnt that the gandhabba can undergo drastic changes even while inside the physical body. So even if one had a purisa gati at conception (hence, pulled into a zygote with XY chromosome leading to a male physical body), there could be (hidden) underlying causes that can surface into the (re)cultivation of itthi gati leading to female tendencies and behavior. Some appear to have a mixture of these qualities leading to them identifying as non-binary, etc.
But if one is a dedicated Dhamma practitioner, I think it is reasonable to say that they will worry less about their gender identity (and sexual orientation). When one removes kama raga, it becomes irrelevant anyway. And to my knowledge, Buddha neither condoned nor commended transgenders so perhaps it is not something to worry about but it is good to be informed indeed, especially in our contemporary world.
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As I said above, LGBT is primarily a mental issue (except for the kamma vipaka aspect).
- You are trying to explain it within “worldly ideas/perceptions.”
- Issues like this cannot be debated because you are arguing from a different point of view.
- The Buddha referred to his teachings as “not subject to debates” (“atakkāvacaro“). See, for example, “Bodhirājakumāra Sutta (MN 85).” “‘adhigato kho myāyaṁ dhammo gambhīro duddaso duranubodho santo paṇīto atakkāvacaro nipuṇo paṇḍitavedanīyo” OR “‘This Dhamma I have discovered is deep, hard to see, hard to understand, peaceful, sublime, beyond the scope of mundane logic, subtle, comprehensible to the wise.”
- That verse appears in several suttas: DN1, DN 14, SN 6.1, MN 72, MN 95, Iti 43.
P.S. Of course, someone can say, “I believe mine is the Buddha’s version.” So, it is up to each person to decide. I can only explain how I see it; your analysis may make sense in your mind. We have to leave it at that.
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