Thursday, December 10, 2009

Gay Marriage: What Would Buddha Do?

James Shaheen, Editor & Publisher Tricycle: The Buddhist Review (Huffington Post)

A lot of people ask me what the "Buddhist take" on gay marriage is. Well, it depends on who you talk to. A few years back, in an interview with the CBC, the Dalia Lama rejected same-sex relationships. This was a surprise to many convert Buddhists, who sometimes too easily assume that Buddhist ethics are consistent with their typically progressive views.

As the Canadian interview bounced around the Internet, some people were shocked and perplexed. But the Dalai Lama's position [seen here making horns to mimmick how he is viewed by China (AP)] shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the issue. After all, he has been consistent. At a conference some 12 years ago, when gay leaders met with him in San Francisco to discuss the Tibetan Buddhist proscriptions against gay sex, he reiterated the traditional view that gay sex was "sexual misconduct." This view was based on... More>>

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