HOMEOSEXUALITY AND AVAIVARTIKA

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THE BUDDHA'S VIEW

Buddhist monks in most forms of Buddhism are expected to live lives of celibacy, meaning abstinence from any type of sex. But it must be nade lear that there was and is no explicit rule prohibiting those with a homosexual orientation from monastic life.

However, in the Vinaya rules , written after his death, it is recorded as opposing the ordination of those who openly expressed cross-gender features or strong homosexual desires and actions.

The key here is in the words "openly expressing" (in the present time)  inappropriate tendencies not understood and corrected before the will to enter or seemed unable to control such tendencies. The same might well be said for "openly expressing heterosexual cravings" at the present time.

But this is a matter for individual groups. Here we wish to reach beyond sectarian matters and adress more fundamental issues that arecpertinent for those who have gay or lesbian behviours.

THE MODERN PROFESSIONAL VIEW

Since the 1970s, the consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions, perhaps more from a political and mental point of view than a sincere understanding have proposed that homosexuality is a normal variation of human sexual orientation. It is by no means a unanimous point.

However, while for many practitioners it  remains a mental disorder in  1973 the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, and the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives in 1975 passed the same motion.

First then let us declare that same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are natural variations of human sexuality.  However we must differentiate between the true right hemisphere generated  preferences for a partner and the psychologiclly motivated preferences which arise as a result of Identity stress and dissonance.

Here we are concerned only with those with a true and the true and natural preference for a partner of the same gender and seek here to see if that state is in any way an impediment for the Avaivrtika practice.

A REVIEW OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SAME SEX PREFERENCES

Here we speak in relation to Gay males, but the basic way presented here is similar in most respects within the Lesbian population, although the social acceptance of lesbian pairs is greater in society that male gay pairs.

We find indeed a cross reaction between heterosexual males and females with homosexual pairs which is quite different. The heterosexual male attitudes and beliefs towards gay pairs as opposed to lesbian pairs is quite different than the views of the female heterosexual population.

This becomes quite important to discuss with respect to the Aviavartika path later.

Gay Passives:

Making an arbitrary division here may be quite useful as the Gay population divides its population into two groups "with feather" and "without feather". Those with feather possess attitudes, and habits which are observably feminine and their intentions and actions appear like those in many respects like heterosexual women.

Whether this behavior has linked characteristics of acquisition behavior is not clear, but in terms of Dharma psychology they appear dominated by the Acquisitive temperament.

Generally, like the heterosexual population, the general preference is for  males which are of strong character, intelligent with sensitivity and a sense of humor.

Gay actives:

These gays take an expressive attitude which is dominant. There is no indication of femininity in their makeup and the sensitivity is masked completely and this forms many times the same basis for the rupture of pairs that is present in the heterosexual population. Since there is little to distinguish them from dominant males types in the heterosexual population they move within the normal social scenes without detection and social pressures often generate a psychological necessity to cover their condition with a normal male female pair union.

While they are dominant in terms of their character that does not mean that they are of Aversive temperament and consistent with the normal population there are similarly many with an acquisitive temperament that for !gay" pressure show an aversive mask.

Gay changes

With age there appears to be a mellowing of the Active type and a hardening of the Passive type, but this also reflectes the psychological changes in the heterosexual population which rises from the changing external conditions of aging, especially at the "questioning" age around forty.

DOES PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONING GENERATE DIFFERENT BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS ?

Despite the changes in attitude towards gays, particularly in the younger population there still exists a great rejection for those who are gay or lesbian. There is seldom a communication that is valid within the family of someone who begins to exhibit homosexuality. The father is frequently a greater problem than the mother who is more understanding of her child. But with too great a frequency the "deviant" is ejected from the household.

Problems begin when one decides to "step out of the closet", which is a time of great stress and difficulty within the family and within the working environment.

The question here is whether the additional stress and psychological distance from the heterosexual population is an impediment for advances in Avaivartika and whether the special mental characteristics of a male body with female tendencies  or a female body with female tendencies increases the homeostatic impulse to search for some greater truth.