Masaki has a question.
This may sound like an odd question, but I'm simply curious.
Sex in Buddhism is frowned upon, and in the case of the Eight and Ten Precepts, prohibited.
However, in the Vajrayana Buddhism, they practice tantric sex.
Isn't this a breach of the Buddha's teaching?
Well, first of all, first of all, Vajrayana Buddhism isn't following the Buddha's teaching, per se.
It's following certain teachings that are designed to allow one to become a Buddha or a Bodhisatta.
And so it's not quite clear.
I mean, the word Vajrayana is coined by a certain group of Tibetan Buddhists to describe a certain
specific set of practices.
Tantra, of course, is a Hindu concept.
It's something that was developed by Hindu yogis who have their own ideas about enlightenment and samadhi and so on.
And it was adopted by Mahayana Buddhists who were, you know, from a cynical Theravada point of view, it was just a bunch of fake Buddhists, Brahmins, who
yeah that's okay I'll continue they can pick them up later well okay we can pause it there okay so
Tantra is actually a Hindu concept, the idea of tantric sex and so on.
But it's based on this Hindu idea of the energies in the body and the development of high states of concentration and godhood and so on.
It's much more to do with acceptance of samsara.
And so from a cynical Theravada point of view, we would say that this is simply
how it arose that there were many Brahmin or Hindu ascetics who saw that Buddhism was so well-liked and well-received.
And there was even a king, King Asoka, who became Buddhist and very much favored the Buddhists, who joined the order and started with all their, including all their heretic doctrines.
And that's what broke the Sangha up and so on.
So it depends who you ask.
Of course, tantric Buddhists or Vajrayana Buddhists have their own theories about the use and the benefit of tantric sex.
And they say it's only allowed for initiates and for people who have been initiated.
And it's only allowed in certain situations.
But they also drink alcohol as a tantric practice.
So one thing you could say is that it's part of their efforts to learn everything, to see everything, to come to understand everything, to have a full spectrum of reality because they're trying to become a Buddha for themselves or something like that.
So on the one hand, there's very much a difference of opinion among Buddhists over what is correct practice.
But on the other hand, even from within an orthodox Theravada viewpoint, there is some leeway for coming to understand everything.
Bodhisattva really does engage in family life and having children and so on.
He goes through many different lives, learning many different things.
because in the end he has to come to understand everything.
So it has to be much more well-rounded than someone who's just following along after and reaping the fruits of the Buddha's teaching.
So you might say that there's some leeway given there.
As far as including something like tantric sex in an orthodox Theravada meditation course, it's absurd, really.
Because there's no need to learn the evils of sensual desire or the disadvantages of them.
The Buddha's already taught them.
The Buddha's already explained those things and he's already given us a course to understand the desire that arises.
He's given us a means of focusing on the desire itself, a means of breaking up the experience.
So we don't have to repeatedly, again and again, realize the addiction and the attachments and so on.
And we don't need the energy that comes from sexual...
sexual retention is it called?
I'm not sure that you know this holding back at the moment of ejaculation.
I mean all these theories that they have about tantric sex and so on.
It really serves no purpose for the meditator who simply has to understand moment-to-moment experience for what it is.
So when desire arises to understand the desire for what it is, when energy arises or even physical energy arises to understand the energy for what it is, when there arises the vision of something attractive to understand it for what it is,
to see that the attraction is one thing, the object is another, and so on and so on.
It only takes knowledge of the four foundations of mindfulness.
Tantric sex is really way out there, and I would only say it plays some small part, or could play some part, in the work of a bodhisatta who has to, as I said, come to understand everything.