[Buddha-l] Re: Rational or mythological Buddhism and WesternBuddhist lay practice

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2005-03-28 at 16:19 -0600, F.K. Lehman (F.K.L. Chit Hlaing)
wrote:

>  Remember that now and again in Suttas Buddha treats women not as
> polluting for a monk so much as a distraction - as in His initial
> refusal to allow female bhikkhuni - quite different from much of the
> justification for monastic celibacy (the very phrase seems redundant)
> in Christiaan Europe in the Middle Ages.

It's true that the Buddha reportedly said that there is no greater
distraction to a man than a woman (I guess we was talking about men
under the age of thirty) and no greater distraction to a woman than a
man. But the refusal to allow women to join his monastic community is
reportedly based on his fear that people would talk, saying things such
as "The Buddha allowed women into the community to gratify the sexual
urges of monks." (Apparently the people were unaware of all the fun
monks were having with trees, monkeys, skulls and indeed with each
other.) As everyone knows, the Buddha was talked into allowing women to
take ordination, and, just as he predicted, tongues began to wag. I
guess even Magadhan society has its equivalents of Rush Limbaugh and
Sean Hannity.

As for "the" justification of monastic celibacy in Europe, a good
corrective to any simplistic explanation is found in Elizabeth Abbot's
excellent book, <cite>A History of Celibacy</cite> (New York, Scribner,
1999).

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico