[Buddha-l] Confused

[JKirkpatrick]

Impurities of the body are especially a hangup of men who,
world-wide, tend to attribute such impurities to women-- thus
they figure prominently in Buddhist discourses, maybe even as a
method to enable men to be aware of how *their* bodies are
composed as compared to those of the much-feared women. Trouble
is, the example offered is usually to contemplate the
(de)composition of the body of a (beautiful) woman. 

Beyond the age of eleven or so, however, women must become
acquainted with their own special bodily effluvia (the kind that
freak men out, except the Tantrics), so based on my own
experience-- and supposing it's been similar to that of other
women-- the meditations on bodily impurities as antidote to
sexual lust don't work for us.  In fact, they provoke guffaws.

What does work? Well, leaving aside the fact that in the Buddha's
time there was no fertility control available, what seems to work
for a lot of contemporary women in curbing lust is the boring
attention & equipment needed to prevent conception, for a start.
Then, there are all the other social and karmic considerations.
Doesn't stop a lot of us, unfortunately.  

However, one does notice that mostly Buddhist countries are less
overpopulated than mostly non-Buddhist countries. Family sizes
overall are smaller in, say, Tibet and Bhutan, or Vietnam, then
they are in India, Bangladesh or _____________ fill in the
blanks.

Joanna



-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
[mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of [DPD CDT]
Shen Shi'an
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 6:47 PM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Confused

> I love his work, but everybody is naked (or, even worse,
skinned!!) And with all the naughty bits. I don't think anyone
should see me that way. It is just too gross!

It's great for contemplating the 'impurities of the body':-]

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