maybe this is a product of the chinese language: the word 淫 has a primary meaning promiscuity , but also a secondary decriptor of any form of unacceptable sexual behaviour.
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No, but there is an idea- certainty a misguided one- that homosexuality inclines a person towards sexual excess, because you get all the pleasure of sex, without any of the responsibilities of pregnancy.
(the book quoted is one of the more bizzarre and extreme works of 20thc chinese buddhism; it is a lecture by master hsuan hua about the threat that AIDS poses to humanity; the advice he offers is to chant the great compassion and surangama mantras. to my knowledge it has, thankfully, never...
... been reprinted since the 1990s, but the fact that it was in the collection of one of my relatives, explained a lot about their attitudes to homosexuality)
Yes I’m familiar with Venerable Hsua’s works. He was actually a genius for his translations of the Avatamsaka Sutra, and I use CTTB’s translation. When it comes to homosexuality though…
Perhaps homophobes reached the dharma through him who wouldn’t otherwise. Different gates for different people.
so for example, this word 淫 is used to describe the prohibition against sexual activity in the 8 precepts (specifically as the compound 淫慾 yinyu-- lustful desire).
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https://archive.org/details/thenewpneumonia/page/n12/mode/1up
Perhaps homophobes reached the dharma through him who wouldn’t otherwise. Different gates for different people.