Expert: Justin Choo - 9/7/2006

Question
Hi, I am very confused about the religions. First question, is Buddism against homosexuality? My mom is Christian, she always told me how there is only one GOD, God loves you, gay is wrong, blah blah blah...but I found absolutely no reason to believe in GOD. Not only the homosexuality thing, but also there are many other things which make no sense that I don't wanna talk about here. So Buddhism seems pretty logical to me and I was raised by my grandparents who are also buddists. However, I am still wondering if I should become a buddist or christian. Or does religion matter to one person's life?

Answer
Hi Soulwon,

Thank you for asking me.

Buddhism is not against anything.  The Buddha taught universal truths.  Truths that you and I can verify by using our common sense and human intelligence.  When certain actions are bad or unwholesome, the Buddha merely pointed out.  If one persists to perform those actions then the one has to bear the bad consequences.  From my personal point of view, homosexuality is a dysfunction caused by psychological problems and/or genes.  In Buddhism the word "sin" does not mean a thing.  It is only a Christian concept.  In Buddhism it is a question of either wholesome or unwholesome.  We can use 3 simple logical principles to decide whether a particular action or condition is bad or not:

1) Is it harmful to oneself?
2) Is it harmful to others?
3) Is it beneficial to oneself and/or others?

See? It's that simple.  We don't even have to study the vast volumes of the Buddha's teachings to find out what is good and what is bad.  What we need is common sense, human intelligence, and the willingness to open up our minds to think "outside the box" without fear of the unknown. This was what the Buddha encouraged us to do. As Buddhists we can do just that because we understand the universal truths and we are not fearful anymore of some silly ideas.

Before you can decide on your spriritual inclination, you need to have ample knowledge of the choices that you face.  This means you must know both Christianity and Buddhism quite well to be able to give a fair judgement.  May I recommend that you read this book by my revered teacher who had recently passed away on 31 August 2006 at the age of 87.  After reading this book, please surf through the buddhists sites below to gain more knowledge.  By then I am sure you will be able to decide.

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbelieve.pdf
"What Buddhist Believe" written by my revered teacher, Ven. K Sri Dhammananda.  This book explains the Buddhist perspective on life's general questions.


http://www.geocities.com/wave_books
You can obtain excellent publications from them.

http://www.buddhanet.net  (The “mother” of all Buddhist web sites)
http://www.dharmanet.org
http://www.buddhism.about.com
http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/index.htm
http://www.nibbana.com
http://www.triplegem.net
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv
http://www.bswa.org

This site is  in Western Australia where Ajahn Brahmawamso resides. He is an English monk and is a very popular speaker. You can listen to his talk through this site.
 
http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/

If you need more info please come back.

Smile from justinchoo :-)