Dalai Lama supports same-sex marriage

[Dalton]

This was a nice surprise.

http://nbcnews.to/NFL73Z

Sorry on mobile.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Dalai Lama Voices Support for Gay Marriage
By Henry Austin

The Dalai Lama has come out in support of gay marriage, saying it was “OK” and a personal affair for people of the same sex to commit to each other.

“If two people... really feel that way ... and both sides fully agree, then okay," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said on Ora.tv’s Larry King Now show.

The Nobel laureate was interviewed after he offered the customary prayer that opens each Senate session in Washington D.C.

Ultimately, the Dalai Lama, who like all Tibetan Monks is celibate himself, said gay marriage was up to each government and was ultimately "individual business."

"People who have belief or who have special traditions, then you should follow according to your own tradition. Like Buddhism, there are different kinds of sexual misconduct, so you should follow properly."

"I think (it's) OK,” he added. “I think that's an individual's business.”

He also condemned bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

"That is wrong," the Dalai Lama stressed. "That's a violation of human rights."

The Dalai Lama fled from Tibet to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Beijing calls him a "wolf in sheep's clothing" who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent country.

The Dalai Lama contends what he wants is autonomy for Tibet and denies advocating violence.

- Reuters contributed to this report.

From Dalton's link.



I'm really not all that surprised. The Dalai Lama has tended to take pretty chill stances on things in the past, and Buddhism does tend to be among the less venomous religions out there. Still, it's good to see a religious leader being decent.

[TithonusSyndrome]

He hasn't actually technically changed his 1997 stance, wherein he said that homosexuality was "against Buddhism" but otherwise acceptable for the values of a given society. It's basically a somewhat more lenient take on "hate the sin, love the sinner" in that it's still ultimately against the teachings of their scriptures, but Buddhism doesn't have the same dominionist tendencies that Christianity does so they allow for secular society to have a stance independent of their own.

As he prepares to meet today with gay Buddhist leaders, the Dalai Lama has clarified his position on the morality of homosexuality for Buddhists and non-Buddhists.

"We have to make a distinction between believers and unbelievers," the exiled Tibetan leader said at a press conference yesterday in San Francisco. "From a Buddhist point of view, men-to-men and women-to-women is generally considered sexual misconduct.

"From society's viewpoint, mutually agreeable homosexual relations can be of mutual benefit, enjoyable and harmless."

His comments were an effort to clarify statements in a book -- "Beyond Dogma," published last year by North Atlantic Books in Berkeley -- that upset some gay Buddhists.

The Dalai Lama said the same Buddhist scripture that advises against gay and lesbian sex also urges heterosexuals to refrain from oral sex, anal sex and masturbation. "Even with your own wife, using one's mouth or the other hole is sexual misconduct," he said. "Using one's hand, that is sexual misconduct."

Steve Peskind, one of the gay Buddhists meeting with the Dalai Lama today, was disappointed with yesterday's remarks.

"We will be talking to him about the impact of these statements on homophobic violence," Peskind said. "What is proper sexual conduct for gay Buddhists, and who's going to teach us?"

The Tibetan leader noted that those same traditional texts that oppose oral and anal sex approve of vaginal sex with a prostitute.

Some Buddhists at yesterday's press conference said the Dalai Lama was hinting that those traditional Buddhist scriptures may need to be re-examined in a modern social context.

Despite his worldwide appeal and popularity, the Dalai Lama is not a "Buddhist pope" and does not have the authority to unilaterally change Buddhist teaching.

"When it comes to interpreting scripture, I can't undertake that on my own," he said. "We would need to have consultation with other Buddhist traditions."

The Dalai Lama was also asked to explain recent statements urging his followers to refrain from using a "protector deity," Dorje Shugden, in their meditation and devotional practices.

Devotees of that deity, a kind of Buddhist guardian angel, have accused the Dalai Lama of religious intolerance. The dispute is also thought to be connected to the slaying of three monks this year at the Dalai Lama's monastic palace in Dharmsala, India.

"Some people have made the worship of this spirit a dominant part of their religious life," the Dalai Lama said. "The Tibetan Buddhist tradition is very profound. We don't want to see it degenerate into spirit worship."

Either way, the dude's new-age/progressive cred is at least a bit overrated.

[Ralin]

As homophobia goes that's pretty mild, honestly. He's not saying it should be banned or discouraged, or even that he really has a problem with it personally. Near as I can tell he's totally right in saying that from a Buddhist point of view homosexual activity is misconduct, just like that’s true from a Christian point of view. So I think it's less "hate the sin, love the sinner" and more "this is what our tradition has said for a long ass time, if you want to be part of that tradition you should take that into account." In much the same way that a gay Christian should at least recognize all the shit Christian scriptures and historical Christians have to say about the subject and consider that when deciding whether they want anything to do with Christianity.

This does not strike me as unreasonable. Like your own quote says, he’s not the Buddhist Pope and he can’t just declare the rules are henceforth changed. And he doesn't even seem to think that said rules should be enforced anyway.

[Elheru Aran]

Yeah, he's basically just saying "I don't agree with it because that's how I read my religion, but I'm not going to tell you what to do because I'm not the boss of you and I don't know everything anyway."

Honestly he's probably the most open-minded leader of a faith I've ever run into. Wonder what'd happen if he and Pope Francis met up?

[Ralin]

Yeah, he's basically just saying "I don't agree with it because that's how I read my religion, but I'm not going to tell you what to do because I'm not the boss of you and I don't know everything anyway."

I don't think he's even saying that. He doesn't come out and say it, but I definitely get the impression that he's not convinced his religion is right on the subject and is open to arguments against it. Which is better than you typically get from the pope about this sort of thing.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Yeah, he's basically just saying "I don't agree with it because that's how I read my religion, but I'm not going to tell you what to do because I'm not the boss of you and I don't know everything anyway."

I don't think he's even saying that. He doesn't come out and say it, but I definitely get the impression that he's not convinced his religion is right on the subject and is open to arguments against it. Which is better than you typically get from the pope about this sort of thing.

Buddhism is a really fluid system anyway. I mean, if you dont reach enlightenment now, you get to try again, so why sweat the small stuff? Granted the Buddhist theocracy in Tibet was... bad... but the current Lama was not responsible for that.