Theos-Talk Archives (March 1995 Message tl00330)

Liesel to Bazzer>

> Please do realise that "lusting" being applied to sex, is false
> Christian ethic, unfortunately much engrained.  It does not apply
> to Buddhist sex, "The Voice ..." being Buddhist scripture.  So
> please come off this riduculous nonesense.  Having sex is not a
> great sin.  People do it every day without having to go to hell
> first or after.

Nicholas>

This not directed at you in particular Leisel, but the notions
you express are pretty popular nowadays.

In ML 43 Morya mentions "my family Bible," the ~Khuddaka Patha~.
This is a Buddhist primer containing nine small texts.  The fifth
of these is has a verse mentioning "self-control" as one of the
many blessings of leading a life dedicated to avoiding bad karma
and fostering good karma.  Self-control refers to sexual
abstinence for Buddhist monks or nuns, and lawful sexual
intercourse for heterosexual couples.

In another sutta Buddha taught: "Unlawful sexual intercourse,
committed, carried out, and often pursued, leads to hell, to the
animal world or the realm of ghosts.  Even the least result of
unlawful sexual intercourse brings man enmity with his rivals."

The law of cause & effect (when really believed in) does give one
a different motivation to be good than fear of, or love for, God.
Yet the effect is the same; a strict, pure, noble ideal to be
lived.  However intolerable this may be to the modern American;
Buddha, the Great Patron of Master M, KH and others of the
Tibetan branch of the Occult Brotherhood, taught a very sublime,
virtuous, conservative, ethical ideal.

A religion professor, Victor Hori, made the following comments
which apply equally to Theosophy: "Americans have turned to a
foreign religion like Buddhism only insofar as that religion
affirms American values...  using Buddhist labels for Western
concepts...  using Buddhism to reinforce Western notions of
morality and psychotherapy -- will ultimately co-opt Buddhism,
making it incapable of criticizing Western society." [Utne
Reader, Jan-Feb, page 16]

One of the reasons theosophical groups are so enfeebled today is
because they, for varied reasons, have put the practicing and
*teaching* of these ideal ethics in the closet.  Why? Because
they are not *popular today*, as if they ever had been, for that
matter.  HPB once mentioned that this era was not one overflowing
with "moral courage."