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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Buddhist approach to political conflicts and peace development

Buddhist approach to political conflicts and peace development

In a world that is torn by political strife, tension and conflicts the only ray of hope for its solutions clearly rests on the noble doctrine of the Buddha. What are the key elements in Buddhism that could pave the way for elimination of conflicts and result in peace development?

1. Maithree and Karunawa which means Boundless compassion and loving kindness. These two principles strongly bring out the mutual feelings that one should cultivate towards fellow beings so that there will be no hatred and envy towards others, leading to peaceful negotiation and solutions.

2. Right thinking, right understanding and right thoughts will further cement the above process to peace and goodwill among fellow beings.

3. Right livelihood, right effort and right action will prevent most of the disasters that humanity has to face now.

4. In short the noble eight fold path if understood correctly and practised with a clear vision will help to solve most of the problems and conflicts that are ending up in warfare and bloodshed in this world today.

In our Buddhist circle we genuinely believe in toleration and compromise, that human beings have the same feelings that we should not do to others, what we will not like others to do to us. The unshakeable law of Karma if understood properly will deter people from committing evil deeds and actions. They will then want to be good and do good.

The law of Karma will make people understand that what we sow, we will certainly have to reap.

If the principles and precepts of Buddhism are practised-such as the Pancha Sila and people realize the four noble truths, most of these crimes and terror activities will diminish.

There will be peace on earth and this world will be a better place to live in. Our present Politicians in particular should be made to realize and understand this and act accordingly and refrain from greed and evil and do what is good, which is the teaching of all Buddhas.

Buddha’s first visit to relatives

Buddha’s first visit to relatives

Many important, significant events relative to the life and times of the Enlightened One took place on Medin Full Moon Day. Therefore, Buddhists pay homage to the Noble Triple Gem and the devotees on this day, engage themselves, in various religious activities such as Dana – Seela and Bhavana, or meditation.

This Full Moon Medin Poya is an important day in the Buddhist calendar as this was the first occasion after Prince Siddhartha Gautama left the royal palace, he visited Kimbulwathpura, the kingdom of His beloved father King Suddhodana.

The Blessed One visited city of Kimbulwathpura, seven years after the attainment of Buddhahood. Buddha’s visit to Kimubulwathpura was a moving tale.

King Suddodhana was longing to see his beloved son – Prince Siddhartha, who was his heir-apparent. He heard the happy news that his son had attained Buddhahood and was preaching His doctrine and philosophy at Veluwanaramaya, a far distance way at city of Rajagaha.

King Suddhodana sent diplomats, emissaries, envoys with a retinue of 1,000 each to invite the Enlightened One to visit Kapilavastu.

However, to the disappointment of King Suddodhana, envoys never returned. On nine occasions he sent his diplomats and envoys, they failed in their mission in inviting the Buddha to his city of Kimbulawath. King never gave up. Later, he heard all the delegates who went to invite Buddha to Kimbulwathpura, entered the Buddhist Order.

As a last resort, King Suddodhana sent his Minister Kaludai, a play-mate of Prince Siddhartha to carry out the mission impossible. Kaludai agreed to invite The Buddha to visit Kimbulwathpura, provided he was granted permission to enter the Order of Buddha Sasana.

After entering the Order, Kaludai, attained Arahatship.

In few days, Monk Kaludai conveyed the message of the King Suddodhana. He persuaded the Blessed One to visit his age old father, Princess Yasodhara, all his relatives and kinsmen at Kimbulwathpura.

The rainy season ended. The environment was fantastic and serene. Flowers bloomed. The Blessed One accepted his father’s invitation through Kaludai with nearly 20,000 monks, started the long journey (a distance of 60 yoduns) and reached Kimbulwathpura after couple of months.

The King Suddodhana, Ministers made arrangements to welcome Siddhartha Gautama Buddha and made arrangements to construct an Aramaya or Temple for the Buddha and his retinue to stay at the Park Nigrodha, named Temple of Nigrodha or Nigrodaramaya.

Although the proud, blue-blooded haughty kinsmen of the Sakya clan received the Blessed One, they were not prepared to worship or venerate the Buddha and the Missionaries.

Buddha, with his Divine Eye, realized what the Sakyans contemplated. To dispel this arrogance, hautiness and their proud attitude, Buddha sprang up to the sky and performed a miracle, known as ‘Twin Miracle’ or Yamamahapelahara. When really necessary only, the Blessed One, performed ‘miracles’.

The Enlightened One possessed the miraculous power to cause a stream of fire to issue from one part of the body and stream of water from the other part of His body together from the eyes and nostrils. This was a result of his accomplishment of Thejokasina and Apokasina.

Seeing this miracle, King Suddodhana worshipped the Blessed One. Then, all other Sakyans followed suit. The Buddha in his sermon, explained the Vessantara Jatakaya to the king.

As no one invited The Buddha for alms (lunch), The Buddha went round from house to house, begging for alms. King Suddodhana was very upset.

he spoke to The Buddha and stated, “You belong to Royalty. It is a disgrace for Sakyan clan to beg for alms in the street.”

The Blessed One replied, “Oh king, you belong to Sakya or Royal lineage. I belong to Buddha clan and lineage. It is customary for Buddhas to go begging for alms.”

the Buddha’s visit to Kapilavastu marks Medin Poya

the Buddha’s visit to Kapilavastu marks Medin Poya

By Gamini Jayasinghe

Medin Full Moon Poya Day and the month of Medin is of special significance because of a number of incidents have taken place on this day and those taking place at present during the month of Medin.

It was nine months after the Enlightenment or on the first Medin Full moon day after the Enlightenment that Gauthama Buddha visited the “Sakya Desha” in Kimbulwath Pura or Kapilavastu Pura - the kingdom of King Suddhodhana. For Sri Lankans this day is important also because it is the climax in the peak period of Sri Pada pilgrims.

King Suddhodhana
invites Buddha

King Suddhodhana’s kingdom was Kapilavastu which is the place known as Bihar; Piprahwa today. The King did not believe anyone who brought the news that his son had died on the contention that Sakyans do not die before the maximum span of life. After six long years the king heard the news that his son had attained Buddhahood and was preaching His doctrine at Rajagaha Nuwara, Veluvanaramaya.

King Suddhodhana who was longing to see his son sent one of his ministers as an envoy to invite the Buddha to proceed to Kapilavastu. The king got his people to construct Nigrodharamaya at the garden of Sakyan named Nigrodha in Kapilavastu Pura for the Buddha and His disciples. The King was waiting anxiously to see his son but to his disappointment the messengers had entered priesthood having heard Dharma and had not conveyed the message. On nine occasions the king sent nine ministers each with one thousand followers to invite Buddha to visit Kapilavastupura but all efforts made were of no avail because all of them had followed suit and the message had not been conveyed to the Buddha by any one of them.

At last the king summoned his most trustworthy minister, Kaludai and requested him to appease his anxiety some how or other.

Minister Kaludai undertook to invite Buddha to visit Kapilavastupura on condition that the king would allow him to become an ascetic under the Great Being who had conquered the world. The king granted him permission to enter the priesthood and Minister Kaludai has gone to Veluwaramaya, entered priesthood with his followers exactly as his predecessors did and attained Arahantship before long having listened to Dharma from Buddha.

‘Elder Sakyans’ reluctance and ‘Yama Maha Pelahara’

Sakyans who went forward to receive the Enlightened One took Him in a procession. Young Sakyans worshipped the Omniscient One but elders who walked behind did not venerate Him as they thought it was not proper when taking the age factor into consideration.

In order to dispel the arrogance of Sakyans Buddha performed the ‘Yama Maha Pelahara’ - the twin miracle, the power said to have been possessed by the Buddha to cause a stream of fire to issue from one part of His body and a stream of water from another at the same time, which is a power to issue such streams together from eyes, ears and nostrils which was the result of His having accomplished ‘Thejokasina’ and ‘Apokasina’.

This is the second occasion when the Buddha performed ‘Yama Maha Pelahara’. All the Sakyans including King Suddhodhana worshipped the Enlightened One having been astonished and took refuge in ‘Thun Sarana’ - Buddha, His doctrine ‘Dharma’ and His priests ‘Sangha’.

Buddha preached ‘Wessanthara Jathakaya’ to show how He had renounced worldly pleasures and possessions in His previous births too.

Buddha goes begging

for food

Since no one had invited Him for Dana on the following morning Buddha went from house to house in the streets of Kapilavastupura with His disciples begging for food.

King Suddhodhana being deeply moved by what had happened rushed to Buddha and having bowed down before Him inquired why He was insulting him in such a manner.

King Suddhodhana attains Sowan and Sakurdhagami
“Members of Royal families never beg for food,” the king said. The Buddha said that begging for food was the custom of the ‘Buddha Wansaya’ - Buddha lineage and standing in the street the Buddha advised the King, “Be alert, be not heedless, and lead a righteous life. The righteous live happily both in this world and in the next.”

The king realized the Truth and attained Sowan, the first stage of Sainthood.

He took the Buddha’s bowl and conducted Him and His disciples to the palace and served them all with food.

After the meal the Buddha preached the Dharma thus:-

“Lead a righteous life, and not one that is corrupt. The righteous live happily both in this world and in the next”

Thereupon the King attained Sakadagami – once returner, the second stage of Sainthood, and Maha Prajapathi Gothami attained “Sowan” the first stage of Sainthood. On a later occasion the Buddha preached Maha Dharmapala Jathakaya to explain matters.

The king attained Anagami – Never returner, the third stage of Sainthood. On his death bed the king heard Dharma from the Buddha for the last time and attained Arahantship.

Yasodhara’s

reverence to the Buddha
When the Buddha visited King Sudddhodhana’s palace all the members in the royal family except princes Yasodhara came to pay reverence to the Enlightened One. Princess Yasodhara remained in her compartment thinking that the Blessed One would visit her if there was any virtue in her.

The Buddha handed His bowl to the King and entered the apartment of princess Yasodhara accompanied by His chief disciples.

The Enlightened One and the two chief disciples sat on the seats already prepared for them by princess Yasodhara. The Enlightened One said that the King’s daughter could pay reverence to the Buddha in a manner she wished. Thereupon princess Yasodhara bent down, clasped the feet of the Enlightened One, placed her head on His feet and reverenced Him in the manner she liked.

The King told the Buddha that princess Yasodhara responded when she heard that Bodhisatva was leading a rough life. He said that the princess had started wearing yellow robes and resorted to a single meal a day.

“She had given up lofty couches, garlands and scents and did not respond to the message sent inviting her to her parental relatives,” the King said. Buddha cited the Candakinnara Jataka to explain how she protected the Bodhisatva in a previous birth.

Queen Prajapathi
After the passing away of King Suddhodhana Queen Prajapathi Gothami became a Bhikkhuni. Princess Yasodhara too entered the Order and later attained Arahantship.

Prince Nanda

The second day after Buddha’s visit to Kapilavastupura was an auspicious day for Queen Maha Prajapathi Gothami’s son, Prince Nanda. It was his wedding day, the house warming day.

Prince Nanda received Him most respectfully and offered Him Dana. After Dana the Enlightened One gave His bowl to Nanda and proceeded to the Viharaya. On the way Buddha made prince Nanda to realize that all worldly pleasures are temporary.

Buddha inquired from him whether he was agreeable to enter the priesthood. The affection and devotion he had towards Buddha were such that his obedience to Buddha superseded all his other needs and expectations. Prince Nanda gave his consent to enter the priesthood.

Esahi Tuyha Pita Nara Siho
“Esahi Tuyha Pita Nara Siho” There goes your father, “Nara Siho” hero, the eminent person. Go and ask for your share of inheritance” She said. Seven year old prince Rahula went after the Enlightened One, begging for endowment. The Omniscient One gave prince Rahula the greatest wealth, the clerical or religious endowment.

Prince Rahula was ordained by Arahant Sariputta. Arahant Moggalyana shaved his hair and enrobed him. Arahant Maha Kassapa was his preceptor.

Ordaining
When prince Siddhartha left the palace and went in search of the Truth King Suddhodhana was moved but he consoled himself thinking that his second son, Prince Nanda and his grand son, prince Rahula were with him.

However, when both of them left he could not bear the pain although he had already attained Sakurdagami. He did not want any other person to suffer that pain and made a request from Buddha not to ordain young ones without the consent of parents or guardians.

The Buddha accepted the fair and reasonable request of King Suddhodhana and instituted a precept not to ordain a young person without the consent of parents or guardians.

Meditation: Heart of Buddhism

Meditation: Heart of Buddhism

http://www.dailynews.lk

Part I

I want to talk in depth today about the nature of Buddhism. Very often I read in newspapers and books some strange things that are presented as Buddhism. So here, I will point out the heart of the real Buddhist teaching, not as a theory but as an experience.

What is not the heart of Buddhism

Psychotherapy. I know that some people still think Buddhism is some form of psychotherapy, some way of applying wise attitudes or skilful means in order to live more at peace in this world. Indeed, in the rich storehouse of Buddhist teachings there are many things which do help people to live life with less problems.

Using wise attitudes and compassionate intentions, Buddhism teaches an effective way of dealing with the problems of the world. When these Buddhist methods actually work, they give people faith and confidence that there really is something in this Buddhist path which is valuable to them.

I often reflect on why people come here to the Buddhist Society on a Friday evening. It’s because they get something out of this. What they get out of these teachings is a more peaceful life style, a happier feeling toward themselves and more acceptance of other beings.

It is in that sense a therapy for the problems of life, and it does actually work. However that’s not what Buddhism really is, that’s only one of its side affects.

Philosophy

Some people come across Buddhism and they find it’s a marvelous philosophy. They can sit around the coffee table after I’ve given a talk and they can talk for hours and still not be close to enlightenment. Very often people can discuss very high-minded things; their brains can talk about and think about such sublime subjects.

Then they go out and swear at the first car that pulls out in front of them on the way home. They lose it all straight away.

Ritual. Or instead of looking at Buddhism as a philosophy, many people look at it as a religion. The rituals of Buddhism are meaningful, and they shouldn’t be discarded just because one thinks one is above ritual.

I know people are sometimes very proud, arrogant even, and think they don’t need any rituals. But the truth of the matter is that rituals do have a psychological potency.

For example, it is useful in society when two people are going to live together that they go through some sort of marriage ceremony. Because in that ceremony there is something that happens to the mind, something that happens to the heart.

There is a commitment made deep inside which echoes with the knowledge that something important has happened.

In the ceremonies and rituals of death, all of those rites of chanting, reflection and kind words actually have a meaning for the people involved. It does help them to come to accept with grace the passing of a loved one.

It helps them acknowledge the truth of what’s happened, that a final separation from that person has occurred. And in that acceptance they come to peace.

In the same way, at our monastery, in order to forgive another person and to let go of past hurt, a ceremony of forgiveness is often used. In the Catholic Church they have the ceremony of confession.

The precise details of a forgiveness ceremony don’t really matter, but what is important is that forgiveness is given, by some physical means through some ritual or ceremony.

If you just say, “Oh I’m sorry”, isn’t that a lot different from also giving a present, or a bunch of flowers? Or isn’t it different from going up to them and saying “look, what I did the other day was really unforgivable, but come out to dinner with me this evening”, or “here have a couple of tickets to the theatre”? It is much deeper and more effective when you weave a beautiful ceremony around forgiveness rather than just muttering a few words.

Even the ritual of bowing to a Buddha has a great meaning. It’s an act of humility. It’s saying I’m not enlightened and yet there is something that is beyond me which I am aspiring towards.

It’s the same humility that a person has when they go to school, or university and they acknowledge that the lecturers and the professors know more than they do. If you argue with professors when you go to university, are you going to learn anything? Humility is not subservience, which denies the worth of yourself, But humility is that which respects the different qualities in people.

Sometimes the act of bowing, if it’s done mindfully, is a ceremony, a ritual that can generate a great sense of joy. As a monk many people bow to me, and I bow to many others. There is always someone that you have to bow to no matter how senior you are. At the very least there is always the Buddha to bow down to.

I enjoy bowing. When there is a monk who is senior to me, bowing is a beautiful way of overcoming ego and judging, especially when I must bow to a really rotten monk (the good monks are easy to bow to).

This is a ritual which if done in the right way can produce so many benefits. At the very least, as I tell people at the monastery, if you do a lot of bowing it strengthens your stomach muscles and you don’t look fat! But it’s more than that.

So these Buddhist rituals are useful, but Buddhism is much more than that.

Meditation and enlightenment

When you ask what Buddhism really is, it’s a hard question to answer in a few words. You have to come back to this process of meditation because there is the crux, the fulcrum of Buddhism, the heart of Buddhism.

As everybody who has ever come across the Buddhist teachings would know, the Buddha was a man who became enlightened while meditating under a tree. A few minutes ago you were doing the same meditation for half an hour! Why where you not enlightened?

That enlightenment of the Buddha was actually what created this religion of Buddhism. It is its meaning, it is its centre. Buddhism is all about enlightenment; not just about living a healthy life, or a happy life, or learning to be wise and saying smart things to your friends around the coffee table. Again Buddhism is all about this enlightenment.

First of all you have to get some feeling or indication of what enlightenment actually is. Sometimes people come up to me and say “I’m enlightened”, and I sometimes get letters from people saying “thank you for your teachings, please know that I am enlightened now”.

And sometimes I hear other people say of teachers or gurus “Oh Yeah, they are certainly enlightened” without really knowing what that means.

The word enlightenment stands for some opening of wisdom, some understanding which stops all suffering. The person who hasn’t abandoned all suffering is never enlightened. The fact that a person still suffers means that they are yet to abandon all their attachments.

The person who is still worried about their possessions, who still cries at the death of a loved one, who is still angry, and who is still enjoying the pleasures of the senses like sex, they are not enlightened. Enlightenment is something beyond and free from all that.

Sometimes when a monk talks like this he can very easily put people off. Monks seem like “wowsers”, as they say in Australia. They don’t go to the movies, don’t have any sex, don’t have any relationships, don’t go on holidays, don’t have any pleasures.

What a bunch of wowsers! But the interesting thing which many people notice, is that some of the most peaceful and happy people you meet are the monks and nuns who come and sit here on a Friday evening and give the talks.

Monks are quite different from wowsers, and the reason is that there is another happiness which the monks know and which the Buddha has pointed out to them. Each one of you can sense that same happiness when your meditation starts to take off.

Letting go

The Buddha taught that it is attachment that causes suffering and letting go is the cause for happiness and the way to enlightenment. Letting go! So often people have asked how do you let go? What they really mean is, why do you let go?

It’s a difficult question to answer and it will never be answered in words. Instead I answer that question by saying “Now is the time to meditate, cross your legs, be in the present moment,” because this is teaching people what letting go is all about. Moreover, the final moments of the meditation are the most important. Please always remember this. In the last few minutes ask yourself:

“How do I feel?”

“What is this like and why?”

“How did this come about?”

People meditate because it’s fun, it’s enjoyable. They don’t meditate to “get something out of it,” even though when you meditate there are a lot of good benefits to be had such as health benefits or reducing stress in your life. Through meditation you become less intolerant, less angry. But there is something more to it than that - it’s just the sheer fun of it! When I was a young monk that’s what made me become a Buddhist.

It was inspiring to read the books but that was not good enough. It was when I meditated and became peaceful, very peaceful, incredibly peaceful, that something told me that this was the most profound experience of my life. I wanted to experience this again.

I wanted to investigate it more. Why? Because one deep experience of meditation is worth a thousand talks, or arguments, or books, or theories. The things you read in books are other people’s experiences, they are not your own.

They’re words and they might inspire, but the actual experience itself is truly moving. It’s truly earth shattering because it shatters that which you’ve rested on for such a long time. By inclining along this path of meditation you’re actually learning what letting go really is.

Acknowledge, forgive and let go (AFL)

For those of you who have difficulty meditating, it’s because you haven’t learned to let go yet in the meditation. Why can’t we let go of simple things like past and future? Why are we so concerned with what someone else did to us or said to us today? The more you think about it, the more stupid it is.

You know the old saying, “When someone calls you an idiot, the more times you remember it, the more times they’ve called you an idiot!” If you let it go immediately, you will never think about it again.

They only called you an idiot at most once. It’s gone! It’s finished. You’re free.

Why is it that we imprison ourselves with our past? Why can’t we even let that go? Do you really want to be free? Then acknowledge, forgive and let go, what I call in Australia the “AFL Code” - Acknowledge, forgive, and let go of whatever has hurt you, whether it’s something that somebody has done or said, or whether it’s what life has done. For instance, someone has died in your family and you argue with yourself that they shouldn’t have died.

Or you’ve lost your job and you think without stop that that shouldn’t have happened. Or simply something has gone wrong and you are obsessed that it’s not fair. You can crucify yourself on a cross of your own making for the rest of your life if you want to; but no one is forcing you to.

Instead you can acknowledge forgive and learn in the forgiving. The letting go is in the learning. The letting go gives the future a freedom to flow easily, unchained to the past. I was talking to some people recently about the Cambodian community here in Perth and, being a Buddhist community, I have had much to do with them.

Like any traditional Buddhists, when they have a problem they come and speak to the monks. This is what they have done for centuries.

The monastery and the monks are the social centre, the religious centre, and the counselling centre of the community. When men have arguments with their wives they come to the monastery.

Once when I was a young monk in Thailand, a man came into the monastery and asked me “Can I stay in the monastery for a few days?”.

I thought he wanted to meditate, so I said “Oh you want to meditate?” “Oh no”, he said “the reason I want to come to the monastery is because I’ve had an argument with my wife.”

So he stayed in the monastery. Three or four days later he came up to me and said, “I feel better now, can I go home”.

What a wise thing that was. Instead of going to the bar and getting drunk, instead of going to his mates and telling them all the rotten things that he thought his wife had done thereby reinforcing his ill will and resentment, he went to stay with a group of monks who didn’t say anything about his wife, who were just kind and peaceful.

He thought about what he had been doing in that peaceful, supportive environment, and after a while he felt much better. This is what a monastery sometimes is: it’s the counselling centre, the refuge, the place where people come to let go of their problems.

Isn’t that better than lingering on the past, especially when we are angry at something that has happened?

Need sex, don't want it

Need sex, don't want it



article_image

Buddhism, bioethics and society


by prof. Suwanda H.Sugunasiri


Sex is natural and functional, like eating or sleeping, the Buddha would say. From that point of view, a sexual relationship may be explained away as simply two consenting adults giving in to a basic human drive. But the Buddha also makes a distinction between sex as need and sex as want. If sex as need is what keeps the human (or animal) race going, sex as want is what he explains as passion, one of three desires (or tanha) of sentience that keeps each one of us going in the life cycle.


In that light, a sexual act originating in want becomes more than a mere act. "Intent I say is action," says the Buddha. So first of all, sex comes to have karmic consequences, in this life or another, for both man and woman. It can come to be desire leading to more desire or insatiable desire.


If the relationship occurs in the context of a workplace, it comes to be problematic in other ways, too. For starters, there is always the possibility of the partner’s own work performance being affected. Possibly, their professionalism may also be compromised. This is why business and industry discourage, or take a serious view of, such relationships.


The relationship may involve unequal partners – say a religious person and congregant, health professional and patient, teacher and pupil, politician and assistant, etc. Then there are other social implications such as abuse of power and the violation of a public trust.


Now if the relationship in that public domain is an extramarital one on the part of one or both partners, then the results may be catastrophic!


First, of course, is the issue of public morality – the example set by people in positions of public accountability. But from a spiritual point of view, the personal morality is surely equally problematic. One has to live with oneself or one’s God.


What if, in a relationship developed in a public context, things go sour and one partner’s "no" does not mean "no" to the other?


A sign at a Queen’s University protest a few years ago read, "Which part of no don’t you understand?" One might ask the same question of such a person. But would there be a basis for a charge of sexual harassment under criminal law as well?


Now if nary an interest had ever been shown by the offended in a relationship, then, of course, the answer would be clear. It would indeed constitute harassment.


But if the offended had agreed to sex at all, then there is what in Buddhism would be called a "supportive" condition, i.e., encouraging a behaviour (remembering the obvious that without a partner, there would have been no sex).


Sexual passion being the drive it is, and the human being not being a machine, a tap opened is a tap not easily shut off – desire leading to desire. The cells store the pleasure in the memory, and indeed a "no" may even heighten the desire.


"No" after "yes" is, then, not the same as "no" before "yes."


So to speak just in terms of harassment and to ask for the head of an offender would be to go for cold revenge, not justice. It would be worse if no accountability were asked of the offended partner.


The more reasonable and humane expectation would be for both partners to recognize their own contribution to the problem and remove themselves from the environment in which the act flourished.


The responsibility of society would be to insist that both stop pointing fingers or seeking redress, holding both accountable for their behaviour. Not to do this is to send a wrong signal to society, particularly teenagers, that if you can get another in trouble and take revenge, you don’t have to take on responsibility.


To allow for a balanced view, by contrast, is to strengthen the foundations of a just society where both women and men begin to treat each other with respect and compassion.


Let us hope that while we continue to think of sex as a healthy need, we will also think through the ramifications of sex as want, at both the personal and the public levels.


(Prof. Suwanda H J Sugunasiri, MA, MA, MEd, PhD is the Founder Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies, Adjunct Professor, Trinity College, University of Toronto and a former US Fulbright Scholar. This essay appeared in his publication Embryo As Person)


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