Buddhism view on LGBT - dignity
diversity & equality
Sharing by Kieran McCrystalKieran (who himself is a gay).
(From a talk given in 2015 at the Working Men's College in Camden, London)
Since the earliest recordings, Buddhism has rested on the fundamental principle of the dignity of life. Nichiren Buddhism asserts that no matter what circumstances we are in, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo brings our Buddha nature, or the dignity of our life, to the surface so we can see it and use it to affect our environment. Because everyone inherently possesses this Buddha nature, everyone is therefore a Buddha. Being a Buddha, then, is about what you make of life, how you create your own destiny. No one else, I believe, can do this for you.
I've come to understand that being a Buddha is about not being swayed in any way by external expectations. It's about developing conviction in who you are and having confidence that your life has purpose and value just as you are.
In Nichiren Buddhism there's no prescribed morality or code of conduct. Sexuality is not seen as an issue to judge, to debate or even to resolve. But for me it was. And I wanted to understand why I was gay. I came out at the age of 18, and many people were delighted and relieved and excited about my life. However, the insidious nature of homophobia had created hidden shackles of doubt and fear in the depths of my life. Although coming out was such an incredible experience of liberation, there were times when I was young that I didn't like being so noticeably different. Other people's observations of this difference reinforced the doubt and fear I had in my life.
Homophobia had in fact gripped my life from an early age, leaving me self-conscious. Because of this, when I started to practice Buddhism at the age of 23, somewhere in my naivety and ignorance was a belief that my frustrations in life and my anguish about being different and self-conscious could be solved if I wasn't gay, if I was straight—as if straight people don't have anguish and frustrations!
So at 23, as these hidden shackles began to surface and, against all my values, my hard-won struggle to come out and accept myself and establish myself as a gay person, I decided to chant to be straight.
The following three months were very hard and painful, mainly because I was so scared. I was scared that all I had come to understand and appreciate about my sexuality was in fact an illusion, a problem, that the messages I had received from my environment and, indeed, the world's leading philosophies were right. However, I had the most amazing experience.
In Buddhism we call this experience human revolution—an inner transformation, an alchemy of turning poison into medicine, dissolving the mistaken ideas and the patterns of thought and experience that make us suffer. For me, this human revolution was about facing my anger, doubt and fear as I chanted to reveal my enlightened nature. The more I chanted to become straight, the more I understood the profound concept of karma.
Our karma is the sum total of the causes and effects that have created our lives—who we are—to this point. Through my chanting I came to realize that karma has no value judgments attached to it. I realized that being gay was my karma, neither good nor bad, it just is. I got to a point beyond my doubt and was able to deeply grasp that this range of sexuality is a natural part of life and the human experience, and that is how my sexuality had manifested in this life.
I realized that my sexuality at the very least had purpose and value in developing my humanity and the humanity of others. I had turned my fear into conviction.
I believe enlightenment is simply those times in which we perceive a truth in life, and the truth I perceived about my sexuality enabled me to live with a conviction that I had not known before. Buddhism is about creating value with your own life as it is. It's incredibly liberating and gives us the responsibility to ensure that we live and become more truly who we are.
I'm glad that Buddhist scriptures don't write about sexuality because they would be forever open to misinterpretation. Every part of life has a positive aspect and judging one aspect as wholly negative is to deny the inherent potential in that experience and undermine the great inherent potential of our lives.
I don't think anyone's words would have ever penetrated my self-doubt. Of course this self-doubt is the fear that grips society. Laws that acknowledge the dignity of all people are important, and in my 20s and 30s I fought for the marriage and antidiscrimination laws that are now coming into play. But I believe that personal conviction and confidence are more important in the end, and it is these that can change our lives.
Nichiren famously wrote in his simple and profound way: "Each thing—the cherry, the plum, the peach, the damson—in its own entity, without undergoing any change, possesses the eternally endowed three bodies [of the Buddha]."
The SGI all over the world is filled with LGBT people who are bringing out their Buddha nature on a daily basis, proving the power of their humanity and fulfilling their unique purpose in life. In the message that he sent to the first SGI LGBT conference that was held in the US in 2001, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda said, "Please live your life with courage, wisdom and absolute conviction."
These words have stayed with me and continue to encourage me to this day.
PS:
Kieran McCrystal works as a counselor in a private practice in Harringay, London. He is the father of two wonderful daughters and has been practicing Nichiren Buddhism since 1986.
Sent from my iPhone
