Thich Nhat Hanh: On Homosexuality
Thich Nhat Hanh, the noted Zen monk, poet, teacher who is the inspiration behind Deer Park Monastery and the Plum Village tradition, shares these words about the Buddhadharma’s view of “homosexuality” in the latest book, ANSWERS FROM THE HEART.
excerpt from Thay’s new book Answers from the Heart
Q. What is the Buddhist view of homosexuality?
A.
The spirit of Buddhism is inclusiveness. Looking deeply into the nature
of a cloud, we see the cosmos. A flower is a flower, but if we look
deeply into it, we see the cosmos. Everything has a place. The base-the
foundation of everything-is the same. When you look at the ocean, you
see different kinds of waves, many sizes and shapes, but all the waves
have water as their foundation and substance. If you are born gay or
lesbian, your ground of being in the same as mine. We are different, but
we share the same ground of being. The Protestant theologian Paul Tillich
said that God is the ground of being. You should be yourself. If God
has created me as a rose, then I should accept myself as a rose. If you
are a lesbian, then be a lesbian. Looking deeply into your nature, you
will see yourself as you truly are. You will be able to touch the ground
of your being and find peace.
If
you’re a victim of discrimination, then your way to emancipation is not
simply by crying out against injustice. Injustice cannot be repaired by
recognition alone, but by your capacity to touch the ground of your
being. Discrimination, intolerance, and suppression stem from lack of
knowledge and lack of understanding. If you’re capable of touching the
ground of your being, you can be released from the suffering that has
been created in you through discrimination and oppression.
Someone
who discriminates against you, because of your race or the color of your
skin or your sexual orientation, is ignorant. He doesn’t know his own
ground of being. He doesn’t realize that we all share the same ground of
being; that is why he can discriminate against you.
Someone
who discriminates against others and causes them to suffer is someone
who is not happy with himself. Once you’ve touched the depth and the
nature of your ground of being, you’ll be equipped with the kind of
understanding that can give rise to compassion and tolerance, and you
will be capable of forgiving even those who discriminate against you.
Don’t believe that relief or justice will come through society alone.
True emancipation lies in your capacity to look deeply.
When you
suffer because of discrimination, there’s always an urge to speak out.
But even if you spend a thousand years speaking out, your suffering
won’t be relieved. Only through deep understanding and liberation from
ignorance can you be liberated from your suffering.
When you
break through to the truth, compassion springs up like a stream of
water. With that compassion, you can embrace even the people who have
persecuted you. When you’re motivated by desire to help those who are
victims of ignorance, only then are you free from your suffering and
feelings of violation. Don’t wait for things to change around you. You
have to practice liberating yourself. Then you will be equipped with the
power of compassion and understanding, the only kind of power that can
help transform an environment full of injustice and discrimination. You
have to become such a person-one who can embody tolerance,
understanding, and compassion. You transform yourself into an instrument
for social change and change in the collective consciousness of
mankind.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses To Life’s Burning Questions (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2009), 119-122.
