Homosexuals and pandaka

Being gay doesn’t make one a paṇḍaka.

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Here is a quote from BMC1 You can decide, He does mention that this is drawn as controversial to mean homosexuals. In short, why is a pandaka “dangerous” for monks? It is because of the danger of sex. There have been real documented cases of homosexual monks causing problems with others monastics. .

Pandaka is usually translated as eunuch, but eunuchs are only one of five types of pandakas recognized by the Commentary to Mv.l.6l:

• 1) An asitta (literally, a “sprinkled one”) — a man whose sexual desire is allayed by performing fellatio on another man and bringing him to climax. (Some have read this as classing all homosexual males as pandakas, but there are two reasons for not accepting this interpretation: (a) It seems unlikely that many homosexuals would allay their sexual desire simply by bringing someone else to climax through oral sex; (b) other homosexual acts, even though they were known in ancient India, are not included under this type or under any of the types in this list.)

• 2) A voyeur — a man whose sexual desire is allayed by watching other people commit sexual indiscretions.

• 3) A eunuch — one who has been castrated.

• 4) A half-time pandaka — one who is a pandaka only during the waning moon. (! — The Sub-commentary’s discussion of this point shows that its author and his contemporaries were as unfamiliar with this type as we are today. Perhaps this was how bisexuals were understood in ancient times.)

• 5) A neuter — a person born without sexual organs.

This passage in the Commentary further states that the last three types cannot take the Going-forth, while the first two can (although it also quotes from the KurundT that the half-time pandaka is forbidden from going-forth only during the waning moon (!).) As for the prohibition in Mv.1.61, that pandakas cannot receive full ordination, the Commentary states that that refers only to those who cannot take the Going-forth.

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