DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Is sex between an unmarried couple who are strongly committed to each other okay

**pesty4077** · 12-30-2010, 06:12 PM

My understanding of the admonitions about sex is that the Buddha recommended avoiding "illicit" or "improper" sex. What constitutes "illicit" or "improper" sex is relative to one's culture and social mores. It's not an absolute dictum, as we would find in the Abrahamic traditions. The sorts of illicit/improper sex acts that are near-universal include rape, adultery and the like.

In general, if you and/or the other person feels like you have to keep it a secret, lie about it, etc, it's probably not healthy.

The actual, physical sexual act isn't the real issue, anyway. It's attachment to pleasurable experiences that's the real problem. They distract one from one's pursuit of the highest attainment. It's possible to have sex without attachments or being obsessive about it. The body evolved to have sex. Whether it's with a partner or through masturbation, sex can be seen as simply 'body maintenance'. Nothing to get worked up about, nothing to get attached to, despite what advertising would have you do.

12-30-2010, 06:12 PM	#6
pesty4077 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 478 Senior Member	My understanding of the admonitions about sex is that the Buddha recommended avoiding "illicit" or "improper" sex. What constitutes "illicit" or "improper" sex is relative to one's culture and social mores. It's not an absolute dictum, as we would find in the Abrahamic traditions. The sorts of illicit/improper sex acts that are near-universal include rape, adultery and the like. In general, if you and/or the other person feels like you have to keep it a secret, lie about it, etc, it's probably not healthy. The actual, physical sexual act isn't the real issue, anyway. It's attachment to pleasurable experiences that's the real problem. They distract one from one's pursuit of the highest attainment. It's possible to have sex without attachments or being obsessive about it. The body evolved to have sex. Whether it's with a partner or through masturbation, sex can be seen as simply 'body maintenance'. Nothing to get worked up about, nothing to get attached to, despite what advertising would have you do.
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