The Church, Stem Cells and Our Future

When it comes to sex, there’s a lot of noise out there. Do it this way! Buy this! Try this! Do it more! Do it now! Do it today!

It’s a message we see and hear all around us. It makes you wonder what the real deal is. So, I thought I might take a step off the well-beaten path and look in an entirely new direction for some insight -- Eastern religion and philosophy. I wondered if I might be able to find a little quiet in the sex storm, and I did.

So, here it is. The top things we can learn about sex from the Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism and Shinto philosophies.

Zen Buddhism
Brad Warner, a Soto Zen priest and the author of several books, including “Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between,” defines Zen Buddhism as more of a meditative practice and less of a religion that seeks “to strip away all of the inessential rituals, costuming, and other trappings and get back down to basics.”

Here are two things Warner says we can learn from Buddhism about sex:
1) Sex isn’t such a big deal. Buddhism has a lighter approach than others. It says only that you shouldn’t misuse sexuality. Then it leaves it up to you to decide what constitutes misuse. But sex also is a very big deal. Buddhism doesn’t draw a line between body and mind. Even "casual sex" creates a deep connection. So, you don’t have to be committed for life to every partner. But you shouldn’t ignore the connection that’s made.

2) When it comes to sex, you don't need to get so attached. Attachment is a hard concept to deal with. The Buddhist ideal of non-attachment doesn't mean you have to stop loving the people you love or enjoying the things you like to do. It means to give up your mental attachment to the idea of how things ought to be and, instead, focus on how things really are.

Confucianism
What can we learn about sex from Confucianism?
1) Sex is good in moderation. Like everything in life we must maintain balance in our sexual affairs. We must abstain sometimes.
2) There must be harmony between desire and ritual.
3) Sex is not a necessity for human beings. In order to embrace our humanity and to survive, sex is not a must unlike just like food.
To abstain is to deny our natural hunger.

Here are three things Burris says we can learn from Taoism about sex.
1) Sex is a healthy practice that should energize and reinvigorate us rather than deplete us.