MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

How do GLBT folks fit into Buddhism?

A lesbian Buddhist friend recently asked me for tips on how to “fill the void” between Buddhists and lesbian and gay people when she gave a speech at a Buddhist conference.

Her impression was that the Buddhists had little connection to GLBT folks.  It's true that GLBT Buddhists are not as visible as gay, lesbian, bi and trans folks who follow Christ. 

GLBT Christians have had to come together and speak out because conservative Christians are directly attacking us, singling us out as the worst sinners, using the issue of homosexuality to raise money, etc.  It appears, at least within American Buddhism, that Buddhists are more tolerant about homosexuality.  However, reality is more complex. 

kd lang Comes Out Spiritually

The March issue of Shambhala Sun Magazine features Melvin McLeod's interview with kd lang about her Nyingma Buddhist practice with teacher, Lama Chodak Gyatso Nubpa , and her new album, Watershed: 

"The idea of watershed has a great deal of pertinence to becoming a Buddhist and following the path.  It seems to me that the flow of dharma - or the flow of one's own innate buddhanature - is like water.  There are obstacles, but eventually the water will find its way around them. 

"A change of direction happens when you take refuge and become a practitioner.  For me, it's been about reassessing, reviewing and reprioritizing everything in my life.  It's been about revitalizing my morality and my relationship to cause and effect, meaning what I do as a person - with my body, speech and mind - and how it affects all other beings.  Each song is about my relationship to something, and it's also about the cause and effect of each of those relationships."

Subscribe to Shambhala Sun Magazine.

Buy kd lang's Buddhist-inspired album, Watershed.

Jesus and Buddha on giving thanks

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I wondered what the great spiritual teachers such as Jesus and Buddha said about gratitude and giving thanks.

 The answer: Not much.

 Today’s popular wisdom urges people to “count your blessings,” a technique that never helped me much when I was down. Ignoring painful realities felt like denial, not healing.

Jesus and Buddha both seemed to take a different approach.  Buddha spoke of the Middle Way, where people could be free from both desire and aversion, no longer caught up in seeking and counting blessings.

Jesus himself often gave thanks to God. Otherwise he called attention to the behavior that he witnessed. For example, he healed ten lepers, including one Samaritan, a member of a despised ethnic group, perhaps similar to queer people today. Only one, the Samaritan, bothered to say thanks.

Jesus spoke to the bystanders. “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

To the leper he said, “Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:17-19)

Can’t relate to lepers? When I used a voice-recognition program to type the above scripture, it changed “clean” to “lean.” I smile when I imagine ten fat people made lean, a type of healing that’s much more familiar in America today.

Jesus seems to equate gratitude with faith. It’s an act of faith to give thanks as we navigate life’s vicissitudes, which Buddha identified as pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and dispute.

I’m grateful for the chance to try to walk the Middle Way with an attitude of gratitude this Thanksgiving Day. I also thank the people who build community by reading and commenting on this blog.
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PS: My two favorite resources on Buddhism are listed at the Jesus in Love Blog, where this essay is cross-posted.
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Kittredge Cherry is a lesbian author and minister who offers glbt spiritual resources at JesusInLove.org.

Ride the Kosmic Wave to Colin's Blog...

By Joe Perez

One of my favorite new (to me) queer spiritual blogs is Spirit Under Transsexual Cover, a blog by a surfer of Kosmic waves. According to Colin's Zaadz profile, he's a 36 year-old Gemini who lives in Portland, Oregon. A Truth seeker, spiritual explorer, and radically full being. He considers himself a transman (genetically XX with a deeeper resonsnace with the male side of the gender spectrum). Here's more from his profile:

I am currently exploring Buddhism (mainly Soto Zen, but Theravada and Tibetan, too), Vedanta and Yoga, as well as developmental and integral psychology. I see my future including an offering of myself and my experience as a psychotherapist and writer; graduate school is on the horizon. My life has been profoundly influenced by many things: living as a queer person in America, the writings and talks by Ken Wilber and Ram Dass, kirtan with Krishna Das and fluffy kittens. My spirit is fed by spreading love. I see each person as a unique flower, whether that flower is in full bloom or is wilting from the illusion of separation and all the related suffering.

Recent posts by the transman include an embedded musical post (by the artist Creed), quotes from the Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist sacred text on "The Chief Purpose of Being Incarnate", a great image post called "The Mirror of 2", a take on musician Bjork, a post on his suspicion of plastics, and insights from a holotropic breathwork seminar.

The longest reflection is "Integral Living: A Practical Guide to Remembering Joy and Resting in Equanimity," a notable contribution on the integration of depth psychology with Buddhist spiritual practice. But it's really not as heavy as that description sounds. Check it out for the insights into community, practical tips on forging a life that makes sense, and just for fun.

It's hard enough to be real and bring your light shining out in the real world. In some respects, it's even harder in the virtual world, where there is a great possibility to recoil in fear, shyness, and concern for privacy. Because he shares his light with others so that others can enjoy his special gifts, come what may, in my book that makes Colin one of our bright shining lights.

Gay Buddhists: on a distinctive spiritual path?

By Mark S. Ritzenhein

Many gay people feel alienated from their heritage faith because of the institutionalized homophobia which they find themselves faced with once they realize that they are gay. Thus, when they first approach Buddhism in a more committed manner, they initially and foremost want to know if they are walking through a revolving door to yet another situation where their wish to find fulfillment of their spiritual needs is poisoned by the same homophobic attitudes.

This fear may also rest in part upon unresolved matters of internal self-acceptance, brought about by a lifetime of negativity imposed by others. Barely-healed psychological wounds can be easily re-opened by finding the same cold water in one's hoped-for new harbor of refuge. Refuge is what prospective as well as practicing Buddhists are offered: "I go for Refuge in the Buddha; I go for refuge in the Dharma; I go for refuge in the Sangha."

bell hooks on activism

Feminist, Buddhist, author and teacher.  bell hooks (all lowercase) is all of these things and more.  In the latest Shambhala Sun (July 2006), a lengthy interview with her explores the connection between her Buddhist understanding of dharma and her views on shifting oppressive paradigms without succumbing to an either/or, "enemy"-centered fight.

She says, "I would like to bring the work of mindfulness and awareness to everyday struggles.  The most important field of activism, particularly for black people, is mental health.  Activisim does not need to be some kind of organized 'against' protest.  When my students say they want to change the world, I espouse an inward to outward movement.  If you feel that you can't do shit about your own reality, how can you really think you could change the world?  And guess what?  When you're f**-d up and you lead the revolution, you are probably going to get a pretty f**-ed up revolution."

My Prayer

A book that I'm reading, Work As A Spiritual Practice, opens with something that was familiar to me as soon as I saw it, but the way it was presented took me by surprise. What surprised me were some words that I have been using as a kind of mantra for years now.

It started after 9/11, when the time came for me to get back on a plane again, and I had to find a way to deal with the apprehension I was feeling. I remembered something I'd read by Buddhist author Sylvia Boorstein, who wrote about dealing with her own apprehension by silently repeating a mantra to herself:

Starting a new practice (Vipassana)

Yesterday, I finished reading a book called The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation As Taught by S. N. Goenka. And I'm planning to start beginner's meditation classes next week at SIMS. It's humbling to think of myself as a "beginner," but in all honesty I must say that I am.

Bush the Anti-Buddha?

I've been waiting for an article like this.

For a while now, I've been wondering just what—as a Buddhist—I should do with our about the rising anger I feel towards the Bush administration. I mean, it seems rather non-Buddhist, but how can one feel otherwise when looking at his policies and their consequences?

What Forgiveness Means

I'd been meaning to pick up Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be : Lessons on Change, Loss, and Spiritual Transformation, by Buddhist writer and teacher Lama Surya Das since it came up in my recommendations on Amazon. The title alone spoke to a lot of what I've been working lately; dealing with the aftermath of 30+ years of untreated ADD, and forgiving myself and others for a lot of the pain I've experience in the past.