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I heard it is healthy to masturbate once a day, what would most Buddhists say about this?

BeachHouseGuyBeachHouseGuy
edited June 2011 in General Banter
;)

Comments

  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    Masturbation is only prohibited to monks. This is a pretty trivial matter to most practitioners, I think, unless it leads to attachment or compulsive behavior, or becomes disruptive to one's life, like an addiction.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited June 2011
    This is more often seen as a problem by guys who perceive it as an addiction, hindrance and obstacle to offloading attachments.
    men also seem to struggle with the issue of watching porn.

    I wouldn't worry about it @girllikesam, this is a question addressed far more by guys than ladies, and doesn't seem to be such an issue with females.

    In fact, it's highly unusual to see the question asked by a lady.

    Always assuming of course, that you are female.
    Which as ever, behind a forum name, is neither obvious or evident.

    (Canada, eh....? ;) )

  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited June 2011
    This is a great question!
    I have no clue!
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Mastubation is healthy and fun, but lonely.

    And masturbation might be officially prohibited for monks, but if you think the young men aren't sneaking off to the toilet or behind the bushes once in a while, you don't understand human nature.
  • BuckyGBuckyG
    Hi girllikesam
    Once a day? No more? No less? Where did you hear that? :buck:
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I stopped for awhile and had pain. Seriously. I thought it was an epididymidus which is a twisting of the semenifrous tubule and can cause loss of life. The doctor examined me and they did a ultrasound.

    The doctor told me that masturbation could help and I haven't had the pain return. :)
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    If once a day is good, six times a day must be fantastic! Go for it! :)
  • BuckyGBuckyG
    edited June 2011
    Mastubation is healthy and fun, but lonely.
    :lol:
    And masturbation might be officially prohibited for monks, but if you think the young men aren't sneaking off to the toilet or behind the bushes once in a while, you don't understand human nature.
    it's different from man to man, but if you refrain long enough "nature" will eventually "provide" ejaculation dreams and release of excess seminal vesicle fluid through urine
    :buck:
  • BeachHouseGuyBeachHouseGuy
    I'm 23 and have never had a wet dream, is that normal?
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    I'm 23 and have never had a wet dream, is that normal?
    It depends on whether you're male or female. I'd say in either case however, wet dreams are perfectly normal, as is the lack of them. No law says you have to have them :)
  • BeachHouseGuyBeachHouseGuy
    splennnndid
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Mastubation is healthy and fun, but lonely.
    :lol:
    And masturbation might be officially prohibited for monks, but if you think the young men aren't sneaking off to the toilet or behind the bushes once in a while, you don't understand human nature.
    it's different from man to man, but if you refrain long enough "nature" will eventually "provide" ejaculation dreams and release of excess seminal vesicle fluid through urine
    :buck:
    That is really interesting!
    Any more information on this?
    I'm trying to stop masturbation and just have sex with my girlfriend.
  • BuckyGBuckyG
    That only happens with total abstinence from auto ejaculation. It also depends on your physiology and what your body's used to. :buck:
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I'm 23 and have never had a wet dream, is that normal?
    Ah as I suspected.

    you ARE a male....



  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Mastubation is healthy and fun, but lonely.
    :lol:
    And masturbation might be officially prohibited for monks, but if you think the young men aren't sneaking off to the toilet or behind the bushes once in a while, you don't understand human nature.
    it's different from man to man, but if you refrain long enough "nature" will eventually "provide" ejaculation dreams and release of excess seminal vesicle fluid through urine
    :buck:
    I've always thought Nocturnal Emission would be a cool name for a grunge band.

    But it's not the same thing as a toe curling orgasm, you know that. The Urge to Merge is such an ingrained part of us, it's one reason why I dislike the practice of sticking children or even teenagers in robes, calling them monks and telling them they aren't allowed to have an orgasm in their entire life.

    But I digress. Yes, there have to be rules. I'm not saying the temple bedrooms should be full of people shacking up together, or the place would eventually become full of emotions twisted into all sorts of knots. I'm just saying that even monks are just people, sex is a driving force in all our lives, and even with all the cold showers in the world, it's gonna happen.
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    women can have wet dreams too...

    both sex and abstinence are misused; it helps being aware of everything so that no unwise actions are made.
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    edited June 2011

    And masturbation might be officially prohibited for monks, but if you think the young men aren't sneaking off to the toilet or behind the bushes once in a while, you don't understand human nature.
    Does this mean the Buddha didn't understand human nature? The Vinaya are full of all kinds of detailed prohibitions in that regard. It seems that whenever the Buddha came up with a rule, the monks found a loophole, so he had to spend a fair amount of time closing loopholes.
    I dislike the practice of sticking children or even teenagers in robes, calling them monks and telling them they aren't allowed to have an orgasm in their entire life.
    I'm just saying that even monks are just people, sex is a driving force in all our lives, and even with all the cold showers in the world, it's gonna happen.
    Maybe this is why tantric Buddhism is popular? The only catch is that they're not allowed to ejaculate with the orgasm. And in Japan, the Zen "monks" are allowed to marry. I'm not sure how that helps them overcome attachments, though. Still, calling children "monks" or renunciates makes no sense.

  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Many scholars doubt that the Buddha actually set down hundreds of picky rules for the temple monks, since they didn't have temples in his lifetime. Considering everything had to be memorized and was only put down on paper much later, it's even harder to think these picky rules actually came from his mouth.

    According to the ancient writings, Buddha had his problems with his followers bickering and being jealous and coming up with their own ideas of what the Dharma should be, so even knowing all about human nature doesn't mean it's easy to keep a bunch of opinionated, passionate people in line. The rules he and his early disciples did live by were pretty simple. Also, being a disciple or monk isn't necessarily something you're stuck doing for life, or shouldn't be. Even today, people can put on the robes and later go back to having a family and job.

  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    An ex-monk in the Tibetan tradition told me monks are allowed three times in their "career" to give back their robes to take a year off to let off some steam. If they do intend to stay in the monkhood for life.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    compassionate warrior. It depends how you define attachment. What do you understand an attachment to be? How do you identify whether something is an attachment? Can you tell from your own experience internally if it is an attachment or do you have to consult a list to check off whether the activity you are doing is an attachment or not. Examples: picking bellybutton lint, washing hands because I touched a lightswitch, rubbing nose, eating crackers, watching television, doing a line of coke, calling mother, staying glued to forum, etc..

    Do you know whether these things are attachments by consulting a list which identifies which activities are attachment? That would be to say we can define what is and isn't attachment?

    Alternatively what do you think attachment is?

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Pema chodron is giving a teaching called shenpa in which shenpa is the tendency to get hooked. We can feel it I think. Shen means 'other' and pa means 'protect' though I am not sure if we can add it up to make a translation.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited June 2011
    I dislike the practice of sticking children or even teenagers in robes, calling them monks and telling them they aren't allowed to have an orgasm in their entire life.
    I'm just saying that even monks are just people, sex is a driving force in all our lives, and even with all the cold showers in the world, it's gonna happen.
    Yeah, we know. That's one reason why scandals happen. I think monkhood should be a choice made in adulthood by people who feel a calling to it. The size of the monasteries would shrink, but the quality of the practitioners would improve. But we digress.

  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    compassionate warrior. It depends how you define attachment. What do you understand an attachment to be? How do you identify whether something is an attachment? Can you tell from your own experience internally if it is an attachment or do you have to consult a list to check off whether the activity you are doing is an attachment or not.
    ?? Jeffrey, is this in reference to what I said about Zen monks getting married, and "I'm not sure how that helps them overcome attachments"? Usually practitioners know when they're attached to something, if they're mindful and honest. Marriage, sexual relations (non-tantric) are said to foster attachment, according to HHDL and others. That's all that comment was about. Although it's said that during the Buddha's time, some householders did reach enlightenment. Whether or not householders (and married monks) can reach Enlightenment would be a subject for another thread. And a good one, I might add.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited June 2011
    compassionate warrior,

    I think what I was trying to say is that the teachings are guides. Only you can say what is and isn't an attachment. This is why you cannot read a book saying that heroin is bad for you and then break your heroin addiction. Like the army, "be all that you can be....be a buddha"

    If you simply remove all the sense pleasures that does not liberate. That is the extreme of ascetism. Buddha taught the middle way. The middle way is not other from where we are right now. Only in our ideation is there total divorcement from pleasure or total attainment of pleasure.
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