How do Buddhist monks resist sexual temptation?
A while ago, I wrote about how Buddhist monks handle insults, inspired by instructions in Manual of Insight by Mahasi Sayadaw (July 29, 1904–August 14, 1982).
The same manual has information about how Buddhist monks resist sexual temptation. There are four kinds of morality for Buddhist monks: observing monastic precepts, pursuing a pure livelihood, wisely using requisites, and carefully restraining the senses. The latter, carefully restraining the senses, is one of the ways how Buddhist monks control sexual urges. Mahasi Sayadaw writes:
The mental defilements of [sexual] craving and so on often result from paying close attention to the face and limbs of the opposite sex.
So one should not take an active interest in the body parts of a person of the opposite sex: the face, eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, breasts, chest, arms, legs, and so on.
Similarly one should not take an active interest in his or her gestures: the way he or she smiles, laughs, talks, pouts, casts a side glance, and so on.
Mahasi Sayadaw continues by saying that “If unwholesome thoughts [about a woman still] arise, they should be transformed into wholesome thoughts”:
Regard her as your own sister or mother, depending on her age, and reflect on her suffering, thereby arousing genuine thoughts of sympathy or kindness.
Contemplate the disgusting substances in her body — tears, saliva, mucus, phlegm, feces, urine, and so on — by means of the perception of loathsomeness.
Abandon defiled thoughts concerning the woman and substitute wholesome thoughts for them by discussing or teaching the Dhamma, reading books or scriptures, chanting, doing volunteer work, and so on.
There are many other ways to transform one’s thoughts mentioned in the commentary on the Satipatthana Sutta. This is just a brief explanation.
About the book’s author: The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw was one of the most eminent meditation masters of modern times and a leader in the contemporary resurgence of Vipassana meditation. He quickly distinguished himself after ordination as a scholar and teacher of the Buddhist scriptures. Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw held Burma’s highest scholastic honor, the title of Agga Mahapandita, awarded to him in 1952. His students include Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg. He has authored several books on Buddhist practice, including Manual of Insight.
Complement this teaching about how Buddhist monks overcome sexual attraction with a Zen story about a cold-hearted monk and revisit our article on the five Buddhist precepts.
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