{"id":795,"date":"2009-09-11T18:59:11","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T18:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/09\/what-would-sid-do-is-it-okay-to-masturbate.html"},"modified":"2009-09-11T18:59:11","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T18:59:11","slug":"what-would-sid-do-is-it-okay-to-masturbate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/09\/what-would-sid-do-is-it-okay-to-masturbate.html","title":{"rendered":"What would Sid do: is it okay to masturbate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo1.jpg\"<\/span>
photo shot by the author in williamsburg, nyc<\/p>\n

What would Sid do?<\/b><\/p>\n

Before Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment at age 35 he was a
\nconfused twenty and thirty-something looking to learn how to live a
\nspiritual life. He had an overbearing dad, expectations for what he was
\nsupposed to do<\/span>
\nwith his life, drinks were flowing, lutes were playing, and the
\nwomen were all about him. Some called him L.L. Cool S. I imagine
\nclose friends just referred to him as Sid. <\/p>\n

Many people look to Siddhartha as an example of someone who attained nirvana, a buddha. But here we look at a younger Sid<\/span>
\nas a confused guy struggling with his daily life. What would he do as a
\nyoung person trying to find love, cheap drinks, and fun in a city like
\nNew York<\/a>? How would he combine Buddhism and dating? We all make mistakes on our spiritual journey; here is where
\nthey’re discussed.<\/p>\n

Each week I’ll take on a new question and
\ngive some advice based on what I think Sid, a confused guy working on
\nhis spiritual life in a world of major distraction, would do. Because
\nlet’s face it, you and I are Sid. <\/p>\n

Have a question for this weekly column? E-mail it here<\/a> and Lodro will probably get to it!
<\/i><\/b>
—————————————————————————————————————————————
\nIs masturbation<\/span> allowed in Buddhism? Some medical articles stated that it’s harmless for health, but what does Buddhism say about this issue? Thank you. – Zoe<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nAccording to the Vinaya monks and nuns
\nare not supposed to masturbate. In fact there’s all sorts of fun rules that
\ncame as a result of monastics trying to cling to the letter not the nature of
\nthe law by doing things like walking through tall grass without wearing
\nunderwear (hey, whatever works right?). I should also mention that a few weeks ago there was a really great discussion<\/a> on this blog about manual, oral, and anal sex.<\/p>\n

<\/span>For today’s discussion though I have to say that there is nothing in what the Buddha said before or after
\nhis enlightenment that condemns lay people masturbating. As such, <\/span>to the vast majority of this site’s readers I think Sid would say
\n“go for it.” <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, sometimes pleasuring yourself can
\nactually save you from causing harm. If Sid was living in our modern world and
\nmet a beautiful woman I’d like to think that instead getting horny or drunk and
\ndialing up the lady he’d instead take some “me time.” Granted there
\nare other alternatives to engaging in promiscuous behavior than masturbating
\nbut even if you had Sid’s level of commitment sometimes you might need a
\nrelease, no? <\/span>As
\nwe continue to discuss on this weekly column, he’s only human!<\/span><\/p>\n

To address the second part of your
\nquestion I want to point out that not only is masturbation deemed harmless for
\nhealth there’s all sorts of studies that have deemed it beneficial. Even a
\nsimple Wikipedia search<\/span><\/a> shows that regular masturbation
\ncan lower your blood pressure, help create harmony in relationships, lower the
\nchance of prostate cancer for men, and leave you in a relaxed and contented
\nstate. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Buddha did, however, say a lot
\nabout how we should neither be attached to nor crave sensual pleasure. In other
\nwords, don’t overdo it. If you see yourself choosing masturbation over work,
\ntime with friends, or your meditation practice then that’s a problem. Masturbation
\ncan also serve as a distraction or a means of avoidance of spiritual practice.
\nSure we could go sit on the cushion for a half hour but thinking of naked
\nwrithing bodies sounds like more fun right? Agreed. So I’m sure Sid would say that you
\nshould not over-indulge to the point where playing with yourself means less
\ntime playing with the dharma.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on this topic here’s a fun site<\/span><\/a> where you can gain even more critical
\ninsight such as “Every time you masturbate, Buddha saves a kitten from
\ncyclic existence.” Hard to argue with that.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Upon graduating he served for three and a half years as the executive director of the Shambhala Meditation Center of Boston and has led development efforts for Shambhala internationally since 2007. In addition to teaching dharma throughout the United States he chairs the Dana Group, a group formed to stimulate creative ways to promote generosity in Shambhala as well as coordinate all major fund-raising efforts. In addition to his weekly column here entitled \"What would Sid do?\" Lodro has a humorous blog \"New York is Ridiculous\" (newyorkisridiculous.com) which he writes from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/author\/lodrorinzler"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}