Lzh Mi Bi Vb Pj 1Sexual Intercourse
Pāli / Sanskrit:Methunadhamma
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The Sutta on Sexual Intercourse (Methunadhamma)
Background
In the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, the Vinaya Vibhaṅga records the basic training rules for the community of monks and nuns. The sutta on sexual intercourse is found in relation to the Nissaggiya Pācittiya rules, offenses requiring forfeiture, and the Pārājika rules, the gravest offenses, reflecting the Buddha’s firm restraint regarding the most basic transgressions in the life of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs.
This content was established as the Blessed One worked directly with his disciples, resolving concrete situations that arose in the early community of practice. Each rule has an origin story: the Blessed One observed a situation and then set forth a prohibition to protect the purity of the path.
Main Content
Methunadhamma, sexual intercourse, is defined by the Buddha as any sexual act or intentional act meant to arouse sexual stimulation between one person and another. This is absolutely forbidden for monks and nuns who have gone forth.
The Vinaya states that if a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī engages in sexual conduct, in whatever form, from intentional physical contact to other acts intended to arouse sexual desire, that person commits a Pārājika, an act that causes loss of monastic status. This is the gravest offense in the Vinaya, requiring that person to give up monastic standing and leave the Sangha.
The reason the Buddha established this rule was not contempt for the body, but deep recognition of the nature of craving. When a person goes forth, they aspire to liberation from the round of rebirth, where craving (taṇhā) is the principal force that imprisons us. Sexual desire is the most complete expression of craving: it creates deep bonds, generates powerful karma, and directly opposes the purpose of renunciation.
Practical Meaning
To understand Methunadhamma does not mean despising the body or wholesome love in lay life.
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