Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly (OPINION) |
| What if I just do it to pay my tuition...then it's skillful karma, right? Right? I could just do anything and say my intention was "good," right? Right? - Ugh, I already told you, read Wisdom Quarterly to figure it out. |
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| I didn't think about karma, just rationalizing |
Is helping create pornography "right livelihood," a kind of prostitution (exchanging sex for money), or human trafficking?
It seems it is. The Buddha defined the
Noble Eightfold Path factor of "right livelihood" (
sammā-ājīva) as not engaging in trades or occupations that, whether directly or indirectly, result in harm to ourselves and others. In both the Chinese and Pali language canons, it is said:
What is right livelihood? A disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned a dishonest means of maintaining oneself, keeps life going by some right livelihood. [This kind of tautological definition, which seems to say nothing, is common because all of the pertinent terms are detailed in the discourses.]
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| Before buddhahood, Siddhartha indulged in sensuality and found it disappointing and leading to harm rather than enlightenment and leading to liberation. The Buddha understood its lure, having experienced it firsthand, but also realized the escape from its alluring trap. |
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| Rahula, Bimba, and Siddhartha |
More concretely today interpretations include work "integrated into life as a Buddhist" (
TheBuddhistCentre.com), something ethical, "wealth obtained through rightful means" (Ven. Basnagoda Rahula) -- honesty and ethics in business dealings, not cheating, defrauding, or stealing (
Lewis Richmond). As people now spend most of their time at work, it is important to assess how our work affects our minds and hearts. So important questions include, How can work become meaningful? How can it be a support, rather than a hindrance, to spiritual practice -- a place to deepen our awareness and kindness? (Richmond)
The Buddha defined right livelihood, at a minimum, as avoiding five types of business:
- trade in weapons and instruments of killing,
- trade in human beings: slave trading, prostitution, or human trafficking (the buying and selling of children or adults most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor, or commercial sexual exploitation [such as the production and dissemination of Internet porn] for the trafficker or others,
- trade in flesh: "flesh" referring to the bodies of beings, which includes breeding animals for slaughter,
- trade in intoxicants: manufacturing or selling intoxicating drinks or drugs,
- trade in poisons: producing or trading in any kind of poison or a toxic product designed to harm.
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| Can sex work ever be free of exploitation and therefore something worth advocating? |
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| Could I take it back or get more money? |
So is acting in, creating, or promoting porn "bad," "wrong," harmful, unwholesome, unskillful, unprofitable when such karma (deeds) finally ripen? Who really cares? Belle Knox is partly right -- we watch porn. We don't act in it, film it, promote it, profit from it, or encourage exploitation.
It seems she will regret it and probably already does. Western mores encourage us to feel shame, guilt, regret, remorse, worry, misgivings, and even panic about SEX. Let's not. Let's be sex positive. Sex is fine; sexual misconduct is not.
Sex and sensuality (kama) themselves are not "sexual misconduct" (kamesu micchacara). Knox is talking about the two as if they were the same thing. Go naked, be free, look beautiful, enjoy sensual pleasures, make love (not war).
Let's go even further and decriminalize sex work because "shaming and blaming" are part of how we exert social control on each other (in our species and our pets) and how it was done to us by our elders. This all goes far beyond "sex" to what we think is offensive, acceptable, discomfiting, and decent. Judging makes us hypocrites. So rather than judge, let's be mindful of our own actions. The world will be the world, and we don't have to be the world.
