Buddhist Perspective on Diseased Desire

From the Buddhist perspective, deviant sexual behavior is an expression of desire. Buddhist cosmology understands human being is dominated by sensual desire. Sexual desire is most intense expression of sensual desire. To identify the Buddhist view on deviant sexuality, the study examines the Buddhist doctrinal views on sensuality and sexuality recorded in two canonical sources, sutta and vinaya. In analyzing the views and cases related to the subject, the author adopts the threefold classification of deviant sexuality, normal, pathological and sociological. The cases and views in the Buddhist literature are brought into a broader context through critical reading with other research fields such as medical science, sociology, psychology and sexology. More significantly the sexual practices against norm are examined in the light of Buddhist morality. The message of the research invites to behold the deviants with compassion and demands change of attitude to certain deviant sexual practices. Strictly, stigmatization against deviants is denied and deviant’s potential to actualize spirituality is confirmed.