Do no Harm: The Sexuality of Spirituality

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"Few will argue that sex presents a tremendously strong psychological force and can consume a measurable fraction of our waking life. So it's no wonder that so many eastern (and western) religious traditions hold a special regard for sex - it's simply too prominent an aspect of our lives to be ignored. But there sometimes appears a rift over the issue of sex in Buddhism. On one hand, people who have taken refuge are told that sex is okay -- just don't misuse it. And on the other hand, Buddhist monks and nuns are required to uphold especially strict rules governing sexual conduct - celibacy. Why the apparent 'double standard.'"
http://hsuyun.org/Dharma/zbohy/Literatu ... m_sex.html

I am certainly no expert on Buddhism...though interested in some aspects of it...But it does share some similiar beliefs with Christian Science(most Christian Scientist would probably disagree with me..
I dont even remember sexuality being discussed in my Sunday school classes...sexuality was just ignored as far as I remember(I wish they had taught me a healthy fear of it like the Catholics...would have kept me out of alot of trouble...but I degress,as ussual)

This being said...my warped perspective...coming from a psuedo-buddhist recovering Christian Scientist perspective...

I was taught that the physical world is an illussion and the ultimate "goal" of our spiritual self is to see through the illussion and "become one" with our true spiritual selves as created by God...perfect spiritual beings...to do this we have to let go of "physical attachments"...our sexuality keeps us anchored to our physical "husks"(cause it feels good....why leave)and attached to specific "individuals" instead of seeing our connection to all of creation equally...

When I was growing up I vissualized this as each individual is a Spiritual Atom of Gods whole being(not just humans but all creation...rocks,clouds,solar system)I invissioned it as sort of a reverse Big Bang...the "illussion" was the big bang seperating God into individual "things"but through spiritual evolution "maybe reincarnation" we would see through the illussion and be reunited with our true "atom" of God...

Since Buddhism in general does not seem to try and force "spiritual evolution" onto others but lets each individual live their lives at their own pace and at their own spiritual level...letting the individual seek their own time for "detachment"from our physical existence...it makes sense to me that they would not exclude sexuality except in situations where the individual felt ready to "go to the next level" of spiritual growth...

Sadartha...was very sexual before he gained enlightment...but he didnt get "stuck" in this physical place because he had worked this out in previous incarnations(I think)I think each stage he went through in his last life was a "remembering" of why that path would not lead to enlightenment,so he didnt have to live another life as a hedonist or in self-deprivation...ie...been there done that ...learned that...