For my 40-17th birthday, my niece gifted me with a delightful little book entitled "What would Buddha do? 101 answers to life’s daily dilemmas," by Franz Metcalf.

Tuesday, August 15, 2000

For my 40-17th birthday, my niece gifted me with a delightful little book entitled "What would Buddha do? 101 answers to life’s daily dilemmas," by Franz Metcalf. I’ve kept it piled with books I have piled here and there throughout the house. Occasionally I pick this one up and randomly turn to a page to see what’s said about that dilemma.

Shortly, after writing last week’s column that expressed concern for the fate of the mosquitoes, now stacked up and deteriorating throughout Austin, along with other insects and possible a bird or two that may not have died but is having difficulty breathing, I opened the book. It may have been a couple days before they sprayed, when I was sitting in our back yard, eating lunch (no mosquitoes were present at that time – there was a bee hovering around admiring my sandwich and yogurt-pineapple concoction – I suspect the bee is dead now) then I might have opened the book to the page on "What would Buddha do about prostitution?" which was also part of last week’s column.

Citing Vimalakirti Sutra 7, it reads: "Sometimes he becomes a prostitute, one who lures those people prone to lust, leading them on with desire, but then leading them forward onto Buddha’s path" – something that might find a similar path from history, more familiar in our community.

He points out that Buddha never condemns prostitution any more than other jobs that lead to suffering. The author suggests he could condemn working at a fast-food joint that causes destruction to the rainforest or manufacturing nerve gas, though legal, is vastly worse than turning tricks, though illegal.

Nor does he imply that Buddha favors prostitution because it causes harm, deceit and disease and "it ensnares the lustful while weakening the power of love."

The point: The bodhisattva becomes a prostitute to help others. Doesn’t this have a Mary Magdalene ring to it?

Which leads me to take this in another direction and that is the church’s inability to discuss sexuality other than to dwell on whether or not homosexuals have a place on earth or should they be banished along with the topless dancers and the prostitutes.

Does it make sense to omit sexuality from the church when raging hormones rule and confuse the youth on an almost daily basis? Perhaps the confusion would lesson if the church took the time to talk about sexuality openly. I don’t think it works to grow up hearing "it’s bad" and if you engage in it you will go to hell but once you get married its suddenly "good."

So where do youth get their information? I still remember taking a sexuality class at 33 from the University of California for an easy credit. The instructor wrote the text. There was one test – the final. I was what they call today a non-traditional student. I studied with Debbie, another non-traditional student. She got the highest grade in the class, a large class, over a hundred students. I failed. Yet, mind you, in failing, I learned more in that class then I ever learned from my peers, "dirty magazines" and my own life experiences.

I guess my health class at the Austin Junior College ten years earlier hadn’t been that helpful either.

Now to venture further – I do recall hearing perhaps 10 years ago that in teen pregnancies, 85 percent of the males hit the road. That statistic surprised me, and it didn’t.

Aren’t fathers out there subtly encouraging their sons to "get out there and prove yourself a man" (kinda like I did or tried to do) they fail to add. And they, the young people today don’t go to their church to discuss this huge transition or to their parents for guidance and discussion? No they get a six-pack or two and inhale them at a Friday night party and do their best to get their partner to join them, first in drink and then if they have mustered the courage, they find a place to demonstrate their love and are introduced to intimacy with a .23 blood level.

However, on the plus side, I see that teen pregnancies have declined substantially, which I suspect is the result of a smarter generation coming along, a better informed generation. At least I hope so. Yet I still wonder, what percentage of young males hit the road when they discover their girlfriends pregnant. I suspect its less than 85 percent – but not much.