Dkotschessa wrote: Not to mention that christian homophobia has it's roots in scripture.
Dkotschessa makes a very good point, and one I was mindful of when previously posting. The point is that Christianity, and all the other RELIGIONS I know of (Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism) are all based on the teachings of some historic figure who is purported to be 'holy', or on some recorded 'revelations' received directly from 'God'. These teachings or revelations are usually passed down orally for a time, and then put into writing at a later date. The writings then go through some kind of vetting process to choose the best ones to keep and are then fixed into 'scriptures' or 'holy books'. These holy books are then translated 3 or 4 times until finally an English version ends up on Amazon.com. No one dares change or question what is written because of their holy origins. The only option left is to either accept it all as-is, or to do some slight-of-hand reinterpretation of some of the now uncomfortable parts to keep the religion from falling apart. This is one of the reasons I separate zen from Buddhism. Buddhism is a religion and has an historical holy figure, teachings and scriptures. I know most people even call it 'Zen Buddhism'; but to me that's just zen described from a Buddhist perspective. You could just as easily have Zen Christianity, or Zen Hinduism, or Zen Daoism, etc. I also don't consider zen itself a RELIGION. Zen insights are not based on an historical figure's teaching, or revelations received from God, or a holy scripture. Zen insights are only gained from sitting your butt down on a cushion and keeping quiet. YOU (Buddha Nature/Holy Trinity/Lord Krishna and his fellow deities/the Tao) are the source of all the insights - not some other person, someone else's teachings or written scriptures. There are no gay/straight, Black/White, male/female divisions in Buddha Nature - nor should there be any in zen or a zen sangha. .Bill!
