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I wonder why prostitution isn't even given the slightest recognition as sacred in Buddhist doctrine, or any other. In fact, it is despised and discouraged.
Well there has been religious prostitution in Greek and Hindu culture most prominently, and occasionally I am a whore and a holy one has been uttered, perhaps most noteably about Mary Magdalene.
Yet another Zen parable involving a prostitute
There is another little story. It comes from the Bhagavatam, a great scripture. There lived in a town a holy man who had many devotees. They all came to attend his Satsang in the morning and listen to his discourses in the evening. And during the day people came to have interviews with him, to ask questions, to get doubts removed, to get guidance.
Across the street there was a prostitute living, a dancing girl, a public woman. She was in that state because her mother had practised that profession and her grandmother had practised that profession and she knew of no other way of life. She had been born into that life. Sometimes when this big spiritual leader used to cross her in the street, he used to warn her. He used to come down on her and say, “You’ll go to hell; you’ll reap a very, very bad Karma, you are living a life degrading, beware!”. And so this poor lady started feeling a great sense of remorse, a great sense of regret.
She began to pray to the Lord, “Oh God, what am I doing! What a bad life I am leading! And look at him, always speaking of God, discoursing of God and having the company of devotees!”. Thus she began to have deep sorrow in her heart. But she had no other alternative. Plying her profession, she felt great agony inside. The spiritual teacher, on the other hand, was so much obsessed with her. Seeing her clients coming in evening after evening, it began to obsess. He used to watch sometimes from his window. A stage came when he started counting how many people came, who all came—identifying them, making a mental note.
They say that when the time came for his departure, he went to hell and when she died, she was taken up. And then the narrator in the Bhagavatam ends by saying, “It is the condition of your interior that is the factor that weighs in the eyes of the Divine, the condition of your consciousness”. The consciousness of the prostitute started gradually getting focussed upon God, prayer, holy living and deep regret. And the holy man’s focus shifted from his spiritual life and activity to this woman’s doing. His outer life was one, but his inner life was another. Therefore the entire outcome of it was that he began to sow the seeds of darkness and bondage. This is a truth that we must recognise about our life here. |
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