Did they have strip clubs in the time of the Buddha?

[bpallister]

and if so, did he go to them?

[Sam Vara]

I guess the nearest reference is this:

"Suppose, monks, that a large crowd of people comes thronging together, saying, 'The beauty queen! The beauty queen!' And suppose that the beauty queen is highly accomplished at singing & dancing, so that an even greater crowd comes thronging, saying, 'The beauty queen is singing! The beauty queen is dancing!' Then a man comes along, desiring life & shrinking from death, desiring pleasure & abhorring pain. They say to him, 'Now look here, mister. You must take this bowl filled to the brim with oil and carry it on your head in between the great crowd & the beauty queen. A man with a raised sword will follow right behind you, and wherever you spill even a drop of oil, right there will he cut off your head.' Now what do you think, monks: Will that man, not paying attention to the bowl of oil, let himself get distracted outside?"

"No, lord."

"I have given you this parable to convey a meaning. The meaning is this: The bowl filled to the brim with oil stands for mindfulness immersed in the body. Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will develop mindfulness immersed in the body. We will pursue it, hand it the reins and take it as a basis, give it a grounding, steady it, consolidate it, and undertake it well.' That is how you should train yourselves."

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

And the Buddha was well aware of things which were unskilful activities for men:

(a) "indulgence in intoxicants which cause infatuation and heedlessness;
(b) sauntering in streets at unseemly hours;
(c) frequenting theatrical shows;
(d) indulgence in gambling which causes heedlessness;
(e) association with evil companions;
(f) the habit of idleness.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .nara.html

Which just about covers it, doesn't it?

But I also guess that your question wasn't entirely serious...

[Coëmgenu]

Theatre shows, just as in Elizabethan England, had a very sordid reputation in India.

[bpallister]

what if one had a problem with their gait that made them unable to balance a bowl of oil on their head? doesn't seem fair.

[Sam Vara]

what if one had a problem with their gait that made them unable to balance a bowl of oil on their head? doesn't seem fair.

Oh, I think they'd be OK providing they didn't have a problem with their thinking that made them unable to distinguish a parable from literal instruction.

[SDC]

Vimalā, the Former Courtesan, Thig 5.2

Intoxicated by my appearance,
my figure, my beauty, my fame,
and owing to my youth,
I despised other women.

I adorned this body,
so fancy, cooed over by fools,
and stood at the brothel door,
like a hunter laying a snare.

I stripped for them,
revealing my many hidden treasures.
Creating an intricate illusion,
I laughed, teasing those men.

Today, having wandered for alms,
my head shaven, wearing the outer robe,
I sat at the root of a tree to meditate;
I've gained freedom from thought.

All bonds are cut off,
both human and divine.
Having wiped out all defilements,
I have become cooled and quenched.

[JamesTheGiant]

There were courtesans ( high class prostitutes ), some who became nuns and got enlightened, and some who regularly offered donations to the Buddha.
There were also dancing girls in the Bodhisatta's palace. I don't know any references to actual dancing girl clubs though.

[bpallister]

Vimala=the hooker with a heart of gold? i like that

[bpallister]

what if one had a problem with their gait that made them unable to balance a bowl of oil on their head? doesn't seem fair.

Oh, I think they'd be OK providing they didn't have a problem with their thinking that made them unable to distinguish a parable from literal instruction.

[PeterC86]

and if so, did he go to them?

Lol what? How is this related to the Pali Canon? Or the path to Nibbana?

[bpallister]

Just trying to explore the seedy underbelly of the Dhamma.

[bodom]

and if so, did he go to them?

Lol what? How is this related to the Pali Canon? Or the path to Nibbana?

In the Pali Canon The Buddha indulged in sensuality before his awakening and that included plenty of woman:

“I had three palaces; one for the winter, one for the summer and one for the rains. In the rains palace I was entertained by minstrels with no men among them. For the four months of the rains I never went down to the lower palace.

- AN 3:38

[TRobinson465]

Not in the modern sense but if you count things like Indian belly dancers than yeah probably. He was entertained by them when he lived at the palace but not when he was "The Buddha", per se tho.

[Pondera]

and if so, did he go to them?

As you know, at one point in time we were all blood relatives of the Buddha. Buddhist logic of the depth of samara leads to this conclusion.

In days bygone, when I was manic and very spiritually gifted, I looked into the past for my relationship with Siddartha. And lo and behold I found him my younger brother walking side by side - clad in white clothes like two Brahman youth.

As we walked I said to him, “it’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about the sex!”

In that day the Aryan people had a way of making the third thing they said have a “spice” to it. Language, talking, dissertation.

Anyway. We arrived at our destination. A brothel. It was a scene out of “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky. Dymitry is sitting in the back to the right with a group of people drinking spirits. There is a bar in the centre. To the left are a few more seats and a staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

In my only memory of him, that day, I got my younger brother laid. I gesture him up the stairs where I have already made arrangements and I walk over to Dymitry to share some spirits. And that is my only recollection of my blood relationship to Siddartha Gautama.

That could have been eons before the Bodhisattva became enlightened and I don’t recall any topless women dancing for money. I can imagine one could pay for that upstairs if one so desired.

[confusedlayman]

and if so, did he go to them?

As you know, at one point in time we were all blood relatives of the Buddha. Buddhist logic of the depth of samara leads to this conclusion.

In days bygone, when I was manic and very spiritually gifted, I looked into the past for my relationship with Siddartha. And lo and behold I found him my younger brother walking side by side - clad in white clothes like two Brahman youth.

As we walked I said to him, “it’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about the sex!”

In that day the Aryan people had a way of making the third thing they said have a “spice” to it. Language, talking, dissertation.

Anyway. We arrived at our destination. A brothel. It was a scene out of “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky. Dymitry is sitting in the back to the right with a group of people drinking spirits. There is a bar in the centre. To the left are a few more seats and a staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

In my only memory of him, that day, I got my younger brother laid. I gesture him up the stairs where I have already made arrangements and I walk over to Dymitry to share some spirits. And that is my only recollection of my blood relationship to Siddartha Gautama.

That could have been eons before the Bodhisattva became enlightened and I don’t recall any topless women dancing for money. I can imagine one could pay for that upstairs if one so desired.

I dont understand . may be you should stop hallucinating