TRobinson465 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 6:22 pm That sutta doesnt actually say prostitution is a wrong livelihood, it was inserted by the author. the sutta literally says "A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings (or living beings), business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.", but what constitutes business in human beings isnt explained. Im guessing Bhikkhu Bodhi just interpreted business in human beings as including both the slave and prostitute trades, or hes pulling from a different commentary than Ven Pandita who thinks business in humans doesnt count prostitution.
I'm not sure about that.SarathW wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 1:18 amThe law of the land is not considered when you apply Buddhist teaching.salayatananirodha wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 1:13 am is it kāmesumicchācāra to go with someone who is legally married but is separated
For instance, if you go to a prostitute it is not breaking the fifth precept if you are single.
However, you may be breaking the law of the land.
For instance, I think, that prostitution is illegal in the USA.
Buddha asked monks not to break the law of the land.
Prostitution which is paying for sex very likely comes under the violation of the 3rd precept.
It also often supports trafficking as many of them are coerced into such circumstances.
Certainly it's not becoming of someone on a higher or holy path.
Furthermore, a prostitute is committing grave negative kamma by enticing and making a living from arousing lust.
It leads to a lower birth.
So prostitution itelf is clearly wrong livelihood.
Bhante Moggallāna said, “This morning, friend, as I was coming down from the Gijjhakūṭa Mountain, I saw a skinless female ghost moving through the air. Vultures, crows, and hawks were chasing after her. They were stabbing her and tearing her apart. She was crying out in pain. I thought then, ‘It is unusual, indeed! It is amazing, indeed! That there exists such a being, that there exists such a non-human, that there exists such a life...”
"Monks, that non-human being was a prostitute in this same city of Rājagaha. As a result of that bad kamma, she was boiled in hell for many years, for many hundreds of years, for many thousands of years, for many hundreds of thousands of years. As a remaining result of that same kamma, she has been reborn as a ghost and is experiencing such terrible pain.”
https://suttafriends.org/sutta/sn19-13/
I can't imagine how the profession of prostitution could bring such negative results, yet the act of visiting them and participating in the profession would be free of any such negative kamma, much less be in line with the 3rd precept.