AN7.50 — Sexual Intercourse
Then the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi went up to the Tathāgata, and exchanged greetings with him.
When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Tathāgata:
Does Master Gotama claim to be celibate?
Brahmin, if anyone speaking rightly were to say:
‘He lives the spiritual life unbroken, flawless, unspotted, unblemished, perfect, and pure, it is of me, brahmin, that one speaking rightly would say this:
‘For I live the spiritual life unbroken, flawless, unspotted, unblemished, perfect, and pure.
But what, Master Gotama, is a break, a flaw, a spot, or a blemish in the spiritual life?
Here, brahmin, some ascetic or brahmin claiming to be perfectly celibate does not engage in sexual intercourse with women;
however, he consents to being rubbed, massaged, bathed, and kneaded by a woman.
He enjoys this, desires it, and finds satisfaction in it.
This too, brahmin, is a break, a flaw, a spot, and a blemish in the spiritual life.
He is said to live an impure spiritual life, bound by the bond of sex. He is not freed from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; he is not freed from suffering, I say.
Furthermore, brahmin, some ascetic or brahmin claiming to be perfectly celibate does not engage in sexual intercourse with women, nor does he consent to being rubbed, massaged, bathed, and kneaded by a woman;
however, he jokes, plays, and amuses himself with women. …
He doesn’t joke, play, and amuse himself with women;
however, he gazes and stares into the eyes of a woman. …
He doesn’t gaze and stare into the eyes of a woman;
however, he listens to the sound of a woman laughing, talking, singing, or crying behind a wall or a fence. …
He doesn’t listen to the sound of a woman laughing, talking, singing, or crying behind a wall or a fence;
however, he remembers how he previously laughed, talked, and played with a woman. …
He doesn’t remember how he previously laughed, talked, and played with a woman;
however, he sees a householder or a householder’s son amusing himself, supplied and provided with the five kinds of sensual stimulation. …
He doesn’t see a householder or a householder’s son amusing himself, supplied and provided with the five kinds of sensual stimulation;
however, he lives the spiritual life resolving to attain a certain order of gods, thinking: ‘By this ethics, observance, austerity, or spiritual life I will become a god or one of the gods.
He enjoys this, desires it, and finds satisfaction in it.
This too, brahmin, is a break, a flaw, a spot, and a blemish in the spiritual life.
He is said to live an impure spiritual life, bound by the bond of sex. He is not freed from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; he is not freed from suffering, I say.
As long, brahmin, as I saw that any one of these seven bonds of sex was not given up in myself, I did not claim to have awakened to the unexcelled perfect awakening in this world with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, in this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans.
But when I did not see any one of these seven bonds of sex not given up in myself, then I claimed to have awakened to the unexcelled perfect awakening in this world with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, in this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans.
‘Knowing and vision arose in me:
my liberation is unshakable; this is my last birth; there is now no further existence.
When this was said, the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi said to the Tathāgata:
Excellent, Master Gotama! Excellent, Master Gotama! …
May Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forth for as long as life lasts.
Seventh.