TIL: Buddhists might have homophobic/transphobic teachings? Please help! :(

Even if it were true, I don't see it as inherently transphobic. Buddhism often widely holds that people born with any sort of ailment of great dissatisfaction in their life had some sort of "misgiving" or bad karma in their past life.

This isn't to say that being trans is a punishment (I'm LGBT myself), but I understand how it could be looked at that way. The karma people held in their past life manifest in different ways in their current life.

For instance, someone who was a highly greedy wealthy person in their previous life, might be born into the life of someone who is perpetually poor and suffering in the sense of constantly wanting money but never achieving it. Someone who is trans could be said to be undergoing a similar experience, where they greatly want something (with respect to their body), but were not born in that manner.

I do see how this could be viewed as trans-phobic... but really, the Buddhist view in this regard is that pretty much anyone with any sort of deep-satisfaction in their life, has it directly as a result of their past Karma. It's not an issue specifically dealing with someone being trans, but someone being unsatisfied and craving something in life which they don't have.

Remember Karma is a law, it is not a deity deciding how to punish you. People are punished by their own Karma as a direct result of their own actions in their previous live(s)

/r/Buddhism Thread