Since marriage is secular, Buddhism has no restrictions on divorce. Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda has said "if a husband and wife really cannot live together, instead of leading a miserable life and harboring more jealousy, anger and hatred, they should have the liberty to separate and live peacefully."
While Buddhist women must go through an administrative process to marry men of other religions, if both partners are non-Buddhist, their marriage falls under customary practices.
Even though the Buddhist texts are silent on the subject of monogamy or polygamy, the Buddhist laity is advised to limit themselves to one wife. The Buddha did not lay rules on married life but gave necessary advice on how to live a happy married life.
Unlike other spiritual traditions, Buddhists consider marriage to be a secular matter, meaning it is the individual's choice and not a sacrament. Rather than having strict proceedings, a Buddhist ceremony is a joyful, fluid occasion that reflects the heritage of the partners.
Buddhism does not regard marriage as a religious duty nor as a sacrament that is ordained in heaven. A cynic has said that while some people believe that marriage is planned in heaven, others say that it is recorded in hell also! Marriage is basically a personal and social obligation, it is not compulsory.
In Buddhism, both husband and wife are expected to share equal responsibility and discharge their duties with equal dedication. The husband is admonished to consider the wife a friend, a companion, a partner.
True love—or maitri, metta—this purer form of love comes with no strings attached. Love, in this simple Buddhist definition, is unselfishly wishing others to be happy; to be delighted to be in their presence; to offer our affection and smiles and hugs and help freely without wanting anything in return.
Buddhist teachings on sexual ethics are not clearly formulated but there are two general ideas that run through Buddhist ethics on this matter: celibacy is preferred to marriage, and the only legitimate forms of sexual contact within marriage should be procreative in nature.
Buddhism is fairly agnostic about romantic relationships or marriages and doesn't overly concern itself with issues like infidelity, disloyalty, and divorce.
The precepts are commitments to abstain from killing living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication. Within the Buddhist doctrine, they are meant to develop mind and character to make progress on the path to enlightenment.
Faithfulness is one of the most important ingredients for a successful marriage. A husband should not, the Buddha said, be unfaithful to his wife or a wife to her husband (D. III,190). A character in the Jàtaka says: `We do not transgress with another's wife and our wife does not transgress against us.
The most common Buddhist view on birth control is that contraception is acceptable if it prevents conception, but that contraceptives that work by stopping the development of a fertilized egg are wrong and should not be used.
Buddha placed importance on the right of human beings to exist and procreate peacefully. The right to life begins in the womb, and abortion is a violation of the rights of the unborn child.
The founder of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, permitted women to join his monastic community and fully participate in it, although there were certain provisions or garudhammas.
Monastic Buddhism. Apart from certain schools in Japan and Tibet, most who choose to practice Buddhism as ordained monks and nuns, also choose to live in celibacy.
Buddhism teaches that just like all our other qualities, the love we possess is boundless; it equates to the Buddhist ideal of compassion. Rather than view this as a limited resource to be shared sparingly, authentic love powers our commitment to support others and enables us to grow ever more human in the process.
Buddhism encourages nonattachment in romantic relationships. In order to follow the path of enlightenment, Buddhism teaches people to discard all things in life that can cause pain, so one must detach from the idea of a perfect person and instead accept a partner unconditionally.
From a Buddhist point of view, the breakup itself isn't the problem, because losing the people that we meet in our lifetime is a natural thing, as it's part of the ways of an impermanent universe. The problem lies in the way we approach the idea of love, which is mainly characterized by desire and attachment.
Buddhism, the Thai state religion, teaches that use of intoxicants should be avoided. Nonetheless, many Thai people drink alcohol, and a proportion are alcohol-dependent or hazardous or harmful drinkers.
TATTOOS AND BUDDHISM
Buddhism much like Hinduism is not particularly restrictive when it comes to tattoos. Buddhists believe that the body is impermanent and so are tattoos. Because they are viewed as temporary, getting tattoos doesn't violate any Buddhist doctrines or beliefs.
There are also, to be sure, some clerics who on their own initiative choose to live according to the monastic precepts. But for most, getting married is not just tolerated, it has become almost a requirement.
Buddhism provides a view on unconditional love that is not as philosophically challenged. The Buddha is perfect because a perfect being is unconditioned. He goes beyond “being” and “non-being” and is not conditioned by any act on part of a sentient being.
According to the practice, you have to really hug the person you are holding. You have to make him or her very real in your arms, not just for the sake of appearances, patting him on the back to pretend you are there, but breathing consciously and hugging with all your body, spirit, and heart.
The first is maitri – friendship, brotherhood, loving-kindness. And the second is karuna – capacity to understand the suffering and help remove and transform it – compassion. Mudita is the third element – joy – your joy is her joy, her joy is our joy. The last element is upeksha – nondiscrimination.