More women are taking to Buddhism

[thornbush]

New Delhi, India -- A growing number of women are taking to Buddhism in India like in the West where two-thirds of the practitioners of the faith are women, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, the first Tibetan Buddhist woman master, said.

“Given an opportunity, women can do better than their male counterparts in Buddhism,” she said.

“Women lost their pre-eminence in Tibetan Buddhism around 12-13th century.

Several women masters or Buddhist yoginis were known to have meditated in the caves in the early years of the growth of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet in the 11th century, but once the faith became monastic and academic, women lost their place.

In the monastic order, they were were seen as a threat to men and projected as inferior beings.

“The men sat on the thrones, cornered the texts and told the women that the nuns were second rung.
So you have very few books on Buddhist nuns compared to that of men,” Palmo said.

But women, she explained, had the power to practise tantrik Buddhism like any man.

“We all have the potential to become Buddha at heart, even women.

Vajrayana or tantrik Buddhism is a way of purifying our mind, body and speech through sacred chants and mudras (finger movements) and aligning it with those of Buddha.

The Buddha nature is neither male or female. Anyone can acquire the luminous emptiness of mind,” she said.

More at: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php ... 40,0,0,1,0

Your thoughts

Om Amitabha Hrih!

[genkaku]

It is good to take responsibility for the misdeeds we have committed ... to 'fess up and repent and do our best not to repeat such misdeeds. Doing our best is just the best we can do.

But having done and continuing to do our best can sometimes be obscured by a reliance on past misdeeds ... men who lorded it over women; women who feel wronged by the wounds inflicted on them. Living in the past is a small way to live. It is like living on a diet of cotton candy. No one can grasp the past. We may be instructed by the past and we may act on that instruction, but that is enough.

Women? Sure.
Men? Sure.
Now what about this moment?

[dumb bonbu]

In the monastic order, they were were seen as a threat to men and projected as inferior beings.

this is a great shame because -

“We all have the potential to become Buddha at heart

i'm reminded of the Vimalakirti Sutra -

Sariputra: Goddess, what prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?

Goddess: Although I have sought my "female state" for these twelve years, I have not yet found it. Reverend Sariputra, if a magician were to incarnate a woman by magic, would you ask her, "What prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?"

Sariputra: No! Such a woman would not really exist, so what would there be to transform?

Goddess: Just so, reverend Sariputra, all things do not really exist. Now, would you think, "What prevents one whose nature is that of a magical incarnation from transforming herself out of her female state?"

Thereupon, the goddess employed her magical power to cause the elder Sariputra to appear in her form and to cause herself to appear in his form. Then the goddess, transformed into Sariputra, said to Sariputra, transformed into a goddess, "Reverend Sariputra, what prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?"

And Sariputra, transformed into the goddess, replied, "I no longer appear in the form of a male! My body has changed into the body of a woman! I do not know what to transform!"

The goddess continued, "If the elder could again change out of the female state, then all women could also change out of their female states. All women appear in the form of women in just the same way

as the elder appears in the form of a woman. While they are not women in reality, they appear in the form of women. With this in mind, the Buddha said, 'In all things, there is neither male nor female.'"

Then, the goddess released her magical power and each returned to his ordinary form. She then said to him, "Reverend Sariputra, what have you done with your female form?"

Sariputra: I neither made it nor did I change it.

Goddess: Just so, all things are neither made nor changed, and that they are not made and not changed, that is the teaching of the Buddha.
- http://www.purifymind.com/Vimalakirti6.htm

if further proof were needed, who does the Buddha address in the Srimala Sutra? and of course, what of Tara? clearly discrimination of gender and indeed of any kind, does not have a part in Buddhadharma.

[LuzdelaLuna]

I was told that the Buddha did not want women in the sangha and it was Ananda that convinced him that is was wrong to exclude them.

[Ngawang Drolma]

"Given an opportunity, women can do better than their male counterparts in Buddhism,” she said.

“Women lost their pre-eminence in Tibetan Buddhism around 12-13th century.

In the monastic order, they were were seen as a threat to men and projected as inferior beings.

Dear Forum

The Eternal Spirit is not male or female, not inferior or superior, has no fear or pride.

This lady has not spoken from The Eternal Spirit and about The Eternal Spirit.

I saw her once say similar things in the movie about her called: "A Cave in the Snow".

When she did so, the Dalai Lama & a Zen Master laughed at her words & she shrunk very timid & embarrassed.

If something is pre-eminenant, how can it be lost?

How can one sex do better than another sex? This is saying Krishna and his incarnations Buddha & Jesus did not reach full realisation of the Eternal Spirit because they chose male forum.

The Eternal Spririt is not male or female. This lady speaks from her femaleness rather than from The Eternal Spirit.

This lady sounds like a babbling housewife watching soap operas rather than one of The Eternal Spirit.

KRISHNA, TARA, BUDDHA, JESUS ARE ONE. MALE OR FEMALE. ALL ARE THE ETERNAL SPIRIT.

[dumb bonbu]

This lady sounds like a babbling housewife

have to say i'm a bit puzzled by your choice of words here Eternal Spirit

you're admonishing gender-fixated views and insisting that this 'Eternal Spirit' is neither male nor female, whilst yourself fixating on narrow, rather discriminatory gender stereotypes. hey, whatever works for you though lol

I was told that the Buddha did not want women in the sangha and it was Ananda that convinced him that is was wrong to exclude them.

hey Luz. yeah i know...and that confuses the heck out of me! i respect the Canon, and i haven't seen canonical evidence to the contrary but....meh, i just don't know. me not liking the idea isn't a good enough reason not to believe that this occured. on the other hand, wouldn't an enlightened Buddha see beyond gender, outward appearance of form? on the other hand, it was sadly the culture of the times. on the other hand perhaps he saw that the sangha may break their vows of celibacy or it would lead to other troubles within (and not necessarily from the womans side but from the males). on the other hand etc. etc. lol. so i put it to the side because it's just a whole big grey area of uncertainty for me, where i'm stood at the moment.

[Luke]

Yay! More women are becoming Buddhists!

I love the fact that I can meet lots of Buddhist beauties while I'm on the long road to enlightenment!

[Eternal Spirit]

Dear Dumb Bonbu,

The Eternal Spirit is within each being. The Eternal Spirit is within everything.

But often beings forget or do not realise The Eternal Spirit and spend their lives as a babbling housewife: "You good for nothing man!"

You may be puzzled by my choice of words because you may have not experienced the Eternal Spirit and realised your true nature is the Eternal Spirit.

Instead your mind reacts , throbbling & pulsating rather than being the still & clear Eternal Spirit.

Please do not identify yourself with babbling housewives and cackling mother hens, who spend their day pecking & cackling here & there without respite.

Please discover and be in tune with the Eternal Spirit.

If you meditate upon my avatar, you will see purity & luminousness & brilliance of The Eternal Spirit which eminates all things.

[Dazzle]

The Eternal Spirit sounds puzzlingly sexist to me as a mere not-housewife.

[Eternal Spirit]

The Eternal Spirit sounds puzzlingly sexist to me as a mere not-housewife.

Dear Dazzle,

Please clear your Eternal Spirit using the following objects of meditation:

[Dazzle]

.....gabble gabble, cluck cluck cluckie!

[Dazzle]

CLUCK! CLUCK!....at last I see the one true light of the Eternal Spirit!

[Eternal Spirit]

...at last I see the one true light of the Eternal Spirit!

[dumb bonbu]

hi Eternal Spirit,

thankyou for your reply. i guess you are eager for us to embrace this Eternal Spirit as it causes you happiness and you wish to let others share that same sense of joy. that's very kind and generous. and i thank you for it. however, we are here as we believe that committing oneself to the Three Jewels is the only way to find a lasting happiness beyond and above the mundane pleasures that the material world and also other religions philosophies, medicines etc. offer.

it does still concern me that you resort to gender-stereotyping. Right Speech is an aspect of the Eightfold Path that i struggle with daily so i thought i'd post some sutta quotations to help us both -

"One should speak only that word by which one would not torment oneself nor harm others. That word is indeed well spoken.
"One should speak only pleasant words, words which are acceptable (to others). What one speaks without bringing evils to others is pleasant."
-Thag 21

Speak only the speech
that neither torments self
nor does harm to others.
That speech is truly well spoken.

Speak only endearing speech,
speech that is welcomed.
Speech when it brings no evil
to others
is pleasant.
-SN3.3

i'm going to bow out now however, as i don't want to carry the thread any further because it's a topic worth focussing on. peace.

[Ngawang Drolma]

Back to topic please Eternal Spirit. Further off-topic posts will be removed.

Thanks,
Drolma

[Eternal Spirit]

however, we are here as we believe that committing oneself to the Three Jewels is the only way to find a lasting happiness beyond and above the mundane pleasures that the material world and also other religions philosophies, medicines etc. offer.

Dear Dumb Bonbu

The Eternal Spirit is above the mundane pleasures the material world offers.

It does still concern me that you resort to gender-stereotyping.

The Eternal Spirit sees reality clearly, not unclearly. The Eternal Spirit is discerning, not undiscerning. The Eternal Spirit is set free by wisdom, not by sentiment. The Eternal Spirit sees 'what is what'.

The Lord Buddha was the incarnation of the Eternal Spirit. When the Eternal Spirit spoke through his material form, it said:

A man, O Brahmin, is a woman's aim, her quest is for adnornments, her mainstay is sons, her desire is to be without a co-wife and her ideal is domination.

Anguttara Nikaya 6.52

Further, in the Samyutta Nikaya, there is the Matugamasamyutta, the Connected Discourses on Women. Here the Lord Buddha speaks of peculiar qualities of women.

In the Saññoga Sutta, the Buddha explains how dwelling on one's sexual identity only leads to greater suffering.

"I will teach you a Dhamma discourse on bondage & lack of bondage. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

"Yes, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said: "A woman attends inwardly to her feminine faculties, her feminine gestures, her feminine manners, feminine poise, feminine desires, feminine voice, feminine charms. She is excited by that, delighted by that. She is excited by that, delighted by that. This is how a woman does not transcend her femininity.

"A man attends inwardly to his masculine faculties, masculine gestures, masculine manners, masculine poise, masculine desires, masculine voice, masculine charms. He is excited by that, delighted by that. Delighting, caught up in his masculinity, a man goes into bondage with reference to women. This is how a man does not transcend his masculinity.

The truth is, encouraging women to the spiritual path because they are 'women' will not lead far. The path to the Eternal Spirit begins with the perception of suffering or dukkha.

A mind stuck on 'male' or 'female', will miss its true nature, namely, the Eternal Spirit. Buddha also said:

Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements."

"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements."

"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements. The uninstructed run-of-the-mill person doesn't discern that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person — there is no development of the mind."

"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that — for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — there is development of the mind."

Pabhassara Sutta

The luminous mind (aka The Eternal Spirit) is free from 'male' and 'female'. Thus the Lord also said:

Having slain mother (craving), father (self-conceit), two warrior-kings (eternalism and nihilism), and destroyed a country (sense organs and sense objects) together with its treasurer (attachment and lust), ungrieving goes the holy man.

Pakinnakavagga

[LuzdelaLuna]

I don't see much difference between what Eternal Spirit posts and spam. Could someone please point out the difference?

Thank you.