Ugly Buddhist Women

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

It had to be done...

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Contrary and Inspired

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The Sexist Historical Buddha

The Buddha left Kapilavatthu and went to Vesali, which was many days' journey on foot. By that time, Mahapajapati had shaved her head and put on the robes. Together with five hundred royal women who had done the same, she walked to Vesali, thus demonstrating women's determination to be ordained and follow the Buddha. Once there, she sat by the entrance to the vihara, weeping, her feet swollen and bleeding from the journey. Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and attendant saw the women, spoke with them and learned of their problem. He approached the Buddha on their behalf saying, "Mahapajapati, your aunt and stepmother, is here, waiting for you to give her permission to join the order." Again, the Buddha said, "Do not ask so." Ananda tried another tact, "After all, your aunt is also your stepmother. She was the one who fed you with her milk." The Buddha still refused. Then Ananda asked, "Are you not giving permission because women do not have the same spiritual potential as men to become enlightened?" The Buddha said, "No, Ananda, women are equal to men in their potential to achieve enlightenment." This statement opened a new horizon in the world of religion in general at that time. Previously, no founder of any religion had proclaimed men and women to have equal potential for enlightenment.

Then, the Buddha said he would give women permission to join the order if Mahapajapati would accept the eight gurudhamma-eight important rules-as the nuns' garland to decorate themselves. Mahapajapati did. One of these rules is very annoying to many Western Buddhist scholars; it says that a nun ordained even a hundred years must bow to a monk ordained but one

Barbara On Buddhism & Women

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Dalai Lama says there is no gender bias in Buddhism

Dalai Lama says there is no gender bias in Buddhism

August, 2010

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul district on Friday, there is no gender bias in Buddhism and nothing prevents a woman from becoming his successor.

"So the purpose of the incarnation is to serve people about dharma (faith). If the circumstances are such, female form is more useful, then why not," said Dalai Lama.

He also added that that the female Dalai Lama should be attractive.

"And I also mentioned in case Dalai Lama's incarnation one female comes then must be very attractive female. So the very reason, you see more influence to others, an ugly female then may not much effective," added Dalai Lama.

Women and Buddhism: The Dalai Lama Wept

Women and Buddhism The Dalai Lama Wept

The Changing Status of Women (and also, the Plight of Western Monastics)

Tenzin Palmo (Diane Perry) is an Englishwoman who began studying Buddhism in the 1960's. In 1976, she began a twelve-year meditation retreat in a cave in Ladakh. In the biography, Cave in the Snow by Vicki Mackenzie, she relates how the negative aspects of the role of women in the male-dominated tradition that is Buddhism were brought to light at the first Conference on Western Buddhism. In March 1993, in Dharmasala, seat of the Dalai Lama in exile, she was one of the participating nuns, when:

"An attractive German laywoman, Sylvia Wetzel, took the floor. With a small but discernible gulp she invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the assembled throng of luminaries to join her in visualization. 'Please imagine that you are a male coming to a Buddhist center. You see the painting of this beautiful Tara surrounded by sixteen female arhats and you have the possibility to see too Her Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama who, in all of her fourteen incarnations, has always chosen a female rebirth,' she began.

'You are surrounded by very high female rinpoches -- beautiful, strong, educated women. Then you see the Bhikshunis coming in, self-confident, outspoken. Then you see the monks coming in behind them -- very shy and timid. You hear about the lineage of lamas of the tradition, who are all female, down to the female Tara in the painting.'

'Remember you are male,' she reminded them, 'and you approach a lama, feeling a little bit insecure and a little bit irritated, and ask "Why are there all these female symbols, female Buddhas?" And she replies, "Don't worry. Men and women are equal. Well, almost. We do have some scriptures which say that a male rebirth is inferior, but isn't this the case? Men do have a more difficult time when all the leaders, spiritually, philosophically and politically are women."

'And then the male student, who is very sincere, goes to another lama, a Mahayanist from the Higher Vehicle School, and says, "I am a man, how can I identify with all these female icons?" And she replies, "You just meditate on Shunyata (Emptiness). In Shunyata no man, no woman, no body, nothing. No problem!"

'So you go to a tantric teacher and say, "All these women and I am a man. I don't know how to relate." And she says, "How wonderful you are, beautiful Daka, you are so useful to us practitioners helping us to raise our kundalini energy. How blessed you are to be a male, to benefit female practitioners on their path to enlightenment."

It was outrageous but delivered in such a charming way that everyone, including the Dalai Lama, laughed. 'Now you have given me another angle on the matter,' he said. In effect Sylvia Wetzel had voiced what millions of women down the centuries had felt. In spite of the mirth, the dam holding back more than 2,500 years of spiritual sexism and pent-up female resentment was beginning to burst.

Others began to join in. A leading Buddhist teacher and author, American nun Thubten Chodron, told how the subtle prejudice she had met within institutions had undermined her confidence to the point that it was a serious hindrance on the path. 'Even if our pain was acknowledged it would make us feel better,' she declared.

Sympathetic male teachers spoke up. 'This is a wonderful challenge for the male -- to see it and accept it,' said a Zen master.

American Tibetan Buddhist monk Thubten Pende gave his views: "When I translated the texts concerning the ordination ceremony I got such a shock. It said that even the most senior nun had to sit behind the most novice monk because, although her ordination was superior, the basis of that ordination, her body, was inferior. I thought, "There it is." I'd heard about this belief but I'd never found evidence of it. I had to recite this text at the ceremony. I was embarrassed to say it and ashamed of the institution I was representing. I wondered, "Why doesn't she get up and leave?" I would.'

The English Theravadan monk Ven Ahjan Amaso also spoke up: 'Seeing the nuns not receiving the respect given to the monks is very painful. It is like having a spear in your heart,' he said.

Then it was Tendzin Palmo's turn, and with all her natural eloquence she told her tale: "When I first came to India I lived in a monastery with 100 monks. I was the only nun,' she said, and paused for several seconds for her words to sink in. 'I think that is why I eventually went to live by myself in a cave.' Everyone got the point. 'The monks were kind, and I had no problems of sexual harassment or troubles of that sort, but of course I was unfortunately within a female form. They actually told me they prayed that in my next life I would have the good fortune to be reborn as a male so that I could join in all the monastery's activities. In the meantime, they said, they didn't hold it too much against me that I had this inferior rebirth in the female form. It wasn't too much my fault.'

Seizing her chance, she went on to fire her biggest salvo. An expose on the situation of the Western Sangha, particularly the nuns whom she had befriended in Italy. 'The lamas ordain people and then they are thrown out into the world with no training, preparation, encouragement, support or guidance-and they're expected to keep their vows, do their practice and run dharma centers. This is very hard and I'm surprised that so many of the Western Monastics stay as long as they do. I'm not surprised when they disrobe. They start with so much enthusiasm, with so much pure faith and devotion and gradually their inspiration decreases. They get discouraged and disillusioned and there is no one who helps them. This is true, Your Holiness. It's a very hard situation and it has never happened in the history of Buddhism before.

'In the past the Sangha was firmly established, nurtured and cared for. In the West this is not happening. I truly don't know why. There are a few monasteries, mostly in the Theravada tradition, which are doing well, but for the nuns what is there?

There is hardly anything quite frankly. But to end on a higher note, I pray that this life of purity and renunciation which is so rare and precious in the world, that this jewel of the Sangha may not be thrown down into the mud of our indifference and contempt.'

It was an impassioned, formidable cry from the heart.

When she had finished a great hush fell over the gathering. No one was laughing now.

As for Tenzin Gyatso, (the Dalai Lama), the Great Ocean of Wisdom, regarded by his people as an emanation of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, he was sitting there, head in his hands, silently weeping. After several minutes he looked up, wiped his eyes and said softly, 'You are quite brave.' Later the senior lamas commented that such directness was indeed rare and that in this respect the conference had been like a family gathering where everyone spoke their mind frankly."

http://www.khandro.net/Buddhism_women.htm




ugly also means difficult

Ugly also means difficult

ugly adj., -li·er, -li·est.

1.Displeasing to the eye; unsightly.

2. a.Repulsive or offensive; objectionable: an ugly remark.

b.Chiefly Southern U.S. Rude: Don't be ugly with me.

c.New England. Unmanageable. Used of animals, especially cows or horses.

3.Morally reprehensible; bad.

4.Threatening or ominous: ugly black clouds.

5. a.Likely to cause embarrassment or trouble: "Public opinion in both nations could take an ugly turn" (George R. Packard).

b.Marked by or inclined to anger or bad feelings; disagreeable: an ugly temper; an ugly scene.

n. Informal, pl., -lies.

One that is ugly, unsightly, objectionable, difficult, likely to cause embarrassment, disagreeable, threatening, rude, unmanageable.

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