Tenzin Palmo
Thus have I heard?
I went for a wonderful lecture by Venerable Tenzin Palmo, at the IIC Annex today.
Her manner is casual, simple, eloquent and graceful. Her personality is dynamic and she exudes kindness and compassion.
Here are some of the points that she made.
The purpose of life is to realize our spiritual path. The title thus have I heard, is a basic Buddhist sutra, its historical antecedents was that when the Buddha gave a talk, (when Ananda (his disciple) was not around), he asked him to repeat the teachings so that he could transcribe it.
On Buddha’s passing, 500 Arhats gathered and wrote down the teachings of the Buddha, obvious in that was their inherent bias towards men, setting the tone for the sexist interpretation of the texts. No mention was made of any Arhatis, considering women made up half the population; their complete silence needs to be questioned.
The words written by a unenlightedned monk leads to biases and distortions setting in.
One of the most basic questions that a monk has to deal with is how to relate to sexuality. The Buddha came up with various solutions. The first seeing the body as unattractive, this will reduce the desire to possess a body. The Buddha recommended going to the foot of a tree, and examining the body from head to toe. I think this is referring to the Buddhist practice of Chod. It is a way to peel away the layers. We come to the realization that what we have is not very sextually desirable. It’s a way to look at people around us as skeletons. This leads to a losing fascination with one's own body and that of others.
Later teachers like NagarArjuna and Shantideva, interpreted the teachings as referring to the female body as foul and disgusting. Women were seen as the problem.
One of the ways in which women were silenced was by denying them an education. If they did not have the educational background, they could not read the scriptures to be able to be of any social function, within the community.
NagarArjuna had a prayer that required women to pray that in their next life, they should wish to be reborn a man, so that they could attain enlightenment.
In a perfect world we all have Buddha nature and it is beyond gender defining.
Taiwan, Korea and China have Buddhist systems that enable women to be fully ordinained, the Tibetan tradition, only allow women to reach the position of novices.
In the West, women are running monasteries, centers and holding retreats. This change is having far reaching consequences for how the tradition is going to be interpreted in the future.
Women are practical and they look for teachings that they can apply to work and function within the constraints of their life. How to practice while being a daughter, a mother, a sister or a grandmother. Their voice will round out the dharma. Buddhist nuns in Taiwan believe that to be an effective bodhisattva, do not just talk the talk, but practice it. So lots of them are involved in social work. Women’s voices in the dharma do not need to be superior, just different.
I went for a wonderful lecture by Venerable Tenzin Palmo, at the IIC Annex today.
Her manner is casual, simple, eloquent and graceful. Her personality is dynamic and she exudes kindness and compassion.
Here are some of the points that she made.
The purpose of life is to realize our spiritual path. The title thus have I heard, is a basic Buddhist sutra, its historical antecedents was that when the Buddha gave a talk, (when Ananda (his disciple) was not around), he asked him to repeat the teachings so that he could transcribe it.
On Buddha’s passing, 500 Arhats gathered and wrote down the teachings of the Buddha, obvious in that was their inherent bias towards men, setting the tone for the sexist interpretation of the texts. No mention was made of any Arhatis, considering women made up half the population; their complete silence needs to be questioned.
The words written by a unenlightedned monk leads to biases and distortions setting in.
One of the most basic questions that a monk has to deal with is how to relate to sexuality. The Buddha came up with various solutions. The first seeing the body as unattractive, this will reduce the desire to possess a body. The Buddha recommended going to the foot of a tree, and examining the body from head to toe. I think this is referring to the Buddhist practice of Chod. It is a way to peel away the layers. We come to the realization that what we have is not very sextually desirable. It’s a way to look at people around us as skeletons. This leads to a losing fascination with one's own body and that of others.
Later teachers like NagarArjuna and Shantideva, interpreted the teachings as referring to the female body as foul and disgusting. Women were seen as the problem.
One of the ways in which women were silenced was by denying them an education. If they did not have the educational background, they could not read the scriptures to be able to be of any social function, within the community.
NagarArjuna had a prayer that required women to pray that in their next life, they should wish to be reborn a man, so that they could attain enlightenment.
In a perfect world we all have Buddha nature and it is beyond gender defining.
Taiwan, Korea and China have Buddhist systems that enable women to be fully ordinained, the Tibetan tradition, only allow women to reach the position of novices.
In the West, women are running monasteries, centers and holding retreats. This change is having far reaching consequences for how the tradition is going to be interpreted in the future.
Women are practical and they look for teachings that they can apply to work and function within the constraints of their life. How to practice while being a daughter, a mother, a sister or a grandmother. Their voice will round out the dharma. Buddhist nuns in Taiwan believe that to be an effective bodhisattva, do not just talk the talk, but practice it. So lots of them are involved in social work. Women’s voices in the dharma do not need to be superior, just different.
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