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March is Women's History month so all of my posts this month will be reviews of books or teachings by women teachers, or articles related to the feminine energy and symbology in Buddhism. First up is a review of Into the Heart of Life by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo:

Into the Heart of Life, by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Tenzin Palmo is a wonderful teacher who first came to prominence in a book called Cave in the Snow by Vicki Mackenzie about her 12 years in solitary retreat. Click through to the article for some great quotes from the book...


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
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dear lisa,

I am eager to read ,about woman's contribution.

One Mahayana Buddhist Monk is Choi Drolma who has written or sung many Mantras,from Nepal and built her own school ,sangha and a home for elderly woman.
Will your posts be only on books or people that we can do some reseach on.

loong
simple buddhist

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It will be books, people, and feminine symbols/deities (i.e. green tara etc.). Although I have written about a lot of these already, so in some cases I'll be adding new articles while in others I'll be adding on to existing ones. The articles I've already written are in the 'Women in Buddhism' section of the Buddhism site (the bottom category link):
BellaOnline BUddhism

You can research any of them you like. The author of this first book review is had a fascinating life, she is a great one to research. Of course you know my general advice - research is only valuable if it is helping empty the mind, not fill it!


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
Buddhism Site
Teaching and Private Session Website: Enlightened Energetics
Blog: Mommy Mystic
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,200
Koala
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To Lisa ,
This afternoon I fell upon a conference by PAPAJI.
Comtrary to Buddhism,he states that no one should have a Master or teacher .Would appreciate your comments

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZhCk6sieMA&list=WL5D34BDCFA8738A92[url]

Loong a simple nothing

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I'm sorry I could not play the video for some reason. But I am very familiar with Papaji, because I have attended retreats with an American women student of his, Gangaji, and have in fact interviewed her and consider her one of my main spiritual guides.

Papaji was himself a teacher who very much functioned as a master and guru for Gangaji and many others. If you read his biography you will find that he also was engaged in a very traditional teacher/student relationship with his own teacher, Ramana Maharshi.

So to understand his words and teachings on this matter, you have to go deeper than the surface meaning of his words. Although I could not watch the video, Gangaji has said much the same thing, and in fact you will find very similar teachings throughout all of Mahayana Buddhism as well, including in those traditions that do have formal teacher/student relationships.

A teacher is meant to point us back to ourselves. On the level of our mind, they serve as 'check', guiding us in our practice and helping us to see obstacles that have arisen in our awareness that we cannot see ourselves. It is the nature of the mind to be blind to its own structures at times.

On another level the teacher is a connection with Source that we can draw upon in our own practice. By connecting to their own level of awareness, new doorways are opened up for us as well. Then there is also the idea of transmission (or shaktipat or darshan, there are many words for teacher transmissions) - through these we receive direct access to understandings that might be hard for us to access on our own.

So teachers function on all of these levels, and Papaji was both a student and a teacher in a lineage that very much functions along these lines!

So when he says no one should have a teacher, he is talking in ultimate terms - that enlightenment is already with us, and if we get caught in the idea that it is only in the teacher, we never discover it in ourselves. This is speaking to a particular obstacle that can arise for some students when they have been with a teacher for some time. For most people in the West though, this is not an issue. We are so conditioned to be independent that Westerners are not as likely to hand over their power in this way. But I believe this is what Papaji is speaking to.

He also often spoke about on the ultimate level there is no teacher and there is no student. Source/enlightenment comes through both. The teacher is the pointer for a student for a time, but on an ultimate level, the teacher is not 'higher.'

So one needs to understand Papaji's statements within this context, with a full understanding of his own lineage and his other teachings. This is always true - that is why it is so hard to progress if one jumps around too much from teacher to teacher - it is too easy to pick and choose what one wants to hear. A teacher's words are meant to be understood in relation to other things they have said, and their tradition, and the context.


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
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It is International Women's Day today, a day for celebrating the accomplishments of women, as well as the feminine principle as it is expressed in all of us. I've posted a guest post by a friend of mine on the feminine principle as it is expressed through certain Tibetan Buddhist goddesses/archetypes here:

Embodied Forms of Feminine Power in Buddhism

At my blog, I've also put together a collaborative post of many different women's expressions of feminine energy in the world - artworks, poems, blog posts, etc. - some of which are Buddhist-inspired. I hope you enjoy!

Feminine Power - A Celebration!


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
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For the next post in honor of Women's History Month, I decided to update an article on the Therigatha, a set of writings by the first Buddhist nuns, and amongst the earliest spiritual writings attributed to women in any religion:

Therigatha - First Buddhist Writings by Women


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
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Hi Lisa, I enjoyed your article about early women in Buddhism. The Divine is for all of us, a be-all, and end-all.

smile

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Thanks Susan. I especially love the Therigatha because some of the first nuns were older widows, who had already raised families and lived very much 'in the world'. In many ways they were the first to connect Buddhist teachings to the struggles of 'real people' in the world, in contrast to most of the first monks, many of whom were young, celibate men (and of course they also expressed the Buddha's teaching in beautiful ways, but for those of us living today, the Therigatha often feels more relevant.)


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
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Joined: Dec 2008
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I wanted to link to this older post on Pajapati, the Buddha's stepmom and aunt, who according to legend was instrumental in persuading Buddha to initiate women:

Pajapati, Buddha's Aunt and Stepmother, and First Buddhist Nun

Later this month I'll be doing an article on the current status of women with each of the major lineages in Buddhism...


Lisa Erickson, Buddhism Editor
Buddhism Site
Teaching and Private Session Website: Enlightened Energetics
Blog: Mommy Mystic
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