Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
The foundation of all of our skandhic impetuses is adversarial in nature.
The Man / woman value judgement is just one more idiot version of that impetus..
Odd, isn't it? Those darned ovaries of ours just relegate us to lives in constant hell realms, I guess, lol.
There is a wonderful book called "Cave in the Snow" by Tenzin Palmo that addresses this a bit. She has taken a vow to achieve enlightenment in the female body. It's quite a good read
It's funny how something like even Buddhism gets caught up in that dualistic value judgement. But it's just humans making mistakes. Thankfully we know better in some parts of the world. In others, not so much
There's a lot of debate about whether the Buddha was patriarchal, or if that element was added to the sutras after the Buddha's death. But there's also a sutra that teaches that gender is empty of inherent meaning, just like most other things. Look up my thread on the Vimalakirti Sutra, OP. It's on Pg. 3 of the general listings, or you can type it into the "search" window.
I'm not really saying we should accept sexist scriptures. But we have to accept that ALL of the scriptures may not be true and not just the ones we dislike are suspect.
In front of everyone in the sangha, he putted his finger in and out of the nose several times...
He also tried in his practice to dont look at women for 2 months, but it didnt work, he was still attached, even the wild monkies made him aroused.
Monks cant touch womens, whats the reason....are there no middelway?
Craving and desire can appear?
Sounds like he . . . has an issue. Ahem.
I've thought about this before . . . being in a female body, I wouldn't 'know' what it's like being steeped in so much testosterones, what that feels like, what images or intrusive thoughts it promotes. It sounds a lot like a kind of 'weakness', in the same way I have a weakness for Almond Roca (not a value weakness at all). Like a kind of burden, even if the male being is spewing his seed at every chance he is prompted .
I've had goats for years (until my daughter and her partner moved, took said goats with them). When you have dairy goats you have mostly females, neutered males (called wethers) and then you have an intact male goat. Any more than that is asking or trouble.
During 'rut', male goats (called bucks) are entirely preoccupied with mating. So preoccupied that if you don't watch them closely, they could die of dehydration, starvation, and exhaustion from over humping. And they are not happy, not one bit, except for the two and a half seconds it takes to mate and the nice long pee afterward. Then, they're ready again. It's why the goat sits at the left hand of God. I hope for human males it doesn't approach a small percentage of this suffering I see in buck goats.
After reading about Ajan Chah, who's teachings I respect a great deal, I can't help but think of goat bucks. Maybe it gets like that when you've never had sex and don't masturbate. I hope it got better for him . . .
I personally don't think it's a matter of "what's wrong with women" but rather a "what's wrong with how the society and culture treated women". For example, if you were going to be born today in Yemen, a place where women have virtually no rights, then being born as a man is clearly better. It's better to have rights than to not have them! Just like it would be better to be born a white person in 1806 America, rather than black. But that doesn't have anything to do with the intrinsic qualities of male, female, black or white. It's not a reflection of what's wrong with the individual people, but rather a reflection of how the culture discriminates against these people. Not being discriminated against is clearly an easier life than being discriminated against. Just because it would be better to be born a white person in 1806 America, doesn't mean there is something wrong with black people.
Regarding whether Buddha was patriarchal...we will never really know. The man died over two thousand years ago. All we know is what someone else wrote down off what yet someone else said about him, some time after his death.
It is much like Jesus and the Gospels. Just like Jesus, Buddha as we know him is not a historical figure but rather an idealized symbol used by the teachings of the religion bearing his name. A hero of the past, an inspiring myth, not meant to be understood literally.
" Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who say it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense." - Buddha
what I like most about Buddhist is; it not about blind faith, it challenge to find your own truth, and question everything. So just because someone said it you have to follow it... find you truth and you will find Buddhahood.
@Nichy that really isn't what Buddha said. It's a fake quote that was, I'm sure, intended to summarize the Kalama sutra, but it doesn't do a very good job. In fact the actual sutra says not to depend on your logic to arrive at the truth. Our own logic and sense is pretty skewed. Also, I'm not sure a person can find "their" truth. There are different paths to the truth, for sure. But the truth is just the truth. It doesn't change.
This is what that part of the sutra actually says:
“Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in them.
You missed out the part where they pee on their own faces and then try to nuzzle with you. Or try to batter to death any other goat who gets sick in order to climb one wrung of the pecking order.
A monastery I attended had goats. Ever had goat milk ice cream?
That is interesting karasti, and thanks for sharing.
One of the things that attracted me to learning about Buddhism, was the idea, or at least what I was reading into it, that discovery of the truth is ours to discover at our pace, and the path may vary (I know some may not agree). Buddha shared his path, but even within the Buddhist community, there are disagreements as to the best path, or even if there is a "best" or "only" path. So in a way we are forced to evaluate what rings true as we decide to follow Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana or Zen, or save the decision for another life.
I can imagine Buddha's desire for others to be enlightened, ending suffering, thus him putting the work into drawing a map for us to follow... it is a good question as to how close we need to adhere to his map to find our truth.
1
DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
Well, I was able to read the thread up until apparently, Ajahn Chah compared sex to picking his nose violently without having tea come out of mine.
That was pretty funny.
It's like, because there is suffering, we shouldn't procreate...
In some traditions. Women seem to be held responsible for mens inability to control their carnal desires. Women shouldn't even touch the possessions of a monk. Even to the point that monks make a seen when non-Buddhist speak to them or touch them unknowingly. (what happen to Metta?) Or as portrayed in Old Path White Cloud. Buddha wasn't going to let women into the Sangha. His stepmother had to shave her head and protest. Then Ananda spoke to the Buddha about it before he ordained her. Please if someone has an explanation how women are, even still, held unequal to men with in and out of the Sangha? Seems against the basic teachings. Or did the Buddha teach that women are indeed inferior to men?
My guru is a women. I am not sure if in Tibetan Buddhism if the monks are not allowed to be with women. Seems doubtful as my female guru was a student of men gurus as a nun.
Women are still held responsible for the male inability to control their desires. Just last year a young woman was asked to leave her prom because her appearance was distracting to the adult father chaperones.
I know it's in some of the sutras that women cannot become enlightened. But we will never know 100% for sure what Buddha said versus what was interpreted by his disciples. Regardless, we know better today and that's all that really matters.
3
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Yes, as ever, men blame-shift onto someone else. it's never THEIR fault, of course....
@Namada said:
Medicine Buddha mantra can help for many things
Among those things I saw this point:
"To help women who wish to be reborn as men achieve their desired rebirth".
So now play this mantra in radio, and then only boys will be born!
Scary!
Yeah, they didn't think that one through, did they? Although if the goal is to get everyone enlightened, and being enlightened they aren't reincarnated, then there won't be people anymore, will there? Of course, before that, there won't be animals because that's supposed to be people working off karma...and so on.
1
HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
I thought I'd thoroughly disgusted and horrified people enough, but yeah, they pee on themselves, especially their own faces, and can actually AIM their penis like a periscope. They are so convinced of their irresistible sex appeal that they assume their humans are begging to smell as good. So rancid pee smell on top of a weird organic smelling version of hot tar on a tin roof is something they . . . just want to share
It's a smell that won't wash out of clothing. Worse, it's one of those particular smells your nose 'gets used to' quickly, so that YOU are walking around Safeway wafting buck goat rut smell that you can't detect while other noses can. This is a personal experience. I had a checker ask if I smelled hot tar. I don't remember what I said
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited February 2015
Or the classic "The Inn of 6th Hapeeness"....
Not forgetting, of course that our pesky hormones during menopause (still seen by some doctors as an affliction to be corrected, rather than a transition to be managed) we are prescribed HRT extracted from mare's urine.
Maybe it's because we're accused of being nags, when in fact, we should be treated like thoroughbreds.
@Namada said:
Ajahn Chah also explained how sex is like.
In front of everyone in the sangha, he putted his finger in and out of the nose several times...
He also tried in his practice to dont look at women for 2 months, but it didnt work, he was still attached, even the wild monkies made him aroused.
Ajahn Chah bequeathed us some wonderful teachings, so whether he chose to pick his nose in public or not, to be honest, is the least of my concerns.
I dare say this habit is not the first thing that springs to people's mind when his name is mentioned.
As to controlling lust, monks from all conversions have resorted to different more or less cruel means in order to curb their lust cravings.
Christian monks were known for the use of hardcore flagellation.
After all, repressing one's sexual cravings is an act that does not come naturally, without some resistance on the part of our body and psyche.
Buddhism sprang within a patriarchal culture, despite which, Buddhism is still recorded as the first religion to have accepted women into their religious order.
@vinlyn yes, that is not the impression I got, either. More than he was mimicking the motions of sex using his finger and his nose. Which is kind of odd out of context, I don't understand if he was comparing sex to putting your finger in your nostril, or what, lol.
Here is Ajahn Amaros Version of this story about Ajahn Chah and how he picked his nose,
maybe this story will clarify it better hehe
In 1979 in Barre, Massachusetts, during a question-and-answer session while on retreat, someone asked Ajahn Chah, "Is it necessarily a barrier to be in a sexual relationship? Can one not view sex in terms of it being the dance of the sacred marriage? Couldn't it be noble and mystical?" After Ajahn Chah had the question translated, he pondered for a moment and then started picking his nose in a very graphic and extended way. When everyone was rolling on the floor laughing and he was sure they definitely got the point, he pulled his finger out of his nose: "There's nothing more to it than that, except what the mind adds to it." Perhaps this story has been altered a bit in the telling, but it's still a good story.
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
I am just (took a break to post) listening to a dharma talk about the Shrimaladevi sutra.
It is refreshing for two reasons. One the main character is a women who is a queen. And the second is that they don't mention that she is beautiful. First of all how uncommon is it that there is a women as the main character in a sutra? And how common is it that her intelligence is praised and nothing mentioned that she is beautiful? Are the men in the dharma praised for being handsome??
LOL it's always funny to hear someone who hasn't experienced something (I assume he is celibate?) tell others what it feels like. Obviously, most people know that it's more than the mind that makes sex and nose picking feel differently.
Comments
They are never wrong.
@Namada
The foundation of all of our skandhic impetuses is adversarial in nature.
The Man / woman value judgement is just one more idiot version of that impetus..
huh????
Odd, isn't it? Those darned ovaries of ours just relegate us to lives in constant hell realms, I guess, lol.
There is a wonderful book called "Cave in the Snow" by Tenzin Palmo that addresses this a bit. She has taken a vow to achieve enlightenment in the female body. It's quite a good read
It's funny how something like even Buddhism gets caught up in that dualistic value judgement. But it's just humans making mistakes. Thankfully we know better in some parts of the world. In others, not so much
darned old Buddhist testaments (small case)
I would like to be reborn as a porpoise, probably a male one though.
When I'm reborn, I'm going to be reborn as a nasty germ, and pay those pesky 'Medicine Buddha Mantra' commentators, a surprise visit....
I am not touching this one with pliers even...
But gee this being a sutra and me being mostly a Theravada sutta freak I guess I am off the hook?
Lots of enlightened females in the suttas btw...
/Victor
Yes, women are dangerous
Ajahn Chah also explained how sex is like.
In front of everyone in the sangha, he putted his finger in and out of the nose several times...
He also tried in his practice to dont look at women for 2 months, but it didnt work, he was still attached, even the wild monkies made him aroused.
Monks cant touch womens, whats the reason....are there no middelway?
Craving and desire can appear?
Society at the time the Sutras were written was rather patriarchal. Not surprisingly, that carried over into the writings.
Yes, thats one explanation, anyway its extremistic today, and monk life its certantly not for everyone. Monks cant even speak alone with their mother.
Seems rather vulgar.
Buddha himself was patriarchal?
There's a lot of debate about whether the Buddha was patriarchal, or if that element was added to the sutras after the Buddha's death. But there's also a sutra that teaches that gender is empty of inherent meaning, just like most other things. Look up my thread on the Vimalakirti Sutra, OP. It's on Pg. 3 of the general listings, or you can type it into the "search" window.
Hi @Dakini thanks for info, I will chek it out
That brings into question whether or not Buddhist scriptures are the actual words of Buddha.
No only the scriptures that we don't like are false haha
its just scriptures, we have to experience the fruit of the practice on our own anyway, and then see if it works or not...
I'm not really saying we should accept sexist scriptures. But we have to accept that ALL of the scriptures may not be true and not just the ones we dislike are suspect.
Yes, maybe its not so easy to devide between true or false scriptures.
Sounds like he . . . has an issue. Ahem.
I've thought about this before . . . being in a female body, I wouldn't 'know' what it's like being steeped in so much testosterones, what that feels like, what images or intrusive thoughts it promotes. It sounds a lot like a kind of 'weakness', in the same way I have a weakness for Almond Roca (not a value weakness at all). Like a kind of burden, even if the male being is spewing his seed at every chance he is prompted .
I've had goats for years (until my daughter and her partner moved, took said goats with them). When you have dairy goats you have mostly females, neutered males (called wethers) and then you have an intact male goat. Any more than that is asking or trouble.
During 'rut', male goats (called bucks) are entirely preoccupied with mating. So preoccupied that if you don't watch them closely, they could die of dehydration, starvation, and exhaustion from over humping. And they are not happy, not one bit, except for the two and a half seconds it takes to mate and the nice long pee afterward. Then, they're ready again. It's why the goat sits at the left hand of God. I hope for human males it doesn't approach a small percentage of this suffering I see in buck goats.
After reading about Ajan Chah, who's teachings I respect a great deal, I can't help but think of goat bucks. Maybe it gets like that when you've never had sex and don't masturbate. I hope it got better for him . . .
Sounds familiar. I might well be part cructacean and part goat . . . m m m . . .
Wow... What is the cause of all suffering? Isn't it desire? 4NT
Conundrum here.
I personally don't think it's a matter of "what's wrong with women" but rather a "what's wrong with how the society and culture treated women". For example, if you were going to be born today in Yemen, a place where women have virtually no rights, then being born as a man is clearly better. It's better to have rights than to not have them! Just like it would be better to be born a white person in 1806 America, rather than black. But that doesn't have anything to do with the intrinsic qualities of male, female, black or white. It's not a reflection of what's wrong with the individual people, but rather a reflection of how the culture discriminates against these people. Not being discriminated against is clearly an easier life than being discriminated against. Just because it would be better to be born a white person in 1806 America, doesn't mean there is something wrong with black people.
It is much like Jesus and the Gospels. Just like Jesus, Buddha as we know him is not a historical figure but rather an idealized symbol used by the teachings of the religion bearing his name. A hero of the past, an inspiring myth, not meant to be understood literally.
" Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who say it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense." - Buddha
what I like most about Buddhist is; it not about blind faith, it challenge to find your own truth, and question everything. So just because someone said it you have to follow it... find you truth and you will find Buddhahood.
@Nichy that really isn't what Buddha said. It's a fake quote that was, I'm sure, intended to summarize the Kalama sutra, but it doesn't do a very good job. In fact the actual sutra says not to depend on your logic to arrive at the truth. Our own logic and sense is pretty skewed. Also, I'm not sure a person can find "their" truth. There are different paths to the truth, for sure. But the truth is just the truth. It doesn't change.
This is what that part of the sutra actually says:
“Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in them.
@karasti thank you for the clarification... lean something new everyday
You missed out the part where they pee on their own faces and then try to nuzzle with you. Or try to batter to death any other goat who gets sick in order to climb one wrung of the pecking order.
A monastery I attended had goats. Ever had goat milk ice cream?
That is interesting karasti, and thanks for sharing.
One of the things that attracted me to learning about Buddhism, was the idea, or at least what I was reading into it, that discovery of the truth is ours to discover at our pace, and the path may vary (I know some may not agree). Buddha shared his path, but even within the Buddhist community, there are disagreements as to the best path, or even if there is a "best" or "only" path. So in a way we are forced to evaluate what rings true as we decide to follow Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana or Zen, or save the decision for another life.
I can imagine Buddha's desire for others to be enlightened, ending suffering, thus him putting the work into drawing a map for us to follow... it is a good question as to how close we need to adhere to his map to find our truth.
That was pretty funny.
It's like, because there is suffering, we shouldn't procreate...
Buddha was about ending suffering, not life.
@Telly03 that was my understanding as well, that we each find our own to find our truth.
In some traditions. Women seem to be held responsible for mens inability to control their carnal desires. Women shouldn't even touch the possessions of a monk. Even to the point that monks make a seen when non-Buddhist speak to them or touch them unknowingly. (what happen to Metta?) Or as portrayed in Old Path White Cloud. Buddha wasn't going to let women into the Sangha. His stepmother had to shave her head and protest. Then Ananda spoke to the Buddha about it before he ordained her. Please if someone has an explanation how women are, even still, held unequal to men with in and out of the Sangha? Seems against the basic teachings. Or did the Buddha teach that women are indeed inferior to men?
My guru is a women. I am not sure if in Tibetan Buddhism if the monks are not allowed to be with women. Seems doubtful as my female guru was a student of men gurus as a nun.
I blame God for giving men brains that can be remote controlled by a joy stick.
Women are still held responsible for the male inability to control their desires. Just last year a young woman was asked to leave her prom because her appearance was distracting to the adult father chaperones.
I know it's in some of the sutras that women cannot become enlightened. But we will never know 100% for sure what Buddha said versus what was interpreted by his disciples. Regardless, we know better today and that's all that really matters.
Yes, as ever, men blame-shift onto someone else. it's never THEIR fault, of course....
it's women's fault that men shift the blame hehe j/k
Yeah, they didn't think that one through, did they? Although if the goal is to get everyone enlightened, and being enlightened they aren't reincarnated, then there won't be people anymore, will there? Of course, before that, there won't be animals because that's supposed to be people working off karma...and so on.
I thought I'd thoroughly disgusted and horrified people enough, but yeah, they pee on themselves, especially their own faces, and can actually AIM their penis like a periscope. They are so convinced of their irresistible sex appeal that they assume their humans are begging to smell as good. So rancid pee smell on top of a weird organic smelling version of hot tar on a tin roof is something they . . . just want to share
It's a smell that won't wash out of clothing. Worse, it's one of those particular smells your nose 'gets used to' quickly, so that YOU are walking around Safeway wafting buck goat rut smell that you can't detect while other noses can. This is a personal experience. I had a checker ask if I smelled hot tar. I don't remember what I said
A wonderful film -- "Pee On A Hot Tar Roof"!
Or the classic "The Inn of 6th Hapeeness"....
Not forgetting, of course that our pesky hormones during menopause (still seen by some doctors as an affliction to be corrected, rather than a transition to be managed) we are prescribed HRT extracted from mare's urine.
Maybe it's because we're accused of being nags, when in fact, we should be treated like thoroughbreds.
Ajahn Chah bequeathed us some wonderful teachings, so whether he chose to pick his nose in public or not, to be honest, is the least of my concerns.
I dare say this habit is not the first thing that springs to people's mind when his name is mentioned.
As to controlling lust, monks from all conversions have resorted to different more or less cruel means in order to curb their lust cravings.
Christian monks were known for the use of hardcore flagellation.
After all, repressing one's sexual cravings is an act that does not come naturally, without some resistance on the part of our body and psyche.
Buddhism sprang within a patriarchal culture, despite which, Buddhism is still recorded as the first religion to have accepted women into their religious order.
I didn't get the impression that he was "picking his nose". Or do I just have a dirty mind?
@vinlyn yes, that is not the impression I got, either. More than he was mimicking the motions of sex using his finger and his nose. Which is kind of odd out of context, I don't understand if he was comparing sex to putting your finger in your nostril, or what, lol.
Here is Ajahn Amaros Version of this story about Ajahn Chah and how he picked his nose,
maybe this story will clarify it better hehe
In 1979 in Barre, Massachusetts, during a question-and-answer session while on retreat, someone asked Ajahn Chah, "Is it necessarily a barrier to be in a sexual relationship? Can one not view sex in terms of it being the dance of the sacred marriage? Couldn't it be noble and mystical?" After Ajahn Chah had the question translated, he pondered for a moment and then started picking his nose in a very graphic and extended way. When everyone was rolling on the floor laughing and he was sure they definitely got the point, he pulled his finger out of his nose: "There's nothing more to it than that, except what the mind adds to it." Perhaps this story has been altered a bit in the telling, but it's still a good story.
Charmed, I'm sure...
I am just (took a break to post) listening to a dharma talk about the Shrimaladevi sutra.
It is refreshing for two reasons. One the main character is a women who is a queen. And the second is that they don't mention that she is beautiful. First of all how uncommon is it that there is a women as the main character in a sutra? And how common is it that her intelligence is praised and nothing mentioned that she is beautiful? Are the men in the dharma praised for being handsome??
LOL it's always funny to hear someone who hasn't experienced something (I assume he is celibate?) tell others what it feels like. Obviously, most people know that it's more than the mind that makes sex and nose picking feel differently.