Is the Buddha a Sexist!?
Nirodha in his Steps Along the Path [link], Kelvin in Salt * Wet * Fish [link], the administrator of the American Buddhist Net blog [link], and Tor in Tor’s Rants [link] posted regarding Mettanando Bhikkhu’s essay, “Was the Lord Buddha a sexist?”, originally posted in The Bangkok Post [on May 8], and picked up by The Buddhist Channel [link to essay in TBC] on May 9.
The bhikkhu quotes controversial and unfortunate sections from the Tripitaka where The Eight Heavy Duties of nuns was written by the Buddha and given to a woman who was both his aunt and stepmother. The diminution of status and importance of women is shocking in this section, yet Mettanando Bhikkhu concludes that Buddha was not sexist -- because of other content in the Tripitaka, where from contadicting statements and proper insights and inferences, Buddha’s true universal compassion shines through.
Tor writes in Tor’s Rants, “Many Americans who fancy themselves Buddhists live under some dangerous misconceptions about Buddhist belief and history. Most of these misconceptions derive from their political leanings (mostly extremely liberal) and wishful thinking. [Note: Tor is himself liberal. The subtitle of his blog is “A Left-Libertarian Buddhist's take on Life (kitty-kats and fixing cars), the Universe (Maine) and Nothing (politics).”] Tor cites historical and current instances of violence relating to Buddhism before getting into the sexism problem that Mettanando Bhikkhu presented.
Kelvin of S*W*F read the article and writes, “It reminds us well that even … the tripitaka … can contain discrepancies or debatable topics. Not because the teachings are inconsistent or incorrect, but [because what gets written can be different from what was] taught.” He tells us we must employ our own wisdom and power of unbiased observation to gather Buddha’s true intentions.
In American Buddhist Net, the essay is presented followed by an assessment that ends, “If Buddhists cannot overcome the ‘subsumed self’ of their castes, groups, genders, or ethnicities, their practice, in my view, cannot be considered to have any measure of real attainment.”
Doe’s Doe-Do Doin’ Great
There have been great posts this week in Mike Doe’s Doe-Do. In one he describes his interesting color-apprehension problem and its connection to Buddhism. In another, there’s a fascinating examination of his meditation regimen and its effects and results and then a general presentation of what meditation can mean. He writes, “Whatever you avoid will haunt you and influence you. Whatever you embrace will not.” And then, piling on more jewels to the bounty that’s there, he polishes off [maybe] his Individuation multi-post series with the fourth and fifth posts. [Here are links to parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5]
Following is the opening to the fifth post, which gives you a sense of the whole of what Mike is presenting in his Individuation series:
In each of the stages to date the objective of individuation is to stop denying that which is actually there and to trust a little more that which arises unseen.The Stream
In the Self stage it is all about the unconscious mind becoming the dominant driving force and the Ego taking a step back a little and yielding some control.
There is a dance that must go on where the Ego and the unconscious work out the terms in which they engage. If the Ego is completely overwhelmed by the unconscious then the subconscious would reign supreme and all sorts of wild and wacky megalomaniac-based things could appear. Likewise, if the Ego dominates the unconscious then a large source of intuition and wisdom and power is cut off. Somewhere between these two extremes is a middle way :-)
TMcG of the eponymous blog tells us, in a bulletted list, the lengths she'll go to to avoid doing homework. One is that she will pull tufts of hair off the dog.
Sandwiched between a relating of events of his prior day, Shokai of Water Dissolves Water offers his thoughts of the film United 93. “I found the fast editing, the documentary-style hand-held camera shots, and the accumulated sense of dread to be as suspenseful and thrilling (and downright scary) as anything I've seen in film in a while. And most importantly, the movie doesn't demonize the hijackers, nor go out of its way to try and sympathize with them.”
At right we see Clarity [foreground] of Clarity's blog on the streets of New York with Rabbi David A. Cooper. The picture is from Clarity's post this week, "nose," which tells the story of his proboscis and how he lost it.[Picture posted with permission.]
Kit of Paper Frog wishes us a Happy Vesak! [Vesak falls on May 12 or 13, dependent on which date the moon is full in your section of the planet.] and posts the UN’s Vesak Greetings and that of the Vatican. The UN’s text is nicely titled, “On Buddhist day of Vesak, Annan stresses interdependence of all peoples.” The Pope's words are surprisingly kind and nice, prompting Kit to respond, "Happy Vesak back atcha, Your Holiness."
Ahhhhh. This is SOOOO cute and – seriously – so astonishingly touching and well written. Cliff – er, Mr. Jones – of This is this tells us all the details about his Vesak Day presentation regarding Buddhism to the five-year olds in his daughter’s class. Cliff dazzles his audience with his own kindness on the subjects of kindness and karma and gets back in return a “gleam of perfect and gappy smiles.” Writes Cliff, near the end: “I didn't know it until this morning, but being applauded by a group of five year olds while your kid beams at you is one of the best feelings you can have.”
Gareth of Green Clouds posted "Red Pill/Blue Pill Narcissism," this week, which asks 'What do you do?' after taking the red pill. Writes Gareth, "Inside the question - how can I change the world, lurks a very large I. This narcissism can be immobilising. Too much time spent meditating on the question drives us in a vicious circle, and only increases the grip of an Ego continually throwing up reasons why this choice isn’t the right choice for me."
Big Shots’ Blogs and Comment Streams
ebuddha asks in Integral Practice “So what's up with the Ken Wilber blog not allowing comments?” and with that opening salvo, initiates the wider discussion of Big Shots’ blogs with their limitted features to keep the stinking masses at bay.
ebuddha also cites Steve Pavlina’s blog for shutting off comments and says other teachers do the same thing. He says there are two reasons for this, both of which demonstrate contempt for the little guy. The teacher wants to control the message and/or thinks the hoi polloi are all idiots.
Jay of The Pagan Bodhisattva doubts that “nefarious intent, and a desire for control” are at the heart of the problem. “Comment administration is a pain in the ass - esp. when your blog starts to get up into thousands or tens of thousands of visitors. … So what if a site doesn’t support comments? That doesn’t prevent people from linking to it and offering up their two cents regardless.” Jay goes on to say, “The real test will be if the KW blog integrates into the blogosphere by linking to other bloggers, or whether it’s a unidirectional announcement board, like the Tricycle blogs are - never linking to other bloggers, never commenting on hot discussions, never even acknowledging that there is a ‘blogosphere’ outside of their privileged opinions.”
One day and a couple of broken fingers later [after a visit from the Denver Mafia, you see], Integral Practice's ebuddha posted again on the topic and seemed to recant. “[I]t doesn't seem that my ‘histrionics with a wink and a smile’ came across correctly in the previous post. So, yes, partly I was definitely kidding,” he wrote. But later in his post, somehow having regained his courage, he returns to his defiant tone, curls what fingers he can, waves an angry fist and asks, “Are the personal growth ‘heavies’ justifiably superior, in a ‘read the f**king manual, and listening to what I'm saying’ way?” The two smiley faces following his question must certainly be an effort to throw off the Mafia and save what healthy digits he has left -- either that, or he's kidding. Oh, all right. He's kidding.
One month into TricycleBlogs and the situation is in meltdown. Sharon Salzberg has written once, a month ago, posting a self-engrandizing paean to her wonderfulness as a founder of the Insight Meditation Institute. Stephen Batchelor speaks from the mountaintop in three posts and, like all the bloggers, does not respond to statements in the comment stream. Pat Enkyo O’Hare Roshi hasn’t shown up; she is still listed as “coming soon.” [Update: Per an email sent to me by her assistant, "Roshi has asked that I let you know that she has been travelling and will get to the blog soon. Please be patient." Yeah. Right. Travel is such a terrible encumberance to blogging in the 21st Century.] Thus, the three star bloggers in the TB quintet have been fizzles.
Kudos and Metrics and Blog Adjustments
Jeb has now pretty much turned off the lights and let out the cat at Wondering on the Way, but happily, he is returning with a new blog, set to launch on “May 15 or so.” “JEB” is really the guy’s initials; he’ll be returning as Jack. Possible titles for the new blog are “Jack Out of the Box, Jack’s Mountain, Mountain Jack, Apple Jack, and Buddhist Jack” He writes, “I intend to focus less on my personal journey, and more on Buddhist things that might be helpful to others.” The new blog’s address will be jack.atbv.net Another project of his, Buddhist Village, a gathering for ordinary American Buddhists, is expected to officially launch in June, he writes.
Congratulations to Zaadz: There is joy and much excitement in the Integral wing of the Buddhoblogosphere with the news that kindly and uber-non-stop blogger ~C4Chaos, who solo-blogs ~C4Chaos, has a Zaadz blog, and is part of the team that writes KenWilberBlog, will be working for Zaadz, the website that expects to change the world with the ingredients “Capitalism. Spirituality. Enthusiasm. Love. Service. Inspiration. Leaders.” ~C4 will call upon his IT and blogging skills to earn his paycheck. That’s right, among his duties, ~C4 [the blogger formerly known as coolmel, and, possibly Rommel before that] will be paid to blog – the lucky duck.
Chodpa of Luminous Emptiness really is back, with her fourth post this month [and second this week]. In “The Three Types of Suffering,” Chodpa explores the issue of suffering through the teachings of Gampopa.
beesucker of Authentic Personality reaches the milestone of 10,000 visitors in six months and approaches it analytically, pouring over the stats and finding reasons to be concerned. A large number of the visitors fly in and out without becoming regular readers.
On May 13, Internet Options Cafe recorded it's 10,000th hit. Writes Will, " I'm amazed and grateful. When I first began this blog it was getting a few hits a month, maybe thirty or so. I thought that was pretty cool. I now regularly get hits from Togo, India, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Columbia, Brazil, Japan, Tajikistan, and Romania. [Editor's note: And Sacramento.]
wch ends his post “ONE HUNDRED POSTS (PAYDIRT!)” in the possibility of fire with the sentence “i can die a happy man.” It is a little unclear if his post is the 100th, or if he has read 100 posts, and then some, in his effort to get some sleep. But he found the center of the universe in the only place it could be, in the blogosphere.
The blog Dharmacrank may be well named. Tobe posted for the first time in six months this week, but whether it is just a pass-by or a return to the blogging arts, he doesn’t say. Perhaps it’s significant that a cutting from a quote he drops on us reads, “… The mind is like a king who is able to do whatever he wants …”
Danny Fisher returns! The young American Buddhist Chaplain launches "...the new blog, same as the old blog." His first major post is a review of Spielberg's Munich. He writes, "I think it's the director's career best, a masterpiece, and that it has much to say to those of us trying to understand kleśa and karma."
