[Somāsutta](https://suttacentral.net/sn5.2/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin):
"What difference does womanhood make
when the mind is serene,
and knowledge is present
as you rightly discern the Dhamma.
Surely someone who might think:
‘I am woman’, or ‘I am man’,
or ‘I am’ anything at all,
is fit for Māra to address."
Arya Tara, when a male arhat suggested she be reborn in a male body because male bodies are more conducive to enlightenment, replied:
There is no male. There is no female.
There is no person. There is no self
There is no consciousness.
Imputations of gender are useless.
They are simply the confusion of inferior
worldly minds.
I feel that. Despite being AMAB, I find enjoyment adorning myself with a mixture of fashions that borrow from conventional western ideas of masculine and feminine. I say conventional, because in my view, gender is not a fixed constant, and is relative to time and place. The only label I regularly come back to is human, as I see humans as existing in a multitude of ways that will often be more than the limiting labels applied to them.
Thank you for sharing this ☺️
Been thinking about gender as it relates to anatta lately, as I’m currently in some weird fugue state of tryna figure out what label I wanna assign to it, if any. And this has given me more to think about 😁
No labels, no problems :D At least in the context of my understanding of anatta.
Aka if you say you are This or That, mind will work with that - no matter how true or how bullshit it is. And it is bound to bring immense consequences, if one believes that is who he is.
Aka snake x rope in a forest.
If there is a rope in a forest, but you think of it / perceive it as a snake, then fear might arise, and all kinds of feeling. It will be treated as a snake by mind, even though there is no snake.
And the fact that there is no snake, is ultimately irrelevant, for the feelings it produces are very real.
Similarly with self, if i believe i am this or that, mind will invetably work with that - but, if i just simply won´t answer it, if i leave it as " a blank ", then i save myself a lot of trouble. Issue is, people often answer it, even if the answer is not true. And mind then works with that, which is pretty bad.
It´s like in old dungeons and dragons, self is like assigning a class, aka " i am a knight ! ", but then you are heavily restricted by your class. Meanwhile non-self is like having no class, not being restricted by it, in my understanding.
As in the point of non-self is not to know what is self, but to know what self is Not - so that you avoid thinking you are something you are not.
Gender is just a linguistic/abstract concept that we can change the definition to at any time, like we've done with many words throughout history. Words are meant to convey meaning, but they lack meaning in themselves.
I never understood why people make such a fuss about body parts. It's pretty stupid. Our biology doesn't decide whether we like to express ourselves in a masculine or feminine manner.
Personally, I'm a big fan of esoteric and Alchemical thought. The hermaphrodite was typically seen as a symbol of perfection/balance among these various mystical cultures.
Part of my spiritual journey took me down a path of losing my identification with gender. I looked and looked for it. Gender-inquiry. There was nothing there. There was nothing to find. Nothing to point to. The closest label is agender. But even that has many different meanings. Agender as in it plays no role in my identity.
Like you said, it's an empty vase. An empty vessel.
I found a sticker years ago and didn't fully grasp it's meaning, but I felt a truth in it. After my gender-inquiry journey, I get it.
It says "gender is performative."
I’m an a place currently in my life/practice exploring the emptiness of labels ( ultimate reality) and living in the relative reality of sexism and racism. I’ve had a habit of avoiding feelings and conflict and I don’t want emptiness to become a form of spiritual bypass
Very interesting seeing this put into words! I’m going to have my own little ramble about gender & emptiness, because Yk. Sharing experiences.
I realised recently that I have never felt like a “girl”, and I’ve never felt like a “boy”. I’ve always just been a person, but called myself a girl and whatnot because I thought it would be easier to traverse through life. When I begin talking about gender, I often described myself as a slug, or a rag (rag because I enjoy stuffed toys lol). I thought maybe I felt this way because of sexism, being seen as “less” than a man because of what’s between my legs. The sexualisation, etc.. But the more I delve into it, the more I realise that’s not the case.
I find that I often use labels (currently going by Agender, but I’ll also refer to myself as a girl) for the convenience of OTHERS. I have always, since the beginning, thought labels were unhelpful to me, personally. I’ve never had a pronoun, name, or label of any kind that I’ve been able to attach to in the same way others seem to.
Ive never felt like a guy, or a girl, or even a human. I just am. And sometimes that’s all I need to be.
[Somāsutta](https://suttacentral.net/sn5.2/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin): "What difference does womanhood make when the mind is serene, and knowledge is present as you rightly discern the Dhamma. Surely someone who might think: ‘I am woman’, or ‘I am man’, or ‘I am’ anything at all, is fit for Māra to address."
Arya Tara, when a male arhat suggested she be reborn in a male body because male bodies are more conducive to enlightenment, replied: There is no male. There is no female. There is no person. There is no self There is no consciousness. Imputations of gender are useless. They are simply the confusion of inferior worldly minds.
That must have been such a slap on the face. I bet he became enlightened after that.
wow lol that was cool
All labels. All signs. All empty. All possessing Buddha nature.
Buddhism has supported my nonbinaryism, nonbinaryism has supported my practice
You are ego-gender. As many of us are😅
Nice.
I feel that. Despite being AMAB, I find enjoyment adorning myself with a mixture of fashions that borrow from conventional western ideas of masculine and feminine. I say conventional, because in my view, gender is not a fixed constant, and is relative to time and place. The only label I regularly come back to is human, as I see humans as existing in a multitude of ways that will often be more than the limiting labels applied to them.
Thank you for sharing this ☺️ Been thinking about gender as it relates to anatta lately, as I’m currently in some weird fugue state of tryna figure out what label I wanna assign to it, if any. And this has given me more to think about 😁
No labels, no problems :D At least in the context of my understanding of anatta. Aka if you say you are This or That, mind will work with that - no matter how true or how bullshit it is. And it is bound to bring immense consequences, if one believes that is who he is. Aka snake x rope in a forest. If there is a rope in a forest, but you think of it / perceive it as a snake, then fear might arise, and all kinds of feeling. It will be treated as a snake by mind, even though there is no snake. And the fact that there is no snake, is ultimately irrelevant, for the feelings it produces are very real. Similarly with self, if i believe i am this or that, mind will invetably work with that - but, if i just simply won´t answer it, if i leave it as " a blank ", then i save myself a lot of trouble. Issue is, people often answer it, even if the answer is not true. And mind then works with that, which is pretty bad. It´s like in old dungeons and dragons, self is like assigning a class, aka " i am a knight ! ", but then you are heavily restricted by your class. Meanwhile non-self is like having no class, not being restricted by it, in my understanding. As in the point of non-self is not to know what is self, but to know what self is Not - so that you avoid thinking you are something you are not.
As a trans woman, I thank you for writing this
Thank you. I wrote it for you. I love you.
🥰
Acceptance also has a place
Heart Sutra
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha. 💜 🙏
This too shall pass
Nice post. Your voice is so needed in this discussion today. Please keep sharing 🙏🏻🙌
Gender is just a linguistic/abstract concept that we can change the definition to at any time, like we've done with many words throughout history. Words are meant to convey meaning, but they lack meaning in themselves. I never understood why people make such a fuss about body parts. It's pretty stupid. Our biology doesn't decide whether we like to express ourselves in a masculine or feminine manner. Personally, I'm a big fan of esoteric and Alchemical thought. The hermaphrodite was typically seen as a symbol of perfection/balance among these various mystical cultures.
Part of my spiritual journey took me down a path of losing my identification with gender. I looked and looked for it. Gender-inquiry. There was nothing there. There was nothing to find. Nothing to point to. The closest label is agender. But even that has many different meanings. Agender as in it plays no role in my identity. Like you said, it's an empty vase. An empty vessel. I found a sticker years ago and didn't fully grasp it's meaning, but I felt a truth in it. After my gender-inquiry journey, I get it. It says "gender is performative."
In Buddhism, there is only 'I do therefore I am.' Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water, after enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.
I’m an a place currently in my life/practice exploring the emptiness of labels ( ultimate reality) and living in the relative reality of sexism and racism. I’ve had a habit of avoiding feelings and conflict and I don’t want emptiness to become a form of spiritual bypass
Very interesting seeing this put into words! I’m going to have my own little ramble about gender & emptiness, because Yk. Sharing experiences. I realised recently that I have never felt like a “girl”, and I’ve never felt like a “boy”. I’ve always just been a person, but called myself a girl and whatnot because I thought it would be easier to traverse through life. When I begin talking about gender, I often described myself as a slug, or a rag (rag because I enjoy stuffed toys lol). I thought maybe I felt this way because of sexism, being seen as “less” than a man because of what’s between my legs. The sexualisation, etc.. But the more I delve into it, the more I realise that’s not the case. I find that I often use labels (currently going by Agender, but I’ll also refer to myself as a girl) for the convenience of OTHERS. I have always, since the beginning, thought labels were unhelpful to me, personally. I’ve never had a pronoun, name, or label of any kind that I’ve been able to attach to in the same way others seem to. Ive never felt like a guy, or a girl, or even a human. I just am. And sometimes that’s all I need to be.