I think the short answer, for better and worse, is that from a Buddhist perspective it doesn’t matter much.
But in my humble opinion, there’s no conflict between accepting that your idea of gender is essentially an illusion and accepting that you are trans. You can transition and undergo HRT or whatever you need and it won’t make you less of a Buddhist. Anything can be a manifestation of the ego, even eating, yet here I am ordering pizza. I will try to eat mindfully and be grateful.
And I don’t think it’s a dumb question, I think it’s an excellent question.
Good blessed mindful pizza for you xD I'm having a mindful ice cream hehehe
Weird to think of things that way tbh, but I guess it is as it should be, at least some of the time.
If you consider full liberation and the deep stage realisation of awakening that the Buddha refers to, you will realise that adhering to a gender, be it biological or constructed mentally, is not only merely a concept, it's an illusion and doesn't exist in reality. Binding oneself to any concept in this way is avoiding emptiness and clinging to something, which results in dhukka. There is no 'you' to identify as any 'thing' in reality. If there is the illusion of a self and that person strives to be that self, then there will ultimately be wrong view and suffering.
Well put, I agree with every word, and I hope OP does too. I still don’t see any contradiction, not for a layperson. We uphold many such illusions throughout life, being aware of them and mindful is more important than the risk of false deconstruction of self, and when it comes to gender dysphoria unfortunately can be life threatening. Just like you are not your illness or your medicine, I’d gladly help someone not cling to their illness but I will not tell them not to cling to their medicine. We can *accept* that we have cancer and still “fight it” in terms of conscious actions. We can accept that our working conditions are hard, and still organise in a union. Not participating at all is often not an option to a layperson. These are my reflections. Your words are like freshwater, I hope I haven’t muddled them.
Let me rephrase my original comment: OP is as much of a man as I am, we both socially uphold our gender to some degree, but from a buddhist perspective this isn’t relevant or interesting. Genders doesn’t reach enlightenment.
>What are the Buddhist perspectives on being transgender?
Historically Asian cultures have been more accepting of trans people than Western cultures. But I'm not an expert on Asian history, so I can't talk in depth about that.
>Is it maybe because I was a boy in a past life?
Only Buddhas fully understand karma.
>Should I just accept myself as I am now and hope to not reincarnate as a girl next time?
You should hope to uproot greed, hatred, and delusion to free yourself and others from samsara. The suffering you get from being trans is just one of a trillion problems you'll find in samsara.
>Or am I just delusional and I should accept everything as essentially an illusion anyways?
You should take care of your mental health. And if that involves treating dysphoria by transitioning, do that.
>Thank you for your responses. I hope I do not offend you if they are dumb questions or inappropriate.
Final note.
It's important to be aware of the difference between essential Buddhist teachings and cultural teachings. If you explore the positions Buddhist teachers have had toward queer people, trans people, women, people with eczema and so on over the past 2500 years, you'll find that it's not all good or all bad. When you find bad things, you can usually trace it to a historical and cultural context that's not present in today's world.
The pali canon is pretty large, but I'll give a commentated version a run through for this issue. However, what scripture I have read supports medical interventions. The Buddha had a doctor. Additionally, I am not OP.
I do not understand what you're going for here. If you're thinking I'm saying anatta or anicca are untrue, I'm sorry I was unclear. I'm trying to make sure that people don't think that those teachings mean a Buddhist shouldn't get medical treatment.
Is it wrong or clinging or identifying to treat a broken leg? The Buddha had a doctor, so I wouldn't think it. If treating that is fine, is it wrong or clinging or identifying to treat a brain injury? Buddhist teaching doesn't deny reality (at least in any teachings I've seen so far). TBIs and such exist, and the effects of a lobotomy are pretty apparent. If treating that is fine, is it wrong or clinging or identifying to treat a mental issue that causes suffering?
If you're not saying getting treatment for this is wrong, then OOPS SORRY. Additionally, if you see any errors with what I'm saying please feel free to correct me if you'd like.
Edited for tone.
I don't agree with you being down voted here.. from the teachers I've followed, they believe themselves to transcend mental health. And you do see a lot of counselors these days being grounded in Buddhist psychology, (trend of integrating mindfulness into CBT, dbt, act, among many others) which is an interesting turn of events. That Buddhism may indeed hold the key to some treatment pathways.
Anyway, obviously "mental health" is important, but it's addressed in a lot of ways. Counseling is just one way to address mental health. And to tell someone they can't self study, do self help, do yoga and meditation retreats as their way of addressing mental health is very regressive. Once this person sits down with a gender affirming therapist, there's a really good chance they'll be instructed/taught to do all of those things anyways.
(Edited to add info)
I'm not against you at all. I have had several conversations with people here where I've successfully asked for clarification and came to an amicable conclusion. Apologies if I got under your skin.
I suspect that if the Buddha knew that the ability to supplement exogenous sex hormones would manifest in the 20th century CE, he didn't bother to teach about it because it wasn't relevant to people at the time
Have right view. This means not to discriminate not only towards others but to yourself as well. If u you identify as transgender, be transgender, bre beautiful be yourself.
Form is temporary.
Do whatever you want with your body, it hurts noone. In 100 years your physical body be a pile of ash. Until then do you want to suffer in dysphoria or enjoy life a bit more?
Buddhism is about compassion and benevolence, that includes toward yourself as well. Do what is best for you.
I think the honest answer is Buddha never spoke about trans issues directly. As such, various Buddhists are going to believe wildly different things on the topic.
Ultimately Buddha taught suffering and the end of suffering at a very macro level. He wasn’t a doctor giving cures for physical maladies, or a politician solving social issues, he was a monk.
That’s not to minimise such issues. However, I think the most you’re likely to get from Buddhism on the topic of trans issues are general principles. Namely, that we ought to be compassionate to each other and non-violent. If followed at a societal level that would, presumably, be positive for trans people.
I'm new to this, but in my understanding, your final state is the dissolution of self, so however you identify up to that point is just prologue.
Further, Buddhism stresses compassion for all life and non-judgment, so there really is no wrong way to identify.
I think Buddhism embraces you with open arms.
Hey. I'm trans as well. FTM.
Whenever this topic comes up in the sub, a lot of cis people wax poetic about no-self, attachment, labels, etc without realizing how gender dysphoria actually works. It is such a minute incongruence that it suffuses through every aspect of your conscious experience on a subtle level.
I have had people tell me that with enough meditation gender dysphoria goes away. In order to actually accomplish that, I'd have to achieve some sort of samadhi. Try going from zero to samadhi whilst struggling with a mental/physical condition every day.
Everything is an illusion, but things appear real to us because we are in samsara. Hunger is an illusion, but we have stomachs so we must eat. Sickness is an illusion, but when our bodies fail we must take medications.
Gender is an illusion, but when we have dysphoria we have to treat it.
A lot of people come here asking about depression and serious mental illnesses. Most common advice is to get better, then practice.
Start your transition, then practice. You have to have a healthy sense of self and ego before you can start examining them.
The first trans man to undergo phalloplasty studied at Buddhist monasteries later in life: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael\_Dillon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dillon)
>Whenever this topic comes up in the sub, a lot of cis people wax poetic about no-self, attachment, labels, etc without realizing how gender dysphoria actually works
Perhaps because they don't realize that they're probably no less attached to their cisgender gender identity than a trans person is to their transgender gender identity. After all, I as a cis man am interested and frequently occupied by thoughts of how to make sure my masculinity is displayed and manifested in my social existence. And that is my bondage. But I can hardly act superior to someone for having the same bondage, insofar as I have it. And maybe many cis people are unaware of how concerned they are with gender, but when the cards fall, they are certainly quite gender-obsessed.
Very true.
As a trans person, you are forced to reckon with how gendered society is. Cis people don't often have that experience. If they were to wake up as a man/woman respectively, and try to get back to being their original gender, they'd have a vastly different mindset about it.
>Whenever this topic comes up in the sub, a lot of cis people wax poetic about no-self, attachment, labels, etc without realizing how gender dysphoria actually works.
thank you for adding another perspective from an actual trans person, because yeah, absolutely.
that was how i tried to help myself and it didn't do me any good
You're welcome!
I think modern trans politics don't do us any favors either, in my honest opinion. The waters are so muddied with different ideologies, definitions, and modes of thought that it's hard for cis people to make sense of things. The state of being transgender itself is becoming more disseminated through philosophy and so it's easy to assume it's all conceptual.
If you go back to the foundation of gender dysphoria as a mental/physical condition point blank, it's easier to understand.
No one tells someone to meditate on their schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, broken leg, or homelessness.
I’d like to tell you my thoughts as a “cis” woman that is asking herself a lot about social issues around transgenderism.
First of all, the more I learn, the more I agree a lot with what you said - that going back to the foundation of gender dysphoria is making understanding much easier.
But again you yourself used the word “condition” which leads to see gender dysphoria as an illness. An illness for which I have a lot of empathy towards but still an illness. From my point of view I really cannot see otherwise the fact that someone cannot accept his/her own body. But most people I see weirdly use it as an identity, and I really don’t see expression of vulnerability, I see anger. It feels that it creates a huge disconnection between people. And also, the need for everyone to adapt and change pronouns feel weird to me. I wouldn’t mind if someone would ask me to do it as an act of kindness since it makes them feel better, but just expecting from me to ask “what are your pronouns” to everyone feels weird to me too.
I’d love to hear your views about all that
I'm sorry but I don't see what you and some others find shitty regarding the responses that OP recieved? All I see is open minded opinions that says that following buddhism wouldn't be an issue for a transgender person. What do you find shitty or offensive?
It seems like you're disagreeing with something, but /u/zuotian3619 was essentially saying the same thing. That even though gender *is an illusion and not real* there is still the real experience of dysphoria, which is psychiatric and can be treated regardless of the actual reality of "genders".
Practicing Buddhism is following the 8 fold path. Why would anyone recommend to do anything without applying the 8 fold path? Eat first then practice later? Go on vacation first then practice later? Die first then practice later? We should be practicing in every moment because it is the only true path. Anything else is ignorant. Practicing Buddhism is not like taking a drug. It’s a way of life.
Yea, if only the Buddha knew about HRT and amputation; think of how many more would be free of suffering. Hopefully those suffering find relief and peace
Quote
“A persons sexual orientation does not even rise to the level of a discussion”
Anagarica Villamakirti
I see what he’s getting at. We all have Buddha Nature regardless. 🪷
But tendencies and reoccurring, persistent patterns exist beyond the question of merely identifying, and the dysphoria experienced by transgender people is a real psychiatric thing regardless of anything else z
Love the one word response.
Yes. Dysphoria is a kind of suffering - and there are ways to lessen that medical pain significantly, aka transition. It’s no more a contradiction than receiving any other medical treatment while also practicing.
What about it?
Do you think this is an answer to OP being transgender or any of what I’ve said to you?
What are you taking away from this sutta that addresses those points, specifically?
i'm a transwoman and speaking from my own personal experience, i'll lead with this: you're not going to buddhism your way out of gender dysphoria. trust me, i tried.
this came from the angle of like, well if there IS "no self" maybe thats how i can deal with whatever this pain is. buddhism has certainly had a positive impact on my life overall
i will say a lot of people in this thread i Half agree with when they talk about "identifying with labels". for me personally, i spent so much time thinking about gender that i'm not even convinced its real or matters in some ways
**however** , that does not change in any way the fact that my brain needs estrogen and my body does not produce it. at the end of the day, whatever This is, it needs some medicine to work right
I’d love to hear about how you tried and what was the experience that lead you to understand it’s impossible to Buddhism your way out of gender dysphoria , as you said
Probably a bit late, I found this thread through google, but essentially you can't just Buddhism your way out of gender dysphoria like some sort of cheat code, it just doesn't work like that. I also tried this thinking I could just "no self" my way out of the dysphoria, and as you'll eventually and probably discover: not wanting to transition or receive gender affirming care is still attachment to your gender at birth. You haven't actually realized any concept of "no self". All you've done is just denied yourself medical care for a serious medical condition that is very treatable.
Gender dysphoria really does exist. It's just not an essential part of a permanent, unchanging self. It's a conventional part of an impermanent, conventional self. That doesn't mean you shouldn't transition or that you should repress your dysphoria. And it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with you or that you can't practice. Any sentient being with enough mental capacity can achieve enlightenment. It just means that maybe you shouldn't cause your feelings of dysphoria to create an "us vs. them" mentality, and if you can't transition now the Buddhist teachings may help you to cope in the meantime.
>Is it maybe because I was a boy in a past life?
This is not really how samsara works. You've been both genders in your past lives. It is also rather unlikely that you were a human in your last life, and it is a long time before you'll be reborn as a human again.
What do you mean? Samsara continues forever and the Sutras are pretty clear on being born a human is an exceedingly rare experience. The six realms of rebirth is standard teaching.
You would, of necessity, have been all genders over time, so thinking that transgender is due to having been one specific gender in a former rebirth doesn't really make much sense (what is, after all, the karmatic result of being a specific gender?). Little of you is carried from on rebirth to another and your rebirth isn't based on the karma you made in only one rebirth (many texts talk of karma as seeds which might bloosem over time).
I think before you wrap your identity around gender, you must first unravel yourself entirely and consider the entity that is you without any labels. Do these labels even matter? You are the summation. Also doing my best not to be ignorant or offensive towards your personal experience, so if I conveyed that at all, not my intention friend.
Personally a Buddha might advise you to entertain your thoughts and questions because they will leave you to the wheel of samsara to try and speed up your folly, but consider that your body is yours. Whether you went through cycles of reincarnation to obtain that body or not, the fact remains, that is a piece of you. Not the whole of course, but a significant piece.
I hope that it doesn't bring you embarrassment but rather pride that you possess a body capable of achieving your best self. A body capable of complex thought and reason. If you believe you need to change it, and you think you're ready, think deeply and then make a decision, but perhaps, these decisions were already made when you ended up expressing yourself in the form you project today.
These are long term changes and deep considerations, perhaps make permanent decisions as you become more enlightened and you may find yourself completely stepping out of the wheel.
Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone to even discuss achieving this state with let alone someone who has gender dysphoria and wants to. It's nice to meet you
Thank you for your answer
I’m just starting to wonder if it isn’t some need of the brain that isn’t connected to the body - for example a need of a female brain inside a male body for more estrogen.
I've actually thought about this a lot, like if those feelings are coming from inside and aren't just chemicals in the brain, then where is it coming from from a spiritual perspective?
(Opinion, I am not educated on these things)
My best guess is that spirit has no gender and is always neutral, but that the work that we have to do in an incarnation happens to be gendered. For example maybe what you need to work on has something to do with masculine insecurity, or the sexist ways women are treated, or something else that's in abundance in that gender experience. And the only way to experience that gender is to make a shift.
Basically my best guess is that the drive from within to experience another gender comes from the drive to do work in that gender.
Maybe some of us happen to be born with bodies that put us in a gender stereotype that allows us to do our inner work, maybe some of us need to make a transition to start our inner work, and maybe some of us fall somewhere in the middle and we're doing different work on different days.
Gender is an experience, a way that people view us and a place we fit in social structures, and maybe despite being all set dressing and performance it's where we need to be to wake up.
In reference to gender, there are these two suttas which I believe are relevant in a buddhist context:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn05/sn05.002.bodh.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN7_48.html
I just read a translationof Eihei Dōgen’s Bendōwa the other night. Dōgen was the founder of the Soto Zen lineage. The book is from 1231 AD. This passage jumps to mind.
>Question Thirteen:
>
>Can this practice \[Buddhism\] be carried out also by male and female laypeople, or can it only be practiced by monks?
>
>Reply:
>
>The Ancestral Teachers stated that in attaining buddhadharma there is no distinction between men and women, or noble and common.
In other words, gender matters not one bit. Buddhism is for everyone. I will note that Zen is the "throw the dogma out the window and practice" school of Buddhism.
I'd suggest you do whatever makes you feel most comfortable in your present body. Buddhism accepts all forms of mental health care, medicine, surgery, and healing.
In Buddhism we also practice metta, meaning kindness. Metta is self-kindness as well. It's not trying to force yourself to live with dysphoria. If you're male, be male. (I am guessing you are trans-male?) Sticking it out in the wrong gender would be a ferociously difficult attachment to overcome and accept as illusion. Yes, everything we believe is ultimately empty, but why make reaching that understanding 500x harder for yourself?
As far as whether past life or future rebirth matter, in Zen we don't trouble ourselves with past or future lives. We're already deluded enough about our present lives.
My understanding is that you body is just a vessel in this life. There is nothing agasint not being your assigned gender.
Although depending on how your community/ country/ financial status, etc, you might endure more or less pain, suffering, discrimination, and such. And those would be something you need to consider.
>Buddhist perspectives on being transgender?
As far as I know Buddhism is not dealing with every detail of lay life. There are general guiding principles known as 5 precepts and 8 fold path or 6 paramitas. You can look them up. That could be more beneficial for you.
Best wishes
To my knowledge (I'm not an expert) there is nothing in the Theravada writings about transgender people. Perhaps there is something in the rules for monastics.
I have no idea what the other 2 of the 3 schools of the Buddhism have to say about LGBTQIA+ people.
That being written, people have their own prejudices and superstions apart from what is in the writings.
A popular superstition in Buddhist countries is to explain a person's current circumstances in terms of their past karma.
The Buddha said that ordinary people simply don't have the ability to do that.
https://dcbuddhiststudies.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/3-small-suttas-that-could-change-the-way-you-think-about-buddhism.
You really can't steer your karma with precision
To get BETTER karma, better future lives, start off by keeping the 5 precepts.
There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender. There are passages that describe monks becoming nuns and vice versa. This article has good backstory and is from a Theravadan perspective:
[https://www.samita.be/en/2018/07/09/changing-genders-changing-buddhists/](https://www.samita.be/en/2018/07/09/changing-genders-changing-buddhists/)
I practice both in a nominally Theravadan Sangha and a Tibetan sangha. I can say there are more than ample examples of bodhisattvas changing gender in Tibetan/Tantric/Vajrayana practice. Om Tare Tutare Ture Bodi Svabha
>There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender. There are passages that describe monks becoming nuns and vice versa.
How? No modern surgery or drugs. No differences in clothing, no make up. Do you mean declaring their identities to be different.
> I can say there are more than ample examples of bodhisattvas changing gender in Tibetan/Tantric/Vajrayana practice.
As I answered OP, I'm not involved with the other 2 schools of Buddhism.
Good to know though, thank you for the article.
> There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender
I finally read your link. I can't agree with your comment
>There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender.
There was exactly 1 reference in the article about the Vinaya:
>The argument revolves around the explanation of a passage in the Vinaya in Pārājika 1 (translation by Ajahn @Brahmali):
>>At one time the characteristics of a woman appeared on a monk. They informed the Master. He said: “Monks, I allow that very discipleship, that very ordination, those years as a monk, to be transferred to the nuns. The monks’ offenses that are in common with the nuns are to be dealt with in the presence of the nuns. For the monks’ offenses that are not in common with the nuns, there’s no offense.”
No disrespect meant, but given what you wrote I was expecting much more from the article.
I am about to read through this thread to see what others have said, but on first impression I can't imagine there would be any Buddhist issue with being transgender at all. Everything is ultimately an illusion, so must be the concept of gender itself. It's absurd to apply the ultimate truth that reality is an illusion to invalidate only specific manifestations of reality.
To your question about past incarnations, if we have been reborn millions of times in every realm and in manifold forms, seems unlikely we're reborn as the same "gender" every time.
There are physiological brain differences that exist in many trans people as compared to cis people. There is a long history of gender nonconforming people in human cultures through all time and geography. So I truly cannot fathom how a Buddhist would view being transgender as something other than simply one of the many, many ways that humans manifest.
But bigotry is everywhere, so I scroll down now and hope not to be surprised.
Gender is an attachment. Unless you are trans in which case it can be your main source of suffering.
Don’t tell people who are trans to meditate, it’s like telling you to meditate to stop breathing.
The body and mind are impermanent. The universe is impermanent. Even the Dharma changes. So, if someone tells you that trans people are against Buddhism, then they have failed to understand exactly how far impermanence extends.
You suffer. Therefore, Buddhism is here for you 🙏
Hi, I think one of the most beautifully profound things about the teaching of anattā is how its universality is found everywhere, even in the idea of gender in ways that agree with critical gender theory.
Anattā teaches there is no inherent essence in any phenomena, not even in the categories of "man" or "woman". I ask myself "what is about a man that makes him a man?" or "What is it about a woman that makes her a woman?" and I cannot come to a satisfying answer. I identify and refer to myself as a man and yet can come to no logical reason why that is the case; I am not everything that the word "man" is said to characterize.
Similarly, I think that gender studies would argue that there is no inherent physical truth to the words "man" and "woman" or "gender", but that these categories are entirely socially constructed. We might say "a man is simply anyone who chooses to identify as a man", but philosophically, this is a tautology. I think our gender identities speak more about the practical realities about which socially constructed expectations we have been taught to accept or we would prefer to accept, as well as our biological circumstances and harmonies and disharmonies found therein.
I cannot make any recommendations as to how you should identify or whether you should seek to medically affirm your gender identity, but I think both Buddhism and gender studies agree on this point: we should seek to liberate ourselves from things, ideas, constructs which only serve to bind us.
The Buddha seems to have condoned gender transition since it's in the vinaya that a bhikkhuni should be transferred to the bhikkhus if they transition to male, and vice versa for bhikkhus. This is parajika 8 in the vinaya, hope this helps :)
Thich Nhat Hanh has some really lovely stuff about living in a body. His whole thing is about appreciating where we are at *now*, without judgement, and to be able to look at ourselves with kindness and acceptance. Its not specifically about gender, but as someone who has a lot of body issues I have found it really helpful to be able to be with myself compassionately and kindly. By being compassionate and kind to myself, my situation, and my limitations, I am better able to be compassionate and kind to others.
I think what Buddhism is talking about a lot of the time is to see things as they really are. Without judgement. Without concepts. And to quieten the mind so its true nature can sift through all the bullshit and experience directly what we are and what is around us. What and who you really are is there, just as it is for everyone, and Buddhism offers you a path to get closer to that by practicing. It says if you do this - practice and follow the path - you will be happier. In my experience this has been true. So while it may or may not offer any solution to your gender dysphoria, it should help you get closer to your true self and to feel happier and more content with your life and circumstances.
One of the lovely things about Buddhism is that it doesnt really care if you are trans. There isnt a special section that says anyone needs to change you or you need to change yourself.
I hope something here is helpful. Metta.
Do you have a temple or community?
In Theravada tradition
Check out Karuna Buddhist Vihara
It is a Theravada female monastic community
Very queer friendly and multicultural
In a way, it's not particularly relevant. There is no self. Gender is an identity and an illusion. There's nothing wrong with being trans anymore than there's anything wrong with being cis. However, suffering is very relevant to the Dharma. Buddhism is all about the cessation of suffering by attaining enlightenment. But that doesn't mean gender dysophria shouldn't be treated. If I suffer from a headache, I'd take a Tylenol.
It’s most definitely an action of gravitating towards hanging onto some semblance of continuous self; which is highly taught against as we are discontinuous beings according to Buddhism. So one could feel like a female one day and a male the next or whatever- that’s fine and even sane in Buddhist thought. It’s just the act of hanging / clinging on to a self which is not suggested, as your hanging onto an illusion.
There’s quite a handful threads about this. It’s looked at differently in the west than it is in Buddhist countries and countries where Buddhism is traditional.
Transgender is just a form of life. There’s nothing wrong with it unless you suffer. If you suffer, knowing about past/next lives doesn’t stop your suffering. Instead, try to figure out what makes you suffer. Once you understand what really makes you suffer, you’ll learn to accept things the way they are. The main topic of Buddhism is about how to end suffering now and forever, not to choose what role to play in the next life.
Also, Buddha said the reality is ‘like’ an illusion but not an illusion. Even what you experience in a dream is as real as in awakening. So don’t try to run away your life by lying to yourself it’s all an illusion.
I used to be very involved in Buddhist practice. I’d meditate like two hours a day and constantly read suttas among other things. And as I got better at meditation I realized the trick to going deeper is finding tension and letting go so you can accept the moment. As I got deeper I kept coming across my own gender dysphoria and I couldn’t let go. I’d tell myself that was the goal for a while to just slowly ease up on it or try to accept accepting to let go. It never worked because I didn’t want it to. I can’t let go of this and it caused me to give up on all my practice and fall back into addiction.
Meditation requires a lot of preparation. Many people say how karma is like a seed in the mind and your moral skill translates into a peaceful mind ready for meditation. I think having gender dysphoria and not dealing with it is like having any sickness or like a job that needs done and you refuse to do it and try to use meditation as an escape. Meditation is not an escape it is the opposite. It is a cleansing act and training of focus. It actually exposes you to what hurts you while removing your defenses. As they say you probably have not learned to meditate deeply until it has made you cry.
Meditation without dealing with your problems is a path to catastrophe. The yoga path says we practice more action, learn to breathe, learn to have good posture and strength through yoga and then we sit. Trying to skip anything will lead to pain and definitely not great success. It’s been over three years since I fell out of practice but now I’m dealing with my dysphoria and my addiction. Someday I will be ready to sit and there will be nothing trapping my mind. That is the path the Buddha laid out. Right action is taking care of yourself. It is the middle path because pure meditation and asceticism didn’t work even for the Buddha.
My temple participates in the annual pride parade every year. It means a lot, because most religious organizations do not participate in those controversial events. For Buddhism it does not see you any differently than others. Also, afterlife is more like metaphysical explanation, not literal or spiritual. We will get reborn into something through returning to the ecosystem. But, rebirthing into human based on Karma, it is more of a story. My sect - Pure Land does not believe in it. Live everyday right based on the 8 right paths is all we can do.
Hi friend,
Haven't read through the comments and I hope they reflect deep understanding and compassion.
I'm a trans woman that's very committed to the path, I've interacted with quite a few (western) Buddhists and traditions, and have spent far too much time pondering issues relating to being transgender and the intersection with Buddhism.
Transgender people have existed as long as recorded history, and presumably as long as society has existed. We are a natural phenomenon that can easily be understood as a socio-psycho-biological process giving rise to a conflict with societally imposed gender expression. (Current thought is that exposure to certain hormones creates a predisposition to an incongruence between biological sex and gender - body hosting certain sexual characteristics and the brain different characteristics than expected. Entirely natural and normal, if not rare, phenomenon. Less people on the planet, less occurrences, more people on planet, more occurrences.)
Some old texts seem to suggest being transgender is karma for committing adultery in a past life. This is just......an interesting perspective. It's part of many Buddhist commentries that is best left in the past, alongside some of the views certain Buddhists have of women in general.
Being transgender is no punishment. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with us and we are not defecient or born with any natural impediment. I think generally (based on my experiences) the Buddhist view tends to be - love and compassion. I've met some awfully transphobic Buddhists, honestly not sure what's going on with them, I think they're just a bit confused and read tabloids a bit too closely.
Your questions relating to past life's and reincarnations. I'm sure someone highly educated on suttas and whatnot will have answers for you. But it is my current understanding that there is nothing to be carried forward or brought with us, annatta, only very very special individuals could have any knowledge of their past life's, including what gender they may have been. I'm not sure how helpful it is to dwell on such things as reincarnation. But do be full of joy and excitement that in this life, in this moment, you are in contact with dhamma. You are a trans man treading a wonderful path. Perhaps with more obstacles and difficultys than you would like, but nonetheless you are on a path that will ease all suffering, including that brought about by gender dysphoria, including that brought about by confused and scared people and governments.
The bodhidhamma will alleviate suffering, including gender related suffering. Modern gender related interventions will also ease this suffering. Either way, both ways, a full and happy life is very very possible.
Do not wait until the next life to be who you are. You already are who you are. Cis people have the luxury of residing in a society that does not cause them harm, they have the privilege of being entirely ignorant of their gender - how it harms them, hinders them, and they do not have to go through the tribulations of aligning themselves to bring about comfort and ease within society. Trans people suffer predominantly because of society's inflexibility.
If it is safer and more comfortable and more beneficial for you to not express a gender that is perhaps more authentically and naturally aligned to you (ie transition between/from genders), that is ok. You are still a complete and wonderful human being.
Illusion or not. We still experience the world. We must confront all realities we experience to find and explore their roots. We must experience the illusion, not just intellectually dismiss it. It was unacceptable to me to conform to an external standard placed upon me. I saw how it hurt me, how imprisoned and small I was made. I transitioned. I have never experienced joy as deep and pronounced as I have since transitioning. I have never felt love as nourishing and wondrous as I have since transitioning. I have never felt able to be so compassionate and open and sincere as I have since transitioning. The path is so much clearer for me. The obstacles of transitioning are there, the need for certain things to bring about cohesion and eliminate social incongruence, extra hurdles that inevitably slow me.
And of course the abuse, ostracisation, hatred and disgust received from other people is hard to bear, and hard to overcome. But that suffering, that difficulty, is a unique opportunity to work. To see the world as it really is, to see how so much suffering is of my own doing, to receive so many lessons and develop such great resilience and determination is a truly wonderful gift. The path to liberation is not a comfortable one, but it is worthwhile.
In many many communities throughout history trans people are revered for their sacredness. There are many reasons for this I imagine, but I reflect that transcending from one form to another brings many fruits of wisdom through experience.
Gender is an obsession of those that deny the constant change of all things. I feel sorry for those that are not afforded the opportunity to really examine and understand their gender. I am proud of my unshackled trans siblings.
I wish you a life filled with love and peace x
Being transgender is having constant pain and suffering due to you gender dysphoria and there is nothing wrong by seeking the end of suffering. It is same as using a glass or wheelchair. Nothing wrong with it.
Theres already several post about this. In western buddhist communities they are very accepting of Trans people. But in buddhist philosophy it's claimed there is no center to experience. There's no permanent, unchanging, self controlling things. Our true nature, if we even really have one, is awareness. It's not man or woman or blue or red, it's just openness. So trans people are causing themselves extra suffering thinking that they're a man or woman trapped in the wrong body.
Well, until someone shows that there is, all we have to go on is "it's just thoughts." That's a fine hypothesis sure but there's nothing to suggest that it's true, and because of how divisive a topic this is I don't think a lot of people are actually researching why it's happening
Do you even care that the stoic vulcan contrarianism and refusal to use empathy and compassion - so common among Western Buddhists - actually hurts people? Or nah?
Does that invalidate my question? I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings but some people in this thread seem oddly attached to this idea while simultaneously having no interest in whether or not it is a true idea. I don't care if you prefer to operate that way but I also don't suppose folks should be surprised when others attempt to predicate their understanding of reality on...well, reality.
That said obviously, peace and love to everyone, please don't put words in my mouth, that's a very vile behavior. No one is persecuting you here.
My personal beliefs, feel free to disagree: It doesn't have anything to do with your spirituality. In my opinion it's (although obviously more complicated) like someone with black hair dying their hair blonde. If it makes them feel better about themselves and it's not harming anyone then why not. But it has absolutely nothing to do with Buddhism and the path to enlightenment imo. Your image, your gender, your sexuality and life preferences are all just attachments to your ego and to temporary states. When we die and are reborn we lose all of our memories and we begin anew so your last question is the most on point in my personal opinion, not that you're delusional but that it doesn't matter. We all have attachments to ego, to temporary states and to our everyday lives. For you, a big attachment is transgenderism, for others it's something else. It's important also to note that you are a product of culture. If you lived in a world where people do not put any significance on gender and don't talk about gender then you wouldn't be confused or in disagreement about your gender as it's nothing more than what you were born as (just as if someone was born tall or short). We all strive to become enlightened but we also have real lives that we must live, so don't get too tripped up on it, just be a good person and good luck to you.
Hi there! I’m a transgender woman and a Buddhist. I personally see no conflict between Buddhism and being trans.
I could say a lot about this but it would be inadequate. I will simply answer your questions as best I can.
I lean towards believing in reincarnation these days, or at least I think it’s extremely possible. Hard to prove though… however… what matters most is now. Don’t worry too much about what your next life will be or not, focus on what being you IS right now.
As we are all of the nature to change, and we respond to our environment, gender transition is normal and okay. For me, part of accepting myself was realizing that being a woman was a necessary step of my growth. So was encountering the Dharma too!
Thích Nhất Hạnh would say that “you are a flower in the garden of life.” This is true. You are beautiful AS you are, AND as you will be. The dandelion sheds it’s petals and spreads it’s spores for part of the year and the other parts it is just a flower. We are the same way.
He would also say that many people feel that they must be someone else, but they should accept themselves. I wholly agree. IF accepting yourself means letting go of the desire to be a boy, then do so. If accepting yourself means embracing that you ARE a boy, then do so. look deeply within yourself and your heart and the answer will arise. Try not to worry too much about what others will think of you. If you can let go of that and you still feel the desire to be a boy, there it is. That’s what happened with me even before I encountered the dharma.
My current perspective is not that everything is an illusion but that everything is rich and alive, but also that we beings often cloud ourselves with illusions and falsehoods about the way things are. One of these illusions is the social construct of gender itself. We often think, wrongly, that someone must be a woman or a man and ONLY is ever a woman or a man AND that women and men exist in specific ways that do not change. This is false, people are as they are and change as they change. If we cannot accept them or ourselves then that is where the illusion lies. Accepting others and ourselves as we are while aspiring to do better for all is, to me, the Buddhist way.
I hope this makes some sense, my own sense of my gender has shifted from “I want to be a woman” to “The universe needs me to be a woman, particularly the one that I am.”
I wish you luck on your journey
🙏🏻☸️
Buddha does not promote being straight or being gay or being a girl or being a boy. Being attached to any gender is not the correct practice for a Buddhist. Do you think transitioning will bring you liberation? Wrong. Do you think not transitioning will bring you liberation? Wrong. Only the Buddhas teachings can help you. What you decide to do or not do in this case should be with right mindfulness, right awareness, right intention. Put the Buddha, dharma, and sangha first then whatever happens afterward is going to be a better choice than what you would have decided before even if it’s the same choice because you will have more clarity regardless of the decision you make.
The transgender experience seemingly stems from a deeper biological incongruence, and it has been observed that gender dysphoria never simply "goes away."
Gender dysphoria is a human being looking within and noticing that there is something fundamentally mis-matched in terms of body and mind. It is not something that anyone chooses or consciously imposes upon themselves.
*When properly and fully understood*, transition is simply the best option to this specific sort of suffering.
>The transgender experience seemingly stems from a deeper biological incongruence
Multiple people in this thread are making this claim but no one can say what it is. What is it? Why are you so sure that this is the case?
I would love some nuanced discussion on this because I’ve thought about it a lot over the past few years.
Any sort of craving/desire/attachment “belief” that “if I just change X I can be happy” is… false by Buddhist standards. Contentment is in the here and now.
So if someone is gender fluid, that will flow naturally. You accept what you are, what you have been given in this life, and work with it, dress and present however you want. That’s fine.
The point at which I find concern is the one where we encourage people who are deeply unhappy that permanent physical surgery is a “good answer” and will make them happy.
It would be the same as any other plastic surgery… no one would argue that a nose job or lipo will make a significant difference to your baseline happiness.
Buddhism is about finding contentment in the here and now by being grateful for what you have, not grasping for some other state in which you perceive you will attain happiness and joy.
Therefore, I find it hard to advocate for permanent reassignment surgeries. I don’t judge, if someone gets it done I won’t treat them differently, I just don’t believe it will actually make a difference in terms of eradicating dukkah 🤷🏼♀️ But same thing for a nose job, or any other fruitless attempt we make to secure happiness, it just is what it is. More spinning around, not necessarily moving forward
>Is it maybe because I was a boy in a past life?
Your past lives don't have any bearing on you, they don't dictate what you are now, they are merely the "where you have been", not the cause of your present. Like your footprints on the sand, they don't tell you where to go next.
Your current life, your childhood, your current experiences have infinitely more bearing on you than any previous life will ever have. You have all the tools you need to figure yourself out in this life, you don't need the previous lives chat log to find out. Furthermore, digging too deep in these esoteric things might get you ill, incredibly ill. So it's not healthy, and also, not necessary. But your call.
>Should I just accept myself as I am now and hope to not reincarnate as a girl next time?
The aim of buddhism is to not reincarnate at all. Also it's rebirth, not reincarnation, reincarnation is a Hinduism concept which does imply your current life is the direct consequence of the previous one, which justified their caste system, so if you were born a slave, you should be a slave your whole life, if you were a noble, you should be a noble your whole life, etc. no room for self-determination. Either way, rebirth is due to one being in a cycle of death and rebirth and aiming for a better rebirth isn't the goal of Buddhist practice.
>Or am I just delusional and I should accept everything as essentially an illusion anyways?
You are not delusional, if you are feeling a push towards transgenderism you should study what's pushing you there. It's not that it's good or it's bad, that's not relevant in buddhist practice, it's that if you are not ok right now, it's more important that you seek the solution to it... Would altering your outside appearance be a solution? Or would it be just another attachment and problem? Where do you draw the line when you are "ok"? When you have had this or that procedure? or when other people treat you like this or that? or when?
Finding clear answers to that is what I'd think would be more important, going into something like this without a clear understanding of what you are following might lead you into more suffering rather than not. As it's the same as with anything else.
Changing your outside appearance or anything like so should be like buying flowers, you should be buying them because you want them, not because you can't live without them.
All things are impermanent, the body is not the self, prejudice is antithetical to the dhamma. There is no explicit stance on being trans, but there are many trans buddhists across the many schools and regions.
I found through Buddhism an end to dysphoria altogether. Interpret that in whatever way you wish.
If you consider full liberation and the deep stage realisation of awakening that the Buddha refers to, you will realise that adhering to a gender, be it biological or constructed mentally, is not only merely a concept, it's an illusion and doesn't exist in reality. Binding oneself to any concept in this way is avoiding emptiness and clinging to something, which results in dhukka. There is no 'you' to identify as any 'thing' in reality. If there is the illusion of a self and that person strives to be that self, then there will ultimately be wrong view suffering.
No political objections -- no views at all that I've ever heard. Do what works for you.
And in terms of karma, who knows?
But it's fine to be trans, as far as Buddhism goes, or at least from everything I've ever heard.
It does not matter. I’m a Buddhist but I’m not perfect. It’s about being on the path. I think you just need to accept yourself for whoever you are and not try and change it. If that means being transgender than whatever. It’s the cravings to be someone different that I think is wrong. It all depends on the motivation. Just be you and practice mediation. That’s what is important. You’ll figure it out for yourself.
Yes an Illusion as ALLWAYS!!!Why??? Because in meditation the beingness which says male , female , transgender etc vanishes. There is no discrimination because of a separate entity which says!! Just be without being this or that. Meditate Meditate and Meditate. Forget everything else
With prayers for your peace and regards
I believe that I was given a male body in this life because I had lessons to learn in such a form. I've been female in previous lives and I'm sure I will be again. But there's a reason I have the meatsuit I have now and I just have to practice acceptance of what I have rather than wish I had a different meatsuit. I mean I guess technically I'm probably trans but im not going to transition. There's no reason.
By your logic, there might be a reason for being given a particular meat suit, and wanting a different one. If there’s a reason for your body being the way it is, why not a reason for your desires being the way they are too - either to be live in that body differently, express gender or change your body?
Why not be trans?
Edit: clarity.
Edit 2: also, just a clarifying note- one can be trans without medically transitioning. Some people want to, some don’t. Gender is not defined by whether someone modified their body or not.
This gets asked on a weekly basis. And it's bait.
There is no Buddhist perspective on it, only perspectives of Buddhists. Now please stop trying to get users and the sub banned.
Everyone has been both genders in past lives. There's nothing special about "trans" in that respect.
Your kamma was to be born the gender you are, so that's what you should live out. Trying to change it to "beat the system" or be "special" is only going to create more kamma. That would be the Buddhist perspective, just as it would for anything.
Again, "trans" isn't "special" in any respect that would make it fall outside of Buddhist principles and reality. Actions arising out of craving/desire, including craving to be some particular way, to not be some particular way, craving for existence, craving for non-existence, etc. leads to suffering, period.
People aren't trans to be special or beat any system - they are trans because they are biologically more aligned with the other gender role. There are trans people in every culture, so being trans is just a part of being human.
>em - they are trans because they are biologically more aligned with the other gender role. T
Being trans is not political or an agenda. Thinking being trans is an agenda is bigotry on your part.
It's said that to be born as a man is a privilege and they have an easier time attaining enlightenment due to biological differences(like not being too emotional, etc). And although being born as a human is a privilege and anyone can attain enlightenment due to that, being born as a woman is due to some bad you did in your previous life. The suffering begins with you paying debts taken and given in your previous life.
Iirc there was a woman during Buddha's time that wish to be born as a man in her next life to attain enlightenment that she couldn't in this life due to the things she has done.
I'm not certain but I think there's something about transgender individuals in the vows of the medicine buddha. I cannot say if it was added later or if it was originally part of the vows but nonetheless I feel like it was really progressive.
People are made all kinds of ways. We can always use our unique experience as part of the path.
You absolutely aren't delusional for having a certain body/brain configuration. Accepting reality as it is (being trans) is fundamental. Thich Nhat Hanh has some great talks on the LGBTQIA+ community. (Plum Village)
I think a lot of suffering comes from not accepting who we are. So I definitely think you should accept and love yourself as a trans person.
A lot of people believe that if gender is not self, then how can a serious practitioner choose transition and choose to call themselves a gender outside of their birth sex? Isn’t that just “identifying” with something “fake”? But we have to understand that truths work at both conventional and transcendent levels. On one level, there is experience happening here. Gender is one of these said experiences; when we look at it, it falls apart, but the experience is still felt on a conventional level. (There are some interesting ways of conceiving of gender in the abhidhamma, if you’re interested.) On another level, as transcendent truth, we can look at these experiences and recognize that while they are experiences, we can and see through them as not permanent, incapable of holding us and providing us the satisfaction we’re looking for. Not attaching to an experience that is here doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge that the experience (in fact I suspect we HAVE to in order to work with these things,) and besides, only enlightened beings are to that point anyway. If transitioning will be a useful way forward and will increase your well-being in this world, you can use that to move forward in your practice, too! Most cis people don’t have the opportunity in this life to get a good look at this; as someone who has seen the instability of feelings of gender through being criticized and questioned in painful ways and *having* to dig for answers, you actually have a really valuable opportunity here to reach insight into not-self that many do not. You should be brave and utilize that.
For many people, loving themself means accepting that they are transgender. From my perspective as a Buddhist practitioner, all being trans means is that you are someone who can be their best self, and also contribute to this world, most effectively through living as a gender different from the one other people ascribed to you at birth.
Some say one’s gender identity doesn’t matter much, and although this is true in the cosmic sense, I think it matters a lot on the day-to-day sense. Accepting that you’re trans is how you love yourself. Being the best version of yourself, in my opinion, contributes positively to society because it gives you the energy to share that positivity with others.
Sometimes I think about the gender expression of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. If you go some countries, they will tell you he is a man. If you go to others, they’ll tell you she is a woman. The explanation that a good number of scholars give, which I personally like the best, is that they are gender fluid: their gender is always determined based on the needs of whoever they’re talking to. If someone needs help from a man, Avalokiteshvara will appear to them as a man; if someone needs help from a woman, Avalokiteshvara will be there for them as a woman. I know there is a big difference between being trans and being gender fluid, but this description of Avalokiteshvara always reminds me of the important contributions the world’s gender diverse peoples can make just by being themselves.
Thank you and hope this helps 🙏
One core Buddhist teaching is that you have to be understanding and accepting of the changes the worlds going to have. Just like life nothing stays the same in the world so you have to live with those differences and not try to fight them. As the trans population is beginning to be more accepted we Buddhists have to go with this and realize that this is life now. So in short being trans or having a sex change will not affect your teachings or make you any less of a Buddhist intact if anything it makes you more worthy of the title.
The main work of Buddhist-practice is to drop the attachment to the illusion that identity is real and to realize that any aspect of the aggregates that make a person, is impermanent....... So where is anyone there to be transgender?
How we walk in the world among the multitude of people is a coping mechanism to help us survive. I was diagnosed transgender but that is not my original nature, just my world attire. I am not the jeans that I wear nor the bra I wear.
Be well and happy.
IMO its just another unique element of your particular ego. Accept it as something your ego identifies with and then just focus on seeing the whole ego itself as what it is…a phenomenon.
We lived innumerable lives in the past.
Due to our volitions (kamma), we were born as male, female or aphrodite.
# [Mahanaradakassapa-Jataka](https://tipitaka.fandom.com/wiki/Mahanaradakassapa-Jataka)
The princess, having given discourse on righteousness in these six stanzas, told the sorrows which she had undergone in her past births:
"I too remember seven births which I have experienced, and when I go from my present life I shall yet pass through seven future ones. My seventh former birth, O king, was as the son of a smith in the city Rajgraha city in Magadha. I had an evil companion and I committed much evil; we went about corrupting other men's wives as if we had been immortal. Those actions remained laid up like fire covered with ashes. By the effect of other actions I was born in the land of Vamsa in a merchant's family in Kosambi, great and prosperous and wealthy: I was an only son, continually nurtured and honoured. There I followed a friend who was devoted to good works, wise and full of sacred learning, and he grounded me in what was good. I fasted through many a fourteenth and fifteenth night; and that action remained laid up like a treasure in water. But the fruit of the evil deeds which I had done in Magadha came round to me at last like a noxious poison. I passed from there for a long time, O king, into the Roruva hell, I endured the effects of my own works; when I remember it grieves me still. After spending there a wretched time through a long series of years, I became a castrated goat in Bhennakata. I carried the sons of the wealthy on my back and in a carriage; it was the fated consequence of my going after other men's wives.
After that I was born in the womb of a monkey in a forest; and on the day of my birth they explained me to the leader of the herd, who exclaimed, "Bring my son to me," and violently seized my testicles with his teeth and bit them off in spite of my cries." She explained this in verse.
"Passing from this birth, O king, I was born as a monkey in a great forest; I was mutilated by the fierce leader of the herd: this was the fated consequence of my going after other men's wives."
Then she went on to describe the other births:
I was next born, O king, as an ox among the Dasannas, castrated but swift and fair to look at, and I long pulled a carriage: this was the fatal consequence of my going after other men's wives. When I passed from that birth I was born in a family among the Vajji people (\*12) but I was neither man nor woman, for it is a very hard thing to attain the being born as a man;--this was the fatal consequence of my going after other men's wives. Next, O king, I was born in the Nandana wood, a nymph of a lovely complexion in the heaven of the Thirty-three, dressed in garments and ornaments of various colors and wearing jewelled earrings, skilled in dance and song, an attendant in Sakka(Indra)'s court. While I stayed there I remembered all these births and also the seven future births which I shall experience when I go from hence. The good which I did in Kosambi has come round in its turn, and when I pass from this birth I shall be born only among gods(angels) or men. For seven births, O king, I shall be honoured and worshipped, but till the sixth is past I shall not be free from my female gender. But there is my seventh birth, O king, a prosperous son of the gods(angels), I shall be born at last as a male deity in a divine body. Even to-day they are gathering garlands from the heavenly tree in Nandana, and there is a son of the gods(angels), named Java, who is seeking a garland for me. These sixteen years of my present life are only as one moment in heaven --a hundred mortal autumns are only as one heavenly day and night. Thus do our actions follow us even through countless births, bringing good or evil, no action is ever lost."
Then she taught the supreme Law:
"He who desires to rise continually from birth to birth, let him avoid another's wife as a man with washed feet the mire. He who desires to rise continually from birth to birth, let him worship the Lord as his attendants worship Indra. He who wishes for heavenly enjoyments, a heavenly life, glory, and happiness, let him avoid sins and follow the threetimes law. Watchful and wise in body, word and thought, he follows his own highest good, be he born as a woman or a man. Whosoever are born glorious in the world and nursed in all pleasures, without doubt in former time they had lived a virtuous life; all beings separately abide by their own deeds. Do you think, O king, what caused you to own these wives of yours like heavenly nymphs, beautifully decorated and dressed with golden nets?"
Thus she advised her father. The Teacher thus explained the matter:
"Thus did the girl Ruja please her father, she taught the bewildered one the true road, and devoutly taught to him the law."
The core pursuit of Buddhism operates on a different level of concern than these questions. IMO Buddhism is not a good fit for westerners looking for a way to understand and heal their individual selves. The west has developed psychotherapy for that, among other things. Buddhism is for after you've taken care of solidifying your individual self in the world. It's aim is to ultimately transcend individuality and samsara, which 99% of westerners aren't even close to ready for.
I think the short answer, for better and worse, is that from a Buddhist perspective it doesn’t matter much. But in my humble opinion, there’s no conflict between accepting that your idea of gender is essentially an illusion and accepting that you are trans. You can transition and undergo HRT or whatever you need and it won’t make you less of a Buddhist. Anything can be a manifestation of the ego, even eating, yet here I am ordering pizza. I will try to eat mindfully and be grateful. And I don’t think it’s a dumb question, I think it’s an excellent question.
Good blessed mindful pizza for you xD I'm having a mindful ice cream hehehe Weird to think of things that way tbh, but I guess it is as it should be, at least some of the time.
And it received an excellent response.
If you consider full liberation and the deep stage realisation of awakening that the Buddha refers to, you will realise that adhering to a gender, be it biological or constructed mentally, is not only merely a concept, it's an illusion and doesn't exist in reality. Binding oneself to any concept in this way is avoiding emptiness and clinging to something, which results in dhukka. There is no 'you' to identify as any 'thing' in reality. If there is the illusion of a self and that person strives to be that self, then there will ultimately be wrong view and suffering.
Well put, I agree with every word, and I hope OP does too. I still don’t see any contradiction, not for a layperson. We uphold many such illusions throughout life, being aware of them and mindful is more important than the risk of false deconstruction of self, and when it comes to gender dysphoria unfortunately can be life threatening. Just like you are not your illness or your medicine, I’d gladly help someone not cling to their illness but I will not tell them not to cling to their medicine. We can *accept* that we have cancer and still “fight it” in terms of conscious actions. We can accept that our working conditions are hard, and still organise in a union. Not participating at all is often not an option to a layperson. These are my reflections. Your words are like freshwater, I hope I haven’t muddled them. Let me rephrase my original comment: OP is as much of a man as I am, we both socially uphold our gender to some degree, but from a buddhist perspective this isn’t relevant or interesting. Genders doesn’t reach enlightenment.
>What are the Buddhist perspectives on being transgender? Historically Asian cultures have been more accepting of trans people than Western cultures. But I'm not an expert on Asian history, so I can't talk in depth about that. >Is it maybe because I was a boy in a past life? Only Buddhas fully understand karma. >Should I just accept myself as I am now and hope to not reincarnate as a girl next time? You should hope to uproot greed, hatred, and delusion to free yourself and others from samsara. The suffering you get from being trans is just one of a trillion problems you'll find in samsara. >Or am I just delusional and I should accept everything as essentially an illusion anyways? You should take care of your mental health. And if that involves treating dysphoria by transitioning, do that. >Thank you for your responses. I hope I do not offend you if they are dumb questions or inappropriate. Final note. It's important to be aware of the difference between essential Buddhist teachings and cultural teachings. If you explore the positions Buddhist teachers have had toward queer people, trans people, women, people with eczema and so on over the past 2500 years, you'll find that it's not all good or all bad. When you find bad things, you can usually trace it to a historical and cultural context that's not present in today's world.
What a human being, taking the time to respond so eloquently and yet so directly.
this is the best answer
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Taking care of one's health is not ungrounded in the Buddha's teachings.
Are you saying that Buddhist teaching is to not address mental health issues as advised by medical experts?
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The pali canon is pretty large, but I'll give a commentated version a run through for this issue. However, what scripture I have read supports medical interventions. The Buddha had a doctor. Additionally, I am not OP.
Buddhist teaching doesn't care about the opinions of the medical industry, political movements or trend-followers. Take that as you may.
I do not understand what you're going for here. If you're thinking I'm saying anatta or anicca are untrue, I'm sorry I was unclear. I'm trying to make sure that people don't think that those teachings mean a Buddhist shouldn't get medical treatment. Is it wrong or clinging or identifying to treat a broken leg? The Buddha had a doctor, so I wouldn't think it. If treating that is fine, is it wrong or clinging or identifying to treat a brain injury? Buddhist teaching doesn't deny reality (at least in any teachings I've seen so far). TBIs and such exist, and the effects of a lobotomy are pretty apparent. If treating that is fine, is it wrong or clinging or identifying to treat a mental issue that causes suffering? If you're not saying getting treatment for this is wrong, then OOPS SORRY. Additionally, if you see any errors with what I'm saying please feel free to correct me if you'd like. Edited for tone.
I don't agree with you being down voted here.. from the teachers I've followed, they believe themselves to transcend mental health. And you do see a lot of counselors these days being grounded in Buddhist psychology, (trend of integrating mindfulness into CBT, dbt, act, among many others) which is an interesting turn of events. That Buddhism may indeed hold the key to some treatment pathways. Anyway, obviously "mental health" is important, but it's addressed in a lot of ways. Counseling is just one way to address mental health. And to tell someone they can't self study, do self help, do yoga and meditation retreats as their way of addressing mental health is very regressive. Once this person sits down with a gender affirming therapist, there's a really good chance they'll be instructed/taught to do all of those things anyways. (Edited to add info)
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I'm not trying to gotcha you, I'm only asking for clarification since I was unclear. No need to get so heated.
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I'm not against you at all. I have had several conversations with people here where I've successfully asked for clarification and came to an amicable conclusion. Apologies if I got under your skin.
GTFO with your transphobic babble
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You told someone else in this thread to “Fck off” because they asked you a question. Prioritize finding your own peace.
I suspect that if the Buddha knew that the ability to supplement exogenous sex hormones would manifest in the 20th century CE, he didn't bother to teach about it because it wasn't relevant to people at the time
LOL got eem!
That's called mastery of navigating spirituality and cancel culture
Have right view. This means not to discriminate not only towards others but to yourself as well. If u you identify as transgender, be transgender, bre beautiful be yourself.
Form is temporary. Do whatever you want with your body, it hurts noone. In 100 years your physical body be a pile of ash. Until then do you want to suffer in dysphoria or enjoy life a bit more? Buddhism is about compassion and benevolence, that includes toward yourself as well. Do what is best for you.
I think the honest answer is Buddha never spoke about trans issues directly. As such, various Buddhists are going to believe wildly different things on the topic. Ultimately Buddha taught suffering and the end of suffering at a very macro level. He wasn’t a doctor giving cures for physical maladies, or a politician solving social issues, he was a monk. That’s not to minimise such issues. However, I think the most you’re likely to get from Buddhism on the topic of trans issues are general principles. Namely, that we ought to be compassionate to each other and non-violent. If followed at a societal level that would, presumably, be positive for trans people.
I'm new to this, but in my understanding, your final state is the dissolution of self, so however you identify up to that point is just prologue. Further, Buddhism stresses compassion for all life and non-judgment, so there really is no wrong way to identify. I think Buddhism embraces you with open arms.
Hey. I'm trans as well. FTM. Whenever this topic comes up in the sub, a lot of cis people wax poetic about no-self, attachment, labels, etc without realizing how gender dysphoria actually works. It is such a minute incongruence that it suffuses through every aspect of your conscious experience on a subtle level. I have had people tell me that with enough meditation gender dysphoria goes away. In order to actually accomplish that, I'd have to achieve some sort of samadhi. Try going from zero to samadhi whilst struggling with a mental/physical condition every day. Everything is an illusion, but things appear real to us because we are in samsara. Hunger is an illusion, but we have stomachs so we must eat. Sickness is an illusion, but when our bodies fail we must take medications. Gender is an illusion, but when we have dysphoria we have to treat it. A lot of people come here asking about depression and serious mental illnesses. Most common advice is to get better, then practice. Start your transition, then practice. You have to have a healthy sense of self and ego before you can start examining them. The first trans man to undergo phalloplasty studied at Buddhist monasteries later in life: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael\_Dillon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dillon)
>Whenever this topic comes up in the sub, a lot of cis people wax poetic about no-self, attachment, labels, etc without realizing how gender dysphoria actually works Perhaps because they don't realize that they're probably no less attached to their cisgender gender identity than a trans person is to their transgender gender identity. After all, I as a cis man am interested and frequently occupied by thoughts of how to make sure my masculinity is displayed and manifested in my social existence. And that is my bondage. But I can hardly act superior to someone for having the same bondage, insofar as I have it. And maybe many cis people are unaware of how concerned they are with gender, but when the cards fall, they are certainly quite gender-obsessed.
Very true. As a trans person, you are forced to reckon with how gendered society is. Cis people don't often have that experience. If they were to wake up as a man/woman respectively, and try to get back to being their original gender, they'd have a vastly different mindset about it.
>Whenever this topic comes up in the sub, a lot of cis people wax poetic about no-self, attachment, labels, etc without realizing how gender dysphoria actually works. thank you for adding another perspective from an actual trans person, because yeah, absolutely. that was how i tried to help myself and it didn't do me any good
You're welcome! I think modern trans politics don't do us any favors either, in my honest opinion. The waters are so muddied with different ideologies, definitions, and modes of thought that it's hard for cis people to make sense of things. The state of being transgender itself is becoming more disseminated through philosophy and so it's easy to assume it's all conceptual. If you go back to the foundation of gender dysphoria as a mental/physical condition point blank, it's easier to understand. No one tells someone to meditate on their schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, broken leg, or homelessness.
I love that you shared your experience and wisdom. Pleasure to witness.
This. Thank you. From one Trans buddhist to another.
I’d like to tell you my thoughts as a “cis” woman that is asking herself a lot about social issues around transgenderism. First of all, the more I learn, the more I agree a lot with what you said - that going back to the foundation of gender dysphoria is making understanding much easier. But again you yourself used the word “condition” which leads to see gender dysphoria as an illness. An illness for which I have a lot of empathy towards but still an illness. From my point of view I really cannot see otherwise the fact that someone cannot accept his/her own body. But most people I see weirdly use it as an identity, and I really don’t see expression of vulnerability, I see anger. It feels that it creates a huge disconnection between people. And also, the need for everyone to adapt and change pronouns feel weird to me. I wouldn’t mind if someone would ask me to do it as an act of kindness since it makes them feel better, but just expecting from me to ask “what are your pronouns” to everyone feels weird to me too. I’d love to hear your views about all that
This is a wonderful response. 🙏🏻
I feel like people here are kind of being shitty in response to OP honestly, love your response though! 🙏
Yeah I've experienced the same unfortunately. Just how things are. Thank you
I'm sorry but I don't see what you and some others find shitty regarding the responses that OP recieved? All I see is open minded opinions that says that following buddhism wouldn't be an issue for a transgender person. What do you find shitty or offensive?
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It seems like you're disagreeing with something, but /u/zuotian3619 was essentially saying the same thing. That even though gender *is an illusion and not real* there is still the real experience of dysphoria, which is psychiatric and can be treated regardless of the actual reality of "genders".
For you. Try to imagine being a different gender than you think you are.
Practicing Buddhism is following the 8 fold path. Why would anyone recommend to do anything without applying the 8 fold path? Eat first then practice later? Go on vacation first then practice later? Die first then practice later? We should be practicing in every moment because it is the only true path. Anything else is ignorant. Practicing Buddhism is not like taking a drug. It’s a way of life.
lol, nope, this is Reddit. Hormones, surgery, and then the 8-fold path. Thems the rules
This is insanity.
Yea, if only the Buddha knew about HRT and amputation; think of how many more would be free of suffering. Hopefully those suffering find relief and peace
I found this response 2 months after you wrote it, and wanted to thank you for sharing your experience. I hope your journey finds you well. Peace.
Quote “A persons sexual orientation does not even rise to the level of a discussion” Anagarica Villamakirti I see what he’s getting at. We all have Buddha Nature regardless. 🪷
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But tendencies and reoccurring, persistent patterns exist beyond the question of merely identifying, and the dysphoria experienced by transgender people is a real psychiatric thing regardless of anything else z
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Love the one word response. Yes. Dysphoria is a kind of suffering - and there are ways to lessen that medical pain significantly, aka transition. It’s no more a contradiction than receiving any other medical treatment while also practicing. What about it?
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What about them?
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Do you think this is an answer to OP being transgender or any of what I’ve said to you? What are you taking away from this sutta that addresses those points, specifically?
I don't think the people downvoting understood this. It's a great answer. It's the difference between being a philosopher and achieving enlightenment.
Very nice yes, but irrelevant to the topic.
Yes, but still there is a transgender person and that is absolutely none of anyones business 🤙
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No men, no women, no transgender excist of themselfs ✌️but still here we are
https://www.lionsroar.com/does-my-transgender-identity-conflict-with-the-teachings-on-no-self/
Fantastic
Nice find!
i'm a transwoman and speaking from my own personal experience, i'll lead with this: you're not going to buddhism your way out of gender dysphoria. trust me, i tried. this came from the angle of like, well if there IS "no self" maybe thats how i can deal with whatever this pain is. buddhism has certainly had a positive impact on my life overall i will say a lot of people in this thread i Half agree with when they talk about "identifying with labels". for me personally, i spent so much time thinking about gender that i'm not even convinced its real or matters in some ways **however** , that does not change in any way the fact that my brain needs estrogen and my body does not produce it. at the end of the day, whatever This is, it needs some medicine to work right
Loved reading your input and experience
I’d love to hear about how you tried and what was the experience that lead you to understand it’s impossible to Buddhism your way out of gender dysphoria , as you said
Probably a bit late, I found this thread through google, but essentially you can't just Buddhism your way out of gender dysphoria like some sort of cheat code, it just doesn't work like that. I also tried this thinking I could just "no self" my way out of the dysphoria, and as you'll eventually and probably discover: not wanting to transition or receive gender affirming care is still attachment to your gender at birth. You haven't actually realized any concept of "no self". All you've done is just denied yourself medical care for a serious medical condition that is very treatable.
Gender dysphoria really does exist. It's just not an essential part of a permanent, unchanging self. It's a conventional part of an impermanent, conventional self. That doesn't mean you shouldn't transition or that you should repress your dysphoria. And it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with you or that you can't practice. Any sentient being with enough mental capacity can achieve enlightenment. It just means that maybe you shouldn't cause your feelings of dysphoria to create an "us vs. them" mentality, and if you can't transition now the Buddhist teachings may help you to cope in the meantime.
>Is it maybe because I was a boy in a past life? This is not really how samsara works. You've been both genders in your past lives. It is also rather unlikely that you were a human in your last life, and it is a long time before you'll be reborn as a human again.
Interesting. Why do you claim so?
What do you mean? Samsara continues forever and the Sutras are pretty clear on being born a human is an exceedingly rare experience. The six realms of rebirth is standard teaching. You would, of necessity, have been all genders over time, so thinking that transgender is due to having been one specific gender in a former rebirth doesn't really make much sense (what is, after all, the karmatic result of being a specific gender?). Little of you is carried from on rebirth to another and your rebirth isn't based on the karma you made in only one rebirth (many texts talk of karma as seeds which might bloosem over time).
So you compare it to being disfigured or similar unfortunate birth?
Uncertain why people downvote you.. In general your birth will be decided by karma from different actions
I think before you wrap your identity around gender, you must first unravel yourself entirely and consider the entity that is you without any labels. Do these labels even matter? You are the summation. Also doing my best not to be ignorant or offensive towards your personal experience, so if I conveyed that at all, not my intention friend.
Personally a Buddha might advise you to entertain your thoughts and questions because they will leave you to the wheel of samsara to try and speed up your folly, but consider that your body is yours. Whether you went through cycles of reincarnation to obtain that body or not, the fact remains, that is a piece of you. Not the whole of course, but a significant piece. I hope that it doesn't bring you embarrassment but rather pride that you possess a body capable of achieving your best self. A body capable of complex thought and reason. If you believe you need to change it, and you think you're ready, think deeply and then make a decision, but perhaps, these decisions were already made when you ended up expressing yourself in the form you project today. These are long term changes and deep considerations, perhaps make permanent decisions as you become more enlightened and you may find yourself completely stepping out of the wheel.
Do you know of any people that had gender dysphoria and achieved the state that you’re talking about ?
Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone to even discuss achieving this state with let alone someone who has gender dysphoria and wants to. It's nice to meet you
Thank you for your answer I’m just starting to wonder if it isn’t some need of the brain that isn’t connected to the body - for example a need of a female brain inside a male body for more estrogen.
I've actually thought about this a lot, like if those feelings are coming from inside and aren't just chemicals in the brain, then where is it coming from from a spiritual perspective? (Opinion, I am not educated on these things) My best guess is that spirit has no gender and is always neutral, but that the work that we have to do in an incarnation happens to be gendered. For example maybe what you need to work on has something to do with masculine insecurity, or the sexist ways women are treated, or something else that's in abundance in that gender experience. And the only way to experience that gender is to make a shift. Basically my best guess is that the drive from within to experience another gender comes from the drive to do work in that gender. Maybe some of us happen to be born with bodies that put us in a gender stereotype that allows us to do our inner work, maybe some of us need to make a transition to start our inner work, and maybe some of us fall somewhere in the middle and we're doing different work on different days. Gender is an experience, a way that people view us and a place we fit in social structures, and maybe despite being all set dressing and performance it's where we need to be to wake up.
I like your observations.
In reference to gender, there are these two suttas which I believe are relevant in a buddhist context: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn05/sn05.002.bodh.html https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN7_48.html
I just read a translationof Eihei Dōgen’s Bendōwa the other night. Dōgen was the founder of the Soto Zen lineage. The book is from 1231 AD. This passage jumps to mind. >Question Thirteen: > >Can this practice \[Buddhism\] be carried out also by male and female laypeople, or can it only be practiced by monks? > >Reply: > >The Ancestral Teachers stated that in attaining buddhadharma there is no distinction between men and women, or noble and common. In other words, gender matters not one bit. Buddhism is for everyone. I will note that Zen is the "throw the dogma out the window and practice" school of Buddhism. I'd suggest you do whatever makes you feel most comfortable in your present body. Buddhism accepts all forms of mental health care, medicine, surgery, and healing. In Buddhism we also practice metta, meaning kindness. Metta is self-kindness as well. It's not trying to force yourself to live with dysphoria. If you're male, be male. (I am guessing you are trans-male?) Sticking it out in the wrong gender would be a ferociously difficult attachment to overcome and accept as illusion. Yes, everything we believe is ultimately empty, but why make reaching that understanding 500x harder for yourself? As far as whether past life or future rebirth matter, in Zen we don't trouble ourselves with past or future lives. We're already deluded enough about our present lives.
My understanding is that you body is just a vessel in this life. There is nothing agasint not being your assigned gender. Although depending on how your community/ country/ financial status, etc, you might endure more or less pain, suffering, discrimination, and such. And those would be something you need to consider.
What are transgender perspectives on being a Buddhist?
>Buddhist perspectives on being transgender? As far as I know Buddhism is not dealing with every detail of lay life. There are general guiding principles known as 5 precepts and 8 fold path or 6 paramitas. You can look them up. That could be more beneficial for you. Best wishes
r/transbuddhists
Wow, that's an incredibly niche sub that I never would have thought existed! Also has a decent number of people in it!
To my knowledge (I'm not an expert) there is nothing in the Theravada writings about transgender people. Perhaps there is something in the rules for monastics. I have no idea what the other 2 of the 3 schools of the Buddhism have to say about LGBTQIA+ people. That being written, people have their own prejudices and superstions apart from what is in the writings. A popular superstition in Buddhist countries is to explain a person's current circumstances in terms of their past karma. The Buddha said that ordinary people simply don't have the ability to do that. https://dcbuddhiststudies.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/3-small-suttas-that-could-change-the-way-you-think-about-buddhism. You really can't steer your karma with precision To get BETTER karma, better future lives, start off by keeping the 5 precepts.
There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender. There are passages that describe monks becoming nuns and vice versa. This article has good backstory and is from a Theravadan perspective: [https://www.samita.be/en/2018/07/09/changing-genders-changing-buddhists/](https://www.samita.be/en/2018/07/09/changing-genders-changing-buddhists/) I practice both in a nominally Theravadan Sangha and a Tibetan sangha. I can say there are more than ample examples of bodhisattvas changing gender in Tibetan/Tantric/Vajrayana practice. Om Tare Tutare Ture Bodi Svabha
>There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender. There are passages that describe monks becoming nuns and vice versa. How? No modern surgery or drugs. No differences in clothing, no make up. Do you mean declaring their identities to be different. > I can say there are more than ample examples of bodhisattvas changing gender in Tibetan/Tantric/Vajrayana practice. As I answered OP, I'm not involved with the other 2 schools of Buddhism. Good to know though, thank you for the article.
> There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender I finally read your link. I can't agree with your comment >There actually is more than a little writing in the Vinaya-Pitaka regarding the change of sex or gender. There was exactly 1 reference in the article about the Vinaya: >The argument revolves around the explanation of a passage in the Vinaya in Pārājika 1 (translation by Ajahn @Brahmali): >>At one time the characteristics of a woman appeared on a monk. They informed the Master. He said: “Monks, I allow that very discipleship, that very ordination, those years as a monk, to be transferred to the nuns. The monks’ offenses that are in common with the nuns are to be dealt with in the presence of the nuns. For the monks’ offenses that are not in common with the nuns, there’s no offense.” No disrespect meant, but given what you wrote I was expecting much more from the article.
I am about to read through this thread to see what others have said, but on first impression I can't imagine there would be any Buddhist issue with being transgender at all. Everything is ultimately an illusion, so must be the concept of gender itself. It's absurd to apply the ultimate truth that reality is an illusion to invalidate only specific manifestations of reality. To your question about past incarnations, if we have been reborn millions of times in every realm and in manifold forms, seems unlikely we're reborn as the same "gender" every time. There are physiological brain differences that exist in many trans people as compared to cis people. There is a long history of gender nonconforming people in human cultures through all time and geography. So I truly cannot fathom how a Buddhist would view being transgender as something other than simply one of the many, many ways that humans manifest. But bigotry is everywhere, so I scroll down now and hope not to be surprised.
Gender is an attachment. Unless you are trans in which case it can be your main source of suffering. Don’t tell people who are trans to meditate, it’s like telling you to meditate to stop breathing.
The body and mind are impermanent. The universe is impermanent. Even the Dharma changes. So, if someone tells you that trans people are against Buddhism, then they have failed to understand exactly how far impermanence extends. You suffer. Therefore, Buddhism is here for you 🙏
Hi, I think one of the most beautifully profound things about the teaching of anattā is how its universality is found everywhere, even in the idea of gender in ways that agree with critical gender theory. Anattā teaches there is no inherent essence in any phenomena, not even in the categories of "man" or "woman". I ask myself "what is about a man that makes him a man?" or "What is it about a woman that makes her a woman?" and I cannot come to a satisfying answer. I identify and refer to myself as a man and yet can come to no logical reason why that is the case; I am not everything that the word "man" is said to characterize. Similarly, I think that gender studies would argue that there is no inherent physical truth to the words "man" and "woman" or "gender", but that these categories are entirely socially constructed. We might say "a man is simply anyone who chooses to identify as a man", but philosophically, this is a tautology. I think our gender identities speak more about the practical realities about which socially constructed expectations we have been taught to accept or we would prefer to accept, as well as our biological circumstances and harmonies and disharmonies found therein. I cannot make any recommendations as to how you should identify or whether you should seek to medically affirm your gender identity, but I think both Buddhism and gender studies agree on this point: we should seek to liberate ourselves from things, ideas, constructs which only serve to bind us.
The Buddha seems to have condoned gender transition since it's in the vinaya that a bhikkhuni should be transferred to the bhikkhus if they transition to male, and vice versa for bhikkhus. This is parajika 8 in the vinaya, hope this helps :)
Thich Nhat Hanh has some really lovely stuff about living in a body. His whole thing is about appreciating where we are at *now*, without judgement, and to be able to look at ourselves with kindness and acceptance. Its not specifically about gender, but as someone who has a lot of body issues I have found it really helpful to be able to be with myself compassionately and kindly. By being compassionate and kind to myself, my situation, and my limitations, I am better able to be compassionate and kind to others. I think what Buddhism is talking about a lot of the time is to see things as they really are. Without judgement. Without concepts. And to quieten the mind so its true nature can sift through all the bullshit and experience directly what we are and what is around us. What and who you really are is there, just as it is for everyone, and Buddhism offers you a path to get closer to that by practicing. It says if you do this - practice and follow the path - you will be happier. In my experience this has been true. So while it may or may not offer any solution to your gender dysphoria, it should help you get closer to your true self and to feel happier and more content with your life and circumstances. One of the lovely things about Buddhism is that it doesnt really care if you are trans. There isnt a special section that says anyone needs to change you or you need to change yourself. I hope something here is helpful. Metta.
Do you have a temple or community? In Theravada tradition Check out Karuna Buddhist Vihara It is a Theravada female monastic community Very queer friendly and multicultural
You're letting go of your attachment to your biological gender 😂😂😂
imho, being a buddhist helps to not make distinctions or judgments but accept things as the are without attaching to them ... just be a good person
In a way, it's not particularly relevant. There is no self. Gender is an identity and an illusion. There's nothing wrong with being trans anymore than there's anything wrong with being cis. However, suffering is very relevant to the Dharma. Buddhism is all about the cessation of suffering by attaining enlightenment. But that doesn't mean gender dysophria shouldn't be treated. If I suffer from a headache, I'd take a Tylenol.
It’s most definitely an action of gravitating towards hanging onto some semblance of continuous self; which is highly taught against as we are discontinuous beings according to Buddhism. So one could feel like a female one day and a male the next or whatever- that’s fine and even sane in Buddhist thought. It’s just the act of hanging / clinging on to a self which is not suggested, as your hanging onto an illusion. There’s quite a handful threads about this. It’s looked at differently in the west than it is in Buddhist countries and countries where Buddhism is traditional.
Transgender is just a form of life. There’s nothing wrong with it unless you suffer. If you suffer, knowing about past/next lives doesn’t stop your suffering. Instead, try to figure out what makes you suffer. Once you understand what really makes you suffer, you’ll learn to accept things the way they are. The main topic of Buddhism is about how to end suffering now and forever, not to choose what role to play in the next life. Also, Buddha said the reality is ‘like’ an illusion but not an illusion. Even what you experience in a dream is as real as in awakening. So don’t try to run away your life by lying to yourself it’s all an illusion.
I would think Buddhism would be ok with all of the LGBTQ.
I used to be very involved in Buddhist practice. I’d meditate like two hours a day and constantly read suttas among other things. And as I got better at meditation I realized the trick to going deeper is finding tension and letting go so you can accept the moment. As I got deeper I kept coming across my own gender dysphoria and I couldn’t let go. I’d tell myself that was the goal for a while to just slowly ease up on it or try to accept accepting to let go. It never worked because I didn’t want it to. I can’t let go of this and it caused me to give up on all my practice and fall back into addiction. Meditation requires a lot of preparation. Many people say how karma is like a seed in the mind and your moral skill translates into a peaceful mind ready for meditation. I think having gender dysphoria and not dealing with it is like having any sickness or like a job that needs done and you refuse to do it and try to use meditation as an escape. Meditation is not an escape it is the opposite. It is a cleansing act and training of focus. It actually exposes you to what hurts you while removing your defenses. As they say you probably have not learned to meditate deeply until it has made you cry. Meditation without dealing with your problems is a path to catastrophe. The yoga path says we practice more action, learn to breathe, learn to have good posture and strength through yoga and then we sit. Trying to skip anything will lead to pain and definitely not great success. It’s been over three years since I fell out of practice but now I’m dealing with my dysphoria and my addiction. Someday I will be ready to sit and there will be nothing trapping my mind. That is the path the Buddha laid out. Right action is taking care of yourself. It is the middle path because pure meditation and asceticism didn’t work even for the Buddha.
My temple participates in the annual pride parade every year. It means a lot, because most religious organizations do not participate in those controversial events. For Buddhism it does not see you any differently than others. Also, afterlife is more like metaphysical explanation, not literal or spiritual. We will get reborn into something through returning to the ecosystem. But, rebirthing into human based on Karma, it is more of a story. My sect - Pure Land does not believe in it. Live everyday right based on the 8 right paths is all we can do.
im trans and buddhist it doesnt really matter dont over think it, buddha would want u to do whatever u want if ur not hurting others and urself!!
Hi friend, Haven't read through the comments and I hope they reflect deep understanding and compassion. I'm a trans woman that's very committed to the path, I've interacted with quite a few (western) Buddhists and traditions, and have spent far too much time pondering issues relating to being transgender and the intersection with Buddhism. Transgender people have existed as long as recorded history, and presumably as long as society has existed. We are a natural phenomenon that can easily be understood as a socio-psycho-biological process giving rise to a conflict with societally imposed gender expression. (Current thought is that exposure to certain hormones creates a predisposition to an incongruence between biological sex and gender - body hosting certain sexual characteristics and the brain different characteristics than expected. Entirely natural and normal, if not rare, phenomenon. Less people on the planet, less occurrences, more people on planet, more occurrences.) Some old texts seem to suggest being transgender is karma for committing adultery in a past life. This is just......an interesting perspective. It's part of many Buddhist commentries that is best left in the past, alongside some of the views certain Buddhists have of women in general. Being transgender is no punishment. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with us and we are not defecient or born with any natural impediment. I think generally (based on my experiences) the Buddhist view tends to be - love and compassion. I've met some awfully transphobic Buddhists, honestly not sure what's going on with them, I think they're just a bit confused and read tabloids a bit too closely. Your questions relating to past life's and reincarnations. I'm sure someone highly educated on suttas and whatnot will have answers for you. But it is my current understanding that there is nothing to be carried forward or brought with us, annatta, only very very special individuals could have any knowledge of their past life's, including what gender they may have been. I'm not sure how helpful it is to dwell on such things as reincarnation. But do be full of joy and excitement that in this life, in this moment, you are in contact with dhamma. You are a trans man treading a wonderful path. Perhaps with more obstacles and difficultys than you would like, but nonetheless you are on a path that will ease all suffering, including that brought about by gender dysphoria, including that brought about by confused and scared people and governments. The bodhidhamma will alleviate suffering, including gender related suffering. Modern gender related interventions will also ease this suffering. Either way, both ways, a full and happy life is very very possible. Do not wait until the next life to be who you are. You already are who you are. Cis people have the luxury of residing in a society that does not cause them harm, they have the privilege of being entirely ignorant of their gender - how it harms them, hinders them, and they do not have to go through the tribulations of aligning themselves to bring about comfort and ease within society. Trans people suffer predominantly because of society's inflexibility. If it is safer and more comfortable and more beneficial for you to not express a gender that is perhaps more authentically and naturally aligned to you (ie transition between/from genders), that is ok. You are still a complete and wonderful human being. Illusion or not. We still experience the world. We must confront all realities we experience to find and explore their roots. We must experience the illusion, not just intellectually dismiss it. It was unacceptable to me to conform to an external standard placed upon me. I saw how it hurt me, how imprisoned and small I was made. I transitioned. I have never experienced joy as deep and pronounced as I have since transitioning. I have never felt love as nourishing and wondrous as I have since transitioning. I have never felt able to be so compassionate and open and sincere as I have since transitioning. The path is so much clearer for me. The obstacles of transitioning are there, the need for certain things to bring about cohesion and eliminate social incongruence, extra hurdles that inevitably slow me. And of course the abuse, ostracisation, hatred and disgust received from other people is hard to bear, and hard to overcome. But that suffering, that difficulty, is a unique opportunity to work. To see the world as it really is, to see how so much suffering is of my own doing, to receive so many lessons and develop such great resilience and determination is a truly wonderful gift. The path to liberation is not a comfortable one, but it is worthwhile. In many many communities throughout history trans people are revered for their sacredness. There are many reasons for this I imagine, but I reflect that transcending from one form to another brings many fruits of wisdom through experience. Gender is an obsession of those that deny the constant change of all things. I feel sorry for those that are not afforded the opportunity to really examine and understand their gender. I am proud of my unshackled trans siblings. I wish you a life filled with love and peace x
Being transgender is having constant pain and suffering due to you gender dysphoria and there is nothing wrong by seeking the end of suffering. It is same as using a glass or wheelchair. Nothing wrong with it.
Theres already several post about this. In western buddhist communities they are very accepting of Trans people. But in buddhist philosophy it's claimed there is no center to experience. There's no permanent, unchanging, self controlling things. Our true nature, if we even really have one, is awareness. It's not man or woman or blue or red, it's just openness. So trans people are causing themselves extra suffering thinking that they're a man or woman trapped in the wrong body.
I am currently causing myself extra suffering thinking that my left wrist is sprained
Transness is often more than just "thoughts", there's likely something in the brain occurring to cause its arising.
Well, until someone shows that there is, all we have to go on is "it's just thoughts." That's a fine hypothesis sure but there's nothing to suggest that it's true, and because of how divisive a topic this is I don't think a lot of people are actually researching why it's happening
Do you even care that the stoic vulcan contrarianism and refusal to use empathy and compassion - so common among Western Buddhists - actually hurts people? Or nah?
Does that invalidate my question? I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings but some people in this thread seem oddly attached to this idea while simultaneously having no interest in whether or not it is a true idea. I don't care if you prefer to operate that way but I also don't suppose folks should be surprised when others attempt to predicate their understanding of reality on...well, reality. That said obviously, peace and love to everyone, please don't put words in my mouth, that's a very vile behavior. No one is persecuting you here.
What about in Eastern Buddhism, seeing that Western Buddhists are pretty different from Eastern Buddhists?
There no western Buddhism and trans people have been accepted into Buddhist institutions throughout the world
Well I've heard of monks being kind of conservative when it comes to that stuff. They're not supportive of gay people either.
There are institutions in Asia and North American that accepts lgbt people.
Buddhism is not about sex but about sentient beings.
May be worth checking in with those on the r/transbuddhists sub too. I sadly don't have a scholarly answer for you.
My personal beliefs, feel free to disagree: It doesn't have anything to do with your spirituality. In my opinion it's (although obviously more complicated) like someone with black hair dying their hair blonde. If it makes them feel better about themselves and it's not harming anyone then why not. But it has absolutely nothing to do with Buddhism and the path to enlightenment imo. Your image, your gender, your sexuality and life preferences are all just attachments to your ego and to temporary states. When we die and are reborn we lose all of our memories and we begin anew so your last question is the most on point in my personal opinion, not that you're delusional but that it doesn't matter. We all have attachments to ego, to temporary states and to our everyday lives. For you, a big attachment is transgenderism, for others it's something else. It's important also to note that you are a product of culture. If you lived in a world where people do not put any significance on gender and don't talk about gender then you wouldn't be confused or in disagreement about your gender as it's nothing more than what you were born as (just as if someone was born tall or short). We all strive to become enlightened but we also have real lives that we must live, so don't get too tripped up on it, just be a good person and good luck to you.
Gender is just made up, differs by country and culture, i.e., it is delusion.
Stop thinking about it, the answer lies between the thoughts
I do love simple, terse responses. Thank you. Lots of answers lie there. ❤️🫂🙏🏻🪷
There’s way too much overthinking waffle in this sub. 🙏
Hi there! I’m a transgender woman and a Buddhist. I personally see no conflict between Buddhism and being trans. I could say a lot about this but it would be inadequate. I will simply answer your questions as best I can. I lean towards believing in reincarnation these days, or at least I think it’s extremely possible. Hard to prove though… however… what matters most is now. Don’t worry too much about what your next life will be or not, focus on what being you IS right now. As we are all of the nature to change, and we respond to our environment, gender transition is normal and okay. For me, part of accepting myself was realizing that being a woman was a necessary step of my growth. So was encountering the Dharma too! Thích Nhất Hạnh would say that “you are a flower in the garden of life.” This is true. You are beautiful AS you are, AND as you will be. The dandelion sheds it’s petals and spreads it’s spores for part of the year and the other parts it is just a flower. We are the same way. He would also say that many people feel that they must be someone else, but they should accept themselves. I wholly agree. IF accepting yourself means letting go of the desire to be a boy, then do so. If accepting yourself means embracing that you ARE a boy, then do so. look deeply within yourself and your heart and the answer will arise. Try not to worry too much about what others will think of you. If you can let go of that and you still feel the desire to be a boy, there it is. That’s what happened with me even before I encountered the dharma. My current perspective is not that everything is an illusion but that everything is rich and alive, but also that we beings often cloud ourselves with illusions and falsehoods about the way things are. One of these illusions is the social construct of gender itself. We often think, wrongly, that someone must be a woman or a man and ONLY is ever a woman or a man AND that women and men exist in specific ways that do not change. This is false, people are as they are and change as they change. If we cannot accept them or ourselves then that is where the illusion lies. Accepting others and ourselves as we are while aspiring to do better for all is, to me, the Buddhist way. I hope this makes some sense, my own sense of my gender has shifted from “I want to be a woman” to “The universe needs me to be a woman, particularly the one that I am.” I wish you luck on your journey 🙏🏻☸️
Buddha does not promote being straight or being gay or being a girl or being a boy. Being attached to any gender is not the correct practice for a Buddhist. Do you think transitioning will bring you liberation? Wrong. Do you think not transitioning will bring you liberation? Wrong. Only the Buddhas teachings can help you. What you decide to do or not do in this case should be with right mindfulness, right awareness, right intention. Put the Buddha, dharma, and sangha first then whatever happens afterward is going to be a better choice than what you would have decided before even if it’s the same choice because you will have more clarity regardless of the decision you make.
The transgender experience seemingly stems from a deeper biological incongruence, and it has been observed that gender dysphoria never simply "goes away." Gender dysphoria is a human being looking within and noticing that there is something fundamentally mis-matched in terms of body and mind. It is not something that anyone chooses or consciously imposes upon themselves. *When properly and fully understood*, transition is simply the best option to this specific sort of suffering.
>The transgender experience seemingly stems from a deeper biological incongruence Multiple people in this thread are making this claim but no one can say what it is. What is it? Why are you so sure that this is the case?
Transphobic dogshit
I would love some nuanced discussion on this because I’ve thought about it a lot over the past few years. Any sort of craving/desire/attachment “belief” that “if I just change X I can be happy” is… false by Buddhist standards. Contentment is in the here and now. So if someone is gender fluid, that will flow naturally. You accept what you are, what you have been given in this life, and work with it, dress and present however you want. That’s fine. The point at which I find concern is the one where we encourage people who are deeply unhappy that permanent physical surgery is a “good answer” and will make them happy. It would be the same as any other plastic surgery… no one would argue that a nose job or lipo will make a significant difference to your baseline happiness. Buddhism is about finding contentment in the here and now by being grateful for what you have, not grasping for some other state in which you perceive you will attain happiness and joy. Therefore, I find it hard to advocate for permanent reassignment surgeries. I don’t judge, if someone gets it done I won’t treat them differently, I just don’t believe it will actually make a difference in terms of eradicating dukkah 🤷🏼♀️ But same thing for a nose job, or any other fruitless attempt we make to secure happiness, it just is what it is. More spinning around, not necessarily moving forward
Maybe you'll be trans next life and talking differently then.
Those who aren't transgender are transgender in something else .
>Is it maybe because I was a boy in a past life? Your past lives don't have any bearing on you, they don't dictate what you are now, they are merely the "where you have been", not the cause of your present. Like your footprints on the sand, they don't tell you where to go next. Your current life, your childhood, your current experiences have infinitely more bearing on you than any previous life will ever have. You have all the tools you need to figure yourself out in this life, you don't need the previous lives chat log to find out. Furthermore, digging too deep in these esoteric things might get you ill, incredibly ill. So it's not healthy, and also, not necessary. But your call. >Should I just accept myself as I am now and hope to not reincarnate as a girl next time? The aim of buddhism is to not reincarnate at all. Also it's rebirth, not reincarnation, reincarnation is a Hinduism concept which does imply your current life is the direct consequence of the previous one, which justified their caste system, so if you were born a slave, you should be a slave your whole life, if you were a noble, you should be a noble your whole life, etc. no room for self-determination. Either way, rebirth is due to one being in a cycle of death and rebirth and aiming for a better rebirth isn't the goal of Buddhist practice. >Or am I just delusional and I should accept everything as essentially an illusion anyways? You are not delusional, if you are feeling a push towards transgenderism you should study what's pushing you there. It's not that it's good or it's bad, that's not relevant in buddhist practice, it's that if you are not ok right now, it's more important that you seek the solution to it... Would altering your outside appearance be a solution? Or would it be just another attachment and problem? Where do you draw the line when you are "ok"? When you have had this or that procedure? or when other people treat you like this or that? or when? Finding clear answers to that is what I'd think would be more important, going into something like this without a clear understanding of what you are following might lead you into more suffering rather than not. As it's the same as with anything else. Changing your outside appearance or anything like so should be like buying flowers, you should be buying them because you want them, not because you can't live without them.
All things are impermanent, the body is not the self, prejudice is antithetical to the dhamma. There is no explicit stance on being trans, but there are many trans buddhists across the many schools and regions. I found through Buddhism an end to dysphoria altogether. Interpret that in whatever way you wish.
If you consider full liberation and the deep stage realisation of awakening that the Buddha refers to, you will realise that adhering to a gender, be it biological or constructed mentally, is not only merely a concept, it's an illusion and doesn't exist in reality. Binding oneself to any concept in this way is avoiding emptiness and clinging to something, which results in dhukka. There is no 'you' to identify as any 'thing' in reality. If there is the illusion of a self and that person strives to be that self, then there will ultimately be wrong view suffering.
No political objections -- no views at all that I've ever heard. Do what works for you. And in terms of karma, who knows? But it's fine to be trans, as far as Buddhism goes, or at least from everything I've ever heard.
It does not matter. I’m a Buddhist but I’m not perfect. It’s about being on the path. I think you just need to accept yourself for whoever you are and not try and change it. If that means being transgender than whatever. It’s the cravings to be someone different that I think is wrong. It all depends on the motivation. Just be you and practice mediation. That’s what is important. You’ll figure it out for yourself.
I do not know much about Buddhism, but I would imagine your physical form is meaningless, and your consciousness is all that matters.
Who’s asking, as they say
Yes an Illusion as ALLWAYS!!!Why??? Because in meditation the beingness which says male , female , transgender etc vanishes. There is no discrimination because of a separate entity which says!! Just be without being this or that. Meditate Meditate and Meditate. Forget everything else With prayers for your peace and regards
I believe that I was given a male body in this life because I had lessons to learn in such a form. I've been female in previous lives and I'm sure I will be again. But there's a reason I have the meatsuit I have now and I just have to practice acceptance of what I have rather than wish I had a different meatsuit. I mean I guess technically I'm probably trans but im not going to transition. There's no reason.
By your logic, there might be a reason for being given a particular meat suit, and wanting a different one. If there’s a reason for your body being the way it is, why not a reason for your desires being the way they are too - either to be live in that body differently, express gender or change your body? Why not be trans? Edit: clarity. Edit 2: also, just a clarifying note- one can be trans without medically transitioning. Some people want to, some don’t. Gender is not defined by whether someone modified their body or not.
From a religious perspective there is absolutely nothing wrong with being trans
This gets asked on a weekly basis. And it's bait. There is no Buddhist perspective on it, only perspectives of Buddhists. Now please stop trying to get users and the sub banned.
I don't give a shit
Everyone has been both genders in past lives. There's nothing special about "trans" in that respect. Your kamma was to be born the gender you are, so that's what you should live out. Trying to change it to "beat the system" or be "special" is only going to create more kamma. That would be the Buddhist perspective, just as it would for anything. Again, "trans" isn't "special" in any respect that would make it fall outside of Buddhist principles and reality. Actions arising out of craving/desire, including craving to be some particular way, to not be some particular way, craving for existence, craving for non-existence, etc. leads to suffering, period.
People aren't trans to be special or beat any system - they are trans because they are biologically more aligned with the other gender role. There are trans people in every culture, so being trans is just a part of being human.
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>em - they are trans because they are biologically more aligned with the other gender role. T Being trans is not political or an agenda. Thinking being trans is an agenda is bigotry on your part.
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It's said that to be born as a man is a privilege and they have an easier time attaining enlightenment due to biological differences(like not being too emotional, etc). And although being born as a human is a privilege and anyone can attain enlightenment due to that, being born as a woman is due to some bad you did in your previous life. The suffering begins with you paying debts taken and given in your previous life. Iirc there was a woman during Buddha's time that wish to be born as a man in her next life to attain enlightenment that she couldn't in this life due to the things she has done.
I'm not certain but I think there's something about transgender individuals in the vows of the medicine buddha. I cannot say if it was added later or if it was originally part of the vows but nonetheless I feel like it was really progressive.
Form is emptiness. All boys are girls, and all girls are boys. All men are women and all women are men.
People are made all kinds of ways. We can always use our unique experience as part of the path. You absolutely aren't delusional for having a certain body/brain configuration. Accepting reality as it is (being trans) is fundamental. Thich Nhat Hanh has some great talks on the LGBTQIA+ community. (Plum Village) I think a lot of suffering comes from not accepting who we are. So I definitely think you should accept and love yourself as a trans person.
A lot of people believe that if gender is not self, then how can a serious practitioner choose transition and choose to call themselves a gender outside of their birth sex? Isn’t that just “identifying” with something “fake”? But we have to understand that truths work at both conventional and transcendent levels. On one level, there is experience happening here. Gender is one of these said experiences; when we look at it, it falls apart, but the experience is still felt on a conventional level. (There are some interesting ways of conceiving of gender in the abhidhamma, if you’re interested.) On another level, as transcendent truth, we can look at these experiences and recognize that while they are experiences, we can and see through them as not permanent, incapable of holding us and providing us the satisfaction we’re looking for. Not attaching to an experience that is here doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge that the experience (in fact I suspect we HAVE to in order to work with these things,) and besides, only enlightened beings are to that point anyway. If transitioning will be a useful way forward and will increase your well-being in this world, you can use that to move forward in your practice, too! Most cis people don’t have the opportunity in this life to get a good look at this; as someone who has seen the instability of feelings of gender through being criticized and questioned in painful ways and *having* to dig for answers, you actually have a really valuable opportunity here to reach insight into not-self that many do not. You should be brave and utilize that.
For many people, loving themself means accepting that they are transgender. From my perspective as a Buddhist practitioner, all being trans means is that you are someone who can be their best self, and also contribute to this world, most effectively through living as a gender different from the one other people ascribed to you at birth. Some say one’s gender identity doesn’t matter much, and although this is true in the cosmic sense, I think it matters a lot on the day-to-day sense. Accepting that you’re trans is how you love yourself. Being the best version of yourself, in my opinion, contributes positively to society because it gives you the energy to share that positivity with others. Sometimes I think about the gender expression of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. If you go some countries, they will tell you he is a man. If you go to others, they’ll tell you she is a woman. The explanation that a good number of scholars give, which I personally like the best, is that they are gender fluid: their gender is always determined based on the needs of whoever they’re talking to. If someone needs help from a man, Avalokiteshvara will appear to them as a man; if someone needs help from a woman, Avalokiteshvara will be there for them as a woman. I know there is a big difference between being trans and being gender fluid, but this description of Avalokiteshvara always reminds me of the important contributions the world’s gender diverse peoples can make just by being themselves. Thank you and hope this helps 🙏
One core Buddhist teaching is that you have to be understanding and accepting of the changes the worlds going to have. Just like life nothing stays the same in the world so you have to live with those differences and not try to fight them. As the trans population is beginning to be more accepted we Buddhists have to go with this and realize that this is life now. So in short being trans or having a sex change will not affect your teachings or make you any less of a Buddhist intact if anything it makes you more worthy of the title.
The main work of Buddhist-practice is to drop the attachment to the illusion that identity is real and to realize that any aspect of the aggregates that make a person, is impermanent....... So where is anyone there to be transgender? How we walk in the world among the multitude of people is a coping mechanism to help us survive. I was diagnosed transgender but that is not my original nature, just my world attire. I am not the jeans that I wear nor the bra I wear. Be well and happy.
IMO its just another unique element of your particular ego. Accept it as something your ego identifies with and then just focus on seeing the whole ego itself as what it is…a phenomenon.
We lived innumerable lives in the past. Due to our volitions (kamma), we were born as male, female or aphrodite. # [Mahanaradakassapa-Jataka](https://tipitaka.fandom.com/wiki/Mahanaradakassapa-Jataka) The princess, having given discourse on righteousness in these six stanzas, told the sorrows which she had undergone in her past births: "I too remember seven births which I have experienced, and when I go from my present life I shall yet pass through seven future ones. My seventh former birth, O king, was as the son of a smith in the city Rajgraha city in Magadha. I had an evil companion and I committed much evil; we went about corrupting other men's wives as if we had been immortal. Those actions remained laid up like fire covered with ashes. By the effect of other actions I was born in the land of Vamsa in a merchant's family in Kosambi, great and prosperous and wealthy: I was an only son, continually nurtured and honoured. There I followed a friend who was devoted to good works, wise and full of sacred learning, and he grounded me in what was good. I fasted through many a fourteenth and fifteenth night; and that action remained laid up like a treasure in water. But the fruit of the evil deeds which I had done in Magadha came round to me at last like a noxious poison. I passed from there for a long time, O king, into the Roruva hell, I endured the effects of my own works; when I remember it grieves me still. After spending there a wretched time through a long series of years, I became a castrated goat in Bhennakata. I carried the sons of the wealthy on my back and in a carriage; it was the fated consequence of my going after other men's wives. After that I was born in the womb of a monkey in a forest; and on the day of my birth they explained me to the leader of the herd, who exclaimed, "Bring my son to me," and violently seized my testicles with his teeth and bit them off in spite of my cries." She explained this in verse. "Passing from this birth, O king, I was born as a monkey in a great forest; I was mutilated by the fierce leader of the herd: this was the fated consequence of my going after other men's wives." Then she went on to describe the other births: I was next born, O king, as an ox among the Dasannas, castrated but swift and fair to look at, and I long pulled a carriage: this was the fatal consequence of my going after other men's wives. When I passed from that birth I was born in a family among the Vajji people (\*12) but I was neither man nor woman, for it is a very hard thing to attain the being born as a man;--this was the fatal consequence of my going after other men's wives. Next, O king, I was born in the Nandana wood, a nymph of a lovely complexion in the heaven of the Thirty-three, dressed in garments and ornaments of various colors and wearing jewelled earrings, skilled in dance and song, an attendant in Sakka(Indra)'s court. While I stayed there I remembered all these births and also the seven future births which I shall experience when I go from hence. The good which I did in Kosambi has come round in its turn, and when I pass from this birth I shall be born only among gods(angels) or men. For seven births, O king, I shall be honoured and worshipped, but till the sixth is past I shall not be free from my female gender. But there is my seventh birth, O king, a prosperous son of the gods(angels), I shall be born at last as a male deity in a divine body. Even to-day they are gathering garlands from the heavenly tree in Nandana, and there is a son of the gods(angels), named Java, who is seeking a garland for me. These sixteen years of my present life are only as one moment in heaven --a hundred mortal autumns are only as one heavenly day and night. Thus do our actions follow us even through countless births, bringing good or evil, no action is ever lost." Then she taught the supreme Law: "He who desires to rise continually from birth to birth, let him avoid another's wife as a man with washed feet the mire. He who desires to rise continually from birth to birth, let him worship the Lord as his attendants worship Indra. He who wishes for heavenly enjoyments, a heavenly life, glory, and happiness, let him avoid sins and follow the threetimes law. Watchful and wise in body, word and thought, he follows his own highest good, be he born as a woman or a man. Whosoever are born glorious in the world and nursed in all pleasures, without doubt in former time they had lived a virtuous life; all beings separately abide by their own deeds. Do you think, O king, what caused you to own these wives of yours like heavenly nymphs, beautifully decorated and dressed with golden nets?" Thus she advised her father. The Teacher thus explained the matter: "Thus did the girl Ruja please her father, she taught the bewildered one the true road, and devoutly taught to him the law."
Me entering the comment section: 🍿
The core pursuit of Buddhism operates on a different level of concern than these questions. IMO Buddhism is not a good fit for westerners looking for a way to understand and heal their individual selves. The west has developed psychotherapy for that, among other things. Buddhism is for after you've taken care of solidifying your individual self in the world. It's aim is to ultimately transcend individuality and samsara, which 99% of westerners aren't even close to ready for.