At 10:32 AM 12/20/2007, you wrote: > [Marsha] > > 'A New Zen for Women' by Perle Besserman. This book > > was not the > > first and only source, but this book deals with the > > sexism explicitly. > > > Marsha, here is an interesting link about Zen, >Women, and Buddhism as follows: > > >http://www.geocities.com/zennun12_8/index.html > > > I'm reading a link within this link. It is "9. >Mugai Nyodai: Japan's First Female Zen Master". The >first quote at this main link in which I give above >states, "Many women must have completed their studies >and some must have started temples, but we know very >little about the history of women in the Dharma >because the translators and historians were mostly >men."
Greetings SA, I've read a few scholarly books on women & Buddhism. The book I just mentioned was a very good book I thought Ms. Besserman was being quite honest about her experiences. Actually, I suggest you read it. ... skipped text for the sake of space. > I'm also thinking about "abandonment". Children should never be abandoned. They need love and care. >This goes >along with what you, Marsha, mentioned in another post >about how you dropped out society in a not so sudden, >shocking way. I don't see the connection. I didn't become a recluse. I had been married twice, and had grown children. I was over 50. I decided to pursue a more spiritual search. Alone. I'm still connected to my family. I didn't abandon them. And occasionally I connect with old friends via the phone. >You had the opportunity to do so in a >more gradual way with books, such as Pirsig's, that >helped you realize your disillusionment was supported >by these people that wrote these books for they said, >"It is okay.". Disillusionment doesn't seem like the correct word either. I didn't leave with these books for support. I'm a reader, and have read many, many books. I had read Krishnamurti, Nietzsche and RMP's books long before and they were the most influential. I think I was born not fitting into this society. It never made much sense to me. From these authors I felt it was okay to go off by myself. If I was crazy, it was an okay kind of crazy. >I know I was paraphrasing, but I >believe you mentioned something to this affect. So, >when people abandon, not only society, but static >intellectual patterns for a more dynamic experience >due to the suffocation of certain static patterns, an >abandonment occurs I would say. I don't understand. Who has abandoned whom? >I don't think >abandonment is strictly an event of, for instance, >these fathers, but it is also an event that children >may elect to perform in what some think as normal >teenage rebellious years. Yes, this sounds right. >I think Pirsig would think >differently. I do know Joseph Campbell has a lot to >say about the 'rites of passage'. There are many rites of passage at different stages in our lives, and initiations too. In my case I just decided to follow my instinct which was not that same as everyone else. >patches of white, >SA crystal reflections, Marsha Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
