Marsha, I'm sure I'm opening a big can of worms here - I'm not reading this book, but I do read a lot of posts here that you make about yin vs. yang/ man vs. woman issues and so on.
The moment a woman demands her rights, she reduces herself to the level of a beggar. (this is not me, but Yoko Ono - yet I agree with it.) Certainly it is true that over the course of history, women were not considered the same as men. And there are still many countries in the world where women are brutalized by men. I am not saying that there hasn't ever existed or doesn't consider to exist problems related to gender issues. But it seems to me that continuing to look for problems in this area is a static pattern. I've owned my own business in a male dominated field for many years. I was in a male dominated rate when I was in the Coast Guard - working in electronics. I have rarely, if at all, experienced any issues with men related to my gender. I'm considered by my colleagues and peers to be very feminine, yet regarded as competent and capabable as any and more so than a lot of other men as I work on computers, hardware, networks and so on. I realize that 100 years ago - I would not have had the same options, but it's not 100 years ago. There are many books that I read on Taoism, Buddhism and so on - they were written thousands of years ago - they are not going to have the same social perspective we have right now. It is changing - Pema Chodrun is one female monk who runs a monastery in Nova Scotia. She also writes, lectures and is apparently taken seriously by her peers and colleagues - I bet she didn't get where she is by worrying so much about being a woman vs. a man. I think there are a lot of ideas that are very misunderstood about gender - even from the past. Men cannot have babies. No matter what. They can certainly raise them, but they cannot experience the act of giving birth. I believe this is one reason why men did other roles - became monks for example - while women went about the business of giving birth. Now we have options - we're over populated, women choose not to have children. Biologically, the pattern and the agenda is different. I don't read books on taoism looking for duality - equal time given to women - it actually seems at cross purposes with the MOQ to look for gender issues at all - those are just biological and social levels that change and correct themselves all the time. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MarshaV > Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 4:23 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [MD] Taoism > > > > > > > Re: 'Nine Nights with the Taoist Master' by Waysun Liao. > > Greetings, > > It seems that this book, and philosophy, is written from the man's > perspective to men. While there is great wisdom, there is no advice > for women. It is stated: > > "It's as if the Yang power must return into the Yin power, and the > Yin must become the Yang power." (p.156) > > But it seems all the teaching is to help men return to and > regain Yin power. > > "It is not enough just to connect Te back to Tao. You must also > practice the power of weakness. This means to condition yourself to > be humble, to be empty, to be low, to allow the subtle, invisible, > yet ever almighty powerful Tao particle to flow into your body, to > charge up your entire body as 'Tao body.'" (p. 158) > > This does not seem to be advice for women to help them reconnect to > Yang power. There is something vital missing. > > I will continue to read in hopes of finding the other side of > this wisdom. > > Marsha > > > > > > > > > > Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the > stars... > > 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/ > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1207 - Release > Date: 1/2/2008 11:29 AM > > No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1207 - Release Date: 1/2/2008 11:29 AM 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/
