Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [114]
A British nun reinforced this position when she talked about the pain she had personally experienced trying to be part of the predominantly male Tibetan monastery where her teacher lived. She found it so overwhelmingly difficult that she felt forced to go meditate alone, living the life of a hermit for ten years in a cave in Ladakh. As the Dalai Lama listened, he was moved to tears by the problems some women have faced in traditional Buddhist settings; he seemed to be hearing this candidly for the first time. Recently he said that there are no theoretical obstacles against a female Dalai Lama.
Buddhism has always had a strong feminist spokesperson in the form of Tara, the liberated female principle of enlightenment. Many people refer to this female Buddha as Green Tara. In fact, however, like all mothers, Tara has so much to do, so much to give, and is so responsive to the needs of beings that she has many forms and is imaged in twenty-one different colors symbolizing twenty-one aspects and modes of activity. As White Tara, she is a peaceful presence who heals disease and pacifies discord; as Red Tara, she is a passionate presence who devotes her inexhaustible energy to others’ needs. As Green Tara, she personifies the qualities of the protective nurturing earth. It is taught that Tara helps us help ourselves. Tara has special meaning in Tibet where she is known as its protectress and is called Mother Tara. Children are taught to invoke Tara’s aid through prayer whenever they feel fearful or anxious. Every monastery chants her beautiful “Twenty-one Praises of Tara” liturgy every morning as a group in the meditation hall. As a fully enlightened Buddha, Tara personifies the sacred feminine side of all of us—male and female.
Legend has it that one day many centuries ago, Tara was meditating and chanting her mantra in her Lotus Buddha Field, when some monks happened by. They felt her powerful vibrations and profound meditational energy, and they said, “Oh Yogini [female practitioner], you are such an excellent spiritual practitioner. In the future may you be reborn as a man and become a Buddha.” And Tara replied to those arrogant macho monks, “May I throughout all my lifetimes always take female form. Until all beings realize the nirvanic peace, bliss, and freedom of full enlightenment, may I always embody the sacred feminine and be a female Buddha.”
In images of Tara, she’s not sitting in the full lotus position. She has one leg and one hand down because she is reaching out. She is putting legs on her prayer. She is actually enacting enlightenment, bringing it forth and manifesting it to the world. She sometimes wears a hat as if to go out, she is dressed up, she is wearing jewelry. She is dancing and playing with reality. She’s not afraid of it. She’s not running away from life or trying to hide in the corner.
So yes, there are innumerable female Buddhas. And you might meet, or—for a brief, but incandescent moment—even be one. Dzogchen masters say that if a woman gives birth to the Bodhisattva Vow and practices bodhicitta, she will develop on the path of awakening faster than a man.
MAKING MONEY: TOWARD A
BUDDHIST THEORY OF ECONOMICS
Many of the people I know spend a great deal of time thinking about money—how to keep it, spend it, invest it, donate it, as well as make it. Of course, there are innumerable ways of making money. Decades ago, when I was in North Africa, my genial host told me a story about how some native people in the far south of that