[MD] Taoism

[MarshaV]

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