by Master Tsung-pen
Question:
Can women recite the buddha-name and get to be born in the Pure Land or not?
Answer:
What kind of talk is this? Even the birds can get to be born in the Pure Land by reciting the buddha-name. (43) This is even more true of human beings.
Objection:
But a woman's body has ten evils, so how can they get to be born in the Pure Land?
First, when she is born, her parents are not happy. Second, when they raise her, they do so without interest. Third, [a girl is taught] always to be fearful of people. Fourth, her parents worry about arranging a marriage for her. Fifth, she leaves her parents [to live with her husband's family]. Sixth, she lives in fear of her husband's moods. Seventh, pregnancy and childbirth are very difficult. Eighth, when she is young, she is tightly controlled by her parents. Ninth, when she is grown up, she is ruled by her husband. Tenth, when she gets old, she is scolded by her sons and grandsons. From birth to death, she is never free. . . .
So how can a woman quickly become enlightened?
Answer:
These [disadvantages] exist if we talk about the level of external forms, but if we talk about inherent nature, none of these things exist.
At one time, a naga girl barely eight years old who had sharp faculties of wisdom became enlightened in an instant. How could this be a matter of male and female, or old and young? In the assemblies of the Zen schools, many women have illuminated mind, seen reality-nature, and become buddhas and enlightened teachers in their current lifetimes, and even more have done so in future lifetimes.
If you cling to the idea that physical form is real, you utterly fail to comprehend the inner truth of reality-nature. You do not understand it, but when men and women merge with the source of reality-nature, they are neither male nor female. . . .
Haven't you read the Source Mirror! It says:
The physical body appears to have the characteristics of birth and death and male and female, but the inherent identity, which is luminous and aware, really does not have these characteristics. If you awaken to this inherent identity right now, this is called eternal life, the lifespan of the Tathagatas, and the wondrous mind of nirvana.
It also says:
Whatever has mind becomes buddha. Right now your walking is buddha walking, and your sitting is buddha sitting. Thus it is said that all physical embodiments and environments are entirely situated within the most holy inherent mind, and that the body of reality of all the buddhas is not apart from the thoughts of the lowest ordinary people.
[The Zen adept] Prime Minister P'ei Hsiu said:
Whatever has blood and breath is sure to have awareness. Whatever has awareness must share the same essence [as the buddhas].
Just as it is said [by all Buddhist authorities], all sentient beings, even the insects, have buddha-nature. This certainly includes women!
Question:
Since they possess buddha-nature, why don't insects become buddhas? Why do they remain in the cycle of birth and death subject to suffering instead?
Answer:
It is just because they are attached to form and deluded about reality nature: they turn their backs on enlightenment and join with the dusts of sensory experience and create all kinds of evil karma, so they fall into non-human levels and suffer. But let us put aside the case of insects for now and say no more about it.
Right now you have gotten a human body, but you are still unwilling to maintain a vegetarian diet, uphold the precepts, recite the buddha-name, and seek birth in the Pure Land. Instead, you want to make the non-human species become buddhas.
Question:
Often when teachers see a woman who is a vegetarian and upholds the precepts and recites the buddha-name, they will express their wish that she may turn into a man in future lifetimes in order to cultivate the Path. What about such talk?
Answer:
This type loudly lays claim to the name "teacher," but they do not comprehend the inner truth of being an enlightened teacher. In reality they are ignorant and deluded. Don't they know [this story] from the Vimalakirti Sutra?
Shariputra said to a female deva, "Why don't you transform your woman's body [and turn into a man]?"
The devi said, "For eleven years I looked for the marks of a woman's body, but in the end they could not be found. What is there to transform? Suppose a magician conjured up an apparition of a woman. If someone asked, 'Why don't you transform this woman's body [into a man]?' would this be a correct question?"
Shariputra said, "No. A magical apparition has no fixed form, so what is there to transform?"
The devi said, "All phenomena are also like this: they do not have fixed form. So why do you ask me why I do not transform my woman's body?"
In an instant, the devi used her supernatural powers to transform Shariputra so he looked like her, and transform herself so she looked like him. Then she asked him, "Why don't you transform your woman's body?"
Shariputra, in the form of a female deva, answered, "Now I do not know what transformation has changed my body into a woman's body."
The devi said, "Shariputra, if you were able to transform this woman's body, then all women would also be able to transform their own bodies. You are not a woman, but you appear in a woman's body. All women are also like this. Though they appear with women's bodies, they are not [in essence] women. Therefore Buddha said that all phenomena are neither male nor female."
Then the devi drew back her supernatural powers, and Shariputra returned to the way he was before.
Thus, in the inherent nature of true thusness, how could there be the characteristics "male" and "female"? Moreover, in the Lotus Sutra it specifically predicts that women will be born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. How could it not be so? Furthermore, the Pure Land biographies record countless numbers of women who have been born in the Western Paradise. How could a genuine enlightened teacher not know this?
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43. This is a reference to the story of an exceptional parrot contained in the Biographies of Pure Land Sages and Saints, a famous collection of rebirth stories not available in English.
related post: A Real Buddhist Life
Source Of Information:
《Pure Land Pure Mind 心净佛土净》, by Master Chu-hung and Tsung-pen, translated by J.C.Cleary, distributed by: Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Amitabha Malaysia, 90 & 92, Jalan Pahang, Gombak, 53000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.
