Woman=Lower Rebirth?

This morning I had a 4.5 hour lesson with Tenzin. We worked on reading for a while, which was good--about Losar, in fact. As she gave details of the cultural explanation, we became so engrossed in conversation that reading took a backseat. We talked a lot about her family, and about the situation with Tibet in general, and rinpoches and reincarnation. I wondered about how rinpoches (reincarnations) are recognized, and apparently in the Nyingma sect of Buddhism (one of the four, others being Sakya, Gelukpa, and Kagyu), in which the lamas can get married, rinpoches often reincarnate as later generations within their bloodline. For example, in her family, her grandfather's grandfather reincarnated as her great-uncle; her great-uncle has been reborn as one of her uncles. They can tell by the behavior of the person as a child...her uncle would call her grandmother over to sit by him, and call her "sister"; he also would point out belongings of her great-uncle and claim them as his own and remember their uses. In other sects, high rinpoches will have dreams that give information about the reincarnation, or they might leave behind clues leading to their discovery (as in the case of the Karmapa or the Dalai Lama).

In the reading there was a picture of a shrine of auspicious offerings, and since it's within the 15 days of Losar still (though only 3 are really celebrated here), we went into her popo-la's room and she explained their shrine to me part by part, and showed me photographs of the various rinpoches and members of their family (and there was a butter lamp that has been burning for a year straight in honor of her younger sister, who passed away last year). There are seven offering bowls, which incidentally I was just looking at this morning, among other things--water for drinking, water for washing, incense or a flower, wheat, tsampa, perfume, food (rice with fruits and spices).

I asked her about the Tibetan word for "woman"; it's a combination of the words for "birth" and "low". This "woman question" has been a topic of great interest to me for some time now and has been the focus of recent study with Kopila...it is always both a provocation and a relief to bring new facets to light. Tenzin told me about what a rinpoche had told her when she asked about it. Because Buddhism sees life in terms of suffering, and it is a simple fact that women suffer more than men, being born as a woman is seen as a lower rebirth. While the psychological tendency of women to suffer more than men is arguable (for the people who wish to argue), the physical burdens that women bear are indisputably greater. It is both a blessing and curse; a punishment and an opportunity for growth, that women feel more pain. The possibilities it opens up for growth are proportionately greater. Nonetheless, the fact remains that growth through suffering is one particular way, and considered--at the risk of using a controversial word--inferior.

The word "inferior" means something different in this context, at least so it seems. It no longer carries the same stigma, which has always seemed unjust to me, however biological the basis for the prejudice might be. The reason for this is that it is seen through the lens of compassion--which, it should be noted, is not at all the same as pity. If we acknowledge this simple difference between women and men, the compassion we feel for one another increases, as its nature changes to accommodate the individual and their place in samsara. The condescension, condemnation, and disenfranchisement that have always accompanied the view of women as "inferior" becomes instead a kind of deep respect for the work and potential of a being in a female body. In fact, regardless of the degree of consciousness a woman might have of her position, compassion is demanded for the suffering she endures. This compassion is what is lacking everywhere; it is the source of sexism.

Now that I have a better grasp of what this whole inferiority thing really stems from, I have to think about it a lot, to see what my own reactions to it are.

As an additional note, something Kopila told me yesterday relates to this. The classical Ayurvedic texts say that when a woman is in her eighth month of labor, a new house should be built for her. The house should be made of wood, instead of the usual materials (at the time) of sand and mud, in order to be clean and not dusty. She should be provided with food, and surrounded by four or five midwives at all times, to give her encouragement and support. This was a primitive conception, Kopila says, of a hospital environment. Through the years and with the addition of commentary, this precept became something entirely different. Villagers now believe that a woman should not be permitted in her home when she is going to give birth, and in fact should be sent away for labor and delivery. Women are often sent to places alone--not only in conditions vastly different than any kind of clean or new house, but usually far inferior to her home. The places can be very unhygienic, especially because before and after delivery, women are not supposed to be exposed to sunlight, because the sun is considered a god, and birth is not suitable to be seen "by the light of day".

Leaving aside the sun being a god, which I know not nearly enough about to comment on, it is remarkable that a dictate which was written out of pure compassion became a weapon used to persecute women and make their lives more painful. This is not unusual--the road to hell is paved with good intentions--but it is rather mortifying.

This woman question has been such a torture to me because I have no doubt that the subjugation of women is due entirely to sociopolitical/cultural factors--which are crystallized attitudes and habits, developed out of egotism and ignorance. But I was equally certain that because these attitudes and habits are so universal, the roots of this bias had to be somewhere connected to the truth. I feel that finally I have found the tip of the iceberg that is this truth. Now I need to really to learn how the truth became the source of prejudice--when the tides began to shift, and where, and with whom.

This afternoon I spent a few hours wandering around with Tais by the stupa, doing kora. We spent some time in a singing bowl shop, where I finally succeeded in getting a bowl to emit a sound. The man who owns the shop is definitely experienced with the bowls, and includes a three-page packet on the history and so on with any purchase. Eventually I might buy one. Not only are they beautiful and wonderful tools for meditation and relaxation, but they also have a unique healing power--the bigger, deeper-toned ones in particular. The vibration works through the entire body. I would love to get singing bowl therapy and see what it is really like to have a whole treatment with sound.

Lights are off now. I guess I'll study until the sun goes fully down.