CAN WOMEN BECOME ENLIGHTENED?
This is a complex and sensitive topic that has caused a lot of debate, not only for Buddhism but for almost all religions of mankind. It has been mentioned in a whole forest of books and scriptures by religious leaders, intellectuals, theologians and scholars around the world. My view is subjective—even the monasteries could not explain and even noble nuns themselves find it difficult to explain properly.
Whoever practices, he knows himself?
Not enlightened yet, so he does not know.
Enlightenment already, he neither knows.
So it had better be EMPTY?
Sometimes, writing is easy and the words just flow. Depending on the mind, wisdom without a master can appear. Thanks to that wisdom, the senses are temporarily opened resulting in pubbenivāsānussatiñānā (the power to remember the past lives of oneself and others) and incarnations from male to female. Seeing that this “self” has gone through many lives and suffers in samsara, could it be that “I” used to be “Lan” who cut off the bell cord and fled ‘Điệp’[1] to become a nun because of heartbreak?
Contributing an Essay
I saw Venerable Bhikkhunī Giới Hương in the West on the occasion of her fortieth anniversary preaching and then later she contacted me during the world coronavirus pandemic when she emailed to ask me to contribute an essay. The phrase came to mind, “showing ax skills to an ax expert” (or never offer to teach a fish to swim), [2] revealing my ignorance.
She wrote, “I wish Mr. Trứ would please contribute a short article about the image of nuns in meditation or sutras, or in reality in America, as I know Mr. Trứ has a sharp insight on this topic. Please take advantage of the social distancing days with time to write an article. The title of the collection is Nuns' Contribution to Buddhism or Enlightenment (from Venerable Bhikkhunī Thích Nữ Giới Hương, Abbess of Huong Sen Buddhist Temple, Perris, California). Maybe this is the karma that forced me to write, as I honestly confide to the readers that I am inherently ignorant. A word like “empty” can't be written, more less other sublime treatises.
The quiet Laṅkāvatāra moon,
Neither border or destination
Know Empty without possessing.
Freely play in the samadhi.
(Lê HuyTrứ)
Introduction
To be honest, I have never had any knowledge of the nuns' image in meditation or sutras nor in the United States. I also haven't had the chance to witness the nun’s contributions to Buddhism or enlightenment. However, wisdom (prajñā) does not need to learn; it is intrinsic knowing. Truth doesn't need to be propagated; it's convincing in itself. All sentient beings have the same inherent wisdom, but their capacities are different.Wisdom is a basic condition that leads to enlightenment. The intangible wisdom—we only know how to provoke it or does it provoke us?
Guru is like a moon in the sky,
It shines everywhere with unlimited brightness.
People should know how to distinguish it,
Smoke fills the sky over the hill.
(“Thinking II” [Cảm Hoài II], Bảo Giám Zen Master,
translated by Lê HuyTrứ, January 7, 2018)
Wisdom is clear like the moon and stars,
Worldly luminous clarity projection.
The essential cultivator does not discriminate,
Smoke mountain blue serene mist.
(Lê HuyTrứ, January 7, 2018, rewritten on the base
of Cảm Hoài II, Bảo Giám Zen Master)
I am sure that the nuns in the world always silently contributed to religion and life with countless merit. However, I still do not understand. Isn’t it interesting that many people have volunteered to become monks and nuns in the end period of Dharma, especially in the United States? If there is no one practicing, temples cannot be built for pilgrims to visit, prostrate to the Buddha, listen to prayers and find the peace of mind. More difficult is the theme, “meditation, suttas and the enlightenment of nuns.”
Self-practice, self-knowing,
Pleasure, suffering, self-knowing,
If you practice, you will attain,
No cultivation, hard to achieve.
(Lê Huy Trứ)
In fact, in America, is there any nun icon of enlightenment yet? Is the awakening offered for the happy or miserable? I am not a nun, so how can I know if nun is enlightened? In any case, the practitioner must have the conditions to cultivate and not just practice to escape the debt of life. It is difficult to practice to the end result. Practicing is more difficult than not practicing. Practice is going against the flow of life. Without practice one is going to be seduced into flow of life.
The Role of Women
Like all sentient beings in the world, we realize that the role of women is quite important in the lives of all of us, including Siddhārtha Gautama. Maternal love is the source of life, nurturing almost all sentient beings. From Queen Maya, the mother of Prince Siddhārtha, to his second aunt, his father's second wife, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, to his beautiful wife Yasodhara—all of these played an important role in the life of Prince Siddhārtha.
However, a profound interior contrast occurred when he encountered the view, “Alone in the night, the Prince Siddhārtha watched the female dancers sleep in the harem, lying in a disgraceful posture: one lying down like an elephant, some snoring, legs stretched out indecently, some lay unconscious like corpses, eyes rolled upwards, others were gaping and drooling. Siddhārtha left the castle, leaving behind his young wife and newborn baby.”
This was an extraordinary decision of a great man, but it was considered an irresponsible action to ordinary people. The prince did not enjoy pleasure in the royal palace and instead was drawn to the ascetic life, homelessness without possessions.
The Buddha's life was tied to the presence of women through three nuances. Firstly, maternal love: Queen Maya gave birth to him, his aunt nurtured and suckled him, the Sujata girl offered him a bowl milk rice when he was starving, and a prostitute offered food to him and the sangha. Secondly, the ephemeral body: The Buddha tells us that despite the refinements of a life of luxury, he was horrified to see the indignities of aging, sickness, and death and considered that this would happen to him. “Should I not seek a release from aging, illness, and death?” he asked himself. Thirdly, the equality between men and women: The Buddha allowed his adoptive mother Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī to follow the pure path of the sangha and confirmed that “a woman also can win enlightenment, same as a man,”[3] because gender discrimination is simply a completely meaningless convention, just the result of the desire for sex always engulfing people. When attaining enlightenment, that is, observing correctly all things, then people will no longer assign importance to gender."[4]
In the Sutta Pitaka, there is a famous argument between Bhikkhunī Soma, who achieved Nirvāna by practicing meditation and eliminating all cravings and Māra, who symbolizes craving and death. Māra said to the bhikkhunī, “The realm of the liberators (Nirvāna)/is very hard to win. Women will never be able to attain it!” The nun retorted, “What is inferior to being a woman? Once you have focused your mind, all feelings will become pure. Māra, we always wonder, ‘If I am a woman or a man, that's the way I speak in your language. Once your sexual desire has been completely eliminated, the dense ignorant darkness will melt and disappear. And Death God, even you will be destroyed!”
The Samyutta Nikaya (Vol. I, Suttas five and six) also affirms this, and are considered by the Buddha, “Only the chariot (Dharma) is important. Whether male or female, anyone who knows thanks to the chariot has achieved Nirvana.”
The following verse of the Buddha's adoptive mother Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī after attaining enlightenment and recalling her past lives, “I used to be a mother, a child, a father, a grandmother . . . I have never known such things before. [At that time] I could only follow my path [in samsara], and then I met the Blessed One! This body is the last one. I will no longer come back to be reborn from one life to another.”
Hoàng Phong commented, “Karma that leads to rebirth as a human being is one of the main types of karma, while other karmas are secondary, such as male, female, homosexual, beautiful, ugly, intelligent, dull, aggressive, meek, born into poor or wealthy families, in a Buddhist or Christian country or Islam and so forth. However, the effects of karma are complex, while human intelligence does not go beyond the biological functioning of the brain, so it is not possible to analyze and capture all the overlapping effects of karma.
The interdependence (conditioned co-production) is an extremely complex operation through space and time, while human intelligence, even though a satisfactory level of enlightenment is achieved, it is not possible to untangle the interconnectedness. The exact result produced by karma is one of the four unknowable topics, similar to the origin of samsara, (immediate karma, after being created, will not retain its potential) because karma is as “impermanent” as all other phenomena, but immediately interacts with other karmas which have been inscribed on the knowledge stream, and will continue to be transformed by future karma.
Sangha of Nuns
The sutras recorded that the Buddha initially refused to allow women to become monastics and join the sangha. It was not until Venerable Ananda repeatedly asked the Buddha to accept women into the sangha. He accepted and then set strict rules for the congregation of bhikkhunīs.
According to Minh Chính who summed it up, “Many people also believe that the Buddha had a reason to reject distinguished women. The truth is not so. The Buddha's intention was based on his reasoning that a woman who becomes a nun sacrifices a lot of her duties and deep emotional relationships with her family and children. Therefore, it is very difficult and it will be too great a sacrifice for themselves and their relatives if women become nuns. The simplest reason is that if the mothers renounce their lives and leave home, the situation of their children will be very worrying and miserable. If a father is a monk, the mother will still take care of the family and children because maternal love always is better than the father’s love.
It was not until five years later, after the founding of the sangha, that a group of women abandoned their families and became bhikkhunīs, all thanks to the determination of Nun Patriarch Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the aunt of the Buddha. But these nuns had to follow more rules than monks, and among the rules there were strict laws of gender. First, the Buddha's adoptive mother was disappointed, but the Buddha did not relent.
Among the lay Buddhists who practice at home, many are women and it is they who provide food for those who give up their families, who are mothers who raise and nurture the sangha. Among these are famous mothers, such as Ms. Ambapāli who, although a prostitute, was a very active donor. The Buddha treated this woman like a noble person! The Buddha also declared that women can also advance on the Path of Liberation, just like men and in fact has shown that many women achieved high levels on the path, fulfilling the enlightened form of the arahant. This is the ultimate result of the practice of ancient Buddhism (in Theravāda Buddhism, the meaning of this word is “The Path of the Ancients,” often incorrectly referred to as "Theravāda Buddhism”).[5]
The Buddha foresaw this. Thus, the his initial refusal was for those reasons and it may have been so women carefully consider all aspects before leaving home, becoming nuns.” This is just a diplomatic deduction of existential beings.
Can Nuns Become Saints?
In the article, “Can a Woman Attain Liberation in this Present Life?” compiled by Minh Chính, “Some nuns, or bhikkhunīs, were highly praised by the Buddha at the time, such as the most knowledgeable Bhikkhunī Patacara on the Vinaya and the most knowledgeable Bhikkhunī Khema for wisdom. Among Upasikas, Ms. Visakha is considered the most generous at making offerings to the Buddha and the sangha, and Ms. Samavati displayed the most compassion.
According to Buddhism, all sentient beings, including men and women, contain the same Buddha nature and have the same potential for enlightenment but their levels are not the same.
According to the slightly contrary conception of Vajrayana, every man or woman has enough of the main (mother) and secondary energy. The secondary energy aspect is the measureless compassion and the main energy is the great omniscient mind, the source of all things. The two principles of main and secondary energy are interrelated and inseparable, thus all sentient beings are equal, inherent enough with Buddha nature and capable of enlightenment to become Buddhas.
Vajrayāna is one of the three “vehicles,” also known as the paths of Buddhism. The other two are Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna. Vajrayāna means “Diamond Vehicle,” with the ultimate indestructible solid nature that is the symbol of the solid essence of all sentient beings and all things. Vietnamese scriptures often confuse Vajrayāna with tantric, a sect which was established in China under the Tang Dynasty.
Vajrayāna emphasizes the principle of the Model of Enlightenment through the images of the Buddha Mother Prajñā, the Buddha Mother Tara, symbolizing the source of all things. Therefore, it is called “the mother of all the Buddhas. The characteristic of the Mother Principle is the capacity to contain, produce and create. The mother Buddha is not only a will to create the law and the world but the essence of the world.
In the Vajra, the importance and enlightenment power of women is manifested through the thangkas, mandalas, symbols and tools. The image of the Blessed Mother, Dakini, in the posture of winning or resting in a meditative posture with a unique seal is adorned with precious treasures, bone fragments and a crown of bones or flowers. This certainly affirms the possibility of achieving enlightenment, that is, becoming a Buddha while in a woman’s body.
In the Tantra, the praises of the importance and meditative ability of the females, such as the yoginis and dakinis, means that the female practitioners practice yoga and the magical power of the Mother Saints. A dakini transcends ordinary perception. She is the “Flying Mother” who rejoices in the nature of the spiritual world. They are also the holders of wisdom, the embodiment of Buddha Mother Prajñā, the mother of Buddhas.
There are great yogini practitioners in Vajrayāna history such as Yeshe Tsogyal, Yogini Niguma, the great Mahasiddha who founded the six yogas of Niguma; Gelongma Palmo, the founder of the Dharma method of Nyungnay, the great accomplishment of Avalokiteshvara, Machig Labdron (1055–1152) of the Chod lineage master—the practices and accomplishments of all these yoginis are clearly recorded in history as the evidence for the truth that the attainment of realization by a woman is a reality.
Mahāyāna tends to symbolize the Buddha's identity with images that show he is an androgynous being, or rather has the potential of being male but may also be female. Images of the Buddha symbolizing anthropomorphic appearances (actually only beginning to appear around the beginning of the Christian era), often wearing very thin clothes that sticks close to the body, show an “empty space,” without any masculine sign (before the first century AD, the Buddha was symbolized by an empty throne or pedestal, or by a Bodhi tree, or a footprint of the feet. During the first five centuries of Buddhism's development, the Buddha was never represented by an image that has the appearance of a person).
Images of Nuns in Meditation and Scriptures
In Buddhism, not only is the intellectual quality unique to women, but also the kindness (maitri) has been a symbol of maternal love, as it has been featured in the very famous Metta Sutta from the Pitaka: “As a mother protecting her only child with her life, let us be compassionate and treat all species with kindness. Let us bring our unlimited compassion to cover the whole world and all species, from top to bottom, from left to right; compassion is not separated by anything.”[6]
The Therigāthā (The Enlightened Verses of the Elder Nuns): The word “Theri” means elder or senior nuns and is the title for virtuous bhikkhunīs who have practiced a long time in a monastery. The Therigāthā is a collection of texts in the Khuddaka Nikaya, an episode in the Sutta Pitaka, which gathers “songs that speak of enlightenment,” (writings in the form of verse, also known as chanting or poems, narrating the life and enlightenment of bhikkhunīs). It is quite formulaic when narrating the nuns’ success, and what they had to go through in practice and in life. Along with the Verses of the Elder Nuns, in the Sutta Pitaka there is a collection of verses by the senior monks (the Theragāthā ), which shows a markedly fair justice between men and women.
The Therigāthā is interesting because it is the only book in the Buddhist scriptures written by women. Many verses in the Therigāthā highlight the previous circumstances in the nuns’ own lives and have left us with specific evidence of the identity of the Indian women in those ancient times.”[7]
These verses are short scriptures that we can recite. The verses are the means to help the practitioner attain awareness by the intuitive path, the mind transmitting the mind. The meditation poem is not exactly like normal poetry or literature. “Verses are also known as poems that convey Buddhist thought. Poetry is sometimes just short sentences like proverbs but usually are poems. The verses are short and profound discourses to teach disciples.”[8]
The following Zen verses are respectfully dedicated to the Elder Nuns and the lay Buddhist women at home. In particular, the offerings are made to the Venerable Bhikkhunī Thích Nữ Giới Hương, the nuns and the meritorious people of Huong Sen Temple. Just follow this supreme teaching to practice. Guaranteed, your immortal diamond never decays. First of all, we are without knowledge and seek a secluded place with social distancing in order to enjoy the true spirit and enter samadhi. We must do so in order to attain enlightenment. Also, if not done correctly, you can suffer from the dimness of consciousness, psychological disorders and everything will be useless.
Enlightenment isn’t necessary when following Buddhism,
Ritual Buddhism limits the wisdom of mindfulness.
Om Mani Padme Hum is the truth.
A pink halo appears in the sky.
(Thinking I [Cảm Hoài I] by Bảo Giám Zen Master,
translated by Lê Huy Trứ, January 7, 2018)
* * *
Enlightenment may not appear thanks to practice,
Abiding on mind is the wrong way
Following the wonderful Kuan Yin method
The sunlight with a morning star.
(Rewritten version by Lê Huy Trứ based on Cảm hoài, kỳ 1, by Bảo Giám Thiền sư)
This Mind Flows in Just One Stream
Saying goodbye to the impermanent world, lighting the intellectual torch on your own, enter the gateless gate to cross to the other shore to enter Nirvān, without regrets, trying to look back to find the boatman and the prajñā boat that brought us to the liberation destination.
Borrow thread just raising a kite out of the wind
Leave the boat when the guests have crossed the river.
(Anonymous)
This mind flows in only one stream. On top of the flying clouds, under the deep river, the practitioner drops her hair and leaves the end of the river. The east wind is gloomy on the river, the practitioner does not return.
Have you become a nun, how many lives?
Loving father and mother, your hair left at the end of the river,
The West has Huong Sen Temple,
Upstream you stand by the ocean,
Across the river, left a life behind.
Floating in the wind, playing with the sunyata waves
Wave back to remove footprints,
Suddenly you were on the verge of liberation
This mind only one heart,
Giới Hương is based on the brown garment,
Pressing the hands, the peach buds blossom.
The Pure Land and the four directions
Smile at this lotus,
A gentle willow with the compassion pure water
The seafloor is unclear.
Searching and not seeing, the ego is my shadow?
The world dreams are impermanent,
Leaving the raft at the other shore,
You reach the zenith of the fourth meditation,
The morning star soon grows for your manifestion body.
(Lê Huy Trứ)
Manifested Body (Nirmānakāya)
Hoàng Phong wrote that the Buddha, after attaining enlightenment, surpassed all dualistic conventions of the body and mind (transcending all forms of opposites; the body is no longer male or female and mentally does not show any emotion related to gender). The Buddha is neither masculine nor feminine, so he can manifest in both forms to transform sentient beings. These appearances are called his nirmānakāya and that is also the way to utter the two highest qualities of Buddhism: superior wisdom (feminine prajñā) bringing about liberation and ultimate compassion (masculine) manifested through the skillful means of the Buddha as a Supreme Buddha (Samyak-Sambuddha, the perfect one). The omnipotent one is able to preach to others based on his own enlightenment experience.
Masculinity and femininity are both considered to coexist within the bodies of every being, but that body is not a crude body being born from a parent but an “exquisite body” that radiates pure energy to penetrate the conventional body (i.e., the gross flesh body). The subtle body is the manifestation of Buddha essence (the nature of the Buddhas), hidden within all sentient beings, and the purpose of the practice is to manifest that essence. The nondiscriminatory character is not only the characteristic of the Buddhas who have attained success, but the natural basis that exists in every being.
In the Lotus Sutra, the Devadatta chapter tells the story of a female dragon that offered a pearl to the Buddha, signifying attaining the full liberation.The pearl is valued by three thousand celestial worlds who offered it to the Buddha who accepted it immediately. Long Nữ told Bodhisattva Jnanakara and Sariputta, “I offered the pearl and the Buddha received it. Is this quick?”
Answer, “Very quick.” The female dragon said, “Please use your mental powers to see who can become a Buddha faster than that.”
Regarding women and the possibility of enlightenment to become Buddhas, according to the Vajrayāna viewpoint, each man or woman has both the maternal and secondary energies available. The secondary energy aspect is the mind of immeasurable compassion and the great omniscience, the source of all phenomenon. The two principles of motherhood and fatherhood are interrelated and inseparable so that all sentient beings are equal, inherent enough in Buddha nature, and capable of enlightenment to become Buddhas.
I venture to explain as follows: We often hear that the X and Y chromosomes are also known as the sex chromosomes. Basically, according to scientific discoveries, the daughter inherits the X chromosome from her father with XX genotype. The son inherits Y from father with XY. The mother only transmits X chromsome to boys and girls.[9]
What does the discovery of humanities relate to the enlightenment of human life, especially women? If we use the economic science model, supply and demand, supply is inversely proportional to demand. Ideally the equilibrium supplies and balances. So what is neutral in the human body? According to Taoism, when the extremes (yin and yang) are balanced, enlightenment is presented as extremes that become one. According to Buddhism, that is when duality becomes non-dual at the time when yin and yang (male and female) became one. At that time the practitioner can attain six magical powers and awareness.
I want to clarify the ideas of the sutta that women do not need to transform into male bodies in order to become Buddhas. In short, when the mind and body unite, the yin and yang balance is the mind at peace. With peace of mind, knowledge arises. When knowledge is won, the nature is neither female nor male. When abiding no place, the mind is born. Then the six superpowers are presented and the practitioners realize the mystery universe. When entering deep in the nature of the universe, enlightenment is reached and one becomes a Buddha.
The Buddhist scriptures are concise with a few sentences that are taught over and over, reciting and reciting the forest of scriptures for more than a thousand years and still not many people are enlightened. In the Diamond Sūtra,[10] the Buddha declared “Stay no place where the mind is arisen.” Dr. Birendra Kumar Mishra explained the equilibrium in biology which can be understood with the Buddhist view. “Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, meditating deeply on perfection of wisdom, saw clearly that the five aspects of human existence are empty. The body is exactly empty and emptiness is exactly the body.” [11] Neither impermanence nor emptiness. This results in a state of body balance. The state of the middle way, the tendency of impermanence is emptiness.[12]
I'm not enlightened, so why do I know that? I do not know. I don't want to know but the wisdom knows. The wisdom caused me write that. Seeing reality clearly, the question whether women can be enlightened is meaningless. The best answer is silence. Because silence is also an answer, absolutely.
Conclusion
Buddhism was transmitted from the west to the north, then developed deeply in the Dai Viet, now called Vietnam, since the first century AD, and was often regarded by many dynasties as the state religion. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism from China—the three religions became a source of harmonizing peace in the national spirit.
Experiencing many ups and downs in history, monks’ and nuns’ congregations, as well as the Dharma, are still handed down to this day. Buddhism is recognized as a popular religion after Catholicism and Islam. Budhism does not compete with other religions, being non-aggressive and with less organization.
The biggest shortcoming is that most Buddhist speakers lack creativity, only chewing over and over the same old things in the sutras with attaching words or knowledge. This is exactly the reason why the Dharma is not attractive and difficult to understand for young people who prefer to compete in the modern life. The “commercial” Dharma appeals to the old people who are afraid of death, seeking blessings for living, praying for deceased people, and who want to earn merit from donations.
Although the image of the nuns in religion, as well as in the world, is very humble in the ups and downs of history, it has an implicit importance in the decline or development of national history, especially in the final Dharma era today. Even now in the US and abroad, nuns are sharing Dharma and engaged in society and community in the spirit of national culture.
The common difficulty for both foreign and domestic Buddhism is how to propagate the supreme Dharma to the younger generation, how to adapt easily to the younger generations and especially within the context, language, culture, customs, ways of thinking and the spiritual needs of civilized societies in this nation. Especially, how can the senior nuns train young nuns with knowledge and high intelligence to replace the retired nun sangha? Bhikkhunīs in the time of the ending Dharma period now know how to keep the mind from being dominated and free from temptations of materialism. There are thousands of hardships ahead. If a practitioner does not have the basic knowledge and wisdom to truly practice, it is very difficult to share Dharma with others, much less to save sentient beings.
Economic and financial obstacles are huge for those who practice. Especially competing with other religions, it is as commercial competition. It’s no use preaching to a hungry man. Without these circuits, the world, the nation, the society, the family, individuals and humanity will head towards paralysis and collapse, along with religious organizations—same fate for all.
For example, the coronavirus pandemic is causing global deaths, fear and paralyzing all the daily activities of the world today. The true practitioners are rare like autumn leaves, while people with training backgrounds always are available. Buddhists should look for these genuine spiritual practitioners to help one another practice, who have merit in cultivation and are skilled at sharing Buddhism. The intellectuals, the female and male Buddhist followers have wisdom—they have composed many books and treatises and have the duty of protecting and reviving, as well as developing Dharma.
The majority of Buddhist philosophies, the classical interpretations with logical reasoning and science are spread scholarly but harmoniously, purely on the internet by great human beings, bodhisattvas, instead of at the temple. These nonprofit contributors are truly the guide for the modern generation of the world.
Mùa Virus Corona tại Virginia, May 20, 2020
Lê Huy Trứ
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References
Người Phụ Nữ và Nữ Tính Trong Phật Giáo (Women and Female Nature in Buddhism - La femme et le féminin dans le bouddhisme), Dominique Trotignon, Hoang Phong chuyển ngữ. https://thuvienhoasen.org/a24546/nguoi-phu-nu-va-nu-tinh-trong-phat-giaoKệ Thiền (Zen Verses), Lê Huy Trứ.
Nữ giới và khả năng giác ngộ thành Phật (Women and their Capacity to be Buddhas), Drukpa Việt Nam.
365 Lời Khuyên Tâm Huyết của Đức Đạt-Lai Lạt-Ma (Devoted Advice of the Dalai Lama);
Cẩm nang cho cuộc sống ngày nay của Đức Đạt-lai Lạt-ma (Handbook for Life Today of the Dalai Lama) Matthieu Ricard noted; translated into Vietnamese by Hoàng Phong.
Quan Điểm Vể Phụ Nữ Trong Phật Giáo (Women in Buddhism) translated into Vietnamese by Phước Tâm.
Đàn ông và đàn bà (Men and Women), Cẩm nang cho cuộc sống ngày nay của Đức Đạt-lai Lạt-ma (Handbook for Life Today of the Dalai Lama), Matthieu Ricard noted; translated into Vietnamese by Hoàng Phong.
https://www.genome.gov/27557513/the-y-chromosome-beyond-gender-determination
https://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html
[1] Lan Điệp is a famous story in Vietnamese. Ms. Lan is lovesick with Mr. Điệp and became a nun because of her heartbreak.
[2] A Vietnamese proverb: Never offer to teach fish to swim (Múa rìu qua mắt thợ).
[3] Woman and Femininity in Buddhism, (La femme et le féminin dans le bouddhisme). Dominique Trotignon, Hoang Phong translated into Vietnamese, https://thuvienhoasen.org/a24546/nguoi-phu-nu-va-nu-tinh-trong-phat-giao
[6] Mett Sutta (Sutta of Loving Kindness) translated by Zen Master Nhất Hạnh. http://tuyenphap.com/kinh-thuong-yeu-kinh-tu-bi-metta-sutta-1189
[7] Người Phụ Nữ và Nữ Tính Trong Phật Giáo (La femme et le féminin dans le bouddhisme), Dominique Trotignon, Hoang Phong chuyển ngữ, https://thuvienhoasen.org/a24546/nguoi-phu-nu-va-nu-tinh-trong-phat-giao
[8] Mạc Vị Xuân Tàn Hoa Lạc Tận Đình Tiền Tạc Dạ Nhất Chi Mai (Do Not Tell the End of Spring, Flowers Falling. Before the eaves, there is a blooming flower), explained and noted by Nguyễn Cẩm Xuyên.
[9] X and Y Chromosomes by Roseanne F. Zhao, PhD, NIH M./PhD Partnership Training Program Scholar.
https://www.genome.gov/27557513/the-y-chromosome-beyond-gender-determination.
The human genome is organized into twenty-three pairs of chromosomes (twenty-two pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes), with each parent contributing one chromosome per pair. The X and Y chromosomes, also known as the sex chromosomes, determine the biological sex of an individual: females inherit an X chromosome from the father for a XX genotype, while males inherit a Y chromosome from the father for a XY genotype (mothers only pass on X chromosomes). The presence or absence of the Y chromosome is critical because it contains the genes necessary to override the biological default, female development and cause the development of the male reproductive system. Further, among certain North American native communities, gender is seen more in terms of a continuum than categories, with special acknowledgement of “two-spirited” people who encompass both masculine and feminine qualities and characteristics.
[10] Key words in the Vajracchedika Sutra, Thích Nữ Giới Hương, 5th reprinting, publishing, Ananda Viet Foundation 2019.
[11] Heart Sutra, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh. https://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/heartsutra.html
[12] What is Equilibrium in Biology? Dr. Birendra Kumar Mishra (Nov 26, 2016) explained that
a state of body balance for an actively moving animal, when internal and external forces are in equilibrium.
Explanation: It results in a stable system. The state of balance, the tendency of change is absent.
Please kindly read this article and view all photos: 1.25.Can_Women_became_enlightened-_Le_Huy_Tru.pdf
