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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 53

Robe offering at Zilukha Nunnery, Bhutan, 28 Oct 2015

on mandala deities, the deity and attainments simply because ultimately, there is no gender in the
concerned is often female, such emptiness transcends gender realm of absolute truth. Simmer-
as Vajra Yogini or Nairatmaya”. (Gross, 1996). A Tibetan proverb Brown quotes Khenpo Tsultrim
Failure to keep the vows properly clearly illustrates this point: “In Gyatso’s spontaneous song on this
results in a root tantric downfall. the enlightened thought there is no matter:
The rationale behind this vow is male and female. In the enlightened Between ḍāka and ḍākinīs there’s a
that women symbolize wisdom and speech there is no near and far” difference
emptiness. As the great Tibetan (Gutschow, 2004: 5). The śūnyatā In how their bodies may seem in
yogi Milarepa affirmed (as cited in doctrine essentially espouses that apparent reality,
Simmer- Brown, (2002: 182): “dharma is neither male nor female”, But for Mahāmudrā, luminous clarity,
Woman is essentially wisdom, i.e. beyond all dualistic conceptions. There’s not an atom of difference in
Source of spontaneous prajñā and their essential nature.
subtle-body. In the Mahāyāna Mahasukhavati
Never consider her inferior; Vyuha Sutra, it is mentioned that in Changchub and Nyingpo assert
Strive especially to see her as the Pureland of Buddha Amitābha, that the first ever Tibetan to attain
Vajravārāhī. known as Dewachen in Tibetan, complete enlightenment was a
there is no man or woman, meaning woman, Yeshe Tsogyal.
Biernacki (2006: 192) explains that beings born in the Pureland are
that the tantric pledges are not androgynous. Dualistic notions such Guru Padmasambhava proclaimed
about worshipping supramundane as man and woman are not present to Yeshe Tsogyal that when a
female deities but rather, it is about in the Pureland of Buddha Amitābha. woman practices the path with
“venerating ordinary living women”. pure bodhicitta, her potential for
In the practice of tantra and enlightenment is greater than that
Highest Yoga Tantra such as especially in Highest Yoga Tantra, of men because she is the very
Guhyasamaja explicitly and clearly since all males and females do have embodiment of wisdom:
explains that a practitioner can the same faculty equally, there Kyema Ho!
become totally enlightened in this is no difference in their ability Yogīni seasoned in the Secret
lifetime as a female. The Mahāyāna to attain Buddhahood. So, the Mantra! The ground of Liberation
doctrine of nondualism based on Buddhist position on the question of Is this human frame, this common
Nāgārjuna’s Mādhyamaka view of discrimination between the sexes is human form —
emptiness which reasons that since that from the ultimate point of view, And here distinctions, male or
nothing exists inherently, then, even there is no distinction at all. female,
femininity, which is the basis of Have no consequence.
discrimination against women, does Although the Prajñapāramita is And yet if bodhichitta graces it,
not exist. Thus, women cannot be synonymous with the feminine A woman’s form indeed will be
disqualified from spiritual practice principle in Vajrayāna Buddhism, supreme!