The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Vajra Yana Buddhism: Reflections of a Buddhist Feminist

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The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Vajra Yana Buddhism: Reflections of a Buddhist Feminist THE FEMININE PRINCIPLE IN TIBETAN VAJRA YANA BUDDHISM: REFLECTIONS OF A BUDDHIST FEMINIST Rita M. Gross Eau Claire, Wisconsin I come to this presentations with a good deal oftrepidation and curiosity. I have worried about how to discuss a topic that mainly pertains to Vajrayana Buddhism so that it is relevant to non-Vajrayana Buddhists and to non-Buddhists, and about how to avoid Vajrayana chauvinism in my discussion. I have also wondered whether I have enough experience and know I· edge of my topic to discuss it. It has been exciting, however, to discover that this topic strongly brings together my personal meditation practice and my professional interests. When I initially chose this topic, I wanted to reflect on my acquaintance with the practice of the a sadhana of Vajrayogini, which I have been doing for the past traditional three years. Traditionally, it is said that this practice, which is practice somewhat advanced, involves developing the "feminine prin­ developing ciple." The sadhana of Vajrayogini is a very traditional and the important practice in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, especially "feminine within the Karma Kagyu lineage.·* Usually this practice is principle" assigned to the student after considerable practice in formless samatha-vipashyana practice (somewhat similar to Zazen) and after completion of ngundro (theVajrayana preliminaries), but typically, it is also the first sadhana, the first so-called "deity­ yoga" or yidam practice, that one does. Vajrayogini is called "the glorious co-emergent Mother;" she is female in her ...From a talk at Naropa Institute, Boulder. Colorado. July, 1982. **I am affiliated with this lineage as a student of Vajracarya, the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. Copyright @ 1984Transpersonal Institute The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1984, Vol. 16. No.2 t79 iconography and visualization, and her practice develops one's awareness of and appreciation for "the feminine principle" in one's self and the world. I Such development is considered necessary before doing sadhanas connected with the masculine principle, at least according to the tradition in which I am being trained. When I began to do this practice, naturally I was eager to explore it, since it is so important to the Kagyu lineage, However, I also had lingering questions and doubts about the relevance of dividing reality into "a feminine principle" and "a masculine principle," as is typical in Vajrayana Buddhism. This a skepticism directly derived from feminism, which remains skepticism central in my value system. I wanted to explore all my doubts directly and questions, including the meaning of the terms "masculine" derived or "feminine principles" in Vajrayana Buddhism in the context from of my experience with the sadhana of Vajrayogini. As one feminism works slowly with the oral tradition and the practice, one realizes one is working with materials quite different from conventional patriarchal sex roles, psychological archetypes, or gender-linked psychological traits or experiences. However, rather than beginning by presenting the feminine or masculine principles in Tibetan Buddhism, I want first to retrace my disillusionments with other variants on the theme of feminine and masculine principles. For years, I've been deeply concerned with basic questions about the feminine principle, and my seminars and publica­ tions about the "divine feminine" and the Goddess, though not Buddhist, essentially have been on the same topic (Gross, 1978; 1981b). I have also realized that, though I approach this topic with hesitancy and ambivalence, I am also drawn to it willy­ nilly from almost every perspective. It is my hope, therefore, that I can raise into sharp focus basic questions about "the feminine principle," even if much of my discussion is quite open-ended. My exploration focuses on the essential claim of Vajrayana Buddhism regarding masculine and feminine principles-that the teachings and the practices involve and promote a balance of masculine andfeminine principles in thephenomenal world. This exploration involves three questions. The first question is whether it is relevant or useful to talk about feminine or masculine principles at all. Then we can explore what a balance of masculine and feminine principles would be. And finally, we should not forget to consider how the masculine and feminine principles would manifest in the phenomenal world in a balanced way. 180 The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology,1984, Vol.16, No. 2 Why do we need to differentiate experience into a masculine and a feminine principle? Why do so many traditions do so? Is it helpful or oppressive to do so? In my own life and work, I have both questioned the validity of such differentiation and attempted to foster a positive feminine principle. In my youth, what was called the feminine principle, or "true womanhood," was mainly an attempt to discriminate against my intelligence and to convince me to be satisfied with subservience. Based on that experience, I saw no reason to rally to defend that version of "the feminine principle." I turned instead in defense to notions of "common humanity" beyond female and male, a common humanity that recognized that there are no significant differences between women and men. But at the same time, and not completely consistently, I also developed a rationale for the need specifically to study woment and I became very interested in goddesses and the divine feminine. I was also very uneasy about "androgyny," which seemed to be only an invitation for women to become male-identified, something I resisted. Though it was difficult to pinpoint my frustration and dissatis­ a faction with these conventional and culturally familiar exam­ concern ples, I now realize I was much more concerned about about an imbalance between the masculine and feminine principles imbalance than about the actual presence of a feminine principle, per se, between That imbalance manifests in two ways, both of which are found masculine in most or all Western versions of the feminine or masculine and principles. They are imbalanced due to an implicit or explicit feminine hierarchy of the two principles. They are also imbalanced principles because of a common assumption that men manifest the masculine principle and women manifest the feminine principle. It is critical not to suppose an identity between symbolic or mythological masculine or feminine principles and male or female human forms. When I talk about feminine or masculine principles, I am always talking about what might roughly be called "mythological or symbolic" images or certain psycho­ logical traits that are not sex-linked. It is important to stress this preliminary distinction between feminine or masculine principles and male or female persons because the two are so frequently equated. Having stressed that distinction, we can return to the question of the usefulness of dichotomizing experience into masculine and feminine principles. In fact, the tendency to find a masculine and a feminine principle in experience is so widespread that we have no choice but to discuss and utilize these ideas while maintaining a critical perspective because they have so often been used in ways that do not enhance human goodness and wholeness. The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Vairayana Buddhism 181 This critical perspective will be applied first to the three major Western concepts of the feminine principle: classical tradition­ al Western monotheism, Jungian psychological constructs, and contemporary feminist counter-images. Technically speaking, there is no feminine principle in Western religions at the orthodox level. The three great "reforms" of the the initial Western religious imperative (monotheism, transcen­ feminine dence over nature, and abolition of divine gender) so success­ principle fully scuttled the idea of a divine feminine that the slogan, in "Trust in God-s-She will provide" is a radical teaser, while the Western slogan, "Trust in GOd-He will provide" would be only monotheism mainstream conventional piety, somewhat saccharine and unnotable. Monotheism, one of the great inventions of West­ ern religious thought, was supposed to ensure the recognition of the one power behind the many forms. This one power is supposed to transcend gender altogether. Nevertheless, "He" and all its variants, is conventional, while "she" and all its variants, including a female priesthood, is anathema, or at least unconventional. I have often suggested that such a manifesta­ tion of supposed gender transcendence is not a transcendence of gender at all, but a divinization of masculinity at the expense of a demonization of feminity. Therefore, though in conven­ tiona I Western religious mythology, the feminine principle technically is not recognized, frequently it crops up as a shadow, demonic other, Dra seducer. Sometimes it emerges as a legitimate "mystical" or esoteric component of Western religiousimagery.t The extent to which this attenuated version of the feminine principle is aberrant in world religions is only beginning to be recognized by scholars and mystics of Western traditions. Most other world religions do have a significantly more developed feminine principle (see Gross, 198Ia). In Western thought, psychology is a recent invention, and has the emerged as a likely refuge for the feminine principle. Jungian feminine psychology especially has called for a revalorization of the principle feminine "unconscious." Stressing a limited androgyny for in psychologically mature persons and the importance
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