Suddenly, contemplating my skin as a separate entity for the first time, I was struck by intense pain and aversion. The fact that the path to freedom from suffering begins with the body is not an insignificant matter. For wrong views, as the embodiment of mental attachment, is as bad as, if not worse, than attachments to objects of the senses is the cause of a negative rebirth. Monks who do not wake up, or do not yield t… Buddhists believe that ignorance and craving cause people to suffer – known as. , upekkha. Stephen Batchelor Monks are advised to sleep indoors, not outdoors, after an incident where women had sex with a monk while he, apparently, was sleeping under a tree. “So our family elders have decided to convert.”In July, upper-caste men publicly flogged a group of Dalits—formerly considered … Furthermore, believing that we are in some way superior to those around us is an example of, When people discriminate, their behaviour reflects an ignorant attitude towards other people. Once enlightenment has been reached, there are no divisions at all. Over the last several years, numerous writings have been published on the place of race in the Western dharma, particularly in the fraught historical, political, and cultural context of the United States. Unfortunately, my racialized experiences do not in themselves amount to expert knowledge and training ability in practices of inclusivity and transformative action. Buddhists believe in equanimity, upekkha. All rights reserved. Related: The Buddha’s Original Teachings on Mindfulness. The incredulity could be summarized in two ways. And I do so always at the expense of myself, revealing past wounds that I must then attend to later and on my own. LAS VEGAS(KLAS) — A Buddhist group is considering a religious discriminationlawsuit in the aftermath of a judge’s ruling that approved the $22 million sale of the Las VegasMonorail to the Las VegasConvention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). Explore timeless teachings through modern methods. Almost always, the latter unearths more anger—certainly at myself, for minimizing my own suffering in my readiness to assuage the suffering of those who have “never thought about race before.” But I also feel anger at my teachers, regardless of their race, for failing yet again to adapt their mechanisms of instruction to make room for more divergent experiences of embodiment. As one of the fastest growing faith traditions in the United States, Buddhist communities have been struggling with addressing the pain and harms of racism in our communities. Every individual is valued and should be treated fairly and therefore with justice. For Buddhists, the caste system is an example of discrimination and is something that they do not support. I was livid, like a wronged child, and overcome by a wave of emotions—shame and rage, but mostly pain—along with a barrage of recollections: Vandalized college election posters, the brown faces of my sister and me crossed out while those of our white friends who were also running for student government remained untouched. Mahayana Buddhists believe that everyone should be treated equally because we all have 'Buddha Nature', ie the ability to become enlightened. The Buddha was born into a society that knew the caste system. Another lawsuit previously filed by the World Buddhism … With Stephen Batchelor, Sharon Salzberg, Andrew Olendzki, and more. However, the two groups differ in approaches to reform. Instead, I’ve continued to encounter people’s preference for “race blindness.” And nowhere does it feel more hurtful than in well-intentioned white sanghas presently striving for diversity and inclusion. They share similar causes of discrimination and both seek reform to change their distorted or unrecognized identities. Yet, despite the religion’s global appeal, the role of women in Buddhism has been a subject of public debate. It does not matter about our culture, race or background. Accompanying mindfulness is a sense of whether a particular experience we are having is one that we want to put more energy into, or one we want to stand back from and allow to fade away. Nor is my Buddhist practice exempt from this kind of internalized racism. The recorded meditation I was listening to at home asked us to contemplate the head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and skin. Read more about Discrimination and Exclusion. Buddhists experience ‘blatant discrimination’ at Mulliken board meeting ‘Comparing apples to oranges’. Subscribe for access to video teachings, monthly films, e-books, and our 29-year archive. And we do not even have to talk about race to get there. Religious discrimination applies to organized religions such as Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism, as well as other religions. There is no clear-cut definition of who Hindus are and majorly there are two views. Home Economics: Food and Nutrition (CCEA). There is gender inequality in most of the world's religions, of course, but that's no excuse. Tackling gender and sexual discrimination in Buddhism. Here are some of mine: my conscious renunciation of Pakistani culture and religion as a means of coping with the events of September 11, which took place barely two months after I immigrated with my family to the United States at the age of 17. Tricycle. That day, as I sat listening to the guided meditation on the 32 parts of the body, my anguish was compounded still further by the fact that after the directive to contemplate the skin, the recording had nothing more to offer on the subject of skin color. Related: Does Race Matter in the Meditation Hall? Buddhists try to ensure that everyone is treated as such in society. Tricycle is a nonprofit that depends on reader support. By continuing, you agree to Tricycle’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. In that moment, I was doubly wounded—but perhaps not surprised. Is sexism intrinsic to Buddhism, or did Buddhist institutions absorb sexism from Asian … The violent jettison of my accent so that I could convince others, as quickly as possible, that I had assimilated into American culture—that I was no threat to  them. Buddhists view prejudice as an example of ignorance and superiority as an example of craving. system. I sense in my bones the true meaning and value of sangha. Many Buddhists have experienced persecution from non-Buddhists and other Buddhists during the history of Buddhism. This means an equal attitude towards everyone. Take an online Buddhism course at your own pace. There is gender inequality in most of the world's religions, of course, but that's no excuse. The opinion is based on the origin of the words Hind, Hindustan, Hindu and Hinduism from Persian derivation of Sanskrit words for land, people and civilisation of Sindh… The village of Mulliken is a majority white … But the wisdom in my bones says that we need this particular body, with its unique color, shape, and sex, for liberation to unfold. A sense of bewilderment is often apparent when news of violence appears with regard to Sri Lanka and Burma. I now understand what it means to hold space together while being held. My being in the room cannot and does not simply signify my desire to learn and hold space together. Thus, by both the teachings and the communities who impart those teachings, I am left unmoored. I would have to discover who I was beneath all that self-hatred. It felt more like heartbreak.” And as I read Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s The Way of Tenderness, I realized that the negation of embodied identities in Buddhist circles inflicts harm as it denies even the powerful positive communal impacts these identities can have for people of color. By 1961, the shelling of pagodas in Vietnam was being reported in the Australian and American media. Buddhists view prejudice as an example of ignorance and superiority as an example of craving. The Discrimination of Women in Buddhism: An Ethical Analysis Archana Paudel, Qun Dong School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, China Abstract Position of women in Buddhism has been debated for a long time. But mindfulness, when it’s fully developed, includes an element of wise discrimination. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhism is considered a way of life for more than 500 million individuals across the globe. . Gender equality in Buddhism has been a topic of much scholarship in the last thirty years. Even though female Buddhists played important duties as nuns and motherly figures, Buddhist teachings have undermined women’s access to religious spaces and roles. . Sitting with this sangha, surrounded by other people of color, I have finally experienced this interrelationship—a sense of lightness and kinship. Buddhists believe that everyone should be treated equally because we all have '. In Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, coauthor Jasmine Syedullah writes about how she unearthed and accepted her authentic, unapologetic, racialized self: “I did not realize that before I could decenter myself, there had to be a self to decenter. Sign in, choose your GCSE subjects and see content that's tailored for you. As per first view, it is a geographical term and all people living on Indian subcontinent are Hindus. “There’s a disproportionate amount of influence for the number of Buddhists in the country,” says Christopher Queen, lecturer on world religions at Harvard University. Influential Thai Buddhist monk says ‘LGBT people are humans’ and welcomes civil partnership bill. What does Buddhism say about prejudice and discrimination? I have so much to learn—about the dharma, and about myself. Buddhists teach that prejudice is an example of ignorance. A meditation on mindfulness of the body brings to light the painful racialized experiences of many practitioners of color—a reality that white communities often fail to take into account. In these moments, I easily fall into my professional role as a university educator, wanting to ease the sangha into an understanding of racial suffering. Pema Chödrön In one of the early teachings of the Buddhist … The meditation, the first of a series on the 32 parts of the body, was assigned as homework in a two-year course on the teachings of the Buddha in relation to diversity issues. I will It also applies to moral beliefs that are not religious but held as strongly and sincerely as a religious faith. Scholars do not know all the factors that contributed to Buddhism… On the East Coast, interest in Buddhism rose in the 1870s through the influence of prominent figures like Henry David Thoreau and H.P. “For many, spiritual paths should tend toward the invisible, the unseen,” she writes. Instead, I am simply able to relax without judging myself or assuming and experiencing the judgment of others. It does not matter about our culture, race or background. How could that be all there was to say about such a complex issue? Distressing as it is, my personal racial awakening appears to be well-timed. The recent disrobing of Venerable Sermsak Thammasaro or “Monk Ti” for his dwarfism has spurred discussion about Thai Buddhism and discrimination. For instance, when I am told my presence is gladdening in a predominantly white sangha, I feel a weight placed on my shoulders. Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society with Henry Steel Olcott. Buddhism and Sexism. We were studying mindfulness of the body—the first of four foundations of mindfulness described in the Satipatthana Sutta, an essential Buddhist scripture that lays out a roadmap to attain freedom from suffering by explaining how to establish mindfulness, or sati. Another lawsuit previously filed by the World Buddhism … . Buddhists try to ensure that everyone is treated as such in society. Design by Point Five. Please try again. Although small pockets of influence remained, the Buddhist presence in India became negligible. 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