As a Western Tibetan nun, there is a cultural difference of experience. Most of us, at least in my Sangha, don’t study in nunneries but study and attend shedra when available. We have to support ourselves. I am a nurse and worked in that way. Plenty of opportunity for practice. Our temple in MD is very active in many ways including practices and retreats.
There is a divide between Buddhist traditionalists and innovators when it comes to many things, including neuroscience and neurotech (it looks increasingly like it will be able to accomplish in, for instance, a month what takes meditators years to accomplish, if ever), other forms of technological progress, social change, and the time and energy people have to devote to practice. I'm glad to see Buddhist teachers finally talking about artificial intelligence, which is coming on like a freight train. The lack of discussion was concerning me and made me feel like they had no idea how to handle it, so they just avoided it. (To be fair, most of us were caught off guard too.) Traditionalists are either unaware of or choose not to see just how how hard it is to carve out time for serious practice. If you are a householder, you basically have to be upper middle-class to afford to take weeks off of work at a time and fly to retreats in exotic locations, or wherever. I read one article in Tricycle called "The Upper Middle Way", about how hard it is for working-class people to commit to a serious practice when they are constantly working ever-changing shifts and can't afford to go on retreat. Also, basically all Western monastics have been in relationships and some have even raised families, so they understand that part of the human experience too. A lot of Eastern monastics haven't, and secretly want to, and it forms a major obstacle to their practice. I think it's fantastic that you've managed to find a way to both make a living and do serious practice. Many blessings.
The song at 6.30 brought tears to my eyes- and I saw my late mother in the nun, patting the stray dog gently... Our lives will be so incomplete without the Divine Mother.. playing in so many forms, unbeknownst to us ... Thank you!
This was a very interesting and enlightening documentary. I wish all these nuns the ability to become ordained.That the future for females in all Buddhist tradition to go forth and flourish.Nameste.
Yes, I just read that book. So a wonderful woman and fascinating story. Great to see her speaking here about women's issues within Tibetan Buddhism, her life's calling . . .
This is an excellent documentary. Thank you for undertaking the challenge to bring this issue to light. I came to this video from learning about Tenzin Palmo and her story of becoming the first officially ordained female Jetsunma. I think it's sad that the first female Geshe is also a foreigner in the sense that Tibetan women haven't been held in the same level of respect and consideration. In the end, however, all these levels of ordination are simply part of another religious hierarchy, and I find it interesting that Tibetan Buddhism is not only so incredibly partriarchal but but also so dogmatic. It is so different from Zen, where the focus is on mere meditation and not necessarily on any intellectual teachings and understandings. There, the simpler the mind the better. In the end, however, Tibetan Buddhism has and is proving it's worth to the world by laying it's emphasis on helping others. It's what links all Buddhist traditions together in transcending the small ego for the well being of mankind and all sentient beings....
Blessings for all your wishes to come true. On behalf of the Westerners, thank you for expanding your consciousness to understand that togetherness is the highest truth and every single separation belongs to the vast ignorance of darkness. Think with your heart never with your limited mind! 💖😉🤗
Early in my awakening I was before a golden goddess who looked like she was in deep meditation,or sleep I've also seen the red sky with rainbows , after I looked a second time Many of these mystic visions do indeed tie in with all mythology and old legends
I met Geshe Kelsang Wangmo (1st ever lady Geshe) in April 2019 when Ling Rinpoche granted the empowerment of the Buddha of Compassion at Jamyang Centre in Leeds - I also met her Mum! DELIGHTFUL!
This a real turning point for freedom and liberty for feminism and human spiritual world....women are the real sustaining supporting post of human world...sadhu
Dear Tenzin Palmo .Thanks so much .I want to be a nun too.This is only great sunny life To study GOD,s moral . In this earth nothing good .All only empty color .
One must ask oneself the deeper question of why the monks continue to oppress the nuns, the female with their policies? One only oppresses another when the oppressor has something to fear..
I've never understood why women were attracted to patriarchal religions. You don't need a self-proclaimed master to teach you how to meditate and be mindful. Choose your own path to discovering the Wholeness.
Totally baffling that the Buddha who was enlightened had such horrific prejudice against women. Even though I’ve heard the general response scholars offer to why the Buddha was like this ( an embedded view of the patriarchy) it still doesn’t make sense. If he has an enlightened view then why wouldn’t that include women.? Why did it take Ananda his student to ‘enlighten’ the Buddha of a women’s capacity? Ananda had more compassion and view than the Buddha. It really is a huge smear for me on the credibility of the Buddhist philosophy. Thank you for your beautiful documentary. I will continue to offer financial support and prayers for the dedicated Buddhist nuns.
Don't be dishartened by this information in the film . Who knows what was really like in the time of Buddha 2500 years ago. I think if we observe the effect of Buddha"s teaching, the compassionate energy and wisdom projected through time and space, it gives more accurate picture: there are actually so many more women practitioners today then men. And that is the effect of boddhichita of the Buddha himself.
Do you really think Buddha care about gender. I don't think Buddha even said that I think Buddhist added it up. Imagine if women would become a monk who will cook and give offerings to male monks 😂maybe they are worried about it. You can see many different stories where Buddha taught poor old lady, prostitute, house wife who loss entire family and many others about his teachings and give them right path. It's obvious that part was added up later. Even the concept of non dual was first explained by a female sage in davi suktham in rig Veda which is oldest hindu book, a female sage claims she is all gods, all offerings and one who offers. All is her, she is parambrahma ( euqal to Buddha nature in Buddhism) she is divine mother. So the oldest enlightenment and non dual teachings actually comes from a female sage.
Very interesting , thank you! In this earthly life we are defined by our gender, but in reality is the soul not gender free? the rule of the patriarchy will hopefully come to an end with the upcoming age of Aquarius. Blessings~
Great comment... I agree; we have arrived at the moment where the actual world order to about to change to the total opposite of this Patriarchal one. . Its VERY exciting and scary at the same time! Stay safe and smart.
I didn't know there was such sexism in Buddhism; I've never encountered this at the dharma centres I've been to. Goes to show you never know how lucky you are.
Yes, as Tenzin Palmo pointed out, the majority of dharma centers in the West are populated and supported by women. Very different from Asia and specifically Tibetan Buddhism.
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the beautiful chanting that starts at 6 minutes in? The credits say it's Sonam Yangchen, but I've not been able to find this particular chant anywhere and it's so beautiful!
The song performed by a nun Sonam Yangchen is a traditional song from Ladakh, where she is from. It is not a Buddhist chant. We recorded her singing in the nunnery and all original music was then made in post production. So, thats why you can't find this song anywhere.
Ms Jancic, what nationality are you? I am Lithuanian. My given name is Rasa Sofija Marija Jakstaite - I think you are Eastern European. Do you believe in Female Empowerment, Matriarchy?
I'm starting to think alot of religion comes from the necessity for men to have order and structure. I find women don't generally require this, as we tend to work communally as opposed to on a individual basis. Perhaps alot of the religions are missing a opposing feminine counterpart, such as the repression of Mary Magdalene through the church, perhaps she had the feminine teachings that would create a balance.
6. Traditional Brahmanism had apposed the ordination of woman and the Buddha didn't want to upset his contemporaries. When he was reminded of the devotion of his foster mother, the Buddha relented. He in no way thought woman incapable. However, the Buddha believed humanity would not accept Buddhism forever because it allowed woman. So the Buddha devised a way that woman may not be a threat by adding them in a way that still kept them underneath men and would thus not be seen as a threat to the always eventual formations of chauvinist male societies in our human world-And this was the reason why Buddhism was taught to monks and not so much to nuns. Buddha did his best to get the most amount of sentient beings to find the way, so it ended up being preferable to be borne as a male because of humanities incapability to see things like the Buddha. It may have made it harder for woman, but it gave woman a chance and even kept Buddhism alive into modern times where ppl are more educated and accepting of the Buddhas message and equality for all sentient beings. I would like to disagree with how they say woman are better... It would simply be repeating the mistake of humanity. And that mistake would be that men are better. I would like to think that in some ways we may be better but in some ways we may be worse. In the over all, it may actually be equally hard for each of us to become a Buddha. We all just have some minor differences to work on. This is true not just on the sex level but also on the cultural, race, individual, etc levels too. To conclude, even though there are distinct differences between us, we all have equal ability to attain Buddha.
I am a Westerner--specifically, an American woman retired and physically disabled, with time on my hands--studying Soto Zen Buddhism. In that path, there is no difference between male and female; there are no nuns, all monastic trainees are monks and live in monasteries. The lineage I am learning comes down from Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett, who was ordained in Japan, then brought the Soto Zen tradition to the West and founded monasteries here, thansmitting the teaching to both men and women. All schools of Buddhism have the same beliefs and follow the same original teacher known as the Buddha. There are differences in terms used and phrases, mostly because of different countries of origin. Of course, Buddhism itself was founded in Nepal and Tibet, but quickly spread to all of southeast and central Asia. The Soto Zen tradition began in China but spread to Japan quickly, and is one of the most popular in the West. Its' emphasis is on a simple form of meditation--simple but not easy!
It's important to recognize that people of child bearing age have tremendous sexual drives which really can compete with any mental or spiritual impulses and *win* out every time. In cultures where women and men lived totally different lives, in cultures which were very primitive in terms of our current day ways of thinking about gender roles and so forth -- we are talking about twenty five hundred years ago when huge percentage of children died in childhood, there was no idea about anything like germs or what causes illness or who knows, how babies even came to be and most of the world was still hunter gatherer (think about that!) you cannot just lock a bunch of men up in the forests like boy scouts and throw women in there! That would be absolutely brutal and horrific for women. I don't understand why people look at everything through an ahistorical lens but yet through all this post-modern filtering. The ancient world was not like the world today in any way so talking about what people were thinking about then is just fantasizing. Do you think men twenty five hundred years ago took "unwanted touching" training at work? Do you think women were not considered chattel? We only know the history of the people who write the history which is the conquerers and later the religions which conquered everything once people settled down in one place at a time. When we look at our pretty history books with lovely artwork depicting healthy, powerful gods and godesses, either as rulers or as mythological characters that is not what real people were like. They were dirty and infested with bugs and dropping dead at 25 or 15 and scrambling all the time to stay alive. Were the same sophisticated impulses of aesthetics and beauty and love and caring present in them? Of course but they did't have the luxury to create lives around those principles or to flower in their highest longings. They were literally being chased by lions and trying to figure out what to do with the sick and dying that were everywhere for mysterious reasons. Are humans different than they were fifty years ago? I say yes. Values are different, impressions from the outside world are totally different. I grew up in the 50's and I literally didn't know anything but what was inside my house or what I sw on rare outings somewhere or on Father Knows Best. Now infants grow up on the internet. Babies are on the internet being told m=by facebook what it means to be human and their parents are teaching them that being human means having an Instragram fake self and that private life and thoughts and personal development are worthless in the markeplace of humanity. We just will never be able to understand what a human was 25 hundred years ago. It's like trying to understand what it's like to be a butterfly or a tree. We can accept that history is a completely unknowable mystery to us and also that as a buddhist might say nothing exists but the present moment anyway. Not to contradict the poster above, just to add to his/her thoughts about what other people think or what they said or what they wanted. All this is made up. Even the people who made it up admit that. These stories about the Buddha or Christ or whoever -- they were written hundreds or a thousand years after the fact. Think about how long that is in a world with no writing for most people, no communications with others outside of small groups, no way of even grasping things they have never seen or heard of. Ask three people today about a car accident they just witnessed in real time and you will get three totally different stories. So . . .the peoples of the Indus Valley were right -- the answers lie within you. The only reality is that which you find within and the further in you go the closer you come to the universal ground where everything emanates from. Drop everything and see what remains -- the Absolute Supreme Reality. Good luck everyone..
cck actually it was common for Asians especially the monks to live well into their hundreds. It was the Europeans that were dropping dead fast. China just opened their doors to the world. My girl friend grew up when they were still using horses and ppl still living ancient style. Those ppl were the healthiest and longest lived. And they bathed, had clean teeth, etc. using the plants they had growing naturally.
I am curious about the debating style of the nuns. What do they debate? And any rituals they need to follow in the debating? What do their teachers evaluate in their debate?
Debating is done to victory over untruth and many religion master want to destroy it debating is to know which is truth debating from ancient many nalanda master p do debate that time
You can to certanly found adresses,and phone numbers of European tibetan buddhist,or bön monasteries,or teaching centers,and ask for Tibetan language teachings.I Wish You Luck.👍🙏🏻
Her Holiness said that what she observed WAS A BOYS CLUB & where they had a conference, most of the delegates WERE MEN even though one man said that most of their monks WERE WOMEN. They demand the SEATS OF POWER & AUTHORITY OVER US & as long as we SEEK THIS FROM THEM they stand tall, we grovel, we kow tow. At this conference she stated they HAD NOT EVEN SCHEDULED HER TO SPEAK but only put her in as they had some extra time......
sharmistha roychowdhury please ask those questions at gcnunnery2016@gmail.com, this is official email from Ganden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala India. Have in mind that ven. Tenzin Palmo resides in different nunnery.
the convent: 'This site can't be reached' The other links do work & I got to see it that way. Sick of hearing about male Buddhists including the Dalai Lama who refused to set the record straight when Her Holiness Tenzin Palmo asked him to. He said he was 'just a monk' when asked to deal with the way women are portrayed as DIRTY, putrid, polluted, while men are good, clean monks. All young monks are exposed to this teaching, She said. The Dalai Lama refused to help, set the record straight, do something, like make a declaration that this is WRONG. Yet he is treated as an INCARNATION OF GOD, A BUDDHA - He said 'I am not Buddha.' Then why do you accept being driven in a limousine with a siren vehicle in front & police in back? Why do you accept people crying, bowing & scraping to you & treating you like Buddha? Which are you, just a monk, or an incarnation? Make up your mind, YOUR HAUGHTINESS. Or are you just one of the boys, like the Catholic Popes, who {not all, Saint John Paul II indeed was great & holy} DEFEND PEDOPHILES. I will write an article about all this & post it on my site soon: Embodiment of God is the site, it's a part of www.WomanThouArtGod.com, a part of the University of Mother God Church.
You can be an enlightened,celibate female,representing the SACRED FEMININE and still be in this world with all its beauty and abundance (forbidden city of Bejing....Windsor castles...the castles of LudwigII of Bavaria etc )looking like a topmodel and dressed in beautiful clothes and nevertheless n o t cling to all of this and bring joy,wisdom and food to all. In other words:you can be empress Sissi for instance and nevertheless be extremely spiritual..support the arts and the poor etc... The purity and humility of these nuns creates a wonderful healing light in the spiritual worlds...it might be a sacrifice in the third dimension but will create doorways and stargates for all in the invisible...whether it's Tibetan,Chinese,Japanese or Christian nuns. Mystics of a l l races and beliefsystems are on the same frequency page..v e r y helpful.During these LAST DAYS the marriage of heaven and earth w i l l happen and resolve a l l problems on the planet. The Tibetan symbol of the hexagram is used as the space inside of which VAJRAYOGINI is dancing.Interestingly enough,the same hexagram came ìnto existence with King David... VAJRAYOGINI is selfless and totally pure..like a sometimes crazy looking diamond.
Love Buddhism but i don't agree that you have to shave your hair to be one, looking at Buddha images we see Him with hair on. Hair is very important and interconnected with spirituality
In this simple life have nothing good . Birth ,to be old ,,illness,death and again where to birth . Only sunny life is- to study in monastery GOD,s morals. I want to find my teacher one day too
so all taras are the embodiment of the same buddha yet they are unlike each other??? another aspect of monasticism especially when it blends with folklore evolving into folk religion!
Musa Khan they are just symbols to represent different aspects of eg compassion, a slayer of defilements etc...seeing through rites and rituals and not clinging to them is part of the practice...it isn’t about worshiping a deity...it is about knowing and embodying the quality...it’s a tool for contemplation and learning...
On a relative level you can choose to worship between appearances of different enlightened beings (Manjushri, Tara, Medicine Buddha, etc.) On an absolute level the buddhas are not different. All of them perfectly and totally enlightened.
Zrinka Jančić But this is Buddhism. One can only awaken one's self. Buddha never referred to himself as a 'God'. We can only awaken our 'Buddha Nature'.
It’s a metaphor for quality within oneself...and a reminder to awaken and cultivate the qualities and behaviors that the goddesses and deities represent.
Creo que el problema radica en que la mujer siempre sigue el dogma del hombre, la mujer debe liberarse y hacer su propio camino de diosa interior, su propia naturaleza y budeidad. Las religiones son centradas y lideradas por autoridades masculinas.
Eve Chui that was only one mans INTERPRETATION of Buddha words not B's intent or meaning. [obviuosly interpreted by a man who de-value the power of feminie] B would never make unkindness or injustice an intention in his body mind spirit soul bcz he was pure compassion n why he is ''worshiped'' as saint on earth. his way was empowerment n liberation for AALL humanity, half+ are woman.
Maybe because when everybody becomes enlightened quicker because of women people wouldnt need the raft of Dharma anymore. Women bring up babies so that brings such potential to spread enlightened views.
Women are the carriers of life so imagine if all women will be celibate, it would be the end of humanity because of no reproduction and the Buddhist teachings will be useless. But oh well, we are like 7 billion already.
It is only speculation what The Buddha actually said, it was not recorded and only passed down verbally. Since that was over 3000 years ago, I would say that is likely was because women were considered the givers of life, they bore children. If all women became nuns, then there would be no children and no one to pass on the Dharma. However, having over 7 billion humans on the planet now is too many and many are not Buddhist so we continue to have violence and war.
women would be able to refine, redefine and improve Dharma. they pose a threat to the male dominated system which is afcourse very biased and sexist hence anti Dharma.
So dissappointing to learn of the Buddhas hesitation and reason being that he thought the teachings wouldnt last as long because of women. Why is the female presence percieved as threatening? Could the real problem not be with the women but with the men? And their conditioning to percieve women not as real equals but as subservient because of their sexual power over men ? Time for women to become sovereign and be their own buddhas. .. without the permission of patriarchal institutions.
Use intelligence and understand that Gautama Buddha existed 3000 years ago and the reasoning was likely because of women being considered life givers. No one knows what Buddha actually said as it was not recorded and only passed down verbally. Over 3000 years later I am sure what he actually said and his intent behind it has been grossly manipulated.
Cos women, generally speaking, aren't as rational as men. I'm sure the Tibetans of old, even now, would say if a woman is good in this life she can be reborn as a man in the next, then attain enlightenment. So the opportunity is still there, just not in this life.
wow I never knew buddha was a sexist. can he really be called enlighten if he was willing to deny the very woman that raise him as one of her own to become a nun.
petrairene - which specifically? Most of the background is holy chanting music. Music is not annoying from its own side. Only from one’s perspective, reflective like a mirror of that mind.
Use intelligence and understand that Gautama Buddha existed 3000 years ago and the reasoning was likely because of women being considered life givers. No one knows what Buddha actually said as it was not recorded and only passed down verbally. Over 3000 years later I am sure what he actually said and his intent behind it has been grossly manipulated.
@Jeffrey Leonard I understood your concern. But, it is not a look down or anything. Even if women aren't allowed to be ordained by the male, it doesnt mean that the males look down at them. Some of males might do, but its not generally the case. I have talked with my master and he said that even if the women arent allowed to be a bhikuni, they still have full access to the bhikuni's practices. My master asked, what is more important, the practice or the title of a bhikuni? and to fill some info which u might already know. A nun perfectly preserves and protects her 10 precepts (the tenth precept is not holding money or any form of exchange) is worthy to receive offering and are allowed to live her spiritual life only and solely dedicated to her practices. It is a LIFE of a bhikuni without the TITLE of bhikuni. Some story u might like. I have heard of a couple of noble nuns (nuns that acheive at least the first stage of enlightenment) in my country from my mother. (my mother visits them often.) One of them is actually in charge of the practices of the novices in her pagoda. I will find an opportunity to meet her and practice under her guidance as well. You see, the title of a bhikuni is not so much important as the practice. If the women awakes themselves and becomes their own lights, they can become the lights of others as well (similar saying to one of the buddha's teaching). And if they want to spread the dharma, they can do so as a nun. some people do think that the precepts of the bhikuni is better than the nuns and that give offering to the bhikunis are more fruitful. But honestly, if the nuns are dedicating themselves for their awakening, then those offerings should mean nothing at all (same goes to the status, fame, compliment or appraisal, approval or others form of happiness) I dont think a bhikuni's title is important, the women who wants to be a bhikunis should put their concern at the right place which is the practices not the title.
As a Western Tibetan nun, there is a cultural difference of experience. Most of us, at least in my Sangha, don’t study in nunneries but study and attend shedra when available. We have to support ourselves. I am a nurse and worked in that way. Plenty of opportunity for practice. Our temple in MD is very active in many ways including practices and retreats.
Beautiful
There is a divide between Buddhist traditionalists and innovators when it comes to many things, including neuroscience and neurotech (it looks increasingly like it will be able to accomplish in, for instance, a month what takes meditators years to accomplish, if ever), other forms of technological progress, social change, and the time and energy people have to devote to practice.
I'm glad to see Buddhist teachers finally talking about artificial intelligence, which is coming on like a freight train. The lack of discussion was concerning me and made me feel like they had no idea how to handle it, so they just avoided it. (To be fair, most of us were caught off guard too.)
Traditionalists are either unaware of or choose not to see just how how hard it is to carve out time for serious practice. If you are a householder, you basically have to be upper middle-class to afford to take weeks off of work at a time and fly to retreats in exotic locations, or wherever.
I read one article in Tricycle called "The Upper Middle Way", about how hard it is for working-class people to commit to a serious practice when they are constantly working ever-changing shifts and can't afford to go on retreat.
Also, basically all Western monastics have been in relationships and some have even raised families, so they understand that part of the human experience too. A lot of Eastern monastics haven't, and secretly want to, and it forms a major obstacle to their practice.
I think it's fantastic that you've managed to find a way to both make a living and do serious practice. Many blessings.
How refreshing to see Nuns moving in the right direction. The Wisdom of Lord Buddha takes many forms.
The song at 6.30 brought tears to my eyes- and I saw my late mother in the nun, patting the stray dog gently... Our lives will be so incomplete without the Divine Mother.. playing in so many forms, unbeknownst to us ... Thank you!
This was a very interesting and enlightening documentary. I wish all these nuns the ability to become ordained.That the future for females in all Buddhist tradition to go forth and flourish.Nameste.
I literally have just finished reading Cave in the Snow! And just by chance clicked on this video to see Tenzin Palmo speaking! how lovely! :) xx
Yes, I just read that book. So a wonderful woman and fascinating story. Great to see her speaking here about women's issues within Tibetan Buddhism, her life's calling . . .
This is an excellent documentary. Thank you for undertaking the challenge to bring this issue to light. I came to this video from learning about Tenzin Palmo and her story of becoming the first officially ordained female Jetsunma. I think it's sad that the first female Geshe is also a foreigner in the sense that Tibetan women haven't been held in the same level of respect and consideration. In the end, however, all these levels of ordination are simply part of another religious hierarchy, and I find it interesting that Tibetan Buddhism is not only so incredibly partriarchal but but also so dogmatic. It is so different from Zen, where the focus is on mere meditation and not necessarily on any intellectual teachings and understandings. There, the simpler the mind the better. In the end, however, Tibetan Buddhism has and is proving it's worth to the world by laying it's emphasis on helping others. It's what links all Buddhist traditions together in transcending the small ego for the well being of mankind and all sentient beings....
From Vietnam I would like to respect to all Budhist nuns. It's Western nuns Who spread Buddha's teaching to Western countries.
Thank you so much for this film 🙏🙏🙏
Absolutely brilliant documentary. Such inspiring women.
Blessings for all your wishes to come true.
On behalf of the Westerners, thank you for expanding your consciousness to understand that togetherness is the highest truth and every single separation belongs to the vast ignorance of darkness.
Think with your heart never with your limited mind!
💖😉🤗
Early in my awakening I was before a golden goddess who looked like she was in deep meditation,or sleep
I've also seen the red sky with rainbows , after I looked a second time
Many of these mystic visions do indeed tie in with all mythology and old legends
I met Geshe Kelsang Wangmo (1st ever lady Geshe) in April 2019 when Ling Rinpoche granted the empowerment of the Buddha of Compassion at Jamyang Centre in Leeds - I also met her Mum! DELIGHTFUL!
Beautiful work Zrinka. Thank you for sharing your wonderful documentary.
Thank you for all !! ♡♡
This a real turning point for freedom and liberty for feminism and human spiritual world....women are the real sustaining supporting post of human world...sadhu
ty for sharing this with the world!
Dear Tenzin Palmo .Thanks so much .I want to be a nun too.This is only great sunny life To study GOD,s moral . In this earth nothing good .All only empty color .
One must ask oneself the deeper question of why the monks continue to oppress the nuns, the female with their policies? One only oppresses another when the oppressor has something to fear..
Perhaps the fact that the West is heading for population collapse because women are not having enough children might have something to do with it.
I've never understood why women were attracted to patriarchal religions. You don't need a self-proclaimed master to teach you how to meditate and be mindful. Choose your own path to discovering the Wholeness.
We love you dearly!
💖🤗🌞
What that Lama said about the shyness of the nuns inhibiting them from being forceful debaters was very interesting. Don't be too shy!
the men made them shy. They need to stand up & realize, 'Woman, Thou Art God"
Love Buddha / Love Buddhists From Thai
6:00
This is so beautiful. 🎶
I respect Jetsunma Palmö. 🙏
Very informative content indeed, thanks for making it and sharing it with the world of ignorance.😇👍
Met her face to face more than 20 years ago in Singapore after the convention ... in the 'ladies'🤭
Haha! I take it you mean Tenzin Palmo. Even enlightened beings must use the toilet, lol
🙏🏻
wow
super
lepo
love
buddhist
women
buddha
🧘🏻♀️
🌺
👍🏻
😀😊😃
🇸🇮
HAVALA
Totally baffling that the Buddha who was enlightened had such horrific prejudice against women. Even though I’ve heard the general response scholars offer to why the Buddha was like this ( an embedded view of the patriarchy) it still doesn’t make sense. If he has an enlightened view then why wouldn’t that include women.? Why did it take Ananda his student to ‘enlighten’ the Buddha of a women’s capacity? Ananda had more compassion and view than the Buddha. It really is a huge smear for me on the credibility of the Buddhist philosophy.
Thank you for your beautiful documentary. I will continue to offer financial support and prayers for the dedicated Buddhist nuns.
Don't be dishartened by this information in the film . Who knows what was really like in the time of Buddha 2500 years ago. I think if we observe the effect of Buddha"s teaching, the compassionate energy and wisdom projected through time and space, it gives more accurate picture: there are actually so many more women practitioners today then men. And that is the effect of boddhichita of the Buddha himself.
@@zrinkajancic that's a good point. I really appreciate your offering it. blessings❤
Do you really think Buddha care about gender. I don't think Buddha even said that I think Buddhist added it up. Imagine if women would become a monk who will cook and give offerings to male monks 😂maybe they are worried about it. You can see many different stories where Buddha taught poor old lady, prostitute, house wife who loss entire family and many others about his teachings and give them right path. It's obvious that part was added up later. Even the concept of non dual was first explained by a female sage in davi suktham in rig Veda which is oldest hindu book, a female sage claims she is all gods, all offerings and one who offers. All is her, she is parambrahma ( euqal to Buddha nature in Buddhism) she is divine mother. So the oldest enlightenment and non dual teachings actually comes from a female sage.
Very interesting , thank you! In this earthly life we are defined by our gender, but in reality is the soul not gender free? the rule of the patriarchy will hopefully come to an end with the upcoming age of Aquarius. Blessings~
Great comment... I agree; we have arrived at the moment where the actual world order to about to change to the total opposite of this Patriarchal one. . Its VERY exciting and scary at the same time! Stay safe and smart.
OH gOD! Im so tired of this nonsense! Get your head out of your pants!
I didn't know there was such sexism in Buddhism; I've never encountered this at the dharma centres I've been to. Goes to show you never know how lucky you are.
Yes, as Tenzin Palmo pointed out, the majority of dharma centers in the West are populated and supported by women. Very different from Asia and specifically Tibetan Buddhism.
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the beautiful chanting that starts at 6 minutes in? The credits say it's Sonam Yangchen, but I've not been able to find this particular chant anywhere and it's so beautiful!
The song performed by a nun Sonam Yangchen is a traditional song from Ladakh, where she is from. It is not a Buddhist chant. We recorded her singing in the nunnery and all original music was then made in post production. So, thats why you can't find this song anywhere.
@@zrinkajancic Hi Zrinka, thanks for replying to let me know. The documentary and music are so beautiful, I've watched it several times now 😊
I'm Indian buudhist goad bles you
Do Buddhists say God Bless you??? Shouldn't they say...Lord Buddha bless you???
Ms Jancic, what nationality are you? I am Lithuanian. My given name is Rasa Sofija Marija Jakstaite - I think you are Eastern European. Do you believe in Female Empowerment, Matriarchy?
Awesome!
🙏
Buddhisem
Buddha
wow
super
women
kul
LOVEN
❤
🧘♀️
😊
🌍
🇸🇮
🕊🌎🕊🕊sharing🫂thankYOU
I'm starting to think alot of religion comes from the necessity for men to have order and structure. I find women don't generally require this, as we tend to work communally as opposed to on a individual basis. Perhaps alot of the religions are missing a opposing feminine counterpart, such as the repression of Mary Magdalene through the church, perhaps she had the feminine teachings that would create a balance.
i second that thought . Deep analysis
It takes a long time to make a new custom. 🙏🥰
Or a smart leader.
@@cheliae8560 just a monk 🙇♀️ just a professional smiler 😁☀️😁☀️🧡😍🧡😍🌼🌿🌼🌿🙏🙏🙏
6. Traditional Brahmanism had apposed the ordination of woman and the Buddha didn't want to upset his contemporaries. When he was reminded of the devotion of his foster mother, the Buddha relented. He in no way thought woman incapable. However, the Buddha believed humanity would not accept Buddhism forever because it allowed woman. So the Buddha devised a way that woman may not be a threat by adding them in a way that still kept them underneath men and would thus not be seen as a threat to the always eventual formations of chauvinist male societies in our human world-And this was the reason why Buddhism was taught to monks and not so much to nuns. Buddha did his best to get the most amount of sentient beings to find the way, so it ended up being preferable to be borne as a male because of humanities incapability to see things like the Buddha. It may have made it harder for woman, but it gave woman a chance and even kept Buddhism alive into modern times where ppl are more educated and accepting of the Buddhas message and equality for all sentient beings.
I would like to disagree with how they say woman are better... It would simply be repeating the mistake of humanity. And that mistake would be that men are better.
I would like to think that in some ways we may be better but in some ways we may be worse. In the over all, it may actually be equally hard for each of us to become a Buddha. We all just have some minor differences to work on. This is true not just on the sex level but also on the cultural, race, individual, etc levels too. To conclude, even though there are distinct differences between us, we all have equal ability to attain Buddha.
I am a Westerner--specifically, an American woman retired and physically disabled, with time on my hands--studying Soto Zen Buddhism. In that path, there is no difference between male and female; there are no nuns, all monastic trainees are monks and live in monasteries. The lineage I am learning comes down from Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett, who was ordained in Japan, then brought the Soto Zen tradition to the West and founded monasteries here, thansmitting the teaching to both men and women.
All schools of Buddhism have the same beliefs and follow the same original teacher known as the Buddha. There are differences in terms used and phrases, mostly because of different countries of origin. Of course, Buddhism itself was founded in Nepal and Tibet, but quickly spread to all of southeast and central Asia. The Soto Zen tradition began in China but spread to Japan quickly, and is one of the most popular in the West. Its' emphasis is on a simple form of meditation--simple but not easy!
Timohy Alchemy Freeman .
It's important to recognize that people of child bearing age have tremendous sexual drives which really can compete with any mental or spiritual impulses and *win* out every time. In cultures where women and men lived totally different lives, in cultures which were very primitive in terms of our current day ways of thinking about gender roles and so forth -- we are talking about twenty five hundred years ago when huge percentage of children died in childhood, there was no idea about anything like germs or what causes illness or who knows, how babies even came to be and most of the world was still hunter gatherer (think about that!) you cannot just lock a bunch of men up in the forests like boy scouts and throw women in there! That would be absolutely brutal and horrific for women. I don't understand why people look at everything through an ahistorical lens but yet through all this post-modern filtering. The ancient world was not like the world today in any way so talking about what people were thinking about then is just fantasizing. Do you think men twenty five hundred years ago took "unwanted touching" training at work? Do you think women were not considered chattel? We only know the history of the people who write the history which is the conquerers and later the religions which conquered everything once people settled down in one place at a time. When we look at our pretty history books with lovely artwork depicting healthy, powerful gods and godesses, either as rulers or as mythological characters that is not what real people were like. They were dirty and infested with bugs and dropping dead at 25 or 15 and scrambling all the time to stay alive. Were the same sophisticated impulses of aesthetics and beauty and love and caring present in them? Of course but they did't have the luxury to create lives around those principles or to flower in their highest longings. They were literally being chased by lions and trying to figure out what to do with the sick and dying that were everywhere for mysterious reasons. Are humans different than they were fifty years ago? I say yes. Values are different, impressions from the outside world are totally different. I grew up in the 50's and I literally didn't know anything but what was inside my house or what I sw on rare outings somewhere or on Father Knows Best. Now infants grow up on the internet. Babies are on the internet being told m=by facebook what it means to be human and their parents are teaching them that being human means having an Instragram fake self and that private life and thoughts and personal development are worthless in the markeplace of humanity. We just will never be able to understand what a human was 25 hundred years ago. It's like trying to understand what it's like to be a butterfly or a tree.
We can accept that history is a completely unknowable mystery to us and also that as a buddhist might say nothing exists but the present moment anyway. Not to contradict the poster above, just to add to his/her thoughts about what other people think or what they said or what they wanted. All this is made up. Even the people who made it up admit that. These stories about the Buddha or Christ or whoever -- they were written hundreds or a thousand years after the fact. Think about how long that is in a world with no writing for most people, no communications with others outside of small groups, no way of even grasping things they have never seen or heard of. Ask three people today about a car accident they just witnessed in real time and you will get three totally different stories. So . . .the peoples of the Indus Valley were right -- the answers lie within you. The only reality is that which you find within and the further in you go the closer you come to the universal ground where everything emanates from. Drop everything and see what remains -- the Absolute Supreme Reality. Good luck everyone..
cck actually it was common for Asians especially the monks to live well into their hundreds. It was the Europeans that were dropping dead fast. China just opened their doors to the world. My girl friend grew up when they were still using horses and ppl still living ancient style. Those ppl were the healthiest and longest lived. And they bathed, had clean teeth, etc. using the plants they had growing naturally.
@@alchemygal3285 evidence of people living well into their hundreds twenty five hundred years ago? Nah.
I am curious about the debating style of the nuns. What do they debate? And any rituals they need to follow in the debating? What do their teachers evaluate in their debate?
Debating is done to victory over untruth and many religion master want to destroy it debating is to know which is truth debating from ancient many nalanda master p do debate that time
May I ask what the best way to learn the Tibetan language is if you do not live in Tibet or India and have no access to a nunnery? Thank you.
You can to certanly found adresses,and phone numbers of European tibetan buddhist,or bön monasteries,or teaching centers,and ask for Tibetan language teachings.I Wish You Luck.👍🙏🏻
Her Holiness said that what she observed WAS A BOYS CLUB & where they had a conference, most of the delegates WERE MEN even though one man said that most of their monks WERE WOMEN. They demand the SEATS OF POWER & AUTHORITY OVER US & as long as we SEEK THIS FROM THEM they stand tall, we grovel, we kow tow. At this conference she stated they HAD NOT EVEN SCHEDULED HER TO SPEAK but only put her in as they had some extra time......
Another 4,5 billion years before we see a female Dalai Lama then?
Namobuddhay namodhammay namosanghay
How many money need for joining this nunnery? Is there any age limit to join there?
sharmistha roychowdhury please ask those questions at gcnunnery2016@gmail.com, this is official email from Ganden Choeling Nunnery in Dharamsala India. Have in mind that ven. Tenzin Palmo resides in different nunnery.
sharmistha roychowdhury very nice
Interesting very interesting look what I unravel when you leave everything behind
Sotthi hotu 🙏😔
Every moon cycle is put into plant tea shall river memory
the convent: 'This site can't be reached' The other links do work & I got to see it that way. Sick of hearing about male Buddhists including the Dalai Lama who refused to set the record straight when Her Holiness Tenzin Palmo asked him to. He said he was 'just a monk' when asked to deal with the way women are portrayed as DIRTY, putrid, polluted, while men are good, clean monks. All young monks are exposed to this teaching, She said. The Dalai Lama refused to help, set the record straight, do something, like make a declaration that this is WRONG. Yet he is treated as an INCARNATION OF GOD, A BUDDHA - He said 'I am not Buddha.' Then why do you accept being driven in a limousine with a siren vehicle in front & police in back? Why do you accept people crying, bowing & scraping to you & treating you like Buddha? Which are you, just a monk, or an incarnation? Make up your mind, YOUR HAUGHTINESS. Or are you just one of the boys, like the Catholic Popes, who {not all, Saint John Paul II indeed was great & holy} DEFEND PEDOPHILES. I will write an article about all this & post it on my site soon: Embodiment of God is the site, it's a part of www.WomanThouArtGod.com, a part of the University of Mother God Church.
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🙏🙏🙏🌼🌿🌼🌿
You can be an enlightened,celibate female,representing the SACRED FEMININE and still be in this world with all its beauty and abundance (forbidden city of Bejing....Windsor castles...the castles of LudwigII of Bavaria etc )looking like a topmodel and dressed in beautiful clothes and nevertheless n o t cling to all of this and bring joy,wisdom and food to all.
In other words:you can be empress Sissi for instance and nevertheless be extremely spiritual..support the arts and the poor etc...
The purity and humility of these nuns creates a wonderful healing light in the spiritual worlds...it might be a sacrifice in the third dimension but will create doorways and stargates for all in the invisible...whether it's Tibetan,Chinese,Japanese or Christian nuns.
Mystics of a l l races and beliefsystems are on the same frequency page..v e r y helpful.During these LAST DAYS the marriage of heaven and earth w i l l happen and resolve a l l problems on the planet.
The Tibetan symbol of the hexagram is used as the space inside of which VAJRAYOGINI is dancing.Interestingly enough,the same hexagram came ìnto existence with King David...
VAJRAYOGINI is selfless and totally pure..like a sometimes crazy looking diamond.
How did they caught her on camera @ 1:19 ?
Was camera existing 2500 yrs ago?
@@drops4x133 i donno...i forgot why i asked this question...
Love Buddhism but i don't agree that you have to shave your hair to be one, looking at Buddha images we see Him with hair on. Hair is very important and interconnected with spirituality
In this simple life have nothing good . Birth ,to be old ,,illness,death and again where to birth . Only sunny life is- to study in monastery GOD,s morals. I want to find my teacher one day too
Prajapati is pronounced wrong by the narrator
Please learn me English! I am very like learning English!
so all taras are the embodiment of the same buddha yet they are unlike each other??? another aspect of monasticism especially when it blends with folklore evolving into folk religion!
Musa Khan they are just symbols to represent different aspects of eg compassion, a slayer of defilements etc...seeing through rites and rituals and not clinging to them is part of the practice...it isn’t about worshiping a deity...it is about knowing and embodying the quality...it’s a tool for contemplation and learning...
On a relative level you can choose to worship between appearances of different enlightened beings (Manjushri, Tara, Medicine Buddha, etc.)
On an absolute level the buddhas are not different. All of them perfectly and totally enlightened.
Women, grow your hair back. Screw what the men say. You look better with hair. Who wants to look like them?
Awakening 'The Sleeping Goddess'? Not 'awakening yourself'?
Awakening the Sleeping Goddess within oneself
Zrinka Jančić But this is Buddhism. One can only awaken one's self. Buddha never referred to himself as a 'God'. We can only awaken our 'Buddha Nature'.
seeking awareness , I thought Goddesses have Buddha nature too :)
It’s a metaphor for quality within oneself...and a reminder to awaken and cultivate the qualities and behaviors that the goddesses and deities represent.
@@synthonaplinth5980 "Woman, Thou Art God" my site & book
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Creo que el problema radica en que la mujer siempre sigue el dogma del hombre, la mujer debe liberarse y hacer su propio camino de diosa interior, su propia naturaleza y budeidad. Las religiones son centradas y lideradas por autoridades masculinas.
omg why did buddha say that? what was his reasoning?
Eve Chui that was only one mans INTERPRETATION of Buddha words not B's intent or meaning. [obviuosly interpreted by a man who de-value the power of feminie] B would never make unkindness or injustice an intention in his body mind spirit soul bcz he was pure compassion n why he is ''worshiped'' as saint on earth. his way was empowerment n liberation for AALL humanity, half+ are woman.
Maybe because when everybody becomes enlightened quicker because of women people wouldnt need the raft of Dharma anymore. Women bring up babies so that brings such potential to spread enlightened views.
Women are the carriers of life so imagine if all women will be celibate, it would be the end of humanity because of no reproduction and the Buddhist teachings will be useless. But oh well, we are like 7 billion already.
May be there was naturally great reason behind it!
It is only speculation what The Buddha actually said, it was not recorded and only passed down verbally. Since that was over 3000 years ago, I would say that is likely was because women were considered the givers of life, they bore children. If all women became nuns, then there would be no children and no one to pass on the Dharma. However, having over 7 billion humans on the planet now is too many and many are not Buddhist so we continue to have violence and war.
women would be able to refine, redefine and improve Dharma. they pose a threat to the male dominated system which is afcourse very biased and sexist hence anti Dharma.
So dissappointing to learn of the Buddhas hesitation and reason being that he thought the teachings wouldnt last as long because of women. Why is the female presence percieved as threatening? Could the real problem not be with the women but with the men? And their conditioning to percieve women not as real equals but as subservient because of their sexual power over men ? Time for women to become sovereign and be their own buddhas.
.. without the permission of patriarchal institutions.
yes, go on Karens. go and Infiltrate every last place of reverence left
Use intelligence and understand that Gautama Buddha existed 3000 years ago and the reasoning was likely because of women being considered life givers. No one knows what Buddha actually said as it was not recorded and only passed down verbally. Over 3000 years later I am sure what he actually said and his intent behind it has been grossly manipulated.
Excellent words. Thank you.
Cos women, generally speaking, aren't as rational as men. I'm sure the Tibetans of old, even now, would say if a woman is good in this life she can be reborn as a man in the next, then attain enlightenment. So the opportunity is still there, just not in this life.
wow I never knew buddha was a sexist. can he really be called enlighten if he was willing to deny the very woman that raise him as one of her own to become a nun.
I think Buddha made that decision based on temptation.
Bodhi
The background music is really annoying.
petrairene - which specifically? Most of the background is holy chanting music. Music is not annoying from its own side. Only from one’s perspective, reflective like a mirror of that mind.
Whose mind is annoyed? Work with that. Stop bothering the music
Just sounds like another sexist story, not much Goddess, just woman following man again
Use intelligence and understand that Gautama Buddha existed 3000 years ago and the reasoning was likely because of women being considered life givers. No one knows what Buddha actually said as it was not recorded and only passed down verbally. Over 3000 years later I am sure what he actually said and his intent behind it has been grossly manipulated.
If women are allowed to be ordained, the religion lasts 5000 years instead of 10000 years.
@Jeffrey Leonard I understood your concern. But, it is not a look down or anything. Even if women aren't allowed to be ordained by the male, it doesnt mean that the males look down at them. Some of males might do, but its not generally the case.
I have talked with my master and he said that even if the women arent allowed to be a bhikuni, they still have full access to the bhikuni's practices. My master asked, what is more important, the practice or the title of a bhikuni?
and to fill some info which u might already know. A nun perfectly preserves and protects her 10 precepts (the tenth precept is not holding money or any form of exchange) is worthy to receive offering and are allowed to live her spiritual life only and solely dedicated to her practices. It is a LIFE of a bhikuni without the TITLE of bhikuni.
Some story u might like. I have heard of a couple of noble nuns (nuns that acheive at least the first stage of enlightenment) in my country from my mother. (my mother visits them often.) One of them is actually in charge of the practices of the novices in her pagoda. I will find an opportunity to meet her and practice under her guidance as well. You see, the title of a bhikuni is not so much important as the practice. If the women awakes themselves and becomes their own lights, they can become the lights of others as well (similar saying to one of the buddha's teaching). And if they want to spread the dharma, they can do so as a nun.
some people do think that the precepts of the bhikuni is better than the nuns and that give offering to the bhikunis are more fruitful. But honestly, if the nuns are dedicating themselves for their awakening, then those offerings should mean nothing at all (same goes to the status, fame, compliment or appraisal, approval or others form of happiness) I dont think a bhikuni's title is important, the women who wants to be a bhikunis should put their concern at the right place which is the practices not the title.