Maddie

Hey I obviously can't answer this for you but to me you sound trans. Have you ever considered transitioning? I hope you don't mind the question.

So I actually tried this for a while because I was fighting this, I didn't want this, so I took exactly this line of thinking. Long story short my anxiety and depression didn't seem to care about this line of thinking.

Guess those aren't my texts.

To me it means just being myself and not having to act like a man :-)

in the past I have experienced so many side effects. Since it digs up bad karma usually what happened was every unpleasant emotion and memory that I was trying to deny came rushing to the surface. If someone has never purged their karma before all I can say is that its not for the faint of heart and probably relates to what some people describe as the dark night of the soul. Also I would have to go to the bathroom constantly, and the more I did the mantra the more constant it was. It got to a point when I was doing a 2 week long Zhunti retreat (nothing but Zhunti mantra all day every day) that I literally had to sit on the toilet and do the mantra because it was a not stop thing. I have also experienced weird skin blisters on the ends of my heart and lung meridians. I also become extremely sensitive to other peoples emotions and intentions. I also start having really odd "memories" of events that never happened in my life time. Also I would have a long string of bad luck when doing it in the past.

One of the first area of relief I noticed when I acknowledged that I was trans was the relief that I could stop trying to act "manly". It was always so much work to act "manly" enough in Texas to not arouse suspicion.

The right totally manipulates Christians into voting for them. This is why the evangelicals act like Trump of all people is the second coming of Christ lol.

I was about to say and then forgot I think the "pregnant" thing is actually more of a GOP strawman than a real issues trans people are actually concerned with. It's important to remember that with the far right loosing their minds over the trans issue, that there are a lot of strawmen out there right now.

Liking who you like does not make you transphobic, people are allowed to have preferences :-).

Of course not. Most of Buddhism deals with the subconscious.

I have been doing Zhunti consistently for a week this time around. Interestingly I have not experienced the usual side effects so far.

true. I suppose from a Buddhist point of view it challenges the notion of the self which according to the Buddha is one of the things that we cling to the strongest.

Thought I would share another thought I have. To me what is interesting/baffling about the transgender issue is the strong reactions and feelings it brings out in people. I don't really understand it.

Here's another perspective to consider when it comes to hormones and surgery. I mean obviously I want my physical body to match up with my gender for my own peace of mind, but there's also practical safety issues as well. I live in Texas it's a very religious and conservative state and I don't really have any problems because thanks to hormones and such I basically look like any other woman. On the other hand however if I looked like some kind of in between anomaly there's actually people who would be inclined to potentially hurt me. So aside from the psychological benefits I get from causing my body to match my gender there's also practical and safety issues.

With the recent topic being about being responsible in vetting trans people before transitioning I absolutely think that kids should see a therapist and a doctor to make sure that it's a legitimate thing. I'm pretty sure it's a good idea for adults as well. I will say that since I began transitioning (although I can't say for sure) I feel like I have come across people who don't understand what it means to be trans and are transitioning any way. What I mean by this is I feel like to some people it's a fetish and the reason I say this is because they never talk about being trans without it being in a completely hypersexual context. And it causes me to think that there's a small percentage of people that basically just want to live a sexual fantasy but they don't actually identify as a different gender. Granted I'm not a mental health expert but if you spend time at the trans community I have a feeling you would know what I'm talking about. I've even had a couple of these ask me when I say that I am asexual, "then what's the point of transitioning if you're not interested in sex?" Yes I have a literally been asked to this by so-called trans people and it leads me to think that it's just a fetish for them. This is why I think a responsible vetting process is vital before people transition.

I'm actually an acupuncturist LOL. We treat people according to pattern differentiation.

I agree that the Buddha taught that identification with any of the aggregates led to suffering and yes I did think about this as I fought this. It's important to remember that the letting go process is a process and we can't consciously choose to let go of suffering because there's isn't a self to do the letting go. That being the case sometimes we have to realize where we are in the present and try to make the best of our situation. I tried to let go of this identification but apparently there was too much clinging and the suffering was too much. It's important to remember that we let go by knowing the mind, not through controlling it. Therefore I continue the process of mindfulness but am suffering significantly less in the mean time.

In regards to the topic of transgender children I thought this video might be interesting. I'm in Texas btw.

I think before things get to sidetracked and go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy or whatever else I want to redirect to what the actual issue is. A transgender person is born with a brain that is one gender and a body that is another sex. This isn't just speculation MRI scans show that the brain is actually different in transgender people. That being the case what doctors and psychologists say is the best and the only solution to what is called gender dysphoria is to transition one's body. I can attest that this is correct due to my personal experience. I tried to fight it over a long time by working on my mind and that did not work in fact it made my anxiety and depression much worse. Almost as soon as I acknowledged that I was transgendered and began hormone therapy and came out to live as I truly am this anxiety and depression ended immediately and I'm a much happier person in spite of all of the friction I get from society and my family. This is why people transition.

No chromosomes stay the same.

Absolutely

I think this thread has been productive so far. There is a lot of misunderstanding about being trans as well as LGBTQ+ issues as well. Education is the answer! :-)

I think I understand what you're trying to say, its just that when one goes to a therapist or a doctor for these kinds of issues the consensus is, is that is harmful to try to change the mind, and that the best course of action is to transition (aka change the body)

I tried the changing my mind route first. I fought and fought these thoughts and feelings and spent years trying to "meditate the trans away". What I found was that the more I tried this the worse things got and then that is when I had the epiphany that I mentioned previously about meditation being about knowing the mind as opposed to controlling it. When I let go of trying to control I had peace of mind.