Importance of Goddess in Buddhism

[3bob]

Importance of Goddess in Buddhism:

 

"In Buddhist art, this crucial moment in the Buddha’s quest for liberation from saṃsāra is often depicted by means of the Bhūmisparśa Mudrā. The Bhūmisparśa Mudrā represents the Buddha in a specific meditation posture, sitting cross-legged in full lotus posture with his right hand across his right leg. Hence, the word ‘mudrā’ refers to a specific hand gesture.

 

 

The Buddha thus reaches his hand to touch the earth. Through this symbolic gesture he calls upon the Earth Goddess (Dharaṇī, i.e. Vasudhara) to testify as a witness of the great merit and virtue the bodhisattva has collected throughout his past lives. The Earth Goddess acknowledges the bodhisattva‘s attainment of the ten perfections, after which she twists her long and wet hair, thereby washing away the tenth and final army of Māra. With Māra and his legions being defeated, the Buddha thus attained full enlightenment".

 

I'm not a Buddhist but I see the meaning of the Goddess involvement described above as pointing to some important common ground among various paths. (regardless of all the long and dubious arguments that -edit- sometimes go on here)

 

Om

Edited September 25, 2013 by 3bob

[Marblehead]

(regardless of all the long and dubious arguments that go on here)

 

Om

What?

[3bob]

What what? (I did a little edit)

Edited September 25, 2013 by 3bob

[Marblehead]

What what? (I did a little edit)

Okay. That's better. I'm not normally riding a horse that wants to run wild.

[silent thunder]

I don't think the importance of Goddess can be underplayed.

We all grow in Mother and when mindfully honored, refined and liberated within myself, she releases a powerful influence.

Healing, intuition, compassion, empathy....

Resolution of the opposites.

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I would say the 'as Earth is my witness' thing is symbolic firstly of wisdom being applied to compassion in the world via skilful means.

 

Secondly, it's perhaps symbolic of the non-duality of nirvana and samsara - as nothing is other than Tao, Shakyamuni calls upon samsara to say that he has transcended even nirvana, and knows them both as displays of Tao.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Seeker of Tao

[3bob]

Seeker of Tao,

 

That sounds cool but for myself I wouldn't want to put words in the historic Buddhas mouth to such an extent... via what sounds like a Taoist type correlation.

[Jetsun]

I read Karl Brunnhoelzl say that traditionally the wisdom aspect is considered the feminine and the compassion aspect is considered the masculine, and it is the union of wisdom and compassion which produces enlightenment. For some reason I always thought it would be the other way around.

[Seeker of Wisdom]

3bob:

 

The union of wisdom and skilful means is represented in Buddhism by the earth-touching mudra, in which the hand on the earth is skilful means and the hand on the lap is wisdom. And the purpose of skilful means is acting on bodhichitta.

 

The non-duality of samsara and nirvana from the ultimate perspective is a big deal, particularly in madhyamika; and in Zen and Dzogchen, samsara and nirvana are seen as displays of Suchness and rigpa.

 

'Tao' is just a word describing reality beyond all extremes and concepts. Swap 'Tao' for 'Suchness' or 'rigpa', and it's the same thing but with Zen or Dzogchen terminology.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Seeker of Tao

[RongzomFan]

Female buddhas are the ultimate in Vajrayana.

 

Research:

 

Vajrayogini

Vajravarahi

Troma Nagmo

Tara

Ekajati

 

etc.

 

 

But still, its an academic fact that Hinduism is the most feminine religion in the entire history of the world.

 

"Nowhere in the panorama of world religious traditions, from ancient times to the present, do we find such a strong presence of the feminine voice within the divinity as we do in the Hindu complex of religion."

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=0z02cZe8PU8C&pg=PA441&lpg=PA441&dq=Nowhere+in+the+panorama+of+world+religious+traditions,+from+ancient+times+to+the+present,+do+we+find+such+a+strong+presence+of+the+feminine+voice+within+the+divinity+as+we+do+in+the+Hindu+complex+of+religion&source=bl&ots=NiNq-FnGuv&sig=nyZ0bOIkfulTNrxrFU-8JK487og&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RvonUoyWOtDD4AOy_4HYBA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Nowhere%20in%20the%20panorama%20of%20world%20religious%20traditions%2C%20from%20ancient%20times%20to%20the%20present%2C%20do%20we%20find%20such%20a%20strong%20presence%20of%20the%20feminine%20voice%20within%20the%20divinity%20as%20we%20do%20in%20the%20Hindu%20complex%20of%20religion&f=false

Edited September 25, 2013 by alwayson

[konchog uma]

I read Karl Brunnhoelzl say that traditionally the wisdom aspect is considered the feminine and the compassion aspect is considered the masculine, and it is the union of wisdom and compassion which produces enlightenment. For some reason I always thought it would be the other way around.

 

wisdom is considered the wisdom of emptiness, and as such a formless and abstract concept, considered feminine. compassion (or skillful means) are considered an action or a doing, and as such a formed concept, so masculine. The whole duality, at the same time, places emphasis in the feminine as mystical and formless, and also emphasis on the need for union of both to achieve freedom. Hope that helps you parse it. Its tough to really think about gender distinctions in a concrete way without laxing into culturally embedded ideas about men and women and thereby our prejudices. I have to admit, i see women as more abstractly capable and formless in their mentality, and run into situations of myself and other men trying to think about things too much where women are just able to grasp the idea and throw away the verbal baggage it came in more easily. But thats just my own experience, not a law or anything. I wonder if there is a practical or genetic basis for the distinction between left brained rational men and right brained intuitive women. hmm