[The Story Of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva -- Prince Buxuan] [HQ]
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August 31, 2010
August 30, 2010
Zen Women and the Path of Adaptation
As I mentioned in a recent post, I've been reading Zen teacher Grace Schireson's book Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters. Here Grace Schireson discusses Zen convents and how they adapted Zen training practices for the specific abilities and cultural circumstances of women:
Studying the process of adaptation -- maintaining the intent of practice while appropriately varying the form -- can be useful for Western practitioners. For example, while most meditators face the wall or the floor in front of them, at times the nuns of Tokeiji temple practiced meditation in front of a mirror, a practice especially suitable for deconstructing a woman's attachment to her physical self-image, whether positive or negative. Addressing some of our culturally specific more stubborn Western delusions through adaptation is currently underway in the West. These adaptations, versus a rigid imitation of our Asian teachers, are an important component of our developing Western Zen practice. Studying women's adaptations may assist us in completing the transplantation of Zen to the West.
Let's discuss --
Zen Women and the Path of Adaptation originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 21:59:29.
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