Cave in the Snow

[dreamer_easy]

Biography by Vicki Mackenzie of a remarkable Buddhist nun. Some of the bits I stuck a fluorescent green post-it note on:

"... was motherhood a disadvantage to spiritual progress? 'We do different things in different lifetimes,' Tenzin Palmo answered. 'We should look and see what in this lifetime we are called to do. It's ridiculous to become a nun or a hermit because of some ideal when all the time we would be leaning more within a close relationship or a family situation. You can develop all sorts of qualities through motherhood which you could not by leading a monastic life. It's not that by being a mother one is cutting off the path. Far from it! There are many approaches, many ways." (p 197)

Cf my recent realisation that writing, and passing on information, are valid ways of worshipping the Goddess.

Quoting Kalu Rinpoche: "There is no such thing as the intrinsic nature of one person's mind being better than someone else's, on the ultimate level the empty clear and unimpeded nature of mind exhibits no limiting qualities such as maleness or femaleness, superiority or inferiority." (p 137)

The lama was talking about whether women could become enlightened, but it was those last words that struck me. I'm aware I spend a lot of my time comparing my intelligence to other peoples', assuring myself of how smart I am. It's part of that mental game with yourself - am I clever enough, am I virtuous enough, am I better - that you can never win.