Zen Women Chapter 6, Pages 98-107

[Jakuden]

Hi everyone,

The next sections bring forth the contributions of the Chinese, Korean and Japanese nuns, who were also able to practice and teach within the convents. We will start with the Chinese and Korean nuns, and move on to the Japanese nuns next week.

How were the Chinese nuns able to propagate a supposedly uninterrupted lineal connection to the Indian orders? What challenges did they face and how did they use the teachings to deal with them? How about the Korean nuns?

I have been very touched by the bits of poetry included in many of the stories. Some of you in the previous thread expressed your appreciation for the way Treeleaf overcomes boundaries; the poetry of these nuns beautifully transcends the boundaries of time, space and gender, truly universal teachings.

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[Stewart]

The section on the Korean nuns was interesting. I was aware of the pressure on Korean monks to marry and have families from the occupying Japanese regime. It would have brought them into line with Japanese Buddhist practice and made them much easier to control. It is hard to manipulate a single man with no possessions who moves a round the countryside at will. Settled men with wives and kids need stability and money to live. After the war, such were then viewed as collaborators and purged. The nuns side stepped all that by going under the radar as not being worth considering - their low status kept them out of trouble and left their practice undisturbed.

Stewart
Sat

[Onka]

Apologies. I've been distracted by life but I will catch up and rejoin this discussion group.
Thank you to all who are keeping this discussion group going.
Gassho
Onka
st

[Heiso]

That's a great point, Stewart. I hadn't thought that it's much harder to for married people to resist occupation. Although using marriage as a tool of oppression and compliance, as we've seen in this book, isn't something new to female identifying people through history.

I loved Miaohui's poetry. How she got her whiff of dharma not through the rituals and formal practice but through the community of convent life. Which I think also speaks to Schireson's point of women creating new families through Dharma.

Gassho,

Heiso.

StLah

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[Jakuden]

Let’s give everyone another week on this section since it looks like folks are still catching up [emoji846][emoji120]

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday


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[Bokucho]

The section on the Korean nuns was interesting. I was aware of the pressure on Korean monks to marry and have families from the occupying Japanese regime. It would have brought them into line with Japanese Buddhist practice and made them much easier to control. It is hard to manipulate a single man with no possessions who moves a round the countryside at will. Settled men with wives and kids need stability and money to live. After the war, such were then viewed as collaborators and purged. The nuns side stepped all that by going under the radar as not being worth considering - their low status kept them out of trouble and left their practice undisturbed.

Stewart
Sat

I agree, I too found the section on Korean nuns fascinating. Marriage as a control tool is not something I'd really considered, but through tax breaks and such (in the U.S. at least) it's greatly encouraged. Wait, just how much am I being controlled?? I better go sit with this...

Gassho,

Bokuchō
SatToday/LaH

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