If a nun appears who has attained the Way and received the Dharma, a monk who is seeking the Truth should become her disciple, request the Teachings and prostrate before her. This is what a person who excels in practising the Way of Awakening would do just as one would act to quench a desperate thirst.
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Presently in the monasteries and temples of Song China , there are places where nuns can practice the Way, and if it is heard that a nun has realized the Way of Awake Awareness, the emperor issues an imperial edict making her the Master of a monastery. This means that she presents the Teachings in the monastery's Dharma Hall. The monastics who study under her gather and stand in the Dharma Hall to hear her teach the Dharma and there is the exchange of questions and answers. This has been the custom since ancient times.
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Is there anything about being male as such that makes it noble? The body is sheer Openness, like the sky. Openness is open. The four elements of earth, water, fire, and air are just the four elements. The five aggregates of form, reactivity, symbolization, patterning and consciousness are just the five aggregates, however they might appear; as a woman or a man makes no difference. Women and men can both receive the Dharma. If you are serious about the Buddha Way , you cannot make such distinctions about "male" or "female". This is fundamental to the Way of Awake Awareness.
As well, there are householders in Song China who practice who have not yet "left home" to become monks or nuns. They live in small hermitages together with their spouses. It must be admitted that some people are celibate but are still sick with confusion and struggle. So, however someone lives, if they truly practice, honour their teacher, and seek the Truth, they are no different from those who have left home. Although you might be a woman, although you might be an animal, it is still the same.
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As well, there are those idiotic men nowadays who think, "Women are only good for sex and food." They do not look into the delusions that give rise to such thoughts. The children of the Buddha must not be this way.
And if you despise women because they are only objects of desire, shouldn't you also detest all men? When you are deluded, men can become objects of lust, women can become objects of lust, and even things neither male nor female can become objects of lust. Things seen in dreams and hallucinations become objects of desire. Reflections in water or the sun's radiance shimmering on the ground can be used as the basis for corrupt conduct. Spirits and demons can become objects of desire. You cannot count all the things that lust can objectify so we say that there are eighty-four thousand of them. So can you then avoid everything?
https://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachi...he_Marrow.html
Originally Posted by Geika
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), but way way ahead of his time for a man of conservative, traditional medieval Japan I feel ... 
