Originally posted by goldevil:
most realms have gender unless u are talking abt deva realms with
some with mind only at the 28 heavens .
Yes. All planes in the sensuous plane will have gender. Those in
the jhana planes however, do not have gender.
what determines gender of some1 nt liberated from samsara ?
I am not sure. Karma probably, and biological factors.
is there sexual equality in gaining enlightenment ?
Yes. There are countless bodhisattvas and arhats since Buddha's
times, who are female. In modern times I have seen many enlightened
female practitioners and teachers who are female. My local dharma
teacher is also female.
Everyone has a Buddha nature that is already complete, and our
Buddha nature cannot be discriminated as male or female. It has no
name, no gender, race, class, etc and all the concepts that we
identify with. Everyone is equal in their Buddha Nature.
Platform Sutra
...I then went to pay
homage to the Patriarch, and was asked where I came from and what I
expected to get from him. I replied, "I am a commoner from Hsin
Chou of Kwangtung. I have travelled far to pay you respect and I
ask for nothing but Buddhahood." "You are a native of Kwangtung, a
barbarian? How can you expect to be a Buddha?" asked the Patriarch.
I replied, "Although there are northern men and southern men, north
and south make no difference to their Buddha-nature. A barbarian is
different from Your Holiness physically, but there is no difference
in our Buddha-nature." He was going to speak further to me, but the
presence of other disciples made him stop short. He then ordered me
to join the crowd to work.
"May I tell Your Holiness," said I, "that Prajna (transcendental
Wisdom) often rises in my mind. When one does not go astray from
one's own Essence of Mind, one may be called the 'field of
merits'.
I do not know what work Your Holiness would ask me to do." "This
barbarian is too bright," he remarked. "Go to the stable and speak
no more." I then withdrew myself to the back yard and was told by a
lay brother to split firewood and to pound
rice...
