COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This is a special course support by a Fredrick P. Lenz Foundation grant on behalf of University of the West and Zen Center Los Angeles. Students of this course will learn the history of women in Buddhism, including their roles, status, education, value, and leadership. The course examines changes in the status of Buddhist women over time and examples of the female sacred and of women regarded as exemplary models. In particular, students will study Buddhist teachings on the Sacred or Divine feminine, learn from guest teachers and peers, and contemplate a pedagogy for Sacred Feminine that is an alive, contemplative, creative, and useful path for our collective awakening. The Sacred Feminine will be explored as 1) related to the Absolute, 2) manifested as leadership, 3) positive and negative manifestations in conventional reality, and 4) five wisdom energies of space, intellect, resources, connection, movement.
Dr. Lenz points out the inequality between men and woman in terms of power and leadership. He says “woman have the power of the kundalini energy, the power of life, which flows through them in a very different way than is does men. Men have reacted very negatively to the power that is inherent in woman. Rather than realizing that this power is indigenous to themselves (though it manifests differently) they have rejected this power, and sought to convince woman of the exact opposite, that they are powerless.” This results in various types of oppression, (e.g., sexual, social, political, ideological, emotional, spiritual, etc.) which may manifest externally in society, and internally within woman. Similar insights from the guest teachers will be brought together to cultivate new perspectives, pedagogies, and knowledge of the divine feminine for woman and men.
- Lærer: Jitsujo T Gauthier