<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">yes, female, always female.....</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">Sorta like Henry Adams' Virgin of the 15th Century, understood from within </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">the Eastern tradition(s)....understood globally, might one say?</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">or Universally?</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">Or just in Pynchon's most mature vision? </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">Mark</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">----- Original Message ----<BR>From: "robinlandseadel@comcast.net" <robinlandseadel@comcast.net><BR>To: P-list <pynchon-l@waste.org><BR>Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:12:57 PM<BR>Subject: RE: ATDTDA 748, 749<BR><BR> Ya Sam :<BR> The Buddha is often referred to as The Compassionate One.....<BR><BR> That escaped me. Thanks!<BR><BR>Just to keep my hand in, "The Compassionate One" has many<BR>Female aspects in eastern thealogy:<BR><BR> Guan Yin is the bodhisattva of compassion as <BR> venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as <BR> a female. She is also known as the Chinese <BR>
Bodhisattva of Compassion.<BR><BR> One Buddhist legend presents Guan Yin as vowing to never <BR> rest until she had freed all sentient beings from samsara, <BR> reincarnation. Despite strenuous effort, she realized that <BR> still many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After <BR> struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, her head <BR> split into eleven pieces. Amitabha Buddha, seeing her plight, <BR> gave her eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the <BR> suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending <BR> them, Avalokitesvara attempted to reach out to all those <BR> who needed aid, but found that her two arms shattered into <BR> pieces. Once more, Amitabha came to her aid and appointed <BR> her a thousand arms with which to aid the
many. Many <BR> Himalayan versions of the tale include eight arms with which <BR> Avalokitesvara skillfully upholds the Dharma, each possessing <BR> its own particular implement, while more Chinese-specific <BR> versions give varying accounts of this number.<BR><BR><A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yin" target=_blank>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yin</A><BR><BR>This indicates some understanding of Compassion being in some ways,<BR>essential ways, as feminine. Consider, as well, Tara, an East Indian<BR>Goddess of similar qualities:<BR><BR> Tara, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan, is <BR> a female Buddha typically associated with Buddhist tantra <BR> practice as preserved in Tibetan Buddhism. She is the "mother <BR> of
liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work <BR> and achievements. Tara is a tantric deity whose practice is <BR> used by practitioners of the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana <BR> Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand <BR> outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and <BR> emptiness. Tara is not found in the Japanese branch of <BR> Vajrayana Buddhism, Shingon.<BR><BR> Tara is actually the generic name for a set of Buddhas or <BR> bodhisattvas of similar aspect. These may more properly be <BR> understood as different aspects of the same quality, as
<BR> bodhisattvas are often considered metaphoric for Buddhist <BR> virtues.<BR><BR> The most widely known forms of Tara are:<BR><BR> Green Tara, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity<BR><BR> White Tara, also known for compassion, long life, healing <BR> and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or <BR> Cintachakra<BR><BR> Red Tara, of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all <BR> good things<BR><BR> Black Tara, associated with power<BR><BR> Yellow Tara, associated with wealth and
prosperity<BR><BR> Blue Tara;, associated with transmutation of anger<BR> Cittamani Tara, a form of Tara widely practiced <BR> at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra in the Gelug School of <BR> Tibetan Buddhism, portrayed as green and often conflated <BR> with Green Tara<BR><BR> Khadiravani Tara (Tara of the teak forest), who appeared to <BR> Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani forest of South India and who is <BR> sometimes referred to as the "22nd Tara"<BR><BR> There is also recognition in some schools of Buddhism of <BR> twenty-one Tara s. A practice text
entitled "In Praise of <BR> the 21 Taras", is recited during the morning in all four sects <BR> of Tibetan Buddhism.<BR><BR><A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_%28Buddhism%29" target=_blank>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_%28Buddhism%29</A><BR><BR>I still have to ponder Cyprian's miraculous gender conversion, his<BR>[spoiler, I guess, so I command you to stop reading now!!!!!] <BR>transmutation into a nun being wonderous strange, but compassionate, sure. . . .<BR><BR>But the Taras [I work with a "Tara", she turned out good] and <BR>Quan Yin's are the compassionate face of the Buddah [my<BR>house has Quan Yins everywhere, and a Tara Tanka on the <BR>Dining Room's north wall] so they are relevant as the <BR>Boddhisattva of compassion and relate to Shambahala.<BR>Note as well that in Hinduism, Tara is one of the founding Mother <BR>Deities:<BR><BR>
Tara; is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly <BR> deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing <BR> misery in samsara.<BR><BR> The Tara figure originated not in Buddhism but in <BR> Hinduism, where she, Tara, was one of a number of <BR> Mother Goddess figures alongside Sarasvati, Lakshmi, <BR> Parvati, and Shakti. In the 6th century C.E., during the <BR> era of the Pala Empire, Tara was adopted into the <BR> Buddhist pantheon as an important bodhisattva figure <BR> just a few centuries
after the Prajnaparamita Sutra had <BR> been introduced into what was becoming the Mahayana <BR> Buddhism of India. It would seem that the feminine principle <BR> makes its first appearance in Buddhism as the "Mother of <BR> Perfected Wisdom" and then later Tara comes to be seen <BR> as an expression of the compassion of perfected wisdom. <BR> However, sometimes Tara is also known as "the Mother of <BR> the Buddhas", which usually refers to the enlightened wisdom <BR> of the Buddhas, so in approaching Buddhist deities, one <BR>
learns not to impose totally strict boundaries about what <BR> one deity covers, as opposed to another deity.<BR><BR> They all can be seen as expressions of the play of the <BR> energies of manifested form dancing out of vast emptiness. <BR> Be that as it may, Tara began to be associated with the <BR> motherly qualities of compassion and mercy. Undoubtedly <BR> for the common folk who were Buddhists in India of that <BR> time, Tara was a more approachable deity. It is one thing <BR> to stare into the eyes of a deity who represents wisdom <BR>
as void. It is perhaps easier to worship a goddess whose <BR> eyes look out with infinite compassion and who has a <BR> sweet smile.<BR><BR><A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_%28Buddhism%29" target=_blank>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_%28Buddhism%29</A><BR></DIV>
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