Gender : Is it truly what it seems?

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Being male is not being free of the eight worldly Dhammas, being female is not being free of the eight worldly Dhammas, being a King..., being a tycoon..., being a beggar..., being a outcarst..., being a star... being a Buddhist... wanting to be a male... wanting to be a female... wanting to be an Arahat... wanting not to be... is not being free of the eight wordily Dhammas and being subject to them.

Being after the eight Dhammas one is subject and object of love and hate, makes and is reason for politics and the arrow is not removed, still seeking for a boot for ones fellows...

The world was entirely without substance. All the directions were knocked out of line. Wanting a haven for myself, I saw nothing that wasn’t laid claim to. Seeing nothing in the end but competition, I felt discontent...

Yet those now rich are debauched to play with the salt justice for the blind is not seen but demanded. So the Buddha talk very straight in regard of sex and how it can be seen without touching regulation worldly conditions and ones health self-estimate.

Obsessing over one's gender identity causes only suffering: AN 7.48 so it has to be abounded for the yogis sake.

"A woman attends inwardly to her feminine faculties, her feminine gestures, her feminine manners, feminine poise, feminine desires, feminine voice, feminine charms. ...Delighting, caught up in her femininity, a woman goes into bondage with reference to men. This is how a woman does not transcend her femininity.

"A man attends inwardly to his masculine faculties, masculine gestures, masculine manners, masculine poise, masculine desires, masculine voice, masculine charms...Delighting, caught up in his masculinity, a man goes into bondage with reference to women. This is how a man does not transcend his masculinity.

"And how is there lack of bondage? SaΓ±Γ±oga Sutta: Bondage

Yet, since you are in the world, since you live in dependency of society and measures, such thinks matter and you would give up the cause first and not fall into imitating a result and even demand it. Never go in between because such causes all orientation.

(Note: this answer has not been given with the agreement to be means of trade or the purpose of/for trade and/or keep people trapped and bound. How you handle it lies in your sphere, but does not excuse the deed here either.)

Upvote:1

Mind can be seen as having a gender. It is true that thoughts are not classified in Buddhism as female thoughts or male thoughts. But the gender conditions your likes and dislikes, which intern condition the mind (Thanha paccaya Upadana, Upadana paccaya Bhava). When you were born, your gender(physical) was not selected randomly. You were born as male or female because of the conditioning of the mind in the previous life. Generally males are less emotional, less fearful and less capricious compared females. But a female can condition her mind like a male and as a result be born as a male next life. Same goes for men who are very emotional and need lots of comforting. They can be born as females next life as a consequence.

Furthermore, those who attain Jhanas are born as Brahmas who have no physical gender. So it is obvious that conditioning of the mind determines your gender.

Upvote:2

According to the Abhidhamma gender distinction is there in every part of the corporeal structure. In Buddhism illusion is used if the meaning breaks down at a lower level of abstraction, but in this case, gender is there to the most basic material composition, hence not an illusion. This is more on how you define illusion and what gets translated into the word illusion.

If you have any view, perception about gender this is illusionary as it it is constituted by Citta and Cetasika.

Gender does decay and has the potential to change from birth to birth.

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