Buddhadharma Fall 2019

36 BUDDHADHARMA: THE PRACTITIONER'S QUARTERLY

Where we do find the sacred feminine elevated is in ethereal, dis-

embodied deities. Deity practice at least brings in some access to the

energies of the awakened feminine: Prajnaparamita as wisdom, Tara

as compassion, and Vajrayogini as the transformer of poisons. How-

ever, the feminine relegated to the imaginal realms tends to replace

embodied, relational experience with idealized projections.

The feminine and masculine within each of us, regardless of

gender, can be seen as different ways of knowing. The masculine is

linear and rational, the feminine global and intuitive. Intuition is

the essence, the fruit of dharma itself, which nourishes and liber-

ates through quantum shifts of intuitive insight. This is why the

Heart Sutra, the supreme text of direct, intuitive awakening, points

beneath cognition, beyond both attainment and knowledge. We

are called to leave dream thinking far behind and leap beyond the

walls of the mind. This is a teaching from the deeply compassionate

one who listens at ease to the sounds of the world, where all resides

within the womb of awareness and where all is intimately known.

This is not the knowing of the clinical observer, where all is “out

there.” Instead, it is this immediacy of direct experience that inducts

us into the greater mystery, where all phenomena are miraculous

appearance.

Often what we call Buddhist practice is really what the Buddha

practiced before his awakening. We practice to disconnect, to “get

out of this mess,” not unlike when Siddhartha was fixated on subtle

meditative absorptions. When that failed, he used extreme will to

crush reliance on his body, food, and even the breath. In the end

he declared this approach useless, but not until he brought himself

to the gates of death. The unconscious pull toward non-existence,

fueled by aversion toward life, can often masquerade as spiritual lib-

eration. It’s important to know the difference, especially in the con-

text of our times, when we need to understand how our disconnect

impacts our ability to embody deep compassion.

opposite | White-Robed Kannon

Japan, fifteenth century

Metropolitan Museum of Art

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