day 3 straight of eating vegetarian :>

@unmind real mahayana shit

@georgia another successful day today. what usually happens is my body starts throwing a fit at the lack of meat but hopefully nothing like that happens and i can just continue like this, but idk i'm satisfied reducing my meat intake even if i don't stop it completely for now. although for buddhist reasons i'd like to stop altogether

@unmind @georgia vegetarian is easy cutting out onions, garlic, chives, green onions and leeks is the difficult part that I still have not done

@unmind yes!! v good v v good!

@unmind @georgia if ur body doesnt feel it a few things could b happening, depending on ur dietary norms beforehand it could b that ur gut biome is not as used to the generally higher amount of fiber (esp if u are usamerikkkan this is likely), or it is missing protein (eat more beans/legumes/soy!!)

@hjh @unmind that overlaps with the yogic/sattvic diet (lactovegetarian + no mushrooms + no alium + no other tamasic foods and ways of eating) and the Jain diet (which is incredibly exhaustive in harm reduction, except many still have dairy despite farming not being up to vedic standards. they even minimize harm to microbial life.)

@hjh @unmind @georgia crohns disease ass dietary restriction (i was trying to do this when i was sickly, it helped but god damn its almost impossible when u realise just how much shit has onion/garlic powder in it)

@winterklaus @hjh @unmind every goddamn spice mix ever. bonus: for tamasic flavor but rajasic constitution, cook with asofetida, but its stinky!!!

@hjh @georgia i will probably never do that tbh unless i become a bhiksuni or something. i heard that the reasoning for buddhists not to eat stuff like that is it inflames sexual desire and i don't really care about that rn and don't think it's true anyway. i only really care about the compassion to animals bit. but if i ordain as a nun then i really have no choice

@georgia @hjh @unmind asofetida & fenugreek my goats!! another potential exploit i did not try while i was still sensitive is wild garlic leaves

@unmind @hjh do you think they'd let you be on estrogen in a buddhist monastery? might be best to start your own one. make the tgirl monastery real

@winterklaus @hjh @unmind the leaves dont injure the plant as much so I wonder if its Jain approved. I learned a lot about religious dietary restrictions a couple years back while trying to create the perfect uber ethical diet. wish I had that old .txt, it was crazy detailed...

@georgia @hjh idk, i don't like thinking about it really cuz it's probalby one of those things that i'll never be able to do as a trans woman ;_;

@georgia @hjh plus shaving my head scary...

@georgia @hjh @unmind afaik which is not much, its more chill if u avoid the bulbs. i think they grow back okay if u dont uproot them also based on what foragers advise

@unmind @hjh remember the tathagatagarbha has no gender or sex

@unmind @hjh I'm more into the path of selfless action than the path of renunciation myself. its the path that can change the world, not merely transcend it.

@unmind I've been vegan for 8 years so if you have any questions about transitioning hmu

@georgia @hjh idk i think it's probably more complicated than that. dragon girl became a buddha in the lotus sutra but only after spontaneously transforming into a male body. like do i think theoretically a trans woman could become a buddha, sure, but really i'm not talking about hypotheticals i'm talking about the real-world discrimination i could possibly face as a trans woman seeking ordination as a nun. there's one instance i can think of in japan of a transgender shingon nun but i'm pretty sure she transitioned after being ordained, idk how it would work if i was already trans before ordination

@georgia @hjh anyway being a nun probably isn't my path. in japan they can be married because priests don't follow vinaya there so maybe it's possible but like, i think it would make my relationship complicated and there's quite a few steps i would have to take that i don't think are financially feasible

@unmind @hjh thats a very good point. would you care to explain the dragon girl thing further? what was the metaphysical meaning of her transforming into a man? I hope its not something sexist about the body of the buddha being inherently male in some cosmic sense. anyway, not sure about buddhism but the hindus are very clear on the jivanmukta being without a sense of iness or myness. without iness, one cannot identify as male or female or neither or both, and without myness, one cannot have the sense of attachment to a male or female or intersex body. unity with God (or with shunya or with the buddha-nature) means unity with something totally transcendent of such things.

@unmind @hjh maybe its very easy for me to say such a thing because I'm agender, but im also rather gay and even though being a lesbian is a part of my identity I look forward to enlightenment where I will transcend desirous infatuation romance and lust and yet feel infinite love towards all beings indiscriminately.

@georgia @hjh it's not really something that buddhist tradition agrees on, the dragon girl episode. some say it reinforces the reality that a buddha can only become a buddha in a male body, some say that her taking on a male body was expedient means for the male-centric audience for the lotus sutra. it's my personal belief that anyone can become a buddha in this body, since kobo daishi taught as much, but buddhist history has still privileged men over women. and that's still not really engaging with the trans aspect which is a whole other dimension.

@unmind @hjh that reminds me of the cathars, I believe most of them also believed that ones final life was always in a male body. its very cringe, women aren't animals or an inherently lower life form than men, although it does require better karma to be born male because of how women vs men are treated by society. of note, there are stories in hindu literature of even demons becoming enlightened.

@georgia @hjh i think a trans woman could attain enlightenment and possibly become a buddha but idk. there's a lot of doubts in my mind about what's possible for me. i don't really have a theoretical reason why i believe what i do. shingon teaches that the dharmakaya is male but only some aspects of the fourfold dharmakaya, while the most transcendent aspect is formless. but i really don't know enough about buddhist theory to say anything intelligent on it. i just need it to be true in my heart that buddhahood is possible for me in this lifetime

@unmind @hjh also, changing form is a common siddhi, theres nothing so special about a male body that it absolutely must govern ones entire life destiny when one can literally change form, even devadatta had this siddhi.

@georgia @hjh i wish i could just be a shakta but i don't think that's the path for me. i'm just too convinced that the three jewels are the highest refuge one can take. even as a shakta i would feel weird being trans. we just don't have a lot of positive historical representation in spiritual communities

@unmind @hjh shaktadvaitavada is a beautiful path. shakta tantra is very powerful for achieving both worldly and spiritual ends.

@georgia @hjh but like at least with shaivism and shaktism i don't think there's any negative representation like there is in buddhism frankly

@georgia @hjh yeah.... i just don't think it's my path >_< maybe it is, idk...

@unmind @hjh you have time to figure it out :)

@georgia @hjh yeah, the wisdom of buddhism makes more sense to me (even for things like emptiness that don't feel intuitive they still feel like difficult truths i have to accept) but bhakti to devi makes more sense to me, and i still have the sense that devi is a samsaric being despite my desire to believe others. plus the only teacher i know who taught about kali turned out to be a creep and the only teacher i know teaching shingon wants me to read all these introductory texts about buddhism. ahhhh idk. i just wish i had an answer and was on a set path right meow

@unmind @georgia @hjh guanyin avalokitesvara chooses to manifest as female yet without attachments, thus it should be no different for you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@0utside0utsider @georgia @hjh all buddhas and bodhisattvas are reflections of our own pure enlightened mind which is equivalent with the dharmakaya mahavairocana, this is true. i am guanyin and guanyin is me, but really my honzon right now is dizang who is male in china but sometimes female in japan..... i love them

@unmind @0utside0utsider @hjh oh I know this stuff from my wikipedia buddhism adventures

@unmind @hjh if I ever find a clear path I'll help you find yours too. if you want :)

@georgia @0utside0utsider @hjh i don't remember where i learned it. i think i learned it from the shingon teacher i know, or from kukai major works translated and with a foreword by reverend hakeda. i can't claim to understand the implications of it but i can take it on faith that it's true

@georgia @hjh that would be nice... > <

@unmind @hjh @georgia
Interjecting on this thread to share this book that I have not read but may be of interest