This post is for women. Any woman who has felt stillness at a sunset or on the beach, or stillness in a perfect sports moment, or yoga, or a transcendent stillness when everything clicks or goes awry in your life in ways you could have never expected -- has meditated. Which means you should 'get' this post.
What do meditative women need to know? What do all women need to know? It is something that Rama first explained to his students in 1982, a fundamental difference between men and women. The topic arose in the context of asking a question -- why don't more women attain enlightenment?
All beings, in fact all things considered inanimate, such as a rock,
have a field of energy that surrounds their physical presence. The
energy body that surrounds human beings is what is being observed when
people say they see an aura around someone. The ancient practice of
acupuncture uses the energy meridians that are located throughout the
subtle physical body to heal and energize. A needle is inserted lightly
into the skin to draw energy to a center that requires it. The
traditional depictions of the seven chakras that one finds in the
literature of Asia come from different visions of the subtle physical
body.
So there are energy bodies that surround men and women, and they are different.
A woman has a very fluid and expansive subtle physical body. It is conducive to conducting power. A man's subtle physical is more grid-like and conducts energy more slowly. Love and humility are the strongest natural traits for a man. A woman, given the makeup of her subtle physical body or energy body should more easily attain enlightenment than a man.
What does it boil down to? My friends, drumroll, I will give it to you straight, as Rama taught it to us. Alert!! I'm giving away the secret now.
There. I bow. You have just received a high mystery school teaching and now you get to put it into practice in your life.
You start by observing.
Look, for example, at a boy of 14 and a girl of 14. If a girl hasn't had sex yet (more on that later) then both the boy's and girl's subtle physical should be in pretty good shape. Notice how the boy's energy doesn't radiate out that far from his body and there is a natural inner constraint. Notice how the girl's energy is more fluid and vibrates more quickly. You don't have to see these things. It's a feeling.
Realize too that because of the completely switched and wrong views of men and women that men and women still hold about themselves and each other, whatever you are observing about these 14-year-olds is a small subset of what is possible. The 14-year-old boy could be ecstatic and glowing with love and humility. But in fact, since infancy, he's been programmed in an opposite way -- growing up to be a man means holding back your infinite love and developing a subtle superiority. The 14-year-old girl could be ecstatic with power, a towering wave of kundalini energy that can take any form and touch the highest states of awareness. Instead, she's probably unconsciously thinking about how to cut off her power level to accommodate the boys she is now attracted to (assuming she is heterosexual) and following all the examples set for her by her friends and her own mother and media.
When you observe, it is unlikely you will see male and female subtle physicals in their full, enlightened form, but you will see a huge number of women selling themselves short due to disinformation and ignorance about their most basic quality -- power. And you will see a huge number of men living the life of a lie by cutting off their most loving feelings and cultivating a subtle -- or not so subtle -- machismo that is the opposite of their nature.
And the silliest part -- when a women does not live up to her alleged role as a humble and loving partner, and the husband does not live up to his role as a power leader, both sides become disillusioned. Many relationships end over the mix-up over who has the power, and who has the humility and love. And of course, tragically, there are many cultures today where, if a woman displays even a tiny fraction of her innate power level, she is beaten down literally and metaphorically and robbed of the life that would allow her power level to help herself, others, her family, the environment and society.
Women are innately good dealing with vast amounts of power. Men -- not so much.
Consider the nature of power. In nature, it is is generated by rapid movement. The movement of water over dams, of electrons colliding, of combustion, of tides. This power, this fluidity, is innate in the subtle physical body of a woman. In the human body, male and female, this power takes the form of kundalini energy, traditionally depicted as located along the length of the spine. In the state of enlightenment, the full force of kundalini energy has risen from the bottom or root chakra (sanskrit term for energy center) up to the crown chakra, which is several inches above the head. Both men and women have kundlini experiences, But a shorter path to enlightenment naturally belongs to a female subtle body because of the power already conducted there.
Of course, as men and women progress towards enlightenment, a man will develop more of his female side (power) and women will develop more of their male side (love and humility). Ultimately, in enlightenment, there is no gender. But along the way, there are paths that are more suited for the two genders, and that is what we are discussing here.
As Rama explains in his talk, "
Why Don't More Women Attain Enlightenment," the reason more women don't attain enlightenment, and are repressed, and do not comprehend how powerful they are, even a little bit -- is cultural. It has to do with recent history (say in the last few thousand years) and mental programming.
There is another reason as well. It is human nature, to destroy what one is threatened by. Men, threatened by the power of women, have tried to destroy that power in every way possible -- economically, socially, spiritually.
This is how Rama explains it:
Women exemplify, from a spiritual point of view, power. The power of the kundalini energy, the energy of life, flows through them in a very different way than it does through a man, innately. In a fallen world, in a world of fear and darkness, men have reacted very negatively to the power that is inherent in women. Rather than realizing that that power is also indigenous to themselves, that they have the same power, only it manifests in other ways, they have rejected that power and sought to convince women of the exact opposite, that they are powerless. They have done this through sexual repression, economic repression, political repression, social repression, ideological repression and spiritual repression. Women have been given a description of the world that they are taught from childhood, which they believe is true, as are men. We are taught by our societies, by our parents, by the examples of those we see.
There is really no such thing as a woman or a man. There is a physical body, a subtle physical body, a soul. But there is no such thing as a woman or a man. What we consider to be a woman is an idea. This idea has been formed through history, culture, politics, art, religion—the same is true of a man. These ideas are out of balance. They are not true or accurate. Women have been taught that they are not powerful, as a matter of fact, they've been given an opposite description—that they are, in fact, weak. The word “effeminate” implies weakness, stemming from feminine. Women have been taught that they are not particularly sexual. Who has taught them this? Men.
Men have taught them so in a world of darkness because they were afraid, because the thing they wanted the most they feared the most—power. When you wish to subjugate a people, you have to convince them of their own inherent weakness. If they believe that they are weak, they will not rebel. If they believe that they are strong and intelligent, they will rebel. So the social repression and ideological repression of women began with depriving them of education, political decisiveness, mobility and essentially [creating] sexual slavery—in marriage, through childbirth and in many other ways.
Today, in our more liberated times (about the last 40 years, maybe), it seems that women are breaking through to new understandings. But I don't see that at all. I think women are making some progress, but the programming is still in place. I see women with the desire to get a certain amount of power and then they find ways to suppress it. So today, women can be a six-foot wave. ( Some women, we know we have sisters all over the world are still repressed in every respect by men who fear their power.) Where are the great powerful women, the women who live in a state of a tsunami fully risen, so vast and fluid is their energy? Where are they? Shouldn't we as women help each other to wake up and become who we are??
But back to power, and love, and humility. Each one so powerful in its own right. This blog post is not about bashing men. How could anyone do that? We are Buddhists, and we're seers. The love and humility that is innate in men is beautiful to see, if one can find it. But since this post is for women, ladies, you need to know that being close to/intimate with/under the influence of a man who harbors any negative feelings about women (and thinking that your power level is anything less than a tsunami fully risen is a negative feeling), then girlfriend, you are in a tough situation. Because that beautiful fluid aura of yours is also more sensitive than a man's more grid-like energy body, and because of your sensitivity you will pick up the thoughts and feelings of that man you are close to so easily, you won't realize the feelings are not your own. Suddenly, your energy is lower, your self-confidence is lower, your feeling that you need to be protected is higher -- what?!? You don't need to be protected! If you have these thoughts, it means tht you and all women are still walking around with thousands of mental lines of programming.
Examples of programming for women:
I need a man/partner to be happy
I need to find a man powerful than me (forget it, you never will!)
I need to get married
To be fulfilled, I must have children
Moderate success in a career will suffice for me
I am powerless or weak in some aspect of my life
I need to walk a certain way, talk a certain way, dress a certain way to attract men
I do not innately have vast amounts of power
If I show my power level, it will frighten away people I love
Because of past lives -- and if you are reading this blog, you have undoubtedly had thousands of them -- the programming goes much deeper. We are talking thousands of years of a programmed mindset where even being born as a woman was considered an inferior birth. Where the only way a woman could survive was through a man. Where gaining any form of spiritual teaching was a blessing, but in many cultures and religions, the 'higher teachings" were left to men. Where showing any form of intuition or female solidarity could result in being burned to death.
Religions have also institutionalized the repression of women. I was at a conference recently where Bernie Glassman, a Zen teacher, spoke of the "bullshit of the patriarchy." What he was saying was that rigid, embedded teachings that have a flavor of male dominance are just that -- born of male ego. Such teachings do not hold light. They are not the dharma. Women medititators should not feel they have to bow to patriarchal teachings. Such teachings do not hold light or energy.
What does this mean for women seekers? Enlightened teachers are the most fluid beings on the planet. Whatever the gender of their body, they are fully male and female. The transcendent quality of the path to enlightenment is meditation. Women seekers have an affinity for achieving still, luminous, intensely ecstatic states of mind in meditation. That is your nature, and you should realize it. The pathway to enlightenment is different for women than what you may have been taught. Women, as they embark on the pathway to enlightenment, should follow the path of power.
What is the path of power?
There are many types of power, but the highest power is the power of stillness and is achieved through meditating. The power of the kundalini energy that rises up the length of the spine and opens the chakras (energy centers in the subtle physical body) is equally present in men and women, but the fluidity of a woman's subtle body is more resonant with kundalini energy. So a woman is more suited to reach states of samadhi -- no thought - during meditation, and to progress with repeated experiences of samadhi towards nirvikalpa samadhi (full self-realization).
The first and primary step on the path of power is to meditate deeply and well, and to know innately that the intensity and focus you bring to your meditation practice is your true nature. You were born that way. From the practice of meditation, your power level will start to grow and you will start to experience more and more of your own true nature. This is probably going to bring some surprising realizations and revelations.
Your power or internal energy -- chi -- will start to manifest in increased intuition, greater mental acuity, more humor, greater sensitivity. You are going to start to notice who is smiling at you outwardly but burning you inwardly. It happens! It is very important for women to trust their intuitions and to start to become aware of energy levels in people, settings, events, furnishings, food, everything! You will start to notice that there are places, situations and people that raise your energy level. And those that lower it.
If you would like to succeed on the path to enlightenment, or even just lead a healthy, happy life, then you'll want to strategically cut out the places, situations and people that drain your energy. And move towards things that build your power level. Besides meditating for at least half an hour every day, here are some of the fun ways to build power --
Challenge yourself with constantly learning new skills, new sports
Break your routines -- go to new places
Regularly visit places of natural beauty where you can spend some time alone
Make your career part of your practice and excel at it
Earn more money
Go to funny or scary or intense films
Dance
Enjoy great music
Get your black belt in martial art
Women meditators should be the most powerful women on the planet, for they meditate AND know about balance and laughter and are comfortable earning money in order to be able to live a comfortable life as well as help others.
Women trying not to make waves and looking drab and cultivating meekness -- you need to look at that and change it. The symbol for your power level is a tsunami, risen, roaring. The tsunami can take any shape. It is infinitely powerful. Not a metaphor, a fact.
