To my fellow trans* Buddhists,
Happy TDoV! I hope that you are happy, well and peaceful.
It is a tough and tiring time to be visible. My heart goes out to those of you who are in less safe and privileged positions than my own. I celebrate the trans community’s resilience, compassion and wisdom. The Buddha wished for all being to be happy, omitting none. May your hearts be filled with Dhamma, may you find ways to embody your truth and be liberated by it.
Trans people have always existed, regardless of surgeries and hormones. The Buddha and elders recognise this in vinaya. Trans people come in many different bodies. When they make themselves visible. it is a gift and an act of trust. It is not the trans person’s job to prove that they are trans/man/woman enough, or to remind you of their pronouns or to conform to your ideas of gender. They just want to get on with their dhamma practice, living happy and safe lives. As allies, you can listen, believe and amplify trans people’s voices. “Speak trans people’s words with them” is one of the ways of being a good ally, listed on the TransgenderVictoria TDoV website. You can learn how to do this and other forms of allieship here.
Akaliko wrote a lot of helpful and good things in this post from a few years ago, along with sharing a some helpful resources. I urge you to check them out.
My friend Venderable Myōgen and I spoke at last year’s Metta Convention on the topic of trans* identity and gender, as it relates to Buddhism and non-self. The talk has so far been well received.
My apologies to the trans* Buddhist community for not organising a Rainbodhi TDoV event this year. I know how important it is to come together with community. Please know that I am thinking of you and sending rainbow mettā.
I recently read this in the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya:
“Reverend, if monks ordain a woman like a man; whose tone, words, and voice sound like a man’s, and whose appearance looks like a man’s, should it be said that she has been ordained or has not been ordained?" “Upāli, indeed [she] has been ordained…”
It made me smile for three reasons:
it reaffirms the existence of trans people in ancient times
it reaffirms that women can be ordained by monks
the Buddha isn’t quoted here as picking a pronoun for such a person
Reminder that everyone is trans, because we have all been every type of gender throughout the rounds of rebirth. Anyone might have a sex change between lives, but some of us have one within one lifetime as well
So it makes sense to treat people as the gender they are right now, not what they were in the past, whether that be the gender they were assigned at birth, or a gender they were in a past life.
With the recent othering and villainizing being done against the transgender community, it seems more important now to stand with our transgender fellows. Transgender people have higher rates in general when it comes to suicide, sexual harrasment, bullying, etc.
Everyone deserves to feel comfort and ease in their lives, no matter if their opinions may differ from yours. I have a hard time understanding the transgender community I admit it, but I do not need to understand it completely as I never will. All I know is that they too are human, stub their toes, break their bones and bleed, and that enough, the fact that they’re sentient beings, is enough of a requirement for them to deserve our love.
While this is certainly true, I think it’s also worth remembering that the first person to use testosterone or receive a phalloplasty as trans gender affirming care, as well as the first person to perform an orchiectomy on a British trans woman was a translator and monk, Michael Dillon / Jivaka.
I think it’s certainly possible to over-emphasize the medical aspect of trans identity, I just think this is a cool intersection of history worth celebrating on this forum specifically.
And there’s that the bit from the Theravāda Vinaya:
At one time female characteristics appeared on a monk. Tena kho pana samayena aññatarassa bhikkhuno itthiliṅgaṁ pātubhūtaṁ hoti.
They told the Buddha*.* Bhagavato etamatthaṁ ārocesuṁ.
“Monks, I allow that discipleship, that ordination, those years as a monk, to be transferred to the nuns. “Anujānāmi, bhikkhave, taññeva upajjhaṁ tameva upasampadaṁ tāniyeva vassāni bhikkhunīhi saṅgamituṁ.
The monks’ offenses that are in common with the nuns are to be cleared with the nuns. Yā āpattiyo bhikkhūnaṁ bhikkhunīhi sādhāraṇā tā āpattiyo bhikkhunīnaṁ santike vuṭṭhātuṁ.
**For the monks’ offenses that are not in common with the nuns, there’s no offense.” Yā āpattiyo bhikkhūnaṁ bhikkhunīhi asādhāraṇā tāhi āpattīhi anāpattī”ti. **
At one time male characteristics appeared on a nun. Tena kho pana samayena aññatarissā bhikkhuniyā purisaliṅgaṁ pātubhūtaṁ hoti.
They told the Buddha. Bhagavato etamatthaṁ ārocesuṁ.
“Monks, I allow that discipleship, that ordination, those years as a nun, to be transferred to the monks.
**“Anujānāmi, bhikkhave, taññeva upajjhaṁ tameva upasampadaṁ tāniyeva vassāni bhikkhūhi saṅgamituṁ.
The nuns’ offenses that are in common with the monks are to be cleared with the monks. Yā āpattiyo bhikkhunīnaṁ bhikkhūhi sādhāraṇā tā āpattiyo bhikkhūnaṁ santike vuṭṭhātuṁ.**
**For the nuns’ offenses that are not in common with the monks, there’s no offense.” Yā āpattiyo bhikkhunīnaṁ bhikkhūhi asādhāraṇā tāhi āpattīhi anāpattī”ti . **
I was never clear on what liṅga. The Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya clarifies this.
Thank you. This was very nice.