Missed something special yesterday: Happy Belated International Women's Day!

 

Yesterday was a pretty wonderful day. Among other things, it was Chotrul Duchen, the day of miracles; the anniversaries of both Marpa Lotsawa (one of the seminal figures in resurgence of translating Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan as well as the progenitor of the Kagyu lineage) and Garab Dorje (the first Dzogchen master); it was Holi, the Hindu spring festival where people throw vivid pigments at each other (which normally I think would be fun, but I just had my laundry done); and His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave teachings on a couple of Jatakas tales as a lead-in to a Chenrezig empowerment.

But I kindasorta missed that it was International Women's Day! This, despite His Holiness making a pretty strong argument that more women are needed in international roles. In fact, he was fairly adamant about women getting men out of the way when it comes to governance. War? Environmental destruction? Corporate malfeasance? Most of the players who perpetuate such wonderful fun are, well, um, guys. Maybe not all the time, but for the most part, yeah, the masculine brain trust is really good at plundering, despoiling, raping and trashing. Sure, there are women who may be married to and perhaps even support their menfolk in these actions, but I wonder if it's due more to a kind of Stockholm Syndrome that's sort of cropped up over the millennia.

Some reading material for you to read, ponder and share, in addition to the International Women's Day link above: http://www.hrw.org/category/topic/women

I think we should all commit to working toward greater equality over the coming year with a renwed sense of vigor. Can't hurt, right?

Plus, tomorrow promises to be a pretty active day here in Dhamsala, being the fifty-third anniversary of the invasion of Lhasa and the uprising against the Chinese that kicked off the Tibetan diaspora that continues to this day. Oh, and for those of you not paying attention, the first lay-women just self-immolated days ago.

I was going to include a short paragraph, but it's ballooned a little bit. Soooo, one more post today.