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"Way-seeking mind" is a phrase one hears in Zen that seems to mean different things to different people. To me, it's something in us that seeks the dharma even when we're not conscious of seeking the dharma. Perhaps we don't even know what the dharma is. Yet the events of our life bring us to the dharma. We find the path and realize we'd already been walking it.

At Huffington Post, Susan Piver ("Are You a Buddhist? You Tell Me.") talks about her way-seeking mind journey in Tibetan Buddhism. She said she read one of Trungpa Rinpoche's books, The Heart of the Buddha, and recognized that she was a Buddhist. I had a similar experience many years ago, reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh.

It's something like stumbling along in the dark and then turning on a flashlight and seeing where you are. And you see that in a meandering sort of way you'd already been going in a good direction, without realizing it. But now that you've got some light and can make out a path, you can direct yourself with a little more awareness.

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Way-Seeking Mind originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 14:59:52.

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His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama recently told an audience there is no reason his successor, the 15th Dalai Lama, could not be a woman. Unfortunately, he added that he thought an attractive female might be more effective than an ugly one. But let's leave that alone for now.

A few days ago Zen teacher Grace Schireson spoke at my Zen center on women in Buddhism. The sensei is also a clinical psychologist and author of the book Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters, which is very good. If you're interested in women's issues in Buddhism, I recommend it.

Anyway, while there may be no gender bias in the dharma, one cannot say the same for institutional Buddhism. And much of the institutional bias is hardwired into Buddhism via the Vinaya, the rules for the monastic orders established by the historical Buddha. In the Vinaya recorded in the Pali Canon, nuns were given more and stricter rules than monks, including the eight Garudhammas, or special grave rules. Among other things, under the Garudhammas all nuns are junior to all monks and may not scold or "advise" a monk.

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Dalai Lama: No Gender Bias in Buddhism originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 at 15:15:33.

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Here's some inspiration for you -- the Rev. Myokei Caine-Barrett, the first western woman to be ordained a priest in the Nichiren Shu order, talked about taking refuge in the Buddha on CNN. The Rev. Caine-Barrett, who is of African-American and Japanese descent, talks in particular about diffusing racism through compassionate practice.

I also very much appreciate what she says about using one's own suffering to help others. But to do that, she first had to realize the impermanence of suffering. Clinging to suffering just intensifies it, but letting it go helps us awaken. As Leonard Cohen says in his song "Anthem": "There is a crack in everything / that's how the light gets in."

The Rev. Myokei Caine-Barrett originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 10:32:15.

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