Saturday 15 August 2020

Chandrottara and Yeshe Dawa

 (I)

Chandrottara was the bright, beautiful daughter of a prosperous lay follower of Shakyamuni. She was born with supernatural powers. Whatever she would touch would shine; wherever she went flowers would rain down; and she could fly at will. 


With her beauty and charm, it was natural that all manner of men pursued her and lusted after her, but she would have none of it. Rather, such was her luminiscence that when she engaged with those who lusted after her, preaching to them the futility of desire, they would be permanently freed from passion. 


 She yearned to enter the orders of Buddhism but was told that Shakyamuni had forbidden women to enter. 

She was not deterred. She took to the air, flew across the city, and lightly landed where The Buddha was seated surrounded by hundreds of monks and followers. 


She addressed him directly, beseeching to be permitted to enter the order. "O Enlightened one, you have brought to the world the doctrine of emptiness- you have preached that "All things that have characteristics are false and ephemeral. If you see all characteristics to be non-characteristics, then you see the Tathāgata." 


"Then is it not irrelevant whether a person occupies a male body or a female body? Why, then, do you forbid women from entering the order?"


Shakyamuni beheld her, radiant and graceful, the light of intelligence and virtue  shining from her face. He heard her undeniable logic carefully. He could predict that she would eventually attain Buddhahood herself. He offered to transform her into a man to make the process easier. 


And at once, she was transformed to a young man, and became a Bodhisattva. There is a Sutra by her name, telling of this particular tale, but that is all the world has ever heard of about Chandrottara. 


(II)

There once lived an exceptionally wise, gentle, patient and generous young woman named Yeshe Dawa, or Wisdom Moon. Her special qualities made her so famous that people came from far and wide to her for advice in resolving their problems.  


Her fame reached the ears of some Buddhist monks and they travelled to see her. They were awed to meet her and found that she indeed had all the qualities of a Bodhisattva. But then, she was a woman, and The Buddha would not admit women as monks, let alone recognise one as a Bodhisattva. 


The monks advised her, "O gracious lady, we are sure that if you meet The Buddha and request him to turn you into a man, he would be glad to do so, and then there would be but a short path for you to achieve enlightenment, since you are so advanced on that path already."


Yeshe Dawa listened to them carefully. She then gave them a considered reply. 

"The Buddha has given us the knowledge that nothing is abiding; there is no such thing in reality as gender; nothing is male or female."


"Yet, most of those who attain enlightenment have done so in the form of a man. So would it not be worthwhile for me to choose to walk the path in the form of a woman?"


She then took a vow, that in every birth, till the end of time, she would always choose to be born as a woman and attain Enlightenment in the form of a woman, however longer it may take or however many difficulties there may be due to this choice. 


Thus Yeshe Dawa continued to strive for Enlightenment, and the path was an arduous one.


But when she attained it, she became, not a monk, not a Bodhisattva, but Goddess Tara herself, She who is Mother, Daughter, Consort and Saviour of The Buddha, His equal and more, She of the 21 forms, White, Golden, Red, Green and Black, worshipped in every home, Remover of all obstacles and Friend to all.