Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • YouTube Archive
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
  • Buddhism
    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
    • Kagyu Lineage
    • The Golden Rosary
  • Centers
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Oceania
    • Africa
    • South America
  • Office
    • Media
    • Contact
Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • YouTube Archive
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
  • Buddhism
    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
    • Kagyu Lineage
    • The Golden Rosary
  • Centers
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Oceania
    • Africa
    • South America
  • Office
    • Media
    • Contact
  • English
  • France
  • Germany
  • Spain
  • Italy
  • Canada
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
  • Poland
Apr 06

In Princeton Lecture, Karmapa Calls for Genuine Gender Justice

2015.04.01 Princeton
(April 1, 2015 – Princeton, New Jersey) His Holiness the Karmapa today delivered a lecture to the Princeton University community on “A Buddhist Perspective: The Environment, Gender and Activism.” Addressing the assembly at the Princeton University Chapel, the 17th Karmapa called for a genuine gender equality that does not stop at mere external forms.

“It is important to remember that the restoration of women’s rights and the full empowerment of women must go far beyond mere external appearances and institutionalized mechanisms or structures,” the Karmapa said.

“Such necessary steps as restoring the full monastic ordination for women in my own tradition, famous historical steps such as women’s suffrage, and even the election of a woman as president—these steps are in themselves not enough to truly restore women’s rights, or to truly empower women.”

What we need, the Karmapa said, is genuine understanding, love and respect.

“We need mutual understanding and it has to be real. It cannot be fake or contrived. It has to be loving and respectful—and it has to be founded in basic human benevolence and caring for one another.”

The Karmapa’s call to action rang through the tightly packed rows of pews. The young audience listened rapt, as His Holiness’s voice echoed through the vast domed spaces of the chapel.

During his talk the Karmapa pointed out that many countries have used legislation and social pressure in their efforts to protect and promote women’s rights. His comments echoed themes he had raised earlier in the day during interactions with students in the gender studies department and with a group of student activists.

“Yet in spite of legislation, social pressure and political correctness, women still suffer inequality,” he said. “So I think the solution lies beyond mere legislation and social pressure. We must try to truly develop love, understanding and an authentic concern for one another.”

His Holiness explained that the main aim of this visit, his third to the United States, was to visit the nation’s great universities. After enjoying several in-depth collaborations with groups of US college students who had visited him in India, including many students who were around his own age, the Karmapa had felt a strong wish to see a glimpse of their experience.

“It may be difficult for normal people to imagine the challenges that someone like me has to face,” he said. “I suppose some people imagine that being a spiritual leader one leads a life of comfort, luxury and ease, but let me assure you that is not the case. It is filled with challenges and difficulties of all kinds.”

Yet these very difficulties enabled him to increase his empathy and concern for others.

“Experiencing many challenges has enabled me to develop greater and greater concern for the difficulties that others face. This is actually what has made me sensitive to and concerned with issues such as gender inequality.”

As he continued his exploration of the topic of gender inequality, the Karmapa returned to the need for restoring bhikshuni, or full ordination for nuns, within Buddhism. As Princeton Dean of Religious Life, Alison Boden, had explained in her introduction, His Holiness himself this year had historically initiated concrete steps to reestablish full ordination for women in his lineage. His Holiness pointed out that this is not just a spiritual or religious issue, nor is it simply an issue about vows.

“This issue goes to the very heart of the need to protect and promote the rights of women, their empowerment, and to support their innate capacity for leadership,” he explained.

“We first began talking about restoring bhikshuni ordination 20 or 30 years ago,” he continued. “But in spite of all this conversation, so far we have not put it into practice or applied it. I think that activism would consist of actually doing it, actually restoring it instead of just talking about restoring it.”

The Karmapa fielded a range of questions submitted in advance by Princeton students. The topics ranged from different emotions that can motivate activism to how to preserve our connection to the natural world when living in large cities. When asked for his own views on gay, lesbian and transgender relationships, the Karmapa began by cautioning that his views should not be taken as an expression of the doctrinal Buddhist position on the matter. Rather, although he acknowledged that people might take anything the Karmapa said to be the Buddhist view, he was expressing his own thoughts on the matter.

“This issue here is true love,” he stated. “In any relationship, whether it is between two people of the same gender or two people of different genders, if the relationship is based on true and genuine love and not just physical desire, then it is authentic. But if that relationship is based only on desire or gratification and not on love, then whether it is a gay, lesbian or heterosexual relationship it is still not going to be very good. It is love that determines whether or not a relationship is authentic and valuable.”

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • E-Mail

Related Posts

[ long read ]

MIND TRAINING TEACHING
The Gyalwang Karmapa gave an extensive teaching on the 8 Verses of Training the Mind

[ video series ]

THE PRAJNAPARAMITA
Taught over six sessions, this is a direct explanation of the Buddhist view of emptiness

[ long read ]

THE CHENREZIK PRACTICE
The Gyalwang Karmapa taught on how to practice Chenrezik and recite his mantra

[ video series ]

100 SHORT INSTRUCTIONS
Taught over nine sessions, this text by the 8th Karmapa was taught in great depth by the present Karmapa.

[ long read ]

THREE PRINCIPLE ASPECTS
A comprehensive teaching that condenses the entire Buddhist path by Tsongkhapa

 

Recent Updates

  • Approaches to Understanding the Thirty Verses of the Mind Only
  • The Inauguration of the 23rd Kagyu Gunchoe
  • The Essence of Glory: A Shakyamuni Puja in the Kadampa Style
  • The Gyalwang Karmapa’s Closing Remarks to the Mar Ngok Summer Teachings
  • Differing Perspectives on the First Council and the Compilation of the Tripiṭaka
  • Upāli – the Foremost in the Vinaya and Contemporary Analyses of the First Council  
  • Ananda’s Offenses, Arhatship, and Recitation of the Sūtras

Kagyu Office Around the World

中文 // Français // Polski // Español
The Karmapa’s website is carbon neutral. //

About the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is the head of the 900 year old Karma Kagyu Lineage and guide to millions of Buddhists around the world.

Born in 1985, the Karmapa resides in his temporary home at Gyuto Monastery in India after making a dramatic escape from Tibet in the year 2000.

Traveling the world, the Karmapa skillfully teaches traditional Tibetan Buddhist Dharma while also advocating topics such as environmental conservation, feminism, digitization of the Dharma, and much more.

Please use the icons below to find the Karmapa on social media maintained by his office of administration.

// // // //

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Please view our Privacy Policy. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo