Center For Sacred Studies

Gender roles dominate Daoist summit

At the foot of Hunan Province's Hengshan Mountain, one of the Five Sacred Daoist Mountains, over 200 religious scholars from around the world convened last week for the 7th International Conference on Daoist Studies. This year's discussion focused on a single subject: the role of women in Daoism .

At the conference, scholars expressed different views on women's status according to Daoist beliefs. Themes included the history of women in Daoism, Daoist concepts portrayed by contemporary female artists, the loss and love and lust in the Daoist nunnery, and cultivating and harmonizing sexual energy in the community.

The concept of male-female harmony, or yin and yang, originated in the 6th century BCE by the Daoist scholar Laozi in his classic work Dao De Jing. The work set an important precedent for the respect of women, even though gender roles were later reinterpreted by Confucius.

In the opening speech, Lu Xichen, director of the Research Center of Religious Culture and Moral Construction at Hunan's Central South University, hailed Daoist philosophies as more balanced in regard to the sexes than those of some other mainstream religions.

"In many religions of the world, the female is always ignored or suffers from discrimination," Lu said. "But in Daoism, female [adherents] have dignity and independence."

Wu Chengzhen, the first female abbot in Daoist history, discussed gender equality in the Chinese classic Yi Ching, saying the book's teachings were "the best thing to ever happen in Chinese philosophy."

"In Yi Ching, you find the beauty of balance and the equality of [the concepts of] heaven and earth, father and mother, water and fire... You will never find any [concept] overtaking another," Wu said.

Thomas Michael of Boston University examined some of the ways in which the Zhuangzi, one of the most popular writings in the entire corpus of Chinese history and one of the foundational texts for Daoism, re-examined the place of women in terms of the cosmology of yin and yang.

"In a civilization heavily indebted to Confucian social and religious structures, the Zhuangzi smashes the status quo in which yang is set above yin and men are accorded more authority than women, and thought is valued over emotion," he said.

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Kucho shares, “The entire planet is experiencing a time that is very special.  In the tradition of the Incas, it is called the New Pachacuti. Humanity will continue but in a different manner.  Material structures are going to change. We are living in the most important age and time: all of the prophecies of the world, all of the traditions, are converging in this moment.  This spiritual ideal is happening right now.”    

Before we go up the mountain, we want to take a moment to join with you in prayers to send to our friends and relatives of Japan as they embrace the challenges that have occurred in these most recent days. We are being told that as a result of the earthquake, Japan has moved 8 feet and that has changed the way the earth sits on her axis. At the moment this happened, the earth actually stepped out of time, shortening our days by some few milliseconds. Through these dramatic occurrences, we are beginning to see how connected we are.

The prophecies have been preparing us for these days. It is a time of physical challenge, yet a great doorway is opening in our spiritual being. Some of our elders have said that these are the first contractions that will bring forth the birth of a new time on Earth. It is a time to breathe into our hearts, learning to live from them, centering ourselves and trusting the Universe in this unfoldment. Many from all over the world have joined resources to aid Japan and it is through these actions of collaboration that the spirit of unity amongst all people will become more visible.

It is a time of choice. What will we choose? Fear or Love? Separation or Unity? Destruction or Creative Construction? Nature is trying to shake us awake! Our prayer is that we will listen!    

Our prayers and hearts are with you!   

Jyoti & Darlene  

“The Stargate Mystery School introductory weekend gave me an opportunity to challenge myself by opening up my heart, expressing and examining feelings in ways I previously had difficulty with. I feel so much gratitude towards all my teachers and fellow participants for their guidance, holding a safe space, support and sharing. Now my journey has taken me to enroll in the full program out in Ohio where I wade into a new process of transformation.” – Nathan J. Huerkamp is a wonderful means of imparting traditional knowledge to young hearts, minds and souls.