How the Lotus Sutra treats gender as fluid?
More than 400 bills have been proposed in state legislatures across the United States to limit the rights of transgender people.
These bills are supported by various sponsors, such as the Christian nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom, who use Christian, Jewish, and Islamic values to justify their opposition to transgender rights.
The Alliance Defending Freedom claims that these religious traditions consider gender to be strictly binary and determined solely by biology, disregarding the differing perspectives on LGBTQ+ matters within these faiths.
The following article from the conversation emphasizes that historically, these religions were more inclusive of diverse gender identities before the imposition of a binary concept during the colonial era.
Contrasting this perspective, the Lotus Sutra, a prominent Buddhist scripture in East Asia, treats gender as fluid.
The text conveys a message of universal Buddhahood through stories depicting transformations between male and female bodies.
For instance, a dragon girl transforms instantly into a Buddha, challenging the notion that female bodies are barriers to awakening.
The Lotus Sutra also describes the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara taking on male or female forms based on the audience’s needs.
Women in premodern East Asia found inspiration in the dragon girl’s story, as it demonstrated that their female bodies were not obstacles to enlightenment.
