Buddhist teachings recommend appreciating obstacles because they are
helpful to our practice. Without obstacles we would never develop
profound understanding or compassion. Buddhists have also frequently
claimed that female rebirth is an obstacle. If obstacles are of great
benefit, shouldn’t women, who encounter more obstacles than men, rise
to the top of the hierarchy of revered Buddhist teachers? But that has
not happened. Is this obstacle actually of benefit to women, as
teachings on the helpfulness of obstacles would suggest? After
practicing Buddhism for almost forty years, I have come to appreciate
how much the many obstacles I faced over the years have taught me. For a
woman of my generation (born 1943), none has been greater than the
limitations placed on me as a woman, both by Western culture and by
Buddhism.
-- Rita Gross on Sakyadhita: Awakening Buddhist Women
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