Book Study - "Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices"
October 5 - November 30, 2022
The ZCO Engaged Buddhism Committee will host a book study featuring Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices, edited by Kevin Manders and Elizabeth Marston, running eight Wednesdays online from 7-8:30 pm, October 5th – November 30th.
Free: this book study is offered at no cost.
We will begin with 25 minutes of meditation and then discuss each week’s reading. All are welcome.
Please join us to celebrate and uplift trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary voices, especially at this critical moment when transgender rights are under attack across our nation. In these discussions, we speak from our own experiences and deeply appreciate the sharing from people of all gender identities. As we each investigate our unique conditioning and effects of gender together, we see our common ground and the truth of interconnection as we explore the Buddhist teachings of apparent self and other, emptiness and form.
Book description: “Transcending brings together more than thirty contributors from both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions to present a vision for a truly inclusive trans Buddhist sangha in the twenty-first century. Shining a light on a new generation of Buddhist role models, this book gives voice to those who have long been marginalized within the Buddhist world and society at large. While trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary practitioners have experienced empowerment and healing through their commitment to the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, they also share their experiences of isolation, transphobia, and aggression. In this diverse collection we hear the firsthand accounts, thoughts, and reflections of trans Buddhists from a variety of different lineages in an open invitation for all Buddhists to bring the issue of gender identity into the sangha, into the discourse, and onto the cushion. Only by doing so can we develop insight into our circumstances and grasp our true, essential nature.”
Session 1, October 5: Circuitous Trans Life Paths: All that we must go through to come out
Readings
Prefaces and Blessing
“Alchemy,” Drew Jones
“The Prodigal Daughter Returns…” Kathleen P. Lamothe
“Working with Nothing…” Elizabeth Marston
“A Lotus Dependent Upon the Mud,” Jacoby Ballard
“Softening,” Michaela McCormick
“The Bardo,” Sebastian De Line
Session 2, October 12: Double consciousness in relation to non-dualistic awareness
Readings
“What is a Body, Anyway?…” Finn Enke
“Soil, Sh*t, and Compost,” Cooper Lee Bombardier
“Growing to Know,” Chance Krempasky
“Sitting,” Lu Lam (pg. 152-154)
Session 3, October 19: Embodiment, Body Modification, & HRT
Readings
“Meditation” and “Little Ghost,” Avren Keating
“Trust,” Finn Schubert
“Becoming Whole Just to Let It Go,” Kevin Manders
“Right Now…It’s Like This,” Justin Adkins
Session 4, October 26: Forms of Transphobic Oppression in Buddhist Communities
Readings
“untitled,” Zavé Gayatri Martohardjono
“Uppity Apostate Transgender Monk…” Santino Vella
“Yellow Poppy and an Aniccagender Heart,” Lu Lam
“Person of color, genderqueer, Buddhist…” Mx. Finn Lofton
“Believe and Disbelief…” Dharmacharini Jñanamitra Emmett
“Barriers Faced by Trans People of Color…” Thuy Vanh
Session 5, November 2: No-self & Identity
Readings
“Gender and Emptiness,” Cypress Atlas
“When Duality Falls Away,” Adhamh Roland Hoeltzel
“Working with Nothing…” Elizabeth Marston
“Becoming Whole Just to Let It Go,” Kevin Manders
“On Transitioning,” C.E. GiyU̵ Gillis
“Coming Home to Themselves…” Em von Euw
On Survivorhood, No-Self, and the Practice of Queer Life, Esme D. Miller
Session 6, November 9: Impermanence, Acceptance & Change
Readings
“What is a Body, Anyway?…” Finn Enke
“Uppity Apostate Transgender Monk…” Santino Vella
“Alchemy,” Drew Jones
“Growing to Know,” Chance Krempasky
“Becoming Whole Just to Let It Go,” Kevin Manders
“The Prodigal Daughter Returns…” Kathleen P. Lamothe
“Believe and Disbelief…” Dharmacharini Jñanamitra Emmett
“On Transitioning,” C.E. GiyU̵ Gillis
“Barriers Faced by Trans People of Color…” Thuy Vanh
Session 7, November 16: Processing being newly or not fully out; internalized transphobia
Readings
“Karma Chameleon?” Michelle McNamara
“Conduct Unbecoming…” Shaun Bartone
“My Trip Back Home,” Coral Short
“Queer Radical Dharma…” Sasha Strong
“untitled,” Luna Rangjung Yeshe
“untitled,” Ryan Patrick Backer
“A New Normal,” Jane Whittington
Session 8, November 30: Third-Gender Traditions in the Sutras & Buddhist Cultures of Origin
Readings
“Trans Is Home,” BK (Brian Otto Kimmel)
“What is a Body, Anyway?…” Finn Enke
“Gender and Emptiness,” Cypress Atlas
“Uppity Apostate Transgender Monk…” Santino Vella
“I Am Everything, I Am Nothing…” Fresh “Lev” White
“On Transitioning,” C.E. GiyU̵ Gillis
Excerpt from Maki Isaka, Onnagata: A Labyrinth of Gendering in Kabuki Theater