Book Study - "Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices"
May 11 - June 29, 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 at Heart of Wisdom from 7-8:30 pm, May 11 – June 29th.
We will begin with 25 minutes of meditation and then discuss each week’s reading. All are welcome.
Please join us to celebrate June as LGBTQIA+ Pride month and uplift trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary voices, especially at this critical moment when transgender rights are under attack across our nation. We will use this text as inspiration and encouragement to examine each of our own experiences of gender identity and gender roles from a Zen perspective.
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, May 11: 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, May 18: 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, May 25: 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, June 1: 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, June 8: 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, June 15: 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, June 22: 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, June 29: 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