connection to the story of Moshan Liaoran, the story of a woman who teaches a male disciple, and the story a male disciple who stays on to study with her after he has found her to be a true teacher. Apparently her deep insight into the irrelevancy of form and characteristics to the awakened mind of the true teacher has impressed him (xiang) deeply. The second part of sentence says that the teacher must be a (Ch. daijobu Dogen’s a manly this term lies a passage from the dajangfu), Nirvana “great person.” Behind fascicle 9, the chapter, Sutra (i.e., Sutra on the Final Nirvana of Sakyamuni), Rulaixing which says: "If one is able to know that he has the Buddha nature, I say that he has the characteristics of a man (jangfu). If there is a woman [who knows], then she is a man (nanzi)." The rhetoric of gender equality in Chinese Chan in the Song dynasty draws heavily on the concept of someone who, whether a man or a woman, has the “daijobu,” characteristic fierce strength and determination of a great manly person, or, someone who cuts through all delusion with a single stroke, and, upon awakening, is beyond the limitations, including the gender limitations, of the unawakened. In Japan too in the late Kamakura period Dogen is not alone in using this term to argue for gender equality, at least if the woman is capable of the decisive strength of will of which great manly persons are capable. As the passage makes clear, not all men are capable Nirvana Sutra of being manly in that way, there is equality, perhaps. Lori “great persons” either: Meeks quotes the Vinaya master Eison who was a close contemporary of Dogen as women, if they renounce the world now, pursue Buddhist learning and writing: “Even
connection to the story of Moshan Liaoran, the story of a woman who teaches a male disciple, and the story a male disciple who stays on to study with her after he has found her to be a true teacher. Apparently her deep insight into the irrelevancy of form and characteristics (xiang) to the awakened mind of the true teacher has impressed him deeply. The second part of Dogen’s sentence says that the teacher must be a daijobu (Ch. dajangfu), a “great manly person.” Behind this term lies a passage from the Nirvana Sutra (i.e., Sutra on the Final Nirvana of Sakyamuni), fascicle 9, the Rulaixing chapter, which says: "If one is able to know that he has the Buddha nature, I say that he has the characteristics of a man (jangfu). If there is a woman [who knows], then she is a man (nanzi)." The rhetoric of gender equality in Chinese Chan in the Song dynasty draws heavily on the concept of “daijobu,” someone who, whether a man or a woman, has the characteristic fierce strength and determination of a great manly person, or, someone who cuts through all delusion with a single stroke, and, upon awakening, is beyond the limitations, including the gender limitations, of the unawakened. In Japan too in the late Kamakura period Dogen is not alone in using this term to argue for gender equality, at least if the woman is capable of the decisive strength of will of which great manly persons are capable. As the Nirvana Sutra passage makes clear, not all men are capable of being “great manly persons” either: in that way, there is equality, perhaps. Lori Meeks quotes the Vinaya master Eison who was a close contemporary of Dogen as writing: “Even women, if they renounce the world now, pursue Buddhist learning and