CHNS-0093 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Heart Sutra, Taoism, Tang Dynasty
Document Summary
L e c t u r e 7. The monk becomes pregnant as an ironic element; he embodies religious purity but he is mortal and therefore cannot be free from his material needs. The switched roles are not made a huge deal of causes reader to question why society places so much stress on strict gender roles. The story becomes misogynistic the women all want the men desperately. Puts women in the role where they will be the ones objectifying the men rather than the other way around. The women are after the human men (so go for tripitaka). The demon woman plays the role of seductress. Men are human seeds because they can get pregnant; also are forced to bind their feet. Monk is not allowed to have any sexual relations with women because his virginity is his primal yang . Buddhism talks about equality of all beings causes more equal presentation of male and female in the novel.
