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Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover is an American contemporary author known for her emotionally rich novels. Her works often explore themes of love, family, and self-discovery, and have gained a large following among readers. more

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“We were discussing sexual misconduct among Western Buddhist teachers. A woman Buddhist from California brought up someone who was using his students for his own sexual needs. One woman said, “We are working with him with compassion, trying to get him to understand his motives for exploiting female students and help him change his actions.” The Dalai Lama slammed his fist on the table, saying loudly, “Compassion is fine, but it has to stop! And those doing it should be exposed!” All the serving plates on the table jumped, the water glasses tipped precariously, and I almost choked on the bite of saffron rice in my mouth. Suddenly I saw him as a fierce manifestation of compassion and realized that this clarity did not mean that the Dalai Lama had moved away from compassion. Rather, he was bringing compassion and manifesting it as decisive fierceness. His magnetism was glowing like a fire. I will always remember that day because it was such a good teaching on compassion and precision. Compassion is not a “wishy-washy, anything goes” approach. Compassion can say a fierce “no!” Compassion is not being stupid and indulging someone in what they want. Trungpa Rinpoche called that “idiot compassion,” like giving a drug addict drugs. The way I am using the word “fierce” in this book is in the sense of how a mother animal defends her young. A laser beam of fierceness, of pure energy that when harnessed and directed is powerful and unstoppable. It is fierceness without hatred or aggression. Sometimes a wrathful manifestation is more effective than a peaceful approach. It is by understanding the Dakini’s fierceness as a productive and creative source of raw energy that we see the Dakini in action, wielding the power to subdue, protect, and transform. We must find the sources to access this fierce Dakini power and bring it to bear on what matters to us in our lives, be it emotional, spiritual, intellectual, or political. Meeting our strong feminine energy, we will develop as women, and not as women trying to be like men or asexual beings. We are different, and until that difference is known, owned, and maximized, our true feminine potency and capacity to bring this world into balance will not be realized. The powerful, fierce feminine is very much a part of the psyche, but it is repressed, and when it is not acknowledged because it is threatening, it can become subversive and vengeful. But when it is acknowledged and honored, it is an incredible source of power.”

DakiniFeminist Spirituality
Book:Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine
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“The extent of violation of women and violence of the earth perpetuated by men does not mean that all men are perpetrators. It is important to acknowledge that there are many forward-thinking males around the world who recognize these same problems and are working in collaboration with women to change them. While I am focusing on the needs of the empowerment of women in this book and the devastating results of the lack of women's equality and their abuse, and ultimately we need a partnership society, in the end we need to develop the model of mutually empowered partnership with men rather than domination of either gender. Societies that promote power with, rather than power over, each other. The loss of feminine qualities is an urgent psychological and ecological issue in modern society. It is a painful loss in our emotional lives and a disastrous loss for the safety of life on earth. In women, it affects their central identity, and in men, it affects his ability to feel and value. The loss of the feminine in men causes him to feel moody and lonely. In women, it causes her to lose faith in herself. We are slowly awakening to the crisis of the earth and the effect of the loss of the sacred feminine. The few people understand that the causes of this crisis have spiritual values at their roots. Values of the sacred as eminent, immanent, imbued in all of life, and all life as interdependent.”

DakiniFeminist Spirituality
Book:Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine
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