/lit/ - Literature

Fellow /lit/erate anons,

In light of recent "events", let's review and discuss an important sutta from the Pali Canon.

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AN 5.55
Mother and Son

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On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.

Now on that occasion a mother and a son, being respectively a bhikkhunī and a bhikkhu, had entered the rains residence at Sāvatthī.

They often wanted to see one another, the mother often wanting to see her son, and the son his mother.

Because they often saw one another, a bond was formed; because a bond formed, intimacy arose; because there was intimacy, lust found an opening.

With their minds in the grip of lust, without having given up the training and declared their weakness, they engaged in sexual intercourse.

Then a number of bhikkhus approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and reported what had happened.

[68] [The Blessed One said:]

"Bhikkhus, did that foolish man think:

'A mother does not fall in love with her son, or a son with his mother'?

(1) Bhikkhus, I do not see even one other form that is as tantalizing, sensuous, intoxicating, captivating, infatuating, and as much of an obstacle to achieving the unsurpassed security from bondage as the form of a woman.

Beings who are lustful for the form of a woman — ravenous, tied to it, infatuated, and blindly absorbed in it — sorrow for a long time under the control of a woman's form.

(2) I do not see even one other sound ...

(3) ... even one other odor ...

(4) ... even one other taste ...

(5) ... even one other touch that is as tantalizing, sensuous, intoxicating, captivating, infatuating, and as much of an obstacle to achieving the unsurpassed security from bondage as the touch of a woman.

>>16246409
Don't ask

>>15991954
I had a trans friend that killed themselves. FtM. She was always into women but took awhile to come to terms with that- so she tried to compensate by getting into a long-relationship with this guy (who was also gay).
Eventually, she came to terms with liking girls, but not with herself. So about a year later, when she was 17, she begins transitioning with approval from her grandparents. She changed her style, name (multiple times), interests, even friend groups, to whatever she perceived to be more masculine.
She had an easy time transitioning in college. Today's society is.. I don't want to say accepting, but 'okay' with more effeminate looking men? So she was able to pass for a girly dude on the surface. However, that wasn't enough for her; she wanted to be this stallion of a man that played intense sports (American football mainly), got metric fuck tons of girls, etc. I tried to tell her she wasn't going to achieve all this - as PC as I could - that there were biological men that couldn't get all of these things, but she didn't want to hear it. It's part of the trans thing I guess, the idea that with enough belief and hormones, you can surpass nature.
Needless to say, she never achieved any of this. She was weak and couldn't go toe-to-toe with men who didn't even exercise. She only ever got with one girl. And she was ridiculed and shit on for ever wanting to be in sports with other men.

I'm going to be honest and level with all of you. I think I contributed to her suicide, or at least I blame myself for it. Me and her talked the night before she killed herself and it was about the male identity. She was telling me how impossible it seemed, how few girls seemed interested in her, how weak she felt, how the world suddenly shifted and no one was sympathetic towards her anymore.

I told her that was the essence of being a man. The world doesn't cater to you. It's structured around you, sure, but that doesn't mean you've found your place in jigsaw puzzle. And some men never find the place where they fit in. It's easier to be a woman, because they're meant to be led and rely on men. That means the man is on his own and must rely on himself.
So if she wanted to be a man. she would have to embrace loneliness and independence. Ensuring the balances never tip one way or the other.

The next day she was found hung in her dorm room. I blame myself a bit. My .02 drunk 'philosophizing' may not have been the catalyst, but I don't think I offered her the support she wanted.

Anyway, I don't know if that's the kind of story you're wanting. My point with that story though is I don't think anyone truly knows what it entails being the other gender. Men and women only understand each other on the surface level, and when that transition really occurs for someone, they may find that the other gender isn't all it was glammed up to be.

>>15579049