When I think of the feminine quality the following verse came to mind.

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings

Loving Kindness is one of the strongest qualities of mankind. It is a quality that we are capable of developing to a high degree of perfection.

This quality, although best exemplified by the stanza above, it is by no means limited to female only. Having said that, the inherent nature of a loving mother is second to none.

In Buddhism, we are taught that female also have the same potential of attaining liberation as their male counterpart. Many nuns became Enlightened during the Buddha’s time. Great female sponsors such as Visakha contributed greatly towards Buddha’s activities.

One of my favorite story recounted how a lay female devotee in her golden years attained enlightenment after learning meditation from 2 young monks. After her enlightenment, She discovered that her mentors were unenlightened. She knew they would not be susceptible to receiving meditation tips from her. So she decided to help them by providing the necessary diet conducive to their mental development instead. In that way, due to her nutritious food offering, the monk’s health was conducive for meditation and they gained enlightenment shortly.

In this story we can see the great qualities of the female Arhat guiding the super egoist male pride towards enlightenment.

Happy women’s day. May many wise women appear in this world.

May all be well and happy.