Greetings on International Women’s Day. I usually say happy Women’s Day in previous years, but it is hard to be gleeful during this tumultuous week, as the women in Ukraine march to the frontlines and as the outrage about trafficked women continue to boil over on my WeChat feeds.
What I can at least do is to collect myself and renew my vows to follow the footsteps of Tara, the bodhisattva determined to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings in women’s form lifetime after lifetime.
Our practices of contemplation, self-understanding, and transcending one suffering at a time are actionable steps of actualizing these timeless vows.