In our daily lives we encounter individuals who challenge us and seem to make it difficult to practice. It is possible we may become discouraged and think there is no possible way for the circumstances to change. We may feel there is nothing we can do to be at peace with certain people in our environment. Yet those challenging individuals can provide for us an opportunity to change ourselves in ways not otherwise possible. We can choose whether we wish to learn and grow or remain unchanged and continue to have difficulties with the same situations.

Some people hold up the enlightenment of the Dragon-King’s daughter as the story that proves that women had an equal place in the Sangha at the time of Shakyamuni. I don’t quite agree because I think a better case is made in the predictions of future enlightenment of the wife and aunt of the Buddha and other women in that general prediction. In both cases, however, the changing into a man still happens. I have written earlier in the book about imposing our modern ideals of equality and respect for all people on the culture and history of the past. I think the best we can say is the possibility of women being able to become enlightened is made in both instances, even if flawed.

In the example of the dragon girl, it is worthy of considering how prejudices can enter our way of thinking and influence us in negative ways. Because a woman bleeds, which is the result of giving birth, she was considered impure, and yet giving birth, bringing new life into the world is one of the purest things. I once heard someone say that women bleed giving birth and men bleed killing. Perhaps we should give this some thought. Nichiren wrote a response to a woman believer saying that because a woman bleeds she is considered impure by society, but in the eyes of the Buddha that distinction does not apply.

Shariputra chimes in with his doubts about the dragon girl, almost scoffing, saying in effect, Who do you think you are so presumptuous to come here and claim to be able to become a Buddha so rapidly? The arrogance of the intellectual can be most harmful when we let our brain control our heart. Shariputra offers up the traditionally held objections to a woman becoming a king, which also transferred to beliefs about women becoming Buddhas. Those five objections are called the five impossibilities and are: a woman cannot become a Brahman-Heavenly-King, a King Sakra, a King Mara, a wheel-turning-holy-king, or a Buddha.

When the dragon king’s daughter appeared, she went to the Buddha, worshiped at his feet, and praised him. I think we should ponder this praise she offers the Buddha because it reveals an important message about not judging people based upon outward appearances. She says to the Buddha that only the Buddha recognizes that she is qualified to become a Buddha. When the Buddha in us awakens it is capable of realizing the Buddha in others. We cannot say we recognize the Buddha in others only with our intellect or with offering lip service. The recognition has to come from deep within our lives at the very core of our enlightened self.

When introduced to the eight-year-old daughter of the dragon king, Accumulated­-Wisdom makes the comparison between her and Shakyamuni saying that it is hard to believe that someone so young and a female could accomplish all that the Buddha had done in his entire lifetime. I believe this shows us the danger of making comparisons between others and ourselves or between other people. It is wrong and potentially misleading to look at people and say they are not qualified to be a Buddha based upon outward appearances. Everyone – let me say it again, all beings – are equally endowed with the potential to manifest the Buddha that is inherent within their lives. From the poorest, or the most heinous criminal, or the least educated, to the richest, most pure, or smartest it does not matter whatever distinction we may apply they are all irrelevant when it comes to attaining Buddhahood. When we personally engage in such practices as judging people we are in fact sowing the seeds to our own misery because we are in effect slandering the very teachings of the Buddha we claim to uphold.