Divinity as Genderless in World Religions
Throughout history and across cultures, the nature of the divine has been contemplated, debated, and expressed in myriad ways.
A good faith analysis of world religions reveals a profound understanding of the fundamental ineffability of the ultimate reality in any entirely conceivable sense. While the transcendent is knowable, it is only so with significant limitations — namely, conventional limitations.
Sacred texts and spiritual traditions from Deuteronomy to Zen Buddhism often explicitly mean that this inconceivable ground of being transcends all human categories, including the constructs and dichotomies of gender.
By exploring key passages and concepts in various faiths, we gain insight into the limitations of language in describing the infinite, the non-dual nature of absolute reality, and the ethical imperatives implied when fixating on gendered notions of the divine.
The spiritual journey invites us to look beyond familiar forms to apprehend the formless, uniting in love while celebrating an irreducible diversity.
Deuteronomy and the Gender of the Divine
God is often referred to in the Hebrew Bible with masculine pronouns and imagery. However, this anthropomorphic language is a product of the cultural and linguistic context in which the texts were written.
Deuteronomy, as part of the Torah, emphasizes the oneness and uniqueness of God, particularly in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), which declares, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
This oneness connotes a transcendence beyond human categories, including gender. Deuteronomy 4:15–19 warns against idolatry and the making of any image of God, which includes the prohibition of ascribing any form, and by extension, gender, to the divine: “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure…”
This passage advances the idea that any attempt to limit God to a particular form, including a gendered identity, is a misunderstanding of the divine nature. And that insofar as one is aligned with the divine nature, one has dis-lodged oneself with not just conventions related to gender but all knowable conventions.
The Vimalakirti Sutra and Gender
The Vimalakirti Sutra is a critical text in Mahayana Buddhism that challenges conventional notions of gender and identity.
In this text (Chapter 7.3), Vimalakirti, a lay bodhisattva, engages in profound dialogues that deconstruct dualistic thinking. One of the most striking passages regarding gender is the gender transformation of the goddess, who challenges the monk Shariputra’s attachment to gender distinctions.
Through her magical powers, the goddess switches their genders, demonstrating the emptiness of gender as an inherent characteristic and pointing to the non-dual nature of reality.
Sariputra: Goddess, what prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?
Goddess: Although I have sought my “female state” for these twelve years, I have not yet found it. Reverend Sariputra, if a magician were to incarnate a woman by magic, would you ask her, “What prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?”
Sariputra: No! Such a woman would not really exist, so what would there be to transform?
Goddess: Just so, reverend Sariputra, all things do not really exist. Now, would you think, “What prevents one whose nature is that of a magical incarnation from transforming herself out of her female state?”
Thereupon, the goddess employed her magical power to cause the elder Sariputra to appear in her form and to cause herself to appear in his form. Then the goddess, transformed into Sariputra, said to Sariputra, transformed into a goddess, “Reverend Sariputra, what prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?”
And Sariputra, transformed into the goddess, replied, “I no longer appear in the form of a male! My body has changed into the body of a woman! I do not know what to transform!”
The goddess continued, “If the elder could again change out of the female state, then all women could also change out of their female states. All women appear in the form of women in just the same way as the elder appears in the form of a woman. While they are not women in reality, they appear in the form of women. With this in mind, the Buddha said, ‘In all things, there is neither male nor female.’”
Then, the goddess released her magical power and each returned to his ordinary form. She then said to him, “Reverend Sariputra, what have you done with your female form?”
Sariputra: I neither made it nor did I change it.
Goddess: Just so, all things are neither made nor changed, and that they are not made and not changed, that is the teaching of the Buddha.
This episode in the Vimalakirti Sutra illustrates the Mahayana view that all phenomena, including gender, are empty of inherent existence and are merely conventional designations.
The ultimate reality, or sunyata, is beyond all dualities, including the duality of male and female.
Other Religious Traditions
In Hinduism, the concept of Brahman, the ultimate reality, is also beyond gender. The Upanishads, ancient Hindu scriptures, describe Brahman as “neti neti,” meaning “not this, not that,” indicating that Brahman cannot be confined to any concept, including gender. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.6)
In some Hindu traditions, divine figures such as Ardhanarishvara embody both masculine and feminine aspects, symbolizing the inseparability and interdependence of genders yet pointing to a reality that transcends them.
In Taoism, the Tao is the ultimate principle underlying the universe, described as beyond all dualities.
The first chapter of Laozi’s Tao Te Ching states, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name.” This means that the Tao, like the ultimate reality in other traditions, cannot be adequately described by language, which includes gendered language.
In Taoism, the principle of wu wei, or “non-action,” further illustrates the transcendence of dualistic and gendered distinctions. Wu wei does not mean inaction but rather taking action in harmony with the natural flow of the Tao, which is beyond human constructs and oppositions, including gender. This concept encourages a way of living that aligns with the fundamental nature of reality, which is unforced and without contention.
The Tao Te Ching, in its teachings on wu wei, signifies that the most effective actions arise from a state of non-coercive harmony with the Tao, which itself is beyond all distinctions and categories, embodying a state of perfect balance and unity that transcends the dichotomy of masculinity and femininity.
This principle reveals a profound understanding of the ultimate reality, which cannot be fully grasped or described by conventional means, including inherently gendered language.
The Riddling Questions of the Ultimate
The concept of “Mu” in Zen (Japanese) and Chan (Chinese) Buddhism offers a compelling parallel to the Taoist notion of the ineffable nature of the ultimate reality. Mu, often translated as “not” or “nothing,” is famously exemplified in the koan (inflammatory riddles given to one by incorrigible yet unforthcoming monks to spur enlightenment), asking whether a dog has Buddha nature. (The Gateless Gate, Case 1)
The answer is Mu, indicating neither yes nor no but pointing beyond dualistic thinking. This response invites the practitioner to transcend conventional categories of thought, including the distinctions between existence and non-existence and, by extension, gender distinctions.
Like the Taoist Wu Wei, Mu points to a reality beyond the grasp of intellectual understanding and linguistic categorization. In discussing the divine or ultimate reality as being without gender, Mu reinforces the notion that such reality transcends all dualities and cannot be confined within the limits of human language and conceptual thinking.
Through koans and the emphasis on meditation, Zen and Chan Buddhism guide practitioners to an experiential understanding of this truth, encouraging a direct encounter with the ultimate reality beyond words and concepts, including those of gender.
The teachings against idolatry in Deuteronomy and the teachings on emptiness in the Vimalakirti Sutra both highlight a transcendent aspect of reality beyond gender. This brings to bear a foundational realm of Being that underpins all conventional realities, encompassing both those who adhere to the gender binary and those who do not.
This understanding encourages one to look beyond traditional identities and recognize language and concepts’ limitations when discussing the divine. It also has ethical implications, promoting inclusivity and equality by challenging rigid gender roles and hierarchies.
As the ground of being, the divine encompasses all and excludes none, inviting a more expansive and less prescriptive approach to understanding the sacred. In the New Testament Gospels, Jesus’ teachings and practice also point to a divine reality beyond gender.
For example, his inclusive embrace of both men and women among his followers was radical for his time and culture. (Luke 8:1–3; Luke 10:38–42)
The sages of Deuteronomy forbid false images that would limit the Divine, calling us to revere the ineffable One beyond conceptual idols. The Bodhisattva Vimalakirti reveals the emptiness of gender, like all seeming opposites, guiding us to nondual wisdom. Brahman, the Tao, God as I AM (Exodus 3:14) — no name or form captures the Ultimate (the form-giving force itself.)
Across traditions, the mystic heart intuits what no tongue can express.
Like the Zen master’s paradoxical answers, the truth mirroring the Divine transcends binary logics — neti neti — neither this nor that.
As beings of light and flesh, spirit and multiplicity, we walk the unique expression of our divine nature — the Buddha, the Torah, the Beloved Community — but the Goal is One.
We clear the dust from the mirror through each tradition’s practices to see the Mystery afresh. Cherishing all paths, we celebrate this diversity blossoming from the same Root.
To unify without homogenizing, liberate without rejection, and find completion beyond all concepts — this is the spiritual quest’s perennial blessing.
With meditative awareness, our vision widens to encompass paradox. Beyond dualities, creation and Creator dissolve into luminous Being. We abide in the felt sense of essential Unity, wherein difference intrigues rather than divides, wherein no soul is exiled.
This mindful discernment mends false divisions — a homecoming to our shared existence, refracted and reflected, divine and wicked, named anew through history’s revelations, yet ever beyond all names.
