ma ning

ma ning

An imprecise, catchall term, difficult to translate. It designates people with various kinds of unclear gender status, including but not restricted to physical intersex conditions and hermaphrodites. It can, for example, also mean a eunuch, or from the Vinaya account of the expulsion of a paṇḍaka , a male who sought other males to have sex with him. See also the glossary entry in http://read.84000.co/translation/toh1-1.html#UT22084-001-001-2567. It could also be applied to a transgender male, not necessarily a eunuch, such as the hijras. Hijras, men who dress as women, have been an established part of Indian society since ancient times and all-hijra communities still have a significant societal role. Hijra is a more recent term with a Hindustani-Urdu origin.

In the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the term paṇḍaka (Tib. {ma ning}) encompasses diverse physiological and behavioral conditions, such as intersexuality, erectile dysfunction, and fetishes that imply an inability to engage in normative sexual behavior. Five different types of paṇḍaka are identified in the text (see http://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-001-001.html#UT22084-001-001-1616): congenital hermaphrodites, sequential hermaphrodites, fetishists, voyeurs, and those who are sexually impaired (see glossary entries for each). The criteria for being designated a paṇḍaka are not strictly physiological but neither are they grounded exclusively in gender identity or sexual orientation. Paṇḍaka is, in effect, a catchall category and, as such, defies easy translations like "neuter," "androgyne," "intersexual," "transgender," or "paraphiliac."
See also Gyatso (2003), Cabezón (1993), Zwilling (1992), and Likhitpreechakul (2012).

The Tibetan term {ma ning} is broader than any existing English term and refers not only to those whose sexual characteristics are not clearly defined as male or female (intersexual), but also to those who do not have any proper gender organs, those who may have both, and those who are neuter, infertile, or who simply have physical or non-physical characteristics of a {ma ning}.

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