Following up on the last post on the role of debate in Buddhism -- this brings to mind one of my favorite women of Buddhist history -- Liu Tiemo (ca. 780-859), also called the "Iron Grindstone."
Liu Tiemo was born into a family of farm workers in north central China. It was a hard life. It's said that one day, while she was still an adolescent, she simply put her tools down and walked away. I imagine her taking to the road, alone, bristling with teenage attitude.
She took shelter in convents, and eventually she was ordained a nun. She learned to read, and then she learned to debate. Her reputation as a fierce debater spread, and monks came to challenger her. She earned the nickname "Iron Grindstone" because she relentlessly ground her debate opponents into bits.
She studied witha renowned male teacher, Guishan Lingyou (771-854), and became one of his dharma heirs. Liu Tiemo's name is still listed on many of the the lineage charts displayed in Zen monasteries today. The larger point here is that challenging the understanding of another student is a tradition that goes way back.
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