Buddhism, Women, and Their Role

Throughout Buddhist history, the role of women has been far from fair.  As Donald S. Lopez Jr. says in The Story of Buddhism, “Those who seek a refuge from at it from Misogyny in Buddhism must always pick their texts carefully and ignore the fact that, regardless of the textual resources that may be available, the presence of Buddhism in a given society has not materially improved the status of women, although nunneries have often provided a welcome refuge for women.” Indeed, if one makes a list of the situation, the majority of it points to this: throuout Buddhism, women are treated and regarded as inferior to men.  Yet thousands of intelligent, well-educated women study Buddhism as laywomen or nuns|Despite that clear inequality, thousands of bright and educated women practice Buddhism as both laywmen and as nuns.  Let’s take a look at the role of women practicing Buddhism, both throughout history and from a modern day perspective. The Beginning of It All During the time which Buddha was born, the society had been controlled by the caste system and had been very anti-women.  So, Buddha rocked the Buddhist community to make it known that reaching nirvana was possible for anyone – man or woman.  The problem has been, nobody can say exactly what the Buddha actually said and did not say.   After all, the sutras had been written two hundred years after the Buddha’s death—and by monks.  This is an important thing to keep in mind as we travel backwards through history to India, sixth century B.C.E. Siddhartha Gautama’s mother passed when Siddhartha had been a mere infant.  He had been raised by his maternal aunt, Mahapajapati, who adopted him after her sister had died.. Years later, Mahapajapati began to experience the same sense of discontent which drove so many men into the sangha.  She longed to ask for admittance, but knew only men had been allowed to join the monastery.  Undeterred from the fear of failure, she felt compelled to ask to be admitted.  After shedding her material possessions, she used her time and energy doing compassionate acts.  Next, it became time to take the next step. Mahapajapati approached the Buddha while in Kapilavatthu and asked for admittance as a nun of the sangha three times. Three times he met her with only silence..  She left him to his thoughts, but shaved off her hair and put on a saffron robe.  When Buddha left on his lengthy journey to Vesali, he was joined by Mahapajapati, as well as 500 women of high-birth, all with shaved heads and donning robes. This time as she approached the Buddha, she noticed that he was meditating, and she did not wish to bother him|When they arrived, Mahapajapati didn’t want to to bother Buddha from his meditations.  Ananda noticed their clothing and inquired as to the reason.  Mahapajapati explained that the women had a longing to be admitted to be part of the sangha, but that the Buddha had already denied her three times.  Ananda, recognizing that her motive was pure, offered to present her case to the Buddha for her.  At Ananda’s urging, Buddha, seemingly grudgingly, agreed that women be allowed to join the sangha, but only if the women agreed to eight strict rules, which they must adhere to. 1.  Every nun, regardless of how long SHE became ordained, must bow with respect to any monk, regardless of how long HE became ordained. 2.  Before a young woman can apply for complete ordination no earlier than age 18, she must first finish the 2 yr. long basic training course on the precepts. 3. Nuns can never criticize monks for any reason, genuine or imagined, but monks may certainly criticize nuns for any authentic reason (although not for unsubstantiated ones). 4. The needs of monks will always take priority over nuns in the matter of food, beds, seats or lodging. 5. A nun who violates a cardinal rule of conduct must undergo disciplinary penance lasting fifteen days within the community of nuns and then must seek restitution belonging to front of the communities of both nuns and monks. 6. The nuns must ask for guidance from the monks every fifteen days, without fail. 7. Unless you find monks present, nuns shall not go in a rain retreat. 8. Once the rain retreat has been finished, the nuns must ask for a forgiveness ceremony from both groups confessing to any rules they have not followed, however minor. After this, Buddha said remorsefully to Ananda, “If women had not been allowed to be part of the monastery, the sangha would’ve remained intact for 1000 years.  However now that they've been admitted, the order will last only 500 years.”. Misogynists say that Buddha once said that because he knew of the inborn evil of women; other people are less harsh and have suggested that with both genders allowed, both the men and the women may give in to their physical desires. As time went on, nuns and monks both got much longer lists of rules to adhere to, but depending on the tradition, nuns can have up to one hundred more than the monks. As with all religions, there is a fair amount of discrepancy about how it all happened.  Another version offered up is that the nuns were not allowed to travel without a monk escort was because a nun had been raped.  If that were the situation, then the precept was included as a protection. Regardless of some exceptions, some precepts definitely were based on gender bias.  In fifth century India, women were considered to be inferior to men.  With no chance for schooling, and limited personal freedom, women of all castes were considered to be on par with the lowest of the castes, the Sudra. Again, we must remember that Buddha’s decision to allow women into the sangha was revolutionary, and controversial. Compared to to the other members of the monastery, Buddha‘s views on women‘s roles had been considered very forward-thinking.  Born into the exact same social setting as the Buddha, many couldn’t understand the reason why his attitude toward women was so lenient. At the 1st Buddhist council meeting, Ananda had been chastised and instructed to tell the council of his mistakes.  After Ananda stated he felt he’d done no wrong, his infractions were clarified for him.   One of them listed, had been his influence in the Buddha’s deciding to allow women into the sangha; another had been that Ananda had allowed women to pay homage over Buddha’s remains before the men had been allowed, and the 3rd was that he let their teardrops to fall on the Buddha’s body.  While always maintaining his innocence, Ananda agreed to confess, but only because he had been told he had to.

Tricia Stirling has created this course for the Universal Life Church Seminary. This is a section of one lesson (of thirty) from the Master of Buddhist Studies Course offered through the Universal Life Church Seminary. We have many courses to choose from and every one entitles you to an earned degree.