Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Buddhism and Gender - Coggle Diagram
Buddhism and Gender
The issue of female monasticism
Debates on the role of women in the monastic sangha
The role of women in Buddhist society is seen to be less than or subservient to men:
Rita Gross:
"Androcentrism and male dominance are almost unrelieved throughout Buddhist history"
The
Flower Garland Sutra
states: "Women are messengers of hell who can destroy the seeds of Buddhahood"
The
Silver-Colored Woman Sutra
states: "No woman in any of the realms of existence could ever attain Buddhahood"
The Buddha was reluctant to ordain women and had to be persuaded by Ananda to ordain his aunt Mahapajapati
Female ordination is illegal in Thailand and Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have also not allowed full ordination for women
The Theravada nun tradition has died out due to the rules for nuns' appointment
Non-bhikkhuni 'nuns' such as the 'ten precept mothers' have an even lower status and are considered to be laywomen
There are no fully ordained nuns in Tibetan Buddhism
The status and economic power of women in most Buddhist societies today is lower than that of men
The Lotus Sutra story of the
Dragon King's daughter
describes how the girl is turned into a man before flying to the heavens to preach the Lotus Sutra
The Buddha enforced eight additional rules for bhikkhunis called
the garudhammas
or 'rules of respect' - the first rule requires nuns to always treat monks as seniors despite their age and the sixth rule requires both monks and nuns to be present to ordain women, making the nun lineage impossible to revive
Many consider contemporary bhikkhuni ordinations to be invalid as they argue women from one tradition ordaining nuns in another invalidates the notion of lineage
In Thailand nuns' taxes are not subsidised and they do not receive government support, unlike monks
Nuns in Thailand and Theravada countries are expected to act as servants for the monks, particularly by cooking for them and providing food on their alms round
Nuns in Myanmar are called
anagarikas
- the name given to laypeople who live a life of celibacy and training
Female monasteries are actively attacked in Thailand - such as an arson attack on a temple in Rayong in 2016
The role of women in Buddhist society is no different to that of men in Buddhism:
Lorna Devaraja:
"The Buddha did not distinguish between men and women, [he] presupposes the spiritual and intellectual equality of men and women"
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera:
"That man is not always the only wise one; women is also wise"
Martine Batchelor:
"Is gender an issue on the Buddhist path? I do not think so in practical terms"
Passage from the
Samyutta Nikaya:
"Whosoever has such a vehicle whether man or woman shall indeed by means of that vehicle attain nirvana"
The Buddha said: "A female child, O Lord of men, may prove even a better offspring than a male for she may grow up wise and virtuous"
The Dalai Lama gave permission for Tibetan 'nuns' to make sand mandalas in 1998, and seems open to full ordination in principle
Women ordained in the Soto Zen tradition are called 'monks' to stress equality
The Lotus Sutra story of the Dragon King's daughter shows that women can attain enlightenment
Movements to revive the bhikkhuni lineage have grown largely in recent years - in the late 1990s, a group of Sri Lankan women were ordained in the presence of Taiwanese and Korean nuns, and women have also established nunneries in the US
Full ordination is available to nuns in Korea - bhikkhunis have their own nunneries, preceptresses, abbesses and teachers, nuns are financially independent from monks - this is largely due to the Confucianist regime's repression of Buddhism between 1400 and 1900, where monks and nuns were equal in their fights to survive
The Korean, Taiwanese, Japanese and Tibetan nuns wear the same robes as the monks
Full ordination became available to nuns in Sri Lanka in 1998
In Western Buddhism, there is more gender equality in the leadership of Buddhist organisations, such as the Upaya Zen Center founded by Joan Halifax
The role of women in Buddhist societies has been affected more by social attitudes than prescribed by the dharma:
Many consider the eight additional rules for bhikkhunis or the garudhammas to be reflective of India's social context at the time, which greatly segregated women from men -
Eva Neumaier
argues Buddhism generally challenged social beliefs of India at the time
Many of the garudhammas appear to have been designed to minimise society's discomfort with women being independent and exhibiting religious freedom - the Buddha could be considered progressive for allowing women into the sangha
Core doctrines and teachings do not refer to gender,
Khandro Rinpoche
argues references to gender only appear in later commentaries by individual monks and scholars
Teachings such as
anicca
,
anatta
and
sunyata
emphasise that gender is empty of inherent existence and is incidental to identity - in the Vimalakirti Sutra, an accomplished female changes the disciple Sariputra into a woman and herself into Sariputra to demonstrate the emptiness of gender
The doctrine of rebirth asserts that gender can change over successive transmigrations - in the samsaric sense, there is no male or female but only a single karmic stream
Some have argued there is cultural bias against women's ordination in Thailand because of the country's sex trade culture
Martine Batchelor
argues in practical terms gender is not an issue on the Buddhist path, however the influence of patriarchal society, culture and history on Buddhism is an issue
The garudhammas (Cush)
To respect as a senior any monk no matter how young
To keep the rains retreat only where monks are present
To wait for the monks to appoint the uposatha day and preach the patimokka sermon
The cerenomy at the end of the retreat can only be undertaken in the presence of monks
Penance for lesser offences must be given by both orders
Full ordination can only be given by the presence of monks as well as nuns
No nun can criticise a monk
No nun can officially admonish a monk
The additional rules suggest that women's position in the monastic sangha is inferior to men - suggesting Buddhism is institutionally sexist
However some argue these rules are more reflective of India's social context at the time, which greatly disadvantaged women and segregated them from men
Eva Neumaier
argues many of the rules specific to the nuns' order were obviously designed to minimise society's discomfort with independent women, who were exempt from the reproductive routine and male supervision
Differing status of female monastics
Female monasticism in Thailand
Some view women as too sensitive and undisciplined to become ordained
Some female monasteries have been attacked and burned
There is a cultural bias against women's ordination because of Thailand's sex trade culture
Female monks' taxes are not subsidised and they do not receive government support, unlike bhikkhus
Martine Batchelor
In
Korea
, the full ordination is available to nuns - they have their own preceptresses, abbesses and teachers, they are financially independent from monks, Korea also has a strong tradition of female shamans - Korean nuns are most equal to the monks among all traditions
In
Taiwan
, nuns have the full ordination but generally the nuns' preceptor is a monk apart from a few exceptions
There are very few nuns in
Japan
, they often have to support themselves financially by working outside teaching - Japanese monks can marry but nuns are not encouraged to do so
Tibetan
nuns can only be ordained as sramanerikas, the full ordination has never reached Tibet and nuns have limited opportunity to study and meditate
Korean, Taiwanese, Japanese and Tibetan nuns all wear the same robes as the monks
Sri Lankan
nuns used to not be considered part of the sangha, but full ordination for nuns became available in 1998 and they have received more support and training
Burmese
nuns are called
anagarikas
- the name given to laypeople who live a life of celibacy and training
Thai
nuns receive eight precepts are neither considered laywomen or nuns, they are expected to serve as servants to the monks, specifically by cooking for them
Sakyadhita
Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women is an organisation founded in 1987
The organisation promotes gender equality in Buddhism and holds international conferences biannually
Sakyadhita's objectives include establishing an international alliance of Buddhist women, working for gender equality in Buddhist education and ordination, and promoting dialogue among the Buddhist traditions and other religions
Bhikkhuni ordination (Talbot)
The nun lineage began when
Ananda
convinced the Buddha to ordain his aunt
Mahapajapati
The Buddha enforced eight additional rules for nuns called the
garudhammas
or 'rules of respect'
Some have interpreted the nuns' subordinate position to monks as an attempt to keep peace with society at the time
The sixth rule of the garudhammas requires both monks and nuns to be present to ordain women, making it impossible to revive the nun lineage where it has died out
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma have not allowed full ordination for women, where bhikkhuni orders have survived in Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam - where Chinese Buddhism and Mahayana lineages have spread
Movements to revive the bhikkhuni lineage have grown largely in recent years - in the late 1990s, a group of Sri Lankan women were ordained in the presence of Korean and Taiwanese nuns, women have also established nunneries in the US
Trinley Dorje
announced he wanted to restore the nun lineage, as he believed the
fourfold sangha
are the four pillars of the Buddhist teachings
However many argue contemporary bhikkhuni ordinations are invalid because a woman from one tradition ordaining nuns in another invalidates the notion of lineage
Female attainment of awakening
Women in Buddhist literature
Tenzin Palmo
argues that as all Buddhist scripture was written by men, Buddhist literature therefore has a misogynistic view
Khandro Rinpoche
argues that discrimination against women exists in Buddhist teachings and prayers, however these can be seen as individuals' interpretations rather than the Buddha's words - core doctrines and key teachings do not refer to gender
Gender only appears in later commentaries by individual scholars, reflecting individual views and social contexts
Can women achieve awakening?
Women can achieve enlightenment
Doctrinally Buddhism is egalitarian - passage from
Samyutta Nikaya
- "Whosever has such a vehicle whether man or woman shall indeed by means of that vehicle attain nirvana"
In the
Samyutta Nikaya
, we hear of King Kosala was very disappointed that his Queen had given birth to a baby girl, the Buddha consoled him and said - "A female child, O Lord of men, may prove even a better offspring than a male for she may grow up wise and virtuous"
In the
Lotus Sutra
story of the
Dragon King's daughter
, the daughter achieves enlightenment despite being a female child and not human
The message of the story is that every being has a Buddha-nature and that Theravada ideas about who can and cannot achieve awakening should be abandoned
The story of the Dragon King's daughter has been criticised as the daughter turns into a man in order to teach the Lotus Sutra - however this could be a result of the social context of the time
Women cannot achieve enlightenment
Flower Garland Sutra
- "Women are messengers of hell who can destroy the seeds of Buddhahood"
Silver-Colored Woman Sutra
- "No woman in any of the realms of existence could ever attain Buddhahood"
Impact of societal and cultural contexts
Neumaier
argues Buddhism generally challenged the social beliefs of India at the time
Neumaier
argued under the new founded Buddhism, having a girl was no longer as feared as it was - a woman was no longer simply a vessel for children with none of her own destiny or value
The position of women in ancient India was generally inferior to men - women were often considered to be on the same level as the Shudras (the lowest of the four castes), women also could not perform religious rituals and did not have freedom of education
How did Buddhism change the position of women in ancient India?
Buddhism, while accepting the biological and physical differences between the sexes, does consider men and women to be equally useful to society
Buddhism does not restrict the educational opportunities of women or their religious freedom
The Buddha recognised women's abilities and talents and gave them responsible positions in the bhikkhuni sangha
Reasons for this change
There is very little in Buddhism that identifies with a particular sex - the essence of Buddhism does not involve any extolling of the Buddha's personality as a man
The Buddha discovered a universal law which anyone, male or female, can discover by following the Buddha's directions
The Buddhist doctrine of
rebirth
asserts that gender can change over successive transmigrations - in the samsaric sense, there is no male or female but only a single karmic stream