Women As Buddhists - Essay Example

 Women As Buddhists Few in the modern West can imagine Buddhism without women, even though on television and in film, devout Buddhists are depicted as men. This depiction does have its origins in the mores of the time of the Buddha, 2,500 years ago. In order to have a full appreciation of the Buddhist religion for both men and women, we must look at the history of the role of women in Buddhism and the politics governing women in India and other Eastern countries where women had low ranking and were considered possessions of men from father to husband. Legends around Shakamuni Buddha abound; one of them tells of the death of his mother, Maya when Shakamuni was an infant. His aunt, Prajapati, took over the raising of him and later asked to join his sangha. She was refused. It was only after Shakamuni’s cousin Ananda has requested three times that Prajapati amd her 500 followers were allowed to practice Buddhism outside of the home, as nuns.1 This story has been denied as even existing by some scholars, who justify their denial by pointing out that it was invented to restore societal norms after the death of the Buddha 2 Much debate has been engaged over this story, citing Buddhism as sexist from the very beginning. But let us look at the society of the times, for it is society that inspires and also creates rules and mores and acts as the impetus behind changing laws and constitutional amendments in every country. Firstly, Indian society was (and still is, in many places) a khast system which follows strict social mores concerning one’s circumstances of birth, familial status and gender. Even now in many parts of India, society practices infanticide with baby girls, who are considered to be expensive and unable to be of any use in family businesses or farms. The world was a dangerous place for unprotected women in the time of the Buddha; their fathers were their protectors until they were married, then it was their husbands. Women were viewed as objects of pleasure and servitude at best, and vile objects of temptation and seduction at worst. Women took the blame for many a man who fell off his chosen path of either worldly success or enlightenment. It was one thing for a Buddhist monk to take up a begging bowl and go into the forest to meditate as a sannyasi; the sannyasis were known to be poor and no one bothered them. A woman conducting the same practice was subject to rape, robbery, and other heinous crimes against women, which still occur today. Scholars state that it is very likely that Shakamuni refused to let his beloved aunt and caretaker be an active nun due to the dangers to women who were emancipated during his time. Since the Buddhist faith is centered on compassion and enlightenment attainable by anyone who can adhere to the practices and guidelines, it is more likely that Shakamuni was attempting to protect women rather than subdue them.3 It also makes sense that in his compassion, the Buddha placed nuns under the Eight Strict Rules and under the subordinance of the monks in order to preserve his teachings by not driving Indian society into anarchy by giving women too much freedom too soon. This certainly would have been the wisdom of one so enlightened, knowing the impermanence of the world and knowing that with time and changes to society through continued enlightenment, the rules could be relaxed. He never said that women could not achieve enlightenment just as men could; in fact he said the opposite: " 'Straight' is the name that Road is called, and 'Free From Fear' the Quarter whither thou art bound.  Thy Chariot is the 'Silent Runner' named, With Wheels of Righteous Effort fitted well. Conscience the Leaning-board; the Drapery Is Heedfulness; the Driver is the Dharma, I say, and Right Views, they that run before.  And be it woman, or be it man for whom Such a chariot doth wait, by that same car into Nirvana's presence shall they come."4 As to the eight rules, they are basically thus: 1. A bhikkuni (nun), even if in the order for 100 years, must respect a bhikkhu even of a day’s standing. 2. A bhikkuni should live within 6 hours from a monastery of bhikkhus for advice. 3. On Observance days a bhikkuni should consult the bhikkhus. 4. A bhikkuni should spend the monsoon season (“Vassa”) retreat time under the orders of both bhikkunis and bhikkhus. 5. A bhikkuni should ply her life by both of the Orders (of nuns and monks). 6. After two years, a bhikkhuni should obtain the Upasampatha (higher ordination) by both Orders. 7. A bhikkuni cannot reprimand a bhikkhu. 8. A bhikkuni cannot advise a bhikkhu. It should be the other way around.5 In further examining the times of the Buddha, we must also look at why women chose to join the Order of Bhokkunis. If we look through our modern Western minds, we would perhaps long to have been there; but Western (American and European) Buddhism is very different than the Buddhism practiced in the East, not only 2,500 years ago but also today. The purest of Buddhist practices is celibacy for both men and women. How could women, who were expected to marry and bear children and experience mutual devotion with their husbands as the Buddha stated become nuns? The answer is that many women did not join the Orders for enlightenment, much the same as in medieval Europe, with its monasteries and nunneries. Women joined the Orders often because their husbands had already renounced them to join the orders. Others joined for protection or an alternative to an arranged marriage. Still others, weary of their lives as courtesans, joined the Order to be released from the demands of the worldly ways of men. Such it was in Europe in the medieval times; women who were considered unruly or unsuited for marriage were shuttled off to the nunneries; this was also the case for elderly women whose families were gone, poor women who had no other choice than to beg, and girls who wished to be educated. Very few women joined the Orders for achieving enlightenment. There is still a gulf between the Buddhism of the East and West. In Western society, Buddhists tend to be highly educated and liberal, and they do not necessarily join an Order in their pursuit of enlightenment. Of those who do, they are not without suffering; the idea that it is wrong to make a living has taken hold and many in the Order are reticent to take a job.6 Unfortunately, there are few other options to survive in Western society than to be employed. We shall now turn to women Buddhists of the East; in some regions, much change has occurred on behalf of women because of Buddhism, but in others, not much has changed at all. In Japan, for example, Buddhism was implanted then flourished under Empress Suiko, who reigned in the 6th Century. During this time, China diplomatically recognized Japan and the influence of Buddhism in Japan, China and Korea was reflected in art and even politics.7 In terms of other regions prior to much Western influence or study, Dr. Lorna S. Dewaraja reported in 1981 that Sir Charles Bell, British Political Representative in Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim, writes in 1928, "’When a traveler enters Tibet from the neighboring nations of India and China few things impress him more vigorously or more deeply than the position of the Tibetan woman. They are not kept in seclusion as are Indian women. Accustomed to mix with the other sex throughout their lives, they are at ease with men and can hold their own as well as any women in the world." Bell continues, "And the solid fact remains that in Buddhist countries women hold a remarkably good position. Burma, Ceylon and Tibet exhibit the same picture.’”8 While it is tempting to conclude that Buddhism made life better for women in the East, this would be premature without further examination. Dr. Dewaraja’s report includes the situation in India, where earliest writings speak of the Regvida contain evidence of women being highly esteemed. They were allowed the highest of knowledge and also wrote hymns contained in the Regvida. The degradation of value for women came with the strict doctrine of the Brahmins, the most damaging being that of Manu and his Code Of Laws which included prohibiting women and the lowest khasts from reading the Vedas. It was this trend that the Buddhist religion was up against, which is very likely why the bhikkunis were discouraged in the first place, then later given their own place in the Order with additional rules. Where the Hindu religion dictates the importance of a male birth for funeral rites and other functions of ritual, the Buddhists place no such importance on one gender, yet the desire for a son to maintain the patrilineal links is still important in many societies today. The struggle to maintain male dominance is still strong and very much in evidence in both East and West. Confucianism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam all speak of the wife’s duty to the husband, the daughter-in-law’s duty to the mother-in-law, etc., but is Buddhism alone that speaks of reciprocity, which certainly made it a rather rebellious religion in its own time. It had a mighty river to swim against with the mind-set that was steadfast in terms of the subordinance of women.9 Dr. Dewaraja also points out the vast differences in the rights of women in terms of marriage; Buddhism is the only doctrine that gives the woman any rights, and those all equal to those of men. The conclusion of the report states that the primarily Buddhist women of Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma are in a much better position (in spite of the ambivalence of the idea of equality for women) than those of any of the major cultures of Asia. Why the different treatment of woman and men? This is the crucial question, and there are many answers or suggestions as to why. From time immemorial, myths, legends and stories have elevated men as heroes, gods, and supreme rulers. With the exception of a few rulers of kingdoms such as Egypt, Japan and Great Britain, history reflects the overwhelming majority of authority figures as men. This is what is observed by and taught to the young, which further perpetuates the universal idea of male supremacy. This ideal becomes the political law of the land, and the law of the land is stronger than the laws of any religious doctrine, although laws are formed through the moral lenses of the prevailing religion of the time. Some not familiar with Buddhist cosmology will be surprised to learn that the Buddha’s understanding of differentiation between the sexes is, at its core, nonexistent. In the beginning, beings incarnated through spiritual means, not via sexual reproduction. The Buddha taught that the differentiation of the sexes arose at the time of the rice harvest, with its division of labor.10 The Buddha spoke of the five sufferings of women; the first three were physical (menstruation, pregnancy and giving birth). The other two had to do with Indian society (having to leave the parental home and having to attend to the husband). There are even two terms for women in Buddhism. One is itthi (a neutral term for a woman), and the other is matugama, which describes a woman whose only aim in life is to be a mother and who does not see beyond the horizon of her own village. Buddhism held enormous appeal to the itthi, who yearned for more from this world than motherhood and being a doting wife.11 There is also the problem of when scriptures were actually written and under what influence, and this issue is under constant debate in several religions including Buddhism and Christianity. One example is the Mahaparanibbana Sutta of the Sutta Pitaka, Chapter 5, where Ananda asks the Buddha how one should view women and how to conduct oneself when around women. The Buddha replied that the way to deal with women was not to see them; if one sees a woman, not to talk; if spoken to by a woman, to stay wide awake. According to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who founded the Indian Mass-Conversion Movement, the cited passage was written four hundred years after the Buddha walked the earth and shrouded in Brahmin idealology. This specific passage does not appear in any of the other Suttas, nor in the Chinese version of the Suttas.12 It must be reemphasized that Buddhism is the only religion that states that salvation lies through an individual’s own efforts. This means that both men and women are, spiritually, equal. The Path requires no outside assistance or the advice or intervention of a priest figure who acts as an intermediary between God and mortal. While the myth of male superiority still prevails and modern media touts women as seductive creatures who can sell products better than anyone else, it is difficult to imagine a doctrine where women and men are equal. Buddhism, in its pure form, is a religion of compassion with the goal being the betterment of oneself, through which comes the betterment of society. The plight of women in different societies is strongest in the home; how she is treated in the home is a direct reflection of her society. In ancient India, girls were the father’s responsibility. It was up to him to protect his daughter and to accrue a good dowry for her. Her young adulthood was transferred to her husband; she was his property and subservience was demanded. It was the wife’s responsibility to attend to her husband’s every need, no matter how many other wives the husband had. The first wife was the one with the most responsibility. Imagine, then, a religious leader proclaiming that women were just as capable of advancement as men (even though it had been done before Manu’s laws, as mentioned above) in a society that saw women as little more than slaves. The balance of power in the home was a hallmark of Buddhism and the least favorite doctrine for the East to have to ponder; it was only through total devotion to her husband that a woman achieved salvation, and who wanted to surrender that law? Buddhism is said to have begun the first women’s liberation movement in recorded history; the words of one Buddhist nun named Mutta reflect the joy of being unfettered from the traditional life of a typical Indian woman: “Free I am free I am free from the three crooked things: mortar, pestle, and my crooked husband.  I am free from birth and death and all that dragged me back.”13 Not only were the nuns important to the Buddhist teachings in terms of its spreading, but lay women were also important, especially the wealthy ones who firmly supported the new religion but for their own reasons chose not to actively join the nuns. These women funded monasteries, built mansions, and paid for robes, bowls, medicine and other essentials for the Orders. Buddhism remained strong in Sri Lanka while it largely disappeared from the Indian continent. In terms of the ordination of nuns, doctrine established that ten nuns must be present for the ordination of one nun; after the desecration of all Buddhist monasteries and the murder of all the monks and nuns when Sri Lanka was conquered by the Colas in 11th Century, the reestablishment of the Order of bhikkus came with the aid of monks from Burma once the Colas were defeated, but there were no surviving Theravada bhikkunis to reestablish that Order. Hence, for the last millennium, the Theravada bhikkunis have not been fully ordained and have had to practice as lay women. 14 This has made it very difficult for the nuns to subsist; according to Karen Andrews, as of 1984, “The majority have no proper dwellings, no means of subsistence, no provision for obtaining clothing and material for their robes, and . . . no opportunity is given them to improve their understanding of the religion." Since these women are not seen as real bhikkunis in the eyes of the Sri Lankans, the situation does not seem likely to improve. In the West, an entirely different story exists for Buddhist women. Western women are not brought up to be subservient to men any longer, and the very idea of humbling oneself to any male is resisted. Still, some women live as unordained bhikkunis with similar problems as their Sri Lankan sisters. Still other women live in monastic centers and must observe the traditional rules of humbling themselves before men. As difficult as this is for Western women to do, they seem willing to do it in practice while focusing on the Path itself rather than the seemingly sexist practices that are hardly useful or necessary in modern Western society.15 Still, there remained the problem of reestablishment of the Theravada bhikkunis; the prevailing opinion in countries where Theravada exists is that its resurrection is next to impossible cue to the lack of an unbroken lineage.16 Much debate exists regarding the reestablishment of this Order as opposed to simply allowing it to fade away in favor of the still active Mahayana Order. In order for the Theravada Order to be resurrected, it would have to be reestablished alongside the Mahayana Order with its different practices and this could be troublesome for both. The only possibility of reestablishment of the Theravada Order lies in China, for it is reported that the proper lineage exists there, but in keeping with the practices laid down by the Buddha, this would involve engagement with foreign lands, breaking the rule of only a 6 mile distance.17 In spite of these problems, it was reported with great fanfare in 1996 that the Order has in fact been reestablished in Sri Lanka.18 It seems highly likely that with Sri Lanka as the spearhead of this newest development, the Order can spread to the West in the form of full and recognized ordination, which the Western Bhikkunis have long been awaiting. Much is still to be done to regain the status and recognition of previous times but with the observation of impermanence in the practices of Buddhism, times change and so do cultures and societal positions of people. The beauty of Buddhism is its lack of priestly authority figures, its involvement in government affairs and its simplistic and compassionate disciplines that appeal enormously to the individualistic West. In conclusion, we must draw attention to the fact that Buddhism, from its inception, has been a friend to women, within the confines of the political powers of the day. Great measures were made by the Buddha to protect its female members from the oppressive status of the day and as societies change and more fully acknowledge the capabilities of women to conduct practices alongside men in terms of seeking enlightenment, those who are true to the path will remain undeterred by the onslaught of Western society with its demands for more materialistic achievements. More and more people are adopting the Buddhist principles in a spectrum of emphasis in their lives and Buddhism is so diverse anyway that lay women and nuns alike have equal opportunity for enlightenment by follo9wing the practices. It would seem that more women wish to engage in the monastic life to be freed from the stress-ridden demands of modern life with its trappings of material gain as a measure of personal worth. The results are not in yet concerning the role of women in Buddhism today, especially in the West, which seems to change with every wind in terms of what is the trend. But the recent developments in Sri Lanka could very well bring about a surprising change for many women, as Western influences bring images and promise of a better life for women everywhere in terms of a spiritual path that ignores the shape of the body and focues instead on the strength of character and courage of convictions. Bibliography Andrews, Karen. Women In Theravada Buddhism. Institute Of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, CA. n.d., 31 December 2005. http://www.enabling.org/ia/vipassana/Archive/A/Andrews/womenTheraBudAndrews.html de Silva, Swarna. The Place Of Women In Buddhism. A Talk given to the MidlandsBuddhist Society (UK) onSanghamittâ Day, 1988. 1994, 31 December 2005. http://www.enabling.org/ia/vipassana/Archive/D/DeSilva/WomenInBuddhism/womenInBuddhismSwarnaDeSilva.html Dewaraja, Dr. (Mrs.) L.S. The Position Of Women In Buddhism. Buddhist Publication Society, 1981. 30 December 2005. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dewaraja/wheel280.html Dewaraja, Lorna. Buddhist Women in India and Pre-Colonial Sri Lanka. Buddhism Today. 2001, 1 January 2006. http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/sociology/029-WomeninIndia.htm Hecker, Dr. Hellmuth. Man and Woman in the Teachings of the Buddha. About.Com. N.d., 31 December 2005. http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=womenshistory&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fzennun12_8%2Fwoman_man.html Lewis, Jone Johnson. Suiko - Empress Suiko of Japan. About.Com Women’s History. 2005, 31 December 2005. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/empresssuiko/p/empress_suiko.htm Maha Pajapati Gotami, Founder of the Order of Nuns. Buddha Dharma Education Association & BuddhaNet. 2004, 1 January 2006. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/pajapati.htm Nakai, Rev. Patti. Women In Buddhism. West Covina Buddhist Temple Website. 1997 – 2006. 1 January 2006. http://www.livingdharma.org/Living.Dharma.Articles/WomenInBuddhism1.html Padmasuri, Dhammacharini. Does Buddhism treat Women as Second-class Citizens? Dr. B. R, Ambedkar Website. N.d., 31 December 2005. http://www.angelfire.com/ak/ambedkar/BRWomen1.html Position Of Women At the Time Of the Buddha. Buddha Dharma Education Association & BuddhaNet. 2004. 31 December 2005. http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=womenshistory&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.buddhanet.net%2Fe-learning%2Fhistory%2Fposition.htm Weeraratne, D. Amarasiri Revival Of the Bhikkuni Order In Sri Lanka. The Island Newspaper Colombo, Sri Lanka, 4th April, 1998. 1 January 2006. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/nunorder.htm Read More