21 May 2016 "Gender Dynamics Within the Buddhist Tradition"
Written for a Theology course taken at the University of Cape Town.
In the Western world,
Buddhism has often been labeled as a peaceful, egalitarian religion with little
to no discrimination in regards to gender. As an American, I can testify that
before learning about the Buddhist tradition in this course, I subscribed to
this idea. I assumed that Buddhism was a tradition untouched by the usual
limitations imposed on religions by the humans who practice them. I thought that
Buddhists believed in true gender equality and spent most of their time
meditating and praying for a good next life. And it was only after learning
about the true nature of the Buddhist tradition that I began to understand the
dynamics of gender discrimination inherent in it.
The tradition of Buddhism centers on
the idea of enlightenment. Placing heavy emphasis on one’s actions defining
his/her reincarnation into the next life, Buddhism rules that to be a good
person means to advance toward release from the cycle of rebirth and that to be
a bad person means to get further caught in this cycle. Life is seen as
suffering, and the only way to escape it is to follow the teachings of the
Buddha as closely as possible.
Many core teachings of Buddhism,
though they stay close to the idea that to be fully enlightened means to be
entirely without a physical body, show heavy themes of gender discrimination.
Though the Buddha himself was not outwardly sexist in his teachings, Buddhism
has been interpreted in ways that reflect the gender discriminatory attitudes
of society at the time. For example, there is the question of whether a woman
can become a “bodhisattva”. According to Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a
person who has achieved enlightenment, but who puts it off in order to wait for
the enlightenment of all. A bodhisattva is a “compassionate seeker of perfect
Buddhahood.”[1]
And within the Mahayana tradition, it is typically only possible for a woman to
achieve this position after having been reborn as a male. Though many texts are
somewhat inclusive of women, claiming that it is indeed possible for a woman to
eventually achieve the enlightened position of a bodhisattva, they also often project
limitations of the thinking of the time. It is through the observation of such
sayings as “a woman who awakens to the thought of enlightenment ‘will not be
bound to the limitation of a woman’s state of mind.’”[2] that
the gender discriminatory attitudes of the time become more visible.
Likewise, images of women within
Buddhism, though they are present, are often overshadowed by images of men. For
instance, the story of Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī, adoptive mother and aunt of the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, presents an interesting case. In this story, the
Buddha allegedly would not allow Gotamī into the sangha, claiming that the
introduction of women would have a negative impact on his teachings. It was
only after this that Gotamī began an order of nuns in order to house women in
the sangha. And though these nuns were to be equally as devoted as the monks in
the sangha, they would nevertheless be considered subordinate, simply because
they were women. In addition, they would be forced to subscribe to more rules
and regulations than their male counterparts.[3]
The
lesson to take away from this story is that despite the creation of an order of
nuns in Buddhism, and despite the seniority that Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī held over
her nephew, gender inequality of the time ultimately rules in Buddhism. Women
were eventually let into the sangha, but only on an unequal basis. And the
justification for this inequality stemmed from a structural gender inequality
permeating from society to Buddhist tradition.
Though
many traditions—like inequality between monks and nuns—have remained somewhat
stagnant, there have recently been some tensions between codified laws of
Buddhism and actors attempting to push it into a more modern era. For instance,
in Tibet, nuns have recently pushed against the lack of good educational
opportunities (compared to the extensive educational opportunities afforded to
monks) by traveling past the limited opportunities of their prescribed
institutions. Though many of these Tibetan nuns are often still restricted to
what can be supported by a lama or a community of male sanghas, it remains
important to recognize that results can be produced by women unwilling to
simply accept a role of subservience.[4]
In
a recent documentary entitled “Monk by blood”, there is presented an
interesting case of a family who practices Shin Buddhism. The documentary
follows the eldest son as he lives a double life—mixing music in a club on New
Years Eve only to wake up a few hours later to get to his family’s temple on
time. Though this type of double-life experience is fairly typical in Japan,
what is somewhat atypical of Shin Buddhism follows the theme I mentioned above:
tensions between codified laws and more progressive members of the religion. In
the documentary, the eldest daughter explicitly states her wish to take over
the temple if her brother decides to dismiss the opportunity. In fact, her eagerness
somewhat suggests a hope that her brother will decide to forsake his
responsibility to the temple.
What
is so interesting about this is that the eldest daughter’s hope for her brother
to leave the temple in her hands is fairly unjustified—according to Shin
tradition, if the eldest son chooses not to take over his family’s temple, the
responsibility falls onto the shoulders of the next-eldest son. Not the eldest
daughter. And yet the eldest daughter in this documentary held fast to the hope
that her family was progressive enough to stretch the boundaries of Shin
tradition and afford her the opportunity to run her family’s temple. Though the
documentary didn’t show it, perhaps this girl was lucky enough to live in a
family willing to push against the centuries-old rules of Shin Buddhism
tradition. Or perhaps, more likely, her eldest brother chose to stay and take
hold of his responsibility over the temple.
The
lessons to be learned from Buddhism is that, like any other religion, it is
imperfect. And like any other religion, it contains followers who follow all
regulations, and followers who transcend the rules. Though Buddhism may be
foreign and glamorous to the Western world, the fact remains that it is simply
a religion—followed by forever imperfect human beings.
[1] Harvey, Peter. 2000. “Sexual Equality.”
In An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics,
Part II, 377-410. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3] Harvey, Peter. 2000. “Sexual Equality.”
In An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics,
Part I, 352-376. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]
Cantwell, Cathy and Hiroko Kawanami,
“Buddhism.” In Religions in the Modern
World, edited by L. Woodhead et al., 41-69. London and New York: Routledge.
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