Essay Example on Women in Buddhism: Debates, History, and Feminism

Introduction

The varied perceptions about women in Buddhism are a discussion that can attract a vast magnitude of approaches regarding feminism, theology, anthropology, and history. They can give birth to different controversies about the being of womanhood by stressing concerns on the women's status in Buddhism theologically. Debates can revolve around how women are treated in homes and public places within societies of Buddhism and the history of womanhood in Buddhism. They may also incorporate matters relating to the comparison of experiences of womanhood across various forms of Buddhism. Contrary to other religions globally, the experiences of women in Buddhism have displayed a high significant variance. There has been an interest in knowing the roles of women in Buddhism, as many women consider these times as new eras and thus practice Dharma (Falk, 2019). Anciently, roles of a man in Buddhism were pegged with Male Principle, while those of women to the Female Principle (Yadav, 2017). However, the ancient teachings of Buddhism do not elaborate on the roles of women in ancient Buddhism. Women were not common figures regarding the in-depth matters of Buddhism as a religion. There has been the need to know the roles of Female Principles in Buddhism, just like other religions in the world. The paper, therefore, discusses the role of women in the historical sangha in Buddhism.

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The Pre-Buddhist Roles of Women

According to the Female Principles in ancient Buddhism, women never had obvious roles and responsibilities regarding religion. If they had roles, they were inferior to those of Male Principles. Women executed their inferior roles yet again under the supervision of their male counterparts. The social dimension in which Buddhism evolved was one that assigned women inferior or no positions at all. Concerning it, Indian Buddhism societies were radically similar to that of other regions outside the nation. The treatment of women may be, in some aspects, more liberal. Just like in Hinduism, womanhood in Buddha had no great importance as women were barred from conducting rites and activities of Buddhism. The women were not accorded spiritual parity. The Vedic-Upanishadic had a principle of primordial, which dominated the Religion of Buddha (Falk, 2019). It was the Male Principle referred to as Purusha (Yadav, 2019). It provided the reasons why women were excluded generally from any spiritual or social activity relating to the Buddhism religion (Yadav, 2017). The principle, however, contrasted the attitude which put into reservation the achievement for the male gender of Buddha's proclaimed message that encouraged universal humanity in every activity regarding sex, age, or even race (Falk, 2019). Unlike women, men are to be tamed to a greater degree because of their more violent wrong actions (Yadav,2017). The teaching intended to change the false perceptions of women about their roles in Buddhism.

The Buddha's Path and Womanhood

There's a minute, if at all there is, in Buddhism that orients it to a particular gender. Historically, Buddha was a man; every aspect of Buddhism does not favor or involve itself in supporting any gender. Buddha made a discovery of a law that was universal but was in independent existence to all the Buddhas, in which others, a man or woman, can realize and acknowledge through adherence to the teachings of Buddha (Yadav, 2017). Some developments and adjustments were later made in the Religion of Buddhism. They are inclusive of the conduction of Buddha pujas, the cult of Buddha's person, the relics worship among others, in both the Mahayana and Theravada, and have facilitated justification against the teachings of Buddha (Yadav, 2017).

The question of whether a woman can be a Bodhisattva or Buddha, there are so many stands and controversies. An affirmative position to it has been taken by Mahayanists, whereas the stand and position of Theravadan has a minute of clarity. There is a claim by others that the Buddhas must be the males, whereas others are not sure whether Buddhas can be either or both. There has never been clarity concerning the gender of individuals who are supposed to be Buddhas. The reason being is that Buddha left the question unclarified. However, there can just be one Buddha in a given single era of Buddhism, regardless of opinions received from the Jatakas (Falk, 2019). The present age of Buddhism has also not been inaugurated rightfully as there is no certainty whether it is just by coincidence or necessity by Siddatta Gotama, who is a man.

The question of whether a female can be a Buddha is determined by the set of birth of the male to female identity, and the being is just true to a specific birth. According to the doctrines of rebirth in Buddhism, gender alteration is only possible in successive transmigrations (Falk, 2019). There is thus no male or female in the sense of samsara, but instead a single stream of Karma (Falk, 2019). There is a big surprise regarding it as the doctrines of anatta guarantees that there is not even a persistent individual identity over the stream of samsara (Yadav, 2017). It is thus another reason why the Dhamma often, in many ways, neglects the gender identity of individuals (Yadav, 2017). The bitter part is that Buddhist nations have acquired contrasting views regarding the same due to the influence of stories of Jataka. According to these stories, women tend to be women, and the same applies to the side of men. For instance, Yasodara and Sidatta are believed to be consorts over several counts of birth (Yadav, 2017). These stories corrupt the teachings and principles of Buddhism traditions as they aim at widespread consumption and influence. They, therefore, contradict the basic principle of anatta in Buddhism. Another bad perception about wrong karma in the Buddhist nations is that a man can be born a woman and that skillful Karma leads to the opposite outcome. The factors that result in an individual ending up to be a man or woman in the process of Karma were not discussed by the Buddha.

Buddha encouraged the followers of Buddhism to adhere to the teachings of Dhamma on his deathbed (Yadav, 2017). Dhamma was to be the supreme guide in Buddhism. Dhamma has no issues of gender differences; the matter of sex only comes in when it has any association with making an easy or difficult path pursuit (Falk, 2019). According to Buddha, the path can be in pursuit by anybody, regardless of their gender. There are usually three groups of the eight parts of the Path Fold of the Noble Eight (Yadav, 2017). The three parts are the Bhavana, which is the spiritual growth part, Sila, which represents morality and Panna, which is wisdom. The minor aspects of practicing morality comprise of two varied types of actions for the two genders. However, the issues of gender have no relevance in path pursuit (Yadav, 2017). The most significant attainments pegged with Buddhism, the enlightenment of supremacy, is in availability to both human genders, whether women or men. It is clear, according to Buddha, as he stated before the occurrence of any female Arahants, in his encounter of answering Ananda's inquiry as to whether there is a possibility of women reaching enlightenment in the affirmative (Falk, 2019). The practice of Buddhism, in its holiest kind, has no occasions for rituals. The conduction of rituals in other religions is what makes the essence of gender balance and consideration essential, a case that does not apply in Buddhism. The current Buddhism in Buddhist nations has come up with some rituals that were not there before. However, women are not barred from participating in them. They can be part of them at will. The Buddhist rituals often incorporate simple techniques of worship, chanting, or offering of symbols, and all that is open in equal terms for both women and men (Falk, 2019). Buddhism has no place for priests since it is an atheistic form of religion.

The Secular Position of Womanhood in Buddhism

The consideration of positions assigned to women in ordinary life should acknowledge the fact that the teachings in Buddhism were primarily pegged with personal spiritual emancipation (Falk, 2019). The empowerment thus had nothing to do with the roles of women in Buddhism. Buddhism, therefore, did not stress its concerns on issues of gender responsibilities like marriage, where the roles of women are recognized (Yadav, 2017). The principles and teachings of Buddhism were and are in coincidence with the social, societal factors and ways of life, a fact that did and does not incorporate matters of roles of women and men like other religions such as Christianity and Hinduism (Yadav, 2017). The position of Buddhism was that what mattered is the regulation of issues via some sort of political, social, or legal strategies and techniques.

The Order of Bhikkhunis

The order of Bhikkhunis was usually considered as essential in the evaluation of roles of womanhood in Buddhism. Buddha established the Order of Bhikkhunis shortly after his enlightenment and brought its order five years later (Yadav, 2017). Regarding the order, Maha Prajapati, Buddha's foster mother expressed her wish to enter the order; Buddha rejected it (Falk, 2019). Buddha makes the final consent after Ananda's plea. Here, the role of women was noticed as, for the first time, the establishment of the order made the body of men to be under the discipline that is strict concerning the matters of priestly roles (Falk, 2017). There was an emergence of revolutionary monastic principles to the women, a significant role that had never been there for women in Buddhism history (Falk, 2019). Women were then accorded some little respect than before, as Bhikkhuni aspired many other women.

Conclusion

Generally, the reflection on the heritage of Sanghamitta and put into comparison, the position of Buddhism regarding the roles of women in religious life with those of other dominant religions. Despite the strength of the women's role in the day of Buddha once the charismatic availability of Buddha curtailed with his death, the Bhikkhuni sangha also seemed to have reached its end (Falk, 2019). Whereas the Bhikkhuni Sangha continued in continuous successions in many parts of the world, though not in its place of origin, the Bhikkhuni Sanglia's fate was recorded in little clarity and preciseness (Yadav, 2017). The ancient Buddhism, unlike the current one, had little or no roles for women. The reason being is that the Buddhism of old errors had no priestly responsibilities that were able to accommodate women. Religion did not focus so much on the issues of gender relevance in every worship or ritual. However, that changed over time, and its beginning was initiated by the order of Bhikkhuni.

References

Falk, M. L. (2019). Leaving Buddhism. In Handbook of Leaving religion (pp. 28-42). Brill. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2016&q=The+Role+of+Women+in+Historical+sangha+in+Buddhism&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3Ay_kGgehtFNQJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D4%26hl%3Den

Yadav, O. (2017). Political View regarding the Origin, Development and Importance of Bhikkhuni Sangha in Buddhism through Ages. Journal of Advanced Research in Political Science & Governance, 1(1&2), 35-39. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2016&q=The+Role+of+Women+in+Historical+sangha+in+Buddhism&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3AtYouPXa_FAgJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D0%26hl%3Den