Blog Post 1: Women
and Buddhism
When thinking about
what I was going to do for this blog post the role of women in Buddhism kept
coming to my mind. I am really curious about the role of women in Buddhism and
how the Buddha responded to women being involved in this religion. In the two
movies that we have watched so far we have seen women as temptresses that
indulge good men in evil acts (sex) which ultimately turns them away from
Buddhism. My question, with the ones listed above is, is that how women are
thought of? Only temptresses? So
far we have read three books and women have not been addressed much, if at all,
in these texts. As a woman, this was frustrating to watch because these movies
made it seem as if women, and what they can offer, are the problem. So I
thought I would research what role women have played in Buddhism since the
beginning of the religion.
There are
many debates what women’s roles are in Buddhism, if they have any at all. Some
sources say that Buddhism is a very sexist religion that excludes women, which
is what we have mainly seen in the movies and texts that we have encountered in
class. On the other hand, many sources say that women are and have always been
an integral part of the Buddhist religion. A story to back this argument up is
the story of Tara. Tara is believed to be the mother of all deities and her
name literally means protectoress. Tara is also believed to be the giver of
salvation (Regmi 6). This led me to believe that a woman would not have this
power if they were only good for derailing men. In the article “Buddhism and
Women” the author talks about how Buddha first rejected the idea of women being
involved in the religion but after a women found Enlightenment he changed his
mind. The author writes, “The Buddha gave women full freedom to
participate in a religious life. The Buddha was the first religious Teacher who
gave this religious freedom to women. Before the Buddha, women's duties had
been restricted to the kitchen; women were not even allowed to enter any temple
or to recite any religious scripture” (“Buddhism and Women”). With this
statement in mind one could argue that women were liberated when the Buddha
allowed them to participate in Buddhism. They had the choice and the freedom to
do what they believed. While some believe that Buddhism is a sexist religion, I
believe after this research that they see women not as temptresses but capable
of great things.
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma/womenbuddhist.html
http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ancientnepal/pdf/ancient_nepal_100_02.pdf
It's funny how you write your blog post about this subject. My roommate who goes to Vanderbilt took a Buddhism & Asian culture studies class last spring. When she was flipping through my books her first comment was "I like buddhism, but I hate his view on women completely." Apparently, through their research they found out that Buddha did not want women near the religion at all. He would have nuns, but he would allow them hours of practice near the monks.
ReplyDeleteI find Buddhism's treatment of women problematic as well. The issue of women not being allowed to be monks is one that I have heard before, and it concerns me that it is a view that does not seem to be changing. The important thing to remember, however, is the historical context. Buddhism is one of the oldest religions around, and as humans, we have only gotten around to real gender equality in the last century or so - and we still aren't there. I am not excusing the sexist treatment of women. If anything, because equality is so recent, it is something we should be keeping in mind so that we can be more vigilant in preventing the further oppression of women.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you researched this because I've always been curious about the role of women in Buddhism. I've always thought Buddhists discriminated against women so it's refreshing to learn that there at least some Buddhists that choose to recognize the value in women.
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