The Role Of Women In Buddhism

The Sangha, the Buddhist monastic order, comprises Bhikku (monks), Bhikkuni (nuns), laymen, and laywomen. While the Bhikku and Bhikkuni depend upon the laywomen and men for economic support, the lay community depends on them for spiritual guidance and ritualistic practices. This well-rounded mutual relationship is clearly a division not only amongst religious status, but determined by gender as well. This is quite a contradiction with the Buddhist belief that your physical self is impermanent and ultimately attachment to your illusory self will cause you suffering. The second Noble Truth states that suffering originates from our ongoing desire, a clinging to possessions, attachments, and self. Why would a religion founded in the idea of shedding attachment focus so much on gender, which is an attachment? I feel that the Buddha’s hesitation in allowing women to be initially recognized in the Sangha originates from his early childhood convictions of women, fear of the Dharma becoming further compromised, and ultimately leading to the deterioration of Buddhism altogether. The Buddha’s hesitations regarding women becoming monastics seem to be questionable because of the way women have responded to this discrimination even during the Buddha’s lifetime. These women are evidently devoted to the ideals and teachings of Buddhism because of their ability to shed attachments and embody a fully monastic lifestyle. As they are shedding their attachments they give up their gender.

According to the “Rites” [a classical text], it was a rule to begin to teach children to read at the age of eight years and by the age of fifteen years they ought then to be ready for culture training. (Strayer 2011, 245) Ban Zhao stated “Yet only to teach men and not to teach women- …” (Strayer 2011), because she felt education for women was important to maintain in a proper relationship between the men and women. In the Chinese culture, husband and wife were taught to mutually respect each other. Chinese women were controlled by their husbands. If a husband does not control his wife, then the rules of conduct manifesting his wife authority are abandoned and broken. (Strayer 2011, 245). In Chinese gender system, women were to have four qualifications, which were called Womanly Qualifications: (1) womanly virtue; (2) womanly words; (3) womanly bearing; (4) womanly work. (Strayer 2011, 246) .They were also taught to be humble. Women in the Indian culture were known for the homemakers in their society. Women were aware of the repression of women, but they were allowed to escape because of religion. Indian women became Buddhist so they could escape from households. Indian were forced to participate in rituals. Nibbana’s

The Roles of Women during the Enlightenment and Transcendental Period: The Tell of Rowson versus Fuller

An often controversial issue within politics is how woman are viewed and treated in the Hindu religion. The role of woman in Hinduism is often disputed and positions range from quite reasonable to highly antagonistic. An often overlooked aspect is that, Hinduism is more of a way of life then a Religion. This is because Hinduism requires that we see the same reality in all the diversity of creation; that we see the same Self in all beings. Hindu women within this religion would view themselves as an important part of the family, but this is not shown through the contents of the Manusmriti. The Manusmriti directly translated is “Laws of Manu,” or “Institutions of Manu,” is regarded as the foundational

“In Tantric Buddhism, we are dealing with a misogynist, destructive, masculine philosophy and religion which is hostile to life – i.e. the precise opposite of that for which it is trustingly and magnanimously welcomed in the figure of the Dalai Lama.”[1] Within Tibetan Buddhism, there is an inherent contradiction regarding the status of women. Although in many aspects women are seen and treated as inferior to men, several of the ancient and fundamental values of Tibetan Buddhism, and more specifically Tantric Buddhism, emphasize equality of the sexes, universal compassion, and most importantly the significant and essential role of the woman. Tibetan Buddhist nuns have been trying to

The doctrine and basic values of Buddhism are based centrally in equality and provide equal opportunity for both genders, and indeed all sentient beings, to attain enlightenment and the realization of the true Buddha within. However, an interesting discrepancy within the Buddhist traditions occurs in the societal interpretations of Buddhism and the resulting rules and regulations that can show less than equal treatment and valuation of female members. As a religion that gives strong support of logically and empirically constructed morals, it is worthwhile to note that many of the societal views of women show a portrayal of the female that has not caught up with

The purpose of the research paper is to examine the role of women in Hinduism and how it impact their lives .This paper will look at how narratives from sacred texts influences women’s role in society in the past and in the present. The role of women in Hinduism is often disputed, and positions range from equal status with men to restrictive. Hinduism is based on numerous texts, some of which date back to 2000 BCE or earlier. They are varied in authority, authenticity, content and theme, with the most authoritative being the Vedas. The position of women in Hinduism is widely dependent on the specific text and the context. Positive references are made to the ideal woman in texts such as the Ramayana and the

In conclusion, there are significant similarities and differences in the role of women in the Judaism, Catholicism and Islam religions. These roles include the position they hold in their religion, the ability to bear witness, the ability to own property and the perspective of each religion on vows as well as the major duties of a wife in a family. However, despite the differences, these religions belief that God is the creator of the universe and humanity.

Hinduism: Like Buddhism, Hinduism had a diverse interpretation of views and attitude among females. It was said that early Hinduism was patriarchal and that females had to be submissive to males and females. However, Hinduism went through reform around early nine century CE. With this reform came opportunities

During the late 19th century, the social statues of women has significantly improved when they started to pursue higher education with the help of Christian missionaries. Women’s

Before the Europeans started coming in, South East Asia was part of a very important long distant trade in which many of the merchants were women. In the 1500s, daughters were taught the importance of making profit. Compared to other societies, the women in this society had a considerable amount of rights and held a high status which surprised foreigners.

In this unit, I was impressed by the strategy used by Monasticism in order to influence the economic development and the empowerment of women. Beginning with a religious goal, the strategy used by monasteries to persuade people to adhere was economic gain. That was a perfect strategy to attract all person who needs to become rich. In addition, the creation of monasteries for women was another strategy to improve them. When women were alone, they had probably the possibility to discuss and to analyze the political and economic system. Also, they had the opportunity to experiment their independency and to lead their life on the absence of husband or parents. This opportunity to express their idea between them and to experiment autonomy was the

“There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.” Swami Vivekananda

The father of Guatama did not want his son to experience the horrors of the real world. “To keep his son from witnessing the miseries and suffering of the world, Siddhartha 's father raised him in opulence in a palace built just for the boy and sheltered him from knowledge of religion and human hardship” (Buddha Biography, n.d.). when he ventured out of the confinement of the palace he encountered the reality of the human condition. He saw old age, sickness and death. He learned that all human beings have one thing in common and that is that all humans suffer. Suffering is just a fact of life. In order to achieve happiness one needs to accept this truth. This ideology let to Gautam becoming Buddha. Buddha went on to advocate against inequality and injustice. At first, he was hesitant to allow women admission into the order but he noticed that women were just as worthy to be a part of the order as men. This allowed the growth of Bhikkhuni (nuns) in Buddhism. This was made possible by a ceremony that occurred in Bodh Gaya. “It challenged the position of only having male monks. “This idea of bringing together bhikkhu and bhikkhuni from a diverse range of Buddhist traditions and schools gradually took shape during a series of annual international monastic seminars. At the conclusion of the fourth such conference, held in May, 1997, the participants requested Master Hsing Yun, the founder of the Fokuangshan Buddhist order, to organize a

Religion has existed for as long as man has. Both men, and women believed in a