Annie Gonzalez

Buddhism
Wijitha Bandara
Women and Buddhism: Gender Issues
In the Western world women suffer numerous consequences for simply being
born a woman. Some of the trials women face in the modern western world are unequal
pay, gender bias, objectification, inherent demerit, distrust, inherent fault for mens sexual
desires and actions, and many more consequences that are conditioned into society from
the time of birth. Gender conditioning has sparked dualistic thinking in the relative world
for many eras. Going back to 300 BCE in a patriarchal society, where culture as a whole
was male dominated, and women were dependent on men, it is no surprise that in the
religious realm men were propagated as the ideal enlightened person. Many of todays
gender consequences no matter the region are identical to those in past eras. The special
rule imposed upon the order of nuns- whenever they were imposed- meant that women
could escape lives of domesticity by becoming nuns but had to accept male dominance as
the price of admission into the homeless life. (Mitchell) The imposition of special rules
meant that lay supporters received the tacit message that Buddhist nuns could not be fully
trusted on their own, without constant supervision by their male counterparts, to live
perfectly virtuous and upright religious lives. Diminished prestige and financial support
for the nuns were the likely consequences of this judgment. (Mitchell)
Did women nuns and women lay followers take offence to the unequal treatment?
While many sects of the Buddhist religion have women nuns peacefully battling sexism
within the religion, I was surprised to find Taiwan not apart of any feminist movements.

In fact, there are many more women followers than men in Taiwan. Why is that?
According to Ven. Sheng-Yen a Taiwanese Buddhist monk; reports that the social
structure in Taiwan allows women to have more time to practice Buddhism as one of the
reasons. Ven. Sheng-Yen also says that women feel the need to have religion apart of
their life for their own self-improvement or for their familys wellbeing. Women are
tender, and mild-tempered, which makes women more likely to accept religious faith. On
the contrary, Ven. Sheng-Yen states that in Taiwan (and possibly in other western
countries), that unless a political figure is present and highly ranked, men may feel that if
they go and participate there will be positive influences on their own prestige, position, or
career. In these cases, more men than woman accept faith. But is it true that men only
seek religion and faith for their own prestige, position or career? What a dogmatist
statement. Even in a male dominated world where men pride themselves on solving their
own problems, it is both sexist and contradictory to say both statements: Men choose
faith to better their prestige, and women cant be trusted to live perfectly virtuous and
upright religious lives without male supervision.
In the Soka Gakkai sect located in Japan, it is not uncommon to find woman
leading the monastic practices. In fact, the Soka Gakkai leader President Ikeda
encourages women of all ages to join together and lead the sect to great victory and create
a world of peace. President Ikeda believes women are the future leaders of not only this
sect, but of the world. President Ikeda is male. Why is this sect so progressive, when its
regions neighbors are stuck in 300 BCE?
President Ikeda has aptly stated, Todays Soka Gakkai, too, has been built by women
who, since they were young, have dedicated themselves tirelessly for the sake of

suffering friends and for kosen-rufu, with the determination of Joans of Arc of the Mystic
Law. My deepest appreciation to the women! Now, it is the young womens turn to take
the lead. All around the world, the Age of Women has arrived. I hope that our women and
young women will work together, inspire each other and demonstrate a combined
strength far greater than what either could achieve alone. We are living in a turbulent age.
Separate, we are weak. Those who can join together like a powerful alloy will triumph.
(World Tribune, April 19, 2002, p. 7)
The Soka Gakkai sect has actually absorbed Buddhas teachings of The Eightfold Path
and Karma and has engaged within Japans community to inspire the young women and
young men to learn oneness, peace, and equality. This is after all, the response Buddha
gave to Hinduism when he rejected the casting system because of the social injustices.
This poses a question though. Is the Soka Gakkai sect accepting women as religious
leaders and preaching to the youth of today to join in the movement out of earnest
religious intent? Or has the Soka Gakkai sect noticed the dwindling number in members
especially youth members and dare I say, using this movement to attract crowds to
participate in this business? The numbers of youth today across the globe are less and less
interested in religion, especially a very strict religion that allows no sex, and alcohol. Has
the Soka Gakkai sect recognized that Buddhism needs a facelift and started preaching
romantic words to attain more followers? Perhaps, the Soka Gakkai sect is socially
reforming the injustices woman have to face. How does one convert someone to a
religion? Answer: either a truth, or a lie, whichever you prefer.
There are many stories recorded of Buddhist nuns being able to prove their level
of attainment by changing their gender, sometimes in response to challenges from male

counterparts. To review Buddhas teaching of no-self, that we are all made up of the Five
Aggregates which are Form (our physical body), sensation (five senses), perception,
mental formation, and consciousness is to know that none of these parts that the human
being comprises has any enduring reality. no empirical evidence accepted by Buddhists
for a soul or self that dwells within. If the self, independent of others, is an illusion, then
one cannot alleviate ones own suffering without also alleviating the suffering of others.
(Mitchell) So if our bodies and self have no enduring essence, why would gender be
relevant to level of attainment or credibility? Veritably, it is not relevant. Mahayana
teaches that dharma is neither male nor female. However, the presumption that
Buddhahood and higher path attainments only exists to males is still believed in Eastern
countries. This poses the question, why? Why dont the Eastern countries that practice
Buddhism correct these inequalities? Theologian Harvey Cox has written: "Few faiths
ever escape modification when they collide or interact with others. Most profit from such
encounters." Are religions let alone the world profiting off of inequality and sexism? Do
women, and followers of Buddhism or any other patriarchal religion recognize this gap?
As I aforementioned, lay supporters received the tacit message that Buddhist nuns could
not be fully trusted on their own, without constant supervision by their male counterparts
to live perfectly virtuous and upright religious lives. Diminished prestige and financial
support for the nuns were the likely consequences of this judgment.(Mitchell) What
caused this contention? Brahman authorities regarded the idea of women leading selfgoverning lives without supervision of males as socially and religiously problematic.
These monastic Brahmanical men actually feared the possibility of women committing
inappropriate behavior within the nuns order. But were these men fearful for the women

and their wellbeing in the nuns order, or were these men fearful for the sexual temptation
of Mara? Which would mean, these men would be fearing for their own weakness.
Buddhist lay followers work toward their own awakening by donating food and clothing
to monks. It is believed that the more virtuous the recipient the more merit is received to
the giver. Thus, because it is believed that nuns need male supervision because nuns are
more prone to commit improprieties it makes it much harder for women to receive
donations of food and clothing because of their second-class status that the Brahmanic
monastic men placed upon them.
In Korean Buddhism, nuns attainment of knowledge is directly correlated to
silence. The more knowledge a nun attains, the more she has to keep quiet. In some parts
of Asia, it is believed only men can be enlightened. This has encouraged women to pray
to be re-born as a man. We as people need leaders and examples to nurture our own
dreams so we may believe that our dream is possible. The social issues in our relative
world cause not only dualistic thinking but prohibit women to even dream of a world of
religious equality, let alone a world of equality. With dwindling numbers of youth
involved in Buddhism, or other religions how will the necessary change of gender
conditioning change to reverse the dualistic thinking? The sects that are more attractive
i.e. the Soka Gakkai which provides the opportunity for women to grow and lead, will
grow, while the stale sects will continue to dwindle in numbers. As President Ikeda
announced, All around the world, the age of women has arrived.

Citations

Mitchell, Donald W. Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience. New York:

Oxford UP, 2002. Print.

YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50DtM9OcVBI

USA, Soka Gakkai International -. "SGI-USA: Member Resources: Women's Activities:

Supporting Young Women." Soka Gakkai International - USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec.
2016.

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Access to Insight." Access to Insight. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Reflection of Buddhism 2020

Going into this class I was hoping to gain a greater insight to other religions of the world.
I chose Buddhism because it was an Eastern religion and I love the Asian culture.
Growing up in Salt Lake City, UT and being totally surrounded by a heavy western
Christian religion, it made it very difficult for me to have the chance to learn about any
other religion. Growing up, the majority of my friends belonged to the LDS church and
the small percentage of friends who werent LDS, were Christian. With the lack of
diversity at school and in my surrounding environment, it motivated me to branch out of
the Christian bubble in Utah and learn about new religions. I knew absolutely nothing
about Buddhism before I took this class. The only part of Buddhism I knew of was the
little golden Buddha statues at sushi restaurants, and the hostess would always say rub
his belly for good luck . In Class I learned so much about the Buddhas teachings, how
and why he responded to Hinduism and how Siddartha Gautama came to be enlightened.
I came to understand a new way of looking at religion. I have asked myself deeper
questions on why religions truly exist and how theyve managed to maintain followers
for centuries.
Upon my arrival to the Soka Gakkai Community center, one of the first things I
noticed during the meeting was the woman who was leading the session. This surprised
me, because Buddhism (like most other religions) is male dominated. I made a
connection to the Soka Gakkai sect because of President Ikedas constant encouragement
for women to lead and grow, not only within Buddhism, but in the world. I stand for
equality among all people, so its very important to me that the leading religions of the
world (even though Im not religious) practice equality. I believe its the only way to
make a true impact to reverse dualistic thinking among men and women. Religion is an

emotional connections to people all over the world, so if all religions started to encourage
women the way the Soka Gakkai does, I believe women would have more opportunity to
help make the world a better place.
This topic of gender issues in Buddhism for my final paper was not only
interesting to me, but it was very motivating for me to do research on and write about. I
read plentiful forums about different Buddhist sects and how women (nuns and lay
followers) felt about the inequality. I watched videos, read papers from by professor, and
of course read my text book to gain a greater understanding of exactly how women are
treated unequal within the religion. I came to learn of a lot of contradictory however In
paragraph four I stated: that we are all made up of the Five Aggregates which are Form
(our physical body), sensation (five senses), perception, mental formation, and
consciousness is to know that none of these parts that the human being comprises has
any enduring reality. no empirical evidence accepted by Buddhists for a soul or self
that dwells within. If the self, independent of others, is an illusion, then one cannot
alleviate ones own suffering without also alleviating the suffering of others.
(Mitchell) So if our bodies and self have no enduring essence, why would gender be
relevant to level of attainment or credibility? Veritably, it is not relevant. Mahayana
teaches that dharma is neither male nor female.
This is main lesson I learned and that impacted me the greatest. Eastern and Western
countries alike are still dealing with old ways of life and sexism within culture. Its
important for me and I think important for all people to recognize that gender does not
classify one as smarter, more trustworthy, credible, or able to attain a certain level
knowledge than another. Like President Ikeda said the time of women is now