The Women’s Status in the Pure Land Buddhism

 

The Depiction of the Women Status in the Pure Land Buddhism

Recent developments in science and technology have affected all walks of life throughout the world. It has changed the world view of the people. The position accorded to women in traditional societies has also changed drastically in all spheres of activity whether it is social, religious, economic or political. Such developments have led us to ponder over the status accorded to women in the main religious traditions of the world. It is evident from the perusal of religious scriptures of different faiths that almost all of them depict women as a temptress and harbinger of all sorts of miseries in this mundane world. So profound is Amida’s great compassion that manifesting in conceivable Buddhawisdom. The Buddha established the vow of transformation into men. There by vowing to enable women to attain Buddhahood.

So far as the history of women in Buddhism is concerned one can find several passages in numerous Sūtras (early or later) which are clearly androcentric and deny their equal status in the clergy (Saṅgha). Many scholars have suggested that such elements were inserted into the texts later, while others argue that, the discrimination against women in Buddhism has its roots in Vedic society and is symptomatic of the patriarchal structure of human society since that time. The Buddha may seem misogynistic to us today, his attitude was liberal for the 6th - 5th century B.C.E.

 

 

Whatever are the reasons, throughout the history of development or evolution of Buddhism, we do encounter misogynist and protagonist attitudes counter-influencing each other. However, it is a fact that women were part and parcel of Buddhism and were involved in each and every activity almost from the very beginning, whether it is the role of nuns, or of sponsors and supporters of the Saṅgha of ordained practitioners.

Against this background an attempt has been made to examine the status of women in the Pure Land Buddhism which is a branch of mainstream Mahāyāna Buddhism and one of the most popular schools in the Far East. The emphasis will be given to the following three points:

·         The Position of women in society at the time of the Buddha,

·         The Lord Buddha's attitude towards women - A Misogynist or A Protagonist of women's cause as reflected in the Pāli literature and

·         The status of women in the Pure Land Buddhism.

 

1. The Position of Women at the Time of the Buddha

The Rigveda is regarded as the earliest literary evidence which provides valuable information about the earliest history of human civilization. During the Rigvedic times there are evidences indicating the honour and respect which women received in the society. In the realm of religion, too, they had access to the highest knowledge of the Absolute or Brahma. Women were allowed to perform religious rites, and even the knowledge of the Vedas was available to them. However, such liberal attitudes towards women changed in due course of time.Available literary sources of post Vedic period reveal that in the contemporary society women, who constituted the half of the humanity, were the worst sufferer. They seem to have held an extremely subordinate position in the society. Women came to be considered as greatly inferior to men - both physically and mentally. They had very little option to opt for. Women seldom were allowed to make their own decisions. In all their roles, women were less powerful than were men. A typical woman spent her childhood serving and obeying her parents, her young age serving and obeying her husband and his parents, and her old age serving and obeying her grown up children.

"By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.”

Women usually had to marry the person chosen for them by their parents or so called guardians. However, we do find few instances of young women who were given the choice of several suitors, but it was not a common practice. Once married, women had to obey their husband and in-laws. Her place was the home, under the complete whims and fancies of her husband. She not only had to perform all the domestic chores, but also had to bring up a large family. It was women's duty to cook, clean, bear and brought up children including the whole household affairs. The food left over by her husband was often the food for the woman. If she displeased her husband, he could beat her or throw her out of the house. Some of the priestly caste Brahmins married and lived with their wives yet regarded food cooked by women as impure and unfit to eat. Women were supposed to bear children for the family. If a married woman could not give birth to a child, or failed to produce any male offspring, she might be superseded by a second or third wife or even turned out of the house; for there was the strong belief that there must be a male child for the continuance of family line and the performance of the 'rites of the ancestors'. A myth was built up - that all women were regarded as sinful and the only way to keep them out of mischief was to keep them endlessly occupied with the task of motherhood and domestic duties.

The literature also mentions occasional elopements, without the permission of parents. Divorce could be initiated by the husband, but not the wife. Adulterous wives were punished with death, while adulterous husbands were not punished at all. There were instances in which husbands would give their wives away to other men. As marriage was considered a holy sacrament, a young girl who did not marry was badly criticized and despised by society.

In Buddhist texts there are references of courtesans or prostitutes. Some women chose this life for themselves. Others had less choice. It is recorded that in Vaisali, there was a law forbidding the marriage of a beautiful woman. In comparison to others courtesans were relatively independent, and could earn their own living. They had an accepted place in society. There are references of women slaves or lower-class servants who had not only to follow all of the orders of their masters and had to work day and night but also had no right to refuse the sexual advances of their masters. They could not marry without the permission of their masters. There are instances recorded in which slave women were beaten so regularly and heartlessly by their masters that they committed suicide.

In the field of religious practices, the position once enjoyed by women was denied to them. Women have also been regarded as the source of all the sins of the world and have been blamed for the misfortunes of men in this world and the next. There was also the belief that as women, no salvation could be gained - they had to be reincarnated as men before they were able to gain their salvation. She could not worship by herself, and it was believed that she could only reach heaven through unquestioning obedience to her husband, even if he happened to be a wicked person. Women were prohibited from reading the religious scriptures. The punishment for doing so was to have their tongues cut out. They were also discouraged from entering places of worship. If they were at all allowed to participate in religious practices, such participation was confined to their own homes, by attending to household religious ceremonies.

 

2. The Lord Buddha’s Attitude towards Women

It was in the midst of such extreme social discrimination and degrading attitudes towards women that the Buddha made his appearance in the Indian subcontinent. It is beyond imagination that such a pathetic situation of women in the contemporary society would have gone unnoticed to such a pragmatic religious leader like Lord Buddha and he would not have admonished his disciples or followers regarding it. In the following pages an attempt has been made to examine the available Buddhist literatures, canonical and non-canonical, in order to evaluate the attitude of Lord Buddha towards women.

According to the Indian tradition there are four class distinctions in Hindu system in which Brahmins encouraged a repressive and demeaning or suppression of women.Therefore, with the emergence of the Lord Buddha appears in India at that time could be the way of life to offer to women in which the principle of equality that propagated to offered women the opportunity to break away from the restrictions of home life.  By the spread of Buddhism and rapid acceptance of women at that time to join in Buddhist Saṅgha communities in order to break away the social world of tradition and marriage which to be free from household chores and sexual slavery of world life. In this connection, we could say that whether the Lord Buddha attitude towards women should be supports the human rights movement for equality and democracy.

When one goes through the passages of Pāli literatures which deal with the matters of women there emerges two opposite views regarding the Buddhist attitude towards women, one, the Lord Buddha as a misogynist and the other, the Lord Buddha as a crusader of women's cause. In order to know that whether or not the Lord Buddhadiscriminated against women. According to the Tripiṭaka elsewhere that offers conflicting information regarding to the women status. The place and role of women in Buddhism may be considered in several ways;

1. The doctrinal statement relating to gender in the Buddhist teaching which Buddhists call Dhamma.

2. The position of women in the religious and the secular life in India before the Buddha’s time with that after.

3. Whether the Buddha’s teaching accords to women a position different to that accorded to men, as is the case in some other religious.

4. Whether the accident of the sex of one’s birth helps or retards progress on the Buddha’s path and indeed whether gender is itself a chance event or caused by pre-existing factors;

5. The past played by women in the early history of Buddhism notably during the Buddha’s own time;

6. The circumstances surrounding the establishment of order of Nuns (Bhikkhunis):

and

7. The influence of Buddhism on the position of women in the countries where Buddhism became a living presence, it is not possible to consider all these questions in an outreach of this length. So the treatment of the subject has to be selective.

However, in this connection, we may say that this hostile attitude to woman both in religion and in society was repeatedly criticized and challenged by the Buddha on numerous occasions. In the Kosala Saṃyutta6 the Buddha contradicts the belief that the birth of a daughter was not as much a cause of joy as that of a son.

“A woman child, O lord of men, may prove Even a better offspring than a male. For she may grow up wise and virtuous, her husband's mother reverencing, true wife. The boy that she may bear may do great deeds, and rule great realms, yea; such a son of noble wife becomes his country's guide.” (Kindred Sayings I. 111)

This was said to king Kosala who was apparently disappointed at the news that his queen had given birth to a girl.

It was also held in Indian belief that woman was intellectually inferior to man and therefore had no capacity to reach higher spiritual attainments. When asked by Ananda, the Buddha said that women are capable of becoming Arhata-s. If women follow the path of renunciation, they can become completely enlightened, just as men can. Elsewhere in the scriptures, the Buddha elaborates on this idea, while using the imagery of a chariot to explain the Buddhist path:

"Straight is the name that Road is called, and 'Free from Fear' the Quarter whither thou art bound. Thy Chariot is the 'Silent Runner' named, With Wheels of Righteous Effort fitted well. Conscience the Leaning-board; the Drapery Is Heedfulness; the Driver is the Dharma, I say, and Right Views, they that run before. And be it woman, or be it man for whom such a chariot doth wait, by that same car into Nirvana's presence shall they come."

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