Buddhist Attitude Towards Women
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by Jeffrey Hays
As is true with many other religions, Buddhism sees women in a less favorable light than men and provides them with fewer opportunities. Some Buddhist scriptures are downright cruel. One sutra reads: “one who looks at a woman even a moment will lose the virtuous function of eyes. Even though you may look at a large snake, you must not look at a woman.” Another reads, “If all the desires and delusions of all the men throughout the major world system were lumped together, they would be no greater than the karmic impediment of one single woman.”
Theravada Buddhists have traditionally believed that women had to be reborn as men to achieve nirvana or become Bodhisattvas. Mahayana Buddhism by contrast cast women in more favorable terms. Female deities hold high positions; The Buddha is regarded a subordinate to a primordial female force described as the “Mother of all Buddhas”; men are told they are more likely to attain enlightenment if they open up their soft, intuitive feminine side in meditation.
Some scholars argue that Gautama Buddha espoused equality for women. With some trepidation, he allowed women to become monks and gave tacit approval for women to participate in serious philosophical debates. These scholars argue that Buddhism’s sexist side is due primarily to its links with Hinduism and the conservative monk hierarchy that determined the path Buddhism took after The Buddha death.
In Buddhist societies, women generally have pretty high status. They inherit property, own land and work and enjoy many of the same rights as men. But still it is hard to say that are treated equally. The often quoted saying—“Men are the front legs of an elephant and women are the hind legs”—still sums up a view held by many.
Book: Gender Equality in Buddhism by Masatoshi Ueki (Peter Lang Publishing).