WOMEN AND VINAYA
In Eastern patriarchal societies, the role of women is considered inferior to men, but such prejudice is unacceptable in a civilized society. The Buddha was the first master to realize the potential of women and create many opportunities for them to develop their spiritual and social abilities.
We know that after enlightenment, at first the Buddha was reluctant to convert beings, which was called his “silent” period. Women too, were not initially allowed to join the sangha, and Venerable Ananda and Nun Patriarch Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī earnestly begged the Buddha to allow them to join. With the assurance of Venerable Ananda, Nun Patriarch Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī accepted to abide by eight rules of the bhikkhunīs. The Buddha accepted her, along with 500 concubines, to join the sangha. The eight rules (S. Guradharmā; P. Aṭṭha Garudhammā) are as follows:
- A nun who has been ordained even for a hundred years must greet respectfully, rise up from her seat, salute with joined palms, do proper homage to a monk ordained but that day.
- A nun must not spend the rains in a residence where there are no monks.
- Every half month a nun should desire two things from the Order of Monks: the asking as to the date of the Observance (Uposatha) day, and the coming of the exhortation (bhikkhunovada).
- After the rains (three months rainy season retreat) a nun must “invite” (pavarana) before both orders in respect of three matters, namely what was seen, what was heard, what was suspected. (A revised version allows bhikkhunīs to perform pavarana by themselves.)
- A nun, offending against an important rule, must undergo manatta discipline for half a month before both orders.
- When, as a probationer, she has trained in the six rules (cha dhamma) for two years, she should seek higher ordination from both orders.
- A monk must not be abused or reviled in any way by a nun.
- From today, admonition of monks by nuns is forbidden.
In the discipline of the nuns, these eight rules are strictly observed. Dharmagupta law (Chinese version) compares these eight rules to a bridge to cross a big river so that one can go to the other side to be liberated. Many sūtras say that all of these 500 bhikkhunīs attained bliss salvation. The Buddha also invented the bhikkhunī precepts and the ritual for transmitting bhikkhunī precepts to them. This clearly shows that they are ordained and take two important stages: first ordained in the nun sangha, then later in the monk sangha.
Nun sanghas have more responsibilities and duties when they take the vows of bhikkhunī precepts. They were allowed to recite the Bhikkhunī Patimokkha, which included the precepts and abhisamācārika of nuns. In the Pāli Vinaya, there are 227 precepts for monks, while there are 348 for nuns in seven sections. The bhikkhunī precepts were formed in Sravasti, India.
In the Pāli Vinaya, there are 305 cases of monks and fifty-nine cases of nuns. Thus, the percentage of women mentioned is 16.2% of the total population. This means that the Buddha opened the door to welcome women who can joyfully join the life of sangha, but at that time the attitude of society towards women seemed to change too slowly and the position of women was still considered low and limited. Despite this, a large number of nuns during the Buddha's time excelled in various fields.
There are three main sources of stories about women's legends and stories: the Apadana, (thirteenth volume of the Sutta Pitaka), the Anguttara Nikaya and the Therigatha. In them, the elder nuns recount very clearly the various deeds of women who made efforts to practice and attain Nirvāṇa. The Manorathapurani Sutta (Anguttara Nikàya) refers to the list of elder nuns, samaneri and to Suppiyā, who are pure and virtuous.
With the permission of the Buddha to establish the nuns' congregation, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī created many conditions for nuns to practice and many unhappy and suffering women were happily liberated from the bondage. For example, in a number of sutras in the Anguttara and Samyutta, the Buddha declared:
"Dear ladies, if you can leave home, live a homeless life, you can become a mendicant like Bhikkhunīs Khema and Uppalavanna.”
“Khema” means “peacefulness” or “Nirvāṇa.” She was a well-trained upāsikā and supporter of the Buddha Dharma in the Buddha Padmottara's time. During the time of Buddha Kassapa, she was the daughter of King Kiki of Varanasi, named Samani, who lived a pure life and built a monastery to make offerings to Buddha. Next in the Buddha Vipassī’s time, she preached the Dharma. During the time of Buddha Kakusandha and Konagarnana, she built many monasteries to make offerings to the Buddha and the sangha. During Shakyamuni Buddha’s time, she was born in the Sagala royal family of Madradesa and became queen of the Bimbisara king, Magadha.
The sutta recounts that she never appeared before the Buddha because she thought that the Tathagata never cared about the beauty of women. But one day, King Bimbisara set up an offering to the Buddha and the sangha and invited the dancers and singers to Venuvana Bamboo Grove Garden. At that time, Khema appeared to the Buddha. In order to educate her arrogance, the Buddha manifested magical power and turned out to be a beautiful fairy standing by to fan the Buddha. The nymph suddenly appeared, first a middle-aged woman, and then became an old woman with wrinkled skin, fallen teeth, and gray hair that surprised Khema. Her arrogance about her beauty disappeared when she heard the following verse:
“Whoever is a slave to desire and lust,
Like a spider that doesn't leave its own silken web.
The wise eliminate ambition, leave the mundane world, escape anxiety and leaves behind all
sorrow.”
The commentary in the Therigatha adds that when the Buddha finished his lecture, Khema immediately attained arahantship. She became one of the great intellectual disciples.
The Therigatha also describes the enlightened attainments of many elder nuns. In the Therigatha, these elder nuns recount their experience of living, practicing and revealing their blissful state with faith in the Blessed One's liberation path. For example, Uppalavanna, for many generations, was a wise, virtuous nun who often offered food to the Buddha. She gained magical power due to her efforts to practice. At the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, Uppalavanna was born the daughter of a bourgeois in Sravasti. She had a beautiful appearance like a pure blue lotus. At the age of maturity, many princes and kings came to propose, but because of the righteous faith, she wanted to become a nun living in a monastery. The Buddha’s cousin Ananda encouraged her to practice and because of this, she shunned her home and lived a quiet life of a recluse. The nun diligently meditated using the lamp as her object. The nun achieved four meditation states (jhanas)) and the Unsurpassed Enlightenment (patisambhida), finally attaining arahantship and wisdom (abhijana).
Bhikkhunī Sanghamitra was the daughter of the Ashoka emperor. Along with her brother Mahendra, the monk who instructed King Tissa of Sinhala (now Sri Lanka) she formed the nun sangha through the ordination ceremony for Queen Anula and 500 concubines. In the fourth century, Princess Hemamala (daughter of King Kalinga) and prince consort Dantakumara, brought the Buddha's relics (danta-dhatu) to this island nation. Queen Kumaradevi of King Govindachandra at Kanyakujia and Varanasi restored the Buddha statue (dharmacakrajina) and built a very solemn great monastery for the nuns at Sarnath. This proves that Buddhism was prevalent in the eleventh century.
The nuns' congregation persisted for a thousand years in Sri Lanka. This tradition has continued to grow because it has been passed down to China, so that today we can revive the nun sangha in South and Southeast Asia. and finally restore the nuns' congregation as a dynamic organization in countries like Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, Korea, China, Japan and Vietnam.
From ancient times until the eleventh century, the nuns continued to practice almsgiving, make offerings, statues and building temples. There are many biographies of the nuns and upāsikā living the pure life, shining the world with their noble virtue.
It was during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha that we had many attainments of nuns, such as Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, Yasodhara, Khema, Uppalavanna, Kundalakesi, Kapilani, Soma, Ubbiri, Rohini, Patachara, Anupama, Nandi and many others. We also know in the Annals on Vamsa of Sri Lanka there are records of the outstanding nuns of the later period, such as Sanghamitra, Dhammapala, Sudhamma, Malla, Aggomitta, Uttara, Hema and many others. Lay women also play an important role in society and religious development today. For example, in Sri Lanka, Bandaranayike became prime minister and her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga was the president.
In 280, a congregation of nuns was established in China with Venerable Chen Chien as the first bhikkhunī. In 429, Bhikkhunī Devasara with seven other nuns was sent to China by King Meghavanna and the congregation of nuns gradually increased in number. Over the centuries, Chinese nuns have actively contributed to peace and social security.
In the history of Vietnam, bhikkhunīs such as the Most Venerable Đàm-soạn, the Most Venerable Diệu-không, the Most Venerable Hải-triều-Âm, the Most Venerable Như – Thanh, the Most Venerable Huỳnh-liên are talented nuns playing an active role in many fields, such as propaganda, education, culture and social charity. In our time, there are many female Buddhist leaders in Tibet, Nepal, China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. They are in the process of building many nunneries and Buddhist Research Centers. There is great encouragement that many women in organizations in Europe and America have begun to establish nunneries. These people play an important role in balancing a society that is on a moral decline and goes against the interests of women.
The fundamental question today is how men and women adapt to the development in the new social order that is dominated by indifference, violence and insecurity. Modern civilized scientific ideas have encouraged analytical thinking, but the risk that the liberal freedom of a new society may also result in a decline in moral values. Consequently, there is an urgent need to create a social structure to support spiritual life, combat poverty, protect human rights, uphold moral values and restore cultural traditions. These things are only temporarily balanced.
The biggest problem today is how to transfer positive values to future generations. To accomplish this work, the most appropriate thing is to realize the concept of equality in gender. All mankind, men and woman, have in themselves the essence of both men and women. The Buddha did not distinguish the intellectual and spiritual powers between men and women.
Although Buddhist attitudes towards women sometimes seem contradictory or even negative, this attitude has changed and it's easy to see that the positive influence of women is present in today's Buddhist world, in particular, the capacity of women from all over the thirty countries around the world gathered here to present at the Eighth Sakyadhita World Buddhist Women Conference in Korea as a testimony forward.
Kam-sa-ham-nida (in Korean language means “thank you”)
Song-bul-ha-ship-si-o (May all beings become Buddhas)
Seoul, South Korea, July 2, 2004
Respectfully,
Bhikkhunī Thích Nữ Giới Hương
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