Buddhist Bigotry: A look at the
patriarchal beliefs of America’s “liberal” faith
“…of course, some women can be difficult! I sympathize with
feminists, but they must not merely shout. They must exert efforts to make
positive contributions to society” – His Holiness, the
Dalai Lama.
If
that quote sounds to you more like an excerpt from an Ann Coulter book than the
prepared speech from the leader of one of the world’s largest religions, you’re
not alone. When Buddhism first gained ground in the U.S. some of its first
converts were liberals, hippies, feminists and gay men and women who were
disillusioned by the conservative beliefs of evangelical Christianity [Boucher].
To this day, Buddhism still counts among its number many influential liberal
celebrities and enjoys the reputation of being a religion of peace and
equality. However, the core teachings of the church are as patriarchal and
oppressive as the society in which it originated, and to this day the practice
of the faith is extremely gendered. Buddhism may have started as a progressive
alternative to Brahmin Hinduism, but even with the influx of thought from
Western religious thinkers, it remains staunchly patriarchal.
The Bahudhātuka-sutta, one of Buddhism’s central texts,
states outright and repeatedly that a woman cannot achieve Buddhahood, the goal
of all practicing Buddhists. A woman’s body, the text claims, is poorly suited
to achieving enlightenment and women have to wait until the cycle of
reincarnation brings them back as a male human [Murcott]. Women should still
dedicate themselves to the faith, the text goes on, as it increases their
chances of a male reincarnation [BDEA]. Basically, the best fate a woman can
achieve in Buddhism is to be reborn with a penis, a sentiment so blatantly
sexist the G.O.P. will be running it as a Senate candidate in 2016.
Women who seek to become ordained in
the Buddhist faith face an uphill struggle. First, they will have to have the
good fortune to not be an adherent to the Theravadan school of Buddhism, as
that sect has not had a process for women to become nuns for several hundred
years [Slone]. Given the treatment of Buddhist nuns, this may be a mercy. Nuns
must obey many more rules than are imposed on monks, and must bow to every monk
they encounter. Jutsun Kushala, who is widely respected as a spiritual leader and educator in the West,
must work a full-time job to fund her practice while her male counterparts are
provided for by the faith [Gross].
The faith also imposes no shortage
of restrictions on laywomen. Though one of the faith’s central teachings is the
rejection of binaries and absolutes in favor of the “middle way”, abortion
[Harvey], homosexuality [Lau] and sex work [Peek] are all seen as absolute
moral wrongs. If mental gymnastics was an Olympic sport, Buddhism would be
disqualified for doping.
An encouraging trend in Western
activism and feminism is an increased solidarity with minority groups fighting
for civil rights and equality. A practitioner of Buddhism will have to look
somewhere other than their faith for guidance in this struggle, as the faith
argues that individuals who possess dark skin do so because they showed they
were unworthy of fair skin in their past incarnations [Gethin]. While typing
that sentence, I became very concerned for the residents of Montgomery, Alabama
as I was nearly certain their city would be destroyed by all the rolling in Dr.
King’s grave.
Those who look to Buddhism as an
escape from the severe gender roles enforced by Christian faiths will also find
themselves disappointed. As Rita Gross points out, Buddhism views “compassion”
as a “masculine” trait and “wisdom” as an inherently “feminine” one. I, for
one, could not create something so arbitrary without punching my keyboard, so I
suppose I must commend Buddhism on its creativity.
Despite the assertions by
celebrities and hippies alike, Buddhism is not some egalitarian alternative to
the Abrahamic faiths. It is a religion founded in patriarchy that proudly
perpetuates that patriarchy. While radically egalitarian in its original setting,
in modern day Western societies, it has a more reactionary outlook than even
most conservative political dogmas. The only thing it has to offer those
serious about gender equality is a splitting headache.
Works Cited
Boucher, Sandy. Turning
the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism. Boston, MA: Beacon,
1993. Print.
Murcott, Susan. The
First Buddhist Women:Translations and Commentary on the Therigatha.
Berkeley: Parallax, 1991. Print.
"Buddhist Studies: 3. Q & A on Women in
Buddhism." Buddhist
Studies: 3. Q & A on Women in Buddhism. BDEA, Inc., 2008. Web. 28 Nov.
2012. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/wbq03.htm
Jason Slone, D., and Joel Mort. "Sexism vs. Superhuman
Agency in the Theravada Buddhist Ritual System." Method & Theory in the Study of
Religion 17.2 (2005): 134-48.
Print.
Gross, Rita M. Buddhism
after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism.
Albany: State University of New York, 1993. Print.
Harvey, Peter. An
Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values, and Issues.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2000. 311-20. Print.
Lau, M. P., and M. L. Ng. "Homosexuality in
Chinese Culture." Culture,
Medicine and Psychiatry 13.4
(1989): 465-88. Print.
Peek, John M. "Buddhism, Human Rights and
the Japanese State." Human
Rights Quarterly17.3 (1995): 527-40. Print.
Gethin, Rupert. The
Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 1998. Print. P.121 and
others.
Gross, Rita. "What Went Wrong? Feminism and
Freedom from the Prison of Gender Roles.: An Article From: Cross Currents
[HTML] [Digital]." Amazon.com:
What Went Wrong? Feminism and Freedom from the Prison of Gender Roles.: An
Article From: Cross Currents: Rita M. Gross: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov.
2012.
<http://www.amazon.com/Feminism-freedom-prison-gender-roles/dp/B0008DMKF2>.
