Gender Inequity in Tibetan Buddhism Creative Writing

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Although doctrinally there are no injunctions against gender equity, Mahayana Buddhism remains as many of the other major world religions, profoundly patriarchal. Even with no prescribed hierarchical difference between men and women in Buddhist scripture, in practice, Tibetan Buddhism has exhibited sexist practices, from the different ways men and women are ordained to the total absence of women in important ritual roles. Buddhist nuns have subordinate status, their training being at once “stricter” but still not enabling nuns to participate fully in important ceremonies, rites, and public functions (“Female Inequality in Buddhism”). The Dalai Lama has recently tried to address the issues related to gender inequality in Tibetan Buddhism, engaging in frank discussions about the possibility of full bhik?u?? ordination of women and female incarnations of lamas, including the Dalai Lama (His Holiness the Dalai Lama).

The primary injunction against full gender equality in Tibetan Buddhism is related to sexuality and sexual symbolism in the religion. The concept of dakini as cosmic female parallels that of the Virgin Mother in Christianity, creating what is essentially the virgin/whore complex (Tumanov). In fact, the virgin mother theme is present in Mahayana Buddhism as well: “the theme of the virgin mother as significant in the birth of heros or divinities” reaching near-universal status (Campbell 85). With sexual purity elevated to the utmost important status in the religion, it would seem that ordained nuns who eschew reproduction or sexual relations in their vows would be readily accepted into the sangha. Yet the training for Buddhist nuns in the Tibetan tradition is far more rigid, restrictive, and even irrelevant given the lack of power afforded to women in religious practice (“Female Inequality in Buddhism”). “Female nuns are subjected to stricter spiritual guidelines, which pose challenges in their monastic life,” and are held to different standards than their male counterparts (“Female Inequality in Buddhism”). Nuns must defer to monks, cannot enter inner sanctums of temples or places of worship, and cannot lead rituals without monks present (“Female Inequality in Buddhism”).

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One of the reasons for gender equity is in fact rooted in scripture. Gender is not a fundamental element of Buddhist teaching but does play a role in Buddhist identity, cosmology, and symbolism. Simmer-Brown refers to the principle of the dakini, goddesses that embody a cosmic female principle but one that is by definition the counterpart or at least antithesis to the male. The dakini principle is cosmologically subordinate to the male principle, goddesses modeled after stereotypically female roles like “mother,” “sister,” or “maid,” rather than as leader (Simmer-Brown 199). However lofty or elevated her role, the dakini remains in a helper or supportive role vis-a-vis the male, a position of low status and power. Female deities reflect patriarchal cultural practices, modeled after what would have been the prevailing roles for women in the society. As a result, Siddhartha only “reluctantly allows women to become ordained after enforcing the Eight Garudhammas, which are additional spiritual guidelines directly imposed on nuns, not monks,” (“Female Inequality in Buddhism” 1). If gender inequality is embedded in Buddhist sutras as much as it is in Christian scripture, then it will remain profoundly difficult for the Dalai Lama or any other Tibetan spiritual leader to make necessary changes to the structure of religious leadership and the official status of ordained females.

Another reason for gender inequality is related more directly to sexuality and sexual norms. Buddhist nuns are trained separately from their male counterparts in part to avoid the appearance of sexual transgression, yet the burden of maintaining purity falls upon the female, who is regarded as potentially dangerous sexually, able to lure the male devotee from his spiritual practice and monastic obligations (Campbell 82). “Buddhist teachings have….....

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