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Discuss the responses to the question of whether women are capable of achieving the same spiritual standing as men.Apologists of many of the major religions, when defending the attitudes towards women will often say similar things. For example, it is often observed that the founders of the religions were considered radical in their time, and significantly raised the status of women. It is also stressed that the teachings of the religion clearly emphasise the equality of men and women, and that it is interpretation by a male-dominated scholastic class that results in women being returned to their inferior status [WIR intro]. A clear example of this dichotomy between doctrine and practice can be seen in Buddhism, whose teachings are essentially entirely "gender free and gender neutral" [WIR p1; also "The dharma is neither male nor female" - WIR p16 and p18]. However, Buddhism was born and developed in the male-dominated culture of India in the 5th century BCE. In a notable dialogue, the Buddha is directly asked if women are capable of achieving the same spiritual standing as men, and he directly answers that they are [Reader 5.3.4, also WIR p4]. However, on being asked if they can form an order of nuns comparable to the by then well established order of monks, he is initially opposed to the idea. It is only after repeated persuasion, and being forced to admit that they would obtain the same spiritual benefits, that he finally caves in. However, he immediately places eight additional rules upon nuns that enforce permanent subservience to the monks. He then went on to say that allowing women entry in the monastic lifestyle would halve the lifetime of Buddhism "true dharma will endure only for five hundred years" [Reader 5.3.4]. This dialogue illustrates the difference between Gautama Siddhartha the man, and his teachings However, it is worth pointing out that, while the eight rules certainly keep the nuns subservient to the monks, they in no way inhibit women's spiritual growth [WIR p6]. The monastic lifestyle is central to Buddhism, certainly in the early schools. If women had not been allowed to become nuns, their chances of spiritual growth would have suffered enormously [WIR p5]. As it was, even with the eight rules, a nun's life provided an escape route from domestic duties, and the possibility of real spiritual development [WIR intro and p6]. Yet we cannot ignore the effect of the eight rules. As nuns were so obviously inferior in status they were poorly supported by the laity and numbers dwindled [WIR p7]. In Theravada Buddhism, where the monastic life is of particular importance, nuns have an especially hard time. The accepted regulations state that a nun can only be fully ordained in the presence of ten ordained monks and ten ordained nuns. With the ever-dwindling numbers, this becomes increasingly difficult, yet established authorities take strong objection to ideas of gathering nuns from further afield to set up new orders. The claim is that the lineage would be broken, and thus the order would be in some way invalid. Yet these concerns are invariably overlooked if similar circumstances arise in monastic orders [WIR p20]. Mahayana Buddhism places less emphasis on the monastic ideal, and introduces the concept of emptiness - the idea that nothing, including gender, contains any kind of substantive permanence [u11-16, 6.2]. These facts would seem to suggest that women's lot is better in Mahayana Buddhism, and that the path to enlightenment is more open. Indeed, in Mahayana Buddhism there are many legends of women achieving enlightenment and confounding sceptical male onlookers [WIR pp9-12]. A striking example is the story of the Dragon Princess [Reader 5.4.6, also WIR p10] - an eight year old girl who achieves Buddhahood in the space of an instant. This is performed in front of an audience of the Buddha and two revered bodhisattvas, one of whom - Sariputra - had previously explicitly stated that a woman's body was "filthy" and "not a Dharma-receptacle". Additionally, there were five 'ways', considered prerequisites for Buddhahood, which could not be attained by women in the society of the time. Upon attaining Buddhahood, the Dragon Princess transforms into a man. This is an important point, and one that is open to interpretation. It could be seen as nothing more than a demonstration of power, or it could be taken to show that enlightenment can only be achieved by a man. However, in another story, the aforementioned Sariputra asks another enlightened woman (referred to only as 'the goddess') why she does not transform herself into a man. Instead she transforms him into a woman, and discusses at length the illusory nature of gender and the physical body [WIR p11]. This I think reflects a truer interpretation of the ideas of Mahayana Buddhism towards gender. (See also Reader 5.6.4 "What difference should a woman's state make, when the mind is well concentrated"). Vajrayana (or "Tantric") Buddhism, models itself as an extension on the foundations of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, and develops the interpretation of gender. Rather than considering gender as empty and illusory, it regards maleness and femaleness as equal and essential. To reach enlightenment, one must overcome one's own gender and identify oneself with both male and female principles [WIR p14]. Both male and female meditators are given the identical exercises, and practitioners often train in pairs, embarking upon a spiritual life together. However, here too social norms impinge upon doctrinal ideals. In Tibet, where Vajrayana Buddhism is most prevalent, the word for 'woman' directly translates as 'born low' [WIR p15]. Even though sex discrimination is specifically discouraged ("It is therefore a root downfall to dispraise women" [Willis, 103, quoted in WIR p15]) female practitioners and nuns are still accorded less standing than their male counterparts. In spiritual pairs, although there are many stories of high achievement, they are normally of the form "A great man and his partner"; the woman never being specifically named even though her achievements were as great [WIR p16]. This is not to say women are accorded no respect. Tibetan nuns have the same difficulty in obtaining formal ordination as Therevadin nuns, yet there are many unordained women leading a nun's life who are respected almost as if they were ordained. In Tibet there is an additional path one can take, external to the established monastic orders - that of the siddha, or wandering yoghi (feminine: yoghini). In the absence of full ordination, many women instead opt for this path. They too are accorded significant respect, comparable to, if not exceeding that of the nuns. So perhaps it would be fair to conclude that, while Buddhism does not discriminate against women, Buddhist cultures tend to. There is still an attitude that a woman should aim first for rebirth as a man rather than aim directly for enlightenment [AC]. While teachers "consciously refute the claim that only in a future male rebirth could a female realy attain deep insight" [WIR p9], they point to the fact that in male-dominated society a woman's path will be harder. To a westerner, gender is fixed and death is final, so to gain equality in an unequal society, one must change society. If one believes in rebirth and impermanence however, it might seem easier to simply die and be reborn. Thus even this apparently sexist view can be interpreted in a more forgiving light. Buddhism has also applied this attitude to itself. As it expanded into the surrounding lands, it was Buddhism that adapted to fit around the patriarchal culture rather than the other way around. Islam by contrast is, on first appearances, a more fixed religion. The Qur'an is definitive and final, and cannot be changed. However, the Qur'an does not cover all aspects of life, and thus there is still much in Islam that is not the result of the teachings of Muhammad, but of prevailing Arab customs from the sixth to tenth centuries CE. On the Audio Cassette this is discussed at some length. A woman who was impressed by the teachings of Islam when she studied them independently was struck by the difference in interpretation when she visited strongly patriarchal Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Syria [AC]. However, there is an important difference. Whereas orthodox Islamic teaching stresses that "all believers are equal before God" [WIR p85], the teachings of the Qur'an are by no stretch of the imagination 'gender neutral'. While it is true that Muhammad made a great difference to the rights of women in the times, he created specific laws to counter specific abuses. Before Islam, women received no inheritance. Muhammad gave them half the entitlement of a man. "A male shall inherit twice as much as a female [Surah 4:10]. Women may have had more rights under Islam than they had before, but they were still subservient to men. "Men have authority over women because God had made the one superior to the other" [Surah 4:34]. It is often argued that men and women are equal, but have different roles to play. However the role that women are assigned is narrow and restricted to private and domestic affairs. There is little scope for development, spiritual or otherwise. Women "may lead prayers only for other women" [WIR p109] if they are permitted to perform religious duties at all. This despite the fact that "all schools of law hold that all Muslims, men or women, are equally competent to perform all Muslim rites" [WIR p92]. Women are not permitted to worship in the main area of a mosque, and in some cultures are not permitted to enter the mosque at all [WIR p109 and intro]. Consider the veil, the full-body covering worn by women in the more conservative Islamic societies. While it has been argued that these provide women with a degree of freedom [AC], this only works as an argument when the women would be oppressed without it. If a woman dons a veil so her husband will permit her to leave the house, this illustrates the liberating nature of the veil far less than it shows the oppressive nature of the husband. Islam was not always so male-dominated. In the early years after the prophet's death, his wife Aisha took a prominent role. However, she and her followers quickly found themselves at odds with the male dominated political elite, and found themselves in the role of rebels. Eventually they were defeated, and later Muslim scholars have used Aisha's example to demonstrate the perils of letting women take leadership roles [u5-6, 5.6]. However, as with the eight rules imposed upon Buddhist nuns, Islamic repression of women, however little it has to do with Qur'anic teachings, is mainly focussed on maintaining the status quo of society. In the purely spiritual side of life, there are no additional barriers placed on them. While they may face restrictions on entering a mosque, a mosque is not a prerequisite for prayer [VC3], and no restrictions are placed on their fasting or performing hajj. So while mundane life may be hard, spiritual development is more equal. Thus we see that in even two very different religions, we see similar circumstances in the standing of women. In both Islam and Buddhism, the teachings strongly maintain that women can indeed attain the same spiritual standing as men. Yet in both cases, the society in which the religion developed has shaped the religion itself, and these societies have been strongly patriarchal. Thus women's standing has been far from equal, and while their spiritual development has theoretically not been impaired, in practice it has been made a lot harder. Bibliography
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