Throughout Buddhist history, the role of women has been far from fair. The only way to steer clear of finding misogyny in Buddhism has been to select your texts carefully. What remains is that Buddhism, in any society, has done absolutely nothing to upgrade the status of women, although nunneries have frequently given them safe haven.
In Buddhism,it’s nearly not possible to miss that women are regarded and treated as being inferior to men. Regardless of this clear inequality, thousands of bright and educated women practice Buddhism as both laywmen and as nuns. Allow us to take a acquaint ourselves with of the role of women practicing Buddhism, both throughout history and from the modern day perspective.
In the Beginning…
During the time which Buddha had been born, the society was ruled by the caste system and was heavily anti-women. So for the Buddha to eventually declare that any person â€" man or woman, could reach nirvana had been particularly ground-breaking. As with the Gospels, the sutras had been written long after Buddha’s death (some 200 yrs.) and they had been written by the monks, who were, of naturally, all men. This is an important point to keep in mind as we go travelling backwards through history to India, sixth century B.C.E.
Yrs later, Mahapajapati began to feel the same sense of discontent that drove so many men into the sangha. She longed to ask for admittance, but knew only men were allowed to join the monastery. Undeterred from the fear of failure, she felt a need to ask to be admitted. She had cast off her material things and devoted herself to acts of compassion. Next, it was time to take the next step.
Like Jesus prior to her (under different circumstances), Mahapajapati was turned down three times when she requested Buddha for to be permitted entry to into the sangha in Kapilavatthu. She left him to his meditations, but cut off her hair then put on a saffron robe. Now it was time for Buddha to make his long trek to Vesali, and along with five hundred other royal women who had also shaved their heads and wore a saffron robe, Mahapajapati followed in his path.
This time as she approached the Buddha, she saw that he was meditating, and she did not want to disturb him|When they arrived, Mahapajapati didn’t want to to interrupt Buddha from his meditations. Ananda noticed their attire and asked as to the reason. She told of having been denied three times for admittance to the sangha and of their powerful desire to be admitted. Ananda, recognizing that her motive was pure, offered to speak to the Buddha on her behalf. At Ananda’s behest, Buddha, reluctantly, agreed that women be permitted to join the sangha, but only if they agreed to eight strict precepts, which they must follow.
1. Every nun, regardless of how long SHE became ordained, must bow with respect to any monk, regardless of the amount of time HE became ordained.
2. Before the young woman is allowed to apply for total ordination no earlier than age 18, she must 1st finish a 2 yr. long basic course on the precepts.
3. Nuns can never fault monks for any reason, genuine or imagined, but monks may certainly criticize nuns for any real reason (although not for unsubstantiated ones).
4. The needs of monks will always come before nuns in the matter of food, beds, seats or lodging.
5. A nun who breaks a cardinal rule of conduct must endure disciplinary penance lasting 15 days inside the group of nuns and must seek restitution in front of the communities of both nuns or monks.
6. Every 15 days, the nuns ought to approach the community of monks and request their instruction.
7. It's never proper for nuns to enter upon a rain retreat in a residence in which you find no monks.
8. Once the rain retreat has been finished, the nuns must ask for a forgiveness ceremony from both groups confessing to any rules they have not followed, however minor.
As soon as women had been admitted, Buddha supposedly told Ananda that if women had remained out of the sangha, it would’ve lasted a thousand yrs, but with women included, it will only last 500. Misogynists say that Buddha said that because he knew of the inborn evil of women; other people were less harsh and have suggested that with both genders allowed, both the men and the women may likely give in to their lust.
Over time, the lists of precepts increased for both monks and nuns, and today, nuns have approximately one hundred more rules than monks do, (varying in number throughout traditions).
As with all religions, there is a fair amount of discrepancy about how it all happened. Another story bandied about has been that the nuns were not allowed to travel alone is because a nun had been raped.
Still, it's clear that other precepts show the gender inequalities of the time. Throughout India, during the fifth century, it had been assumed that women were inferior to men. The women had no chance for education, and their freedom was severely curtailed. Regardless of caste, women were frequently thought to be on the same level as the Sudras, the lowest of the castes.. For the times, Buddha‘s decision to allow women as nuns in the monastery had been both revolutionary as well as the cause of much controversy.
By comparison to the other members from the sanghi, Buddha‘s views on women‘s roles was thought to be very forward-thinking.
Ananada, at the initial Buddhist meeting, was told to confess to his wrong-doings, which he steadfastly denied doing. Even after they were listed, he disagreed with their assessment.  Three ‘wrongs‘ discussed were that, (for one) Ananda talked Buddha into permitting women admission into the sangha, (two) that women were given the opportunity to pray over Buddha‘s remains before the men, and, (3) that Ananda permitted the womens‘ tears to splash onto the Buddha‘s dead body.
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