Kamma and rebirth as woman with more
dukkha - attraction to works and faith - position of women in India -
history of Bhikkhuni - Sangha - Eight important points - dangers of sex and
conceit - double ordination - novices - special rules - some Bhikkhunis of the
Buddha-time - Asoka’s daughter a Bhikkhuni - bhikkhunis in Sri Lanka to China
- Are there bhikkhunis now? - Upāsikās (nuns) and their support - their life -
westerners becoming nuns - The foundation of Thai Nuns and its work - nuns in
Burma and Sri Lanka
Having described the
different sorts of Bhikkhu life it is now the turn of the Bhikkhuni, as the
original Buddhist nuns were called. Their Sangha was formed six years after
the first Bhikkhus and to appreciate their position in India at that time,
before giving their history, the Buddhist teaching on rebirth should be
clarified. The point that we shall be interested in is why one is reborn
specifically as man or woman.
Kamma (in Sanskrit,
karma), is the key to understand about rebirth generally. In the present time
we are constantly deciding, ‘I shall go … ‘ or ‘I like’ or ‘I hate’ or any
number of other decisions. Many of the varied kinds of minds, which pass in a
stream (and which I call collectively ‘my mind’) are concerned with
decision-making. Every time a decision is made, always with reference to the
fictional self - the ‘I’ or ego, this is called kamma, the work of the mind.
This work bears fruits, just as work done with the hands, and the results or
fruits it bears are manifest in different ways - as happiness or suffering.
Kamma is good when beneficial to oneself and others, that is, it leads to
growth and purification of one’s own mind and to the benefit of other people.
When that kamma fruits, its fruits will be happiness; but bad kammas, actions
done for one’s own deterioration and others’ harm bear the fruits of
suffering. Not all kammas fruit in the present life. We may see good people
whose goodness seems to come to no good fruit, while there are evildoers who
get away with everything and never come to harm. Their present kammas are not
fruiting yet, obstructed by previous kammas giving different results.
When a person comes to
die, craving is usually part of the character, that is, craving to exist, to
continue experiencing. With strong craving in the stream of mind and having
made much kamma not yet come to fruit, a person is bound to continue in the
wheel of birth and death. The next birth depends on the last moment of
consciousness before death and that in turn is dependent upon what sort of
kammas one has made during life. A person dying with human thoughts in mind
destines himself for rebirth as a human being. Death with thoughts affected by
the roots of evil - greed, aversion or delusion, produces rebirth of various
sub-human varieties, including birth as animals. On the other hand, if the
last moment is occupied by thoughts of religion, or thoughts purified and
inspired by religious practice, the mind being uplifted ‘above’ ordinary human
level, then rebirth takes place in the super-human heaven realms.
Nothing is permanent
here. There are no permanent states of existence because the kammas giving
rise to them are conditional, so rebirth states are conditioned too. And there
is no entity, which is unchanging and passes from life to life, a soul or
atman, or call it what you will. We discover no such ‘being either through
rational investigation, or by meditation experience: only conditional factors
are found. This means that there is nothing essentially human, such as a soul.
At present, the mind flows along the human channel - except when we are
lustful or angry, when it becomes sub-human; or when we exercise loving
kindness, compassion or generosity, when it is super-human. So mind varies,
becoming different with the different mind of which it is composed. There is
no special human particle, nor can we talk about an abiding masculinity or
femininity.
If we take the case of a
woman who in a past life has led a rather ordinary life - she has married, had
children, brought up the family, looked after the house, we can see how much
of her time will have been taken up with typically feminine activities. These
centre around having a body which is capable of giving birth, suckling
children and generally caring for their needs. Where so many kammas are made
centred about female activities, it will not be surprising if at death,
assuming that her mind is not raised or lowered by factors mentioned above,
she grasps at rebirth as a woman again. Some women who become tired of the
work bound up with a woman’s body, grasp instead at birth as a man.
Now if we compare
honestly, a typical man with a typical woman, it becomes clear that a woman
has more sufferings to bear then a man. By the very nature of her body she has
menstruation and the difficulties that this brings. The body’s workings are
geared to motherhood - with its pains and sufferings which can be increased a
thousandfold by death of children and the other mishaps that may befall them.
Here are some of the Arahant Kisagotami’s verses on this subject:
(Verses of the Elder Nuns - 216-217).
Also, as women have this
function of bearing children they crave usually for a secure environment to
raise their family. Usually this means depending on a man who will gain a
livelihood and provide that security. It is generally true to say too, that
women are less physically strong than men and require more protection than a
man does, though there are obvious exceptions.
More difficulties, more
sufferings, more dukkha, means from
a Buddhist point of view, a less favourable birth, one which is created by
kammas made with attachment to the continuity of existence. When the Buddha
finally allowed women to go forth and when he had to make, special rules for
them, probably the facts discussed above influenced his rulings.
There are other factors
too which should be considered, specially the inclination of many women even
when given the chance to lead the Holy Life, to be drawn towards faith and the
sort of pious expressions of it combined with household activities which might
well be called ‘holy domesticity’. It is noticeable that wherever a religion
gives room for these things, there are many nuns, indeed they can outnumber
monks. Examples of this can be found among Roman Catholics, also in Chinese
Buddhism. But original Buddhist teachings emphasise the cultivation of mind,
speech and body kammas through wisdom, meditation and moral conduct, an
all-round and balanced development not a one-sided approach through faith. It
is easy to have faith (in a God, Buddhas or Bodhisattvas) but it is another
thing to balance it with wisdom so that finally by knowing and in-seeing
impermanence, dukkha and non-self,
one goes beyond faith. The Arahant is called ‘faithless’ - he no longer
believes anything, instead he or she knows Dhamma. As women generally have
more potential for belief and faith than men it may be more difficult for them
to pursue the Holy Life in original Buddhist teachings which goes beyond the
usual objects of belief (gods, devas, Buddhas, etc.).
Another and very
important factor obstructive to the Holy Life among women was their position
in India at the time of the Buddha. A western woman who knows nothing of the
sort of restrictions imposed by the Brahmins upon women, especially those of
high caste, in India, cannot appreciate the Buddha’s actions when he allowed
them to become bhikkhunis. The brahminical attitude towards women is summed up
in the well-known verse which says: „Their fathers protect them in childhood,
their husbands protect them in youth, their sons protect them in age: a woman
is never fit for independence“.[1]
This means obviously, that the Brahmins held strongly that a woman’s place is
in the house. (It is still this way among orthodox Hindu households where
women keep house, prepare food, bear children, preferably sons and get very
little education or none at all). The teaching of the Brahmins, the priests of
the Aryans who invaded India, did not favour spreading knowledge - they
themselves and the noble-warrior caste shared power while the rest of the
people, farmers, workers and outcasts, supported them. Their theory of a
four-caste society made no allowances for people to leave home and seek a path
through meditation in the forest. This teaching, of going forth, was not Aryan
in origin but part of the religion practised by the pre-Aryan civilisations of
India.[2]
When Brahmins came into contact with this practice they did not approve as it
went beyond their system. Finally, of course, they incorporated it into the
late classification of the four stages of life: celibate student, householder,
retreat from social life and renunciation, which means that a man is only to
go forth in old age, when he is weak and too conditioned to household life to
make it practicable. Nothing is said about women going forth (and in fact
modern Hinduism has almost no nuns).
Women coming from the
little republics and federations with a more or less elected leadership where
the power of the Brahmins was not yet consolidated, as in the Sakiyas and the
Licchavis, may have had more freedom, even those of noble lineage. But as
brahminical teachings spread, with the growth of kingdoms and the
disappearance of other forms of government, women of high caste became more
and more restricted. Of course in the lower ranks of society, farmers and
other poor folk, women still had the right - it was a necessity - to leave the
house, go to market, plant the fields, and so on. These women too will have
had little education.
What is very important
to realise is that women then had no chance to organise anything for
themselves. This is in sharp contrast to our times when there are numerous
ways in which women can come together and organise their energies to achieve
their ends. So this is another point to remember when reading below the
regulations laid down by the Buddha upon bhikkhunis. In Chapter III we had
mentioned that some rules for Bhikkhus are subject to the principle of
time-and-country and it could be that this principle would apply now to the
bhikkhunis too, if they came into existence now instead of two thousand five
hundred years ago.
People may say that it
is because women have been trained from childhood to depend on men that they
have an inferior position. No doubt this is partly true, in particular for the
Indian scene but this view only takes account of the present life and does not
realise that the tendencies made in past lives may have influence too. It is
possible that the facts presented so far and the account of the establishment
of the Bhikkhuni-Sangha below may displease some women. The truth, however, is
not always palatable and pleasing. In case displeasure or anger should arise,
these manifestations of aversion should be examined: from where do they arise?
Wounded vanity? Damaged pride? Then this is conceit, a mental factor as far
from the practice of Dhamma as humility is near to it. More will be said about
this below.
Now what is the history
of the Bhikkhuni Sangha? The Commentaries say that when Prince Siddhattha left
his palace at the time of his Great Renunciation, cut off his hair and donned
yellowish brown robes, Yasodhara his wife, hearing that he had done these
things, resolved to live in the same way in her palace. She shaved her head
and wore rough patchwork robes, ate once a day from a bowl and slept on a low,
hard bed. No doubt she strove also to develop her mind through meditation.
So even before there
were any nuns formally ordained, Yasodhara out of devotion to the way shown by
the prince, led a nun’s life. When the Buddha, a year after his Enlightenment,
returned to Kapilavatthu at the request of his father, Yasodhara had an
opportunity to pay her respects together with the other Sakiyan ladies,
foremost among whom was Queen Mahāpajāpati Gotami, the Buddha’s aunt and
foster-mother. This lady became a Stream-winner upon hearing the Buddha’s
teaching while King Suddhodana won the third Path and Fruit - of
Non-returning.
Four or five years then
passed before the Buddha again visited the Sakiya people. This time he went
there because his father was gravely ill and taught him Dhamma upon his
deathbed so that the King attained to Arahantship.
At this time
Mahāpajāpati Gotami went to him and asked if women might also get the chance
to go forth into homelessness. The Buddha’s reply is interesting as it is not
a flat refusal: „Enough Gotami, do not ask for the going-forth from home to
homelessness in the Dhamma-Vinaya declared by the Tathāgata“. And though she
asked three times the reply was the same, so she thought, „The Exalted One
does not allow it“ and she was sad and unhappy. If the Buddha wished to
prohibit the formation of the Bhikkhuni-Sangha, he could have used much more
forceful language, such as: ‘It is impossible, Gotami, it cannot happen that
…’ All he told Mahāpajāpati Gotami was ‘enough, do not ask …’ and these words
may be assumed to be a test of the sincerity of that lady and her companions.
The life led by Bhikkhus, at the beginning of the Buddha’s teaching, was a
hard one, hard even for the aristocratic men from the various princely and
brahminical families who joined the Sangha then: how much harder would it not
be for ladies from a sheltered palace life! Since the Buddha was aware of the
intentions people had in their minds, he must have known that Mahāpajāpati
Gotami intended to go forward with her idea but as she had not yet
demonstrated her unshakeable resolve he did not grant permission.
We are told that after
the Buddha left Kapilavatthu he went to Vesāli, a distance of 200 or 300
miles. „Meanwhile Mahāpajāpati had her hair cut off and put on the yellow
cloth. With a number of Sakiyan women she set out for Vesāli. On arrival there
she went to the Peaked Gable Hall in the Great Wood, and she stood there
outside the porch. Her feet were swollen, her limbs covered with dust, and she
was sad and unhappy with tears on her face and sobbing. Sakiyan ladies of rank
were not accustomed to travel in this manner for they usually journeyed by
palanquin or upon elephants. Then venerable Ananda, who was especially
compassionate with the troubles of women, saw her and asked what she did
there. She told him that the Exalted One had not allowed her to become a
Bhikkhuni, so he offered to ask the Buddha again. The answer was still the
same but venerable Ananda was not deterred by this for he thought, „But
suppose I asked the Exalted One in another way?“ So he asked if it was
possible for women to attain to the noble Paths and Fruits after Going-forth?
Could they attain Arahantship? The Buddha replied that it was possible for
them to do so. From this we can know that the Buddha saw nothing innately
inferior in a woman’s mind, though the Holy Life might be more difficult for
her physically. Then venerable Ananda pleaded the case of Mahāpajāpati Gotami
in these words „ … (she) has been exceedingly helpful to the Exalted One when
as his mother’s sister who was his nurse, his foster-mother, his giver of
milk, she suckled the Exalted One when his own mother died. Since that is so,
Lord, it would be good if women could obtain the Going-forth“.
The Buddha then
permitted women to become bhikkhunis, (rather because they could attain
Arahantship, not because of venerable Ananda’s specious plea), provided that
certain points were accepted. Mahāpajāpati Gotami could count as her
Going-forth and Acceptance the following eight important points:
1.
„A Bhikkhuni who has been accepted even for a hundred years must pay
homage to, get up for, reverentially salute and respectfully greet, a Bhikkhu
accepted that day“. This means that a senior Bhikkhuni (a theri) must bow down
thrice even to a newly ordained Bhikkhu. This is not pleasing to some women
these days whose idea is to be free from male domination. But when the Buddha
laid down this rule he knew that some principle of respectful relations must
be established between Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. Later, Mahāpajāpati Gotami
requested that juniors, male or female, pay respect to senior Bhikkhus or
bhikkhunis without distinction. The Buddha however, replied that n Bhikkhu
should pay homage to a Bhikkhuni. Certainly he had no feelings of male
superiority or of female inferiority (which after all, are just extensions of
the basic conceit ‘I am’), but he took into a account how this matter would
appear to laypeople. In that day and age men in lay society hardly
acknowledged female ability, certainly not bowed down to them! To permit this
would be too great an inversion of the social norm and could be a cause for
the decline of the Buddhist religion. The Buddha was already making a great
innovation by allowing women to go forth but to allow equality of respect was
probably too much for that time. In the Vinaya (the Lesser Chapter, Bhikkhuni-section),
the Buddha actually refers to other religious groups and how they do not
permit salutation of nuns by monks. This seems to support our argument here.
We shall return to the question of conceit and humility below.
2.
„A Bhikkhuni must not spend the Rains in a place where there are no
Bhikkhus“. Bhikkhunis were made dependent upon Bhikkhus in a number of ways as
we shall see in the following points. This rule was also for the bhikkhunis’
safety since unscrupulous men might molest a nun if she was alone but they
would think twice about it if she lived near to Bhikkhus.
3.
„Every half-month a Bhikkhuni should expect two things from the
Bhikkhu-Sangha: the appointment of the Uposatha-day each half-month and the
visit for exhortation“. The Buddha-time was without calendars and almanacs and
it was learned Bhikkhus who calculated the phases of the moon and worked out
when the Uposatha-days would fall. The visit for exhortation was in part a
Dhamma-talk given by an eminent Bhikkhu to the bhikkhunis, (see the
Exhortation by Nandaka to the bhikkhunis in the Middle Length Collection,
Discourse 146) and partly an exhortation regarding these eight important
points. The Bhikkhu who gave it had to be agreed upon by the Bhikkhu-Sangha,
he had to be a Thera with twenty or more Rains and he had to give the talk
during the day, before the sunset. Otherwise the bhikkhunis should not be
approached by a Bhikkhu to teach them Dhamma unless one of their numbers was
ill. The Buddha while seeing that it was necessary that the bhikkhunis depend
somewhat on Bhikkhus, also saw the danger of too many contacts between the two
Sanghas and so limited this. The fact that a great Teacher from among the
Bhikkhus would give the fortnightly exhortation did not mean that the
bhikkhunis had no Teachers among themselves. In this connection the section on
the bhikkhunis who were declared ‘foremost’ in different abilities in the Book
of the Ones, Numerical Collection, should be noted, besides which there are
the many beautiful verses of the Enlightened bhikkhunis in the Therigatha
(Verses of the Elder Nuns). Discourses spoken by bhikkhunis, some of them
Arahants, are found scattered throughout the collections of Discourses.
4.
„At the end of the Rains a Bhikkhuni must invite the admonition of both
Sanghas with regard to three matters; that is, whether any thing untoward in
her conduct has been seen, heard or suspected“. Bhikkhus have to invite
admonition on the last Full Moon day of their Rains-residence (usually in
October) from the rest of the Sangha. This ceremony is held in place of the
recitation of the Patimokkha wherever a minimum of five Bhikkhus have kept the
Rains. If anyone among them has seen or heard or suspected that one of the
others has done some wrong which has not been confessed he can speak at that
time. It also means that Bhikkhus invite such admonition from other Bhikkhus
for the future. They make themselves ‘admonish able’ by doing so and know that
their Teachers and friends will therefore help them with good advises. The
bhikkhunis have to make this declaration in the presence of both Sanghas,
first her own and then to the Bhikkhus. This is no doubt to help the restraint
of the bhikkhunis and to assist the good government of the bhikkhunis-Sangha.
5.
„When a Bhikkhuni has committed an offence entailing initial and
subsequent meeting of the Sangha, she must do the penance before both Sanghas“.
This is a group of thirteen offences for Bhikkhus (already outlined in Chapter
III) but for bhikkhunis they number seventeen. A number of these thirteen, as
well as of the extra Bhikkhuni rules, concern sexual misconduct and it would
surely be a grave deterrent for a woman to have to confess them in the
presence of Bhikkhus after she had done so in front of the bhikkhunis. Like a
Bhikkhu, she has then to practise the penance for seven days plus a period of
probation equal to the time of concealment if her offence has been
deliberately concealed.
6.
„A probationer who seeks Acceptance must do so from both Sanghas and
after training in the six things for two years“. A probationer (sikkhamānā) was a special kind of female novice (sāmaneri).
The latter has ten precepts just as a samanera but on reaching the age of
eighteen, that is, two years under the age for Acceptance, the Bhikkhuni-Sangha
could announce a motion to give her permission to train (specially) in the
first six rules: not killing living creatures, not taking what is not given,
no unchaste conduct, not speaking falsely, no intoxicants causing
carelessness, and no eating at the wrong time (after noon until dawn). If
during the following two years she does not break any of these six precepts
then she can seek Acceptance by the Bhikkhuni-Sangha first. (If any are broken
the two-year probation period has to begin again). Then she is taken to the
Bhikkhu-Sangha who ordains her by proclamation and without investigation. She
is then a fully ordained Bhikkhuni. But if she gets only the Acceptance
ceremony from the Bhikkhus, or she gets it from the bhikkhunis and does not go
to be re-ordained by Bhikkhus, then she is only a ‘once-accepted-Bhikkhuni’,
not fully-fledged according to the Vinaya. When twice ordained however, she is
called a ‘both-accepted-bhikkhuni and fully-fledged. This has an important
bearing on the present day we shall see below.
7.
„A Bhikkhuni must not find fault with or abuse a Bhikkhu in any manner
at all“. Here again the aim is to stop malicious gossip and promote concord
between the two Sanghas. A Bhikkhuni could of course report a Bhikkhu to his
Teacher or abbot if his actions went against the Vinaya and damaged the good
name of the Sangha but she should not directly speak against that Bhikkhu to
his face or behind his back.
8.
„From today onwards it is not allowed for bhikkhunis to address
discourses to Bhikkhus but it is allowed for Bhikkhus to address Bhikkhunis“.
As we have seen a Bhikkhu was expected to exhort the bhikkhunis at least twice
a month but a Bhikkhuni should not teach Dhamma to Bhikkhus. No doubt this
rule was also to curb conceit in bhikkhunis and help them in their training.
The Buddha finished his
eight points saying, „These eight things are to be honoured, respected,
revered and venerated and they are not to be transgressed as long as life
lasts. If Mahāpajāpati Gotami accepts these eight important points, that will
count as her full Acceptance“ .
Five of these eight
points, if transgressed, are offences of expiation, which are righted by
confession to another Bhikkhuni.
[1]The Laws of Manu (Manavadharmasastra), Ch. IX, 3.
[2]See, „Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism“, Wheel 150-151 B.P.S.