The Buddhist Path

     MBI 104

                 Lesson 4

                                                The Bhikkhunis

For thousands of years before Buddha, there were people living spiritual and celibate lives; there were ashrams too where large collections of ascetics with masters lived. But it was Buddha who started the monastic system, which stood not only as a place for seclusion, but seclusion for the benefit of all sentient creatures.

The original Sangha was made up, as we saw, of men only, and Buddha was rather reluctant to admit women into the Sangha. A monk going to meditate in the woods carrying only a begging bowl of table scraps would be an unlikely target for thieves, but nuns, wherever they went, by the nature of their gender, were  subjected to danger from rape and, at best, much harassment and verbal taunts about their chastity, which Indian society considered unnatural.

The monks, even when women finally became admitted, probably had little problem with the presence of the nuns themselves, for without doubt the nuns were exceptional women of both intelligence and determination, but they did have a problem with their own sexual drives.

Buddha,-- as well as many of the first disciples of original “savage beast” temperament,-- having experienced himself both the passions and slavery of a combination of natural sexual activity together with the stained mind, clearly saw the potential problem.

Lesson  4                                                   Bhikkhunis

The human body, when under the grip of Mara, is a trap that generates vanity, pride and a million desires, many crass and many more extremely subtle. The power of this mind-body combination led to the necessity to use powerful tools in the monasteries to master those demands.

Meditation upon the ten Asubhas was one of those devices. In these meditations, usually carried out in charnel grounds, the subject of meditation was loathsome and decayed corpses. According to the Sutras, one was a bloated corpse, one worm infested, one a skeleton, one livid, one festering and one cut up. In the Visshuddhimaga there is added: gnawed by wild beasts, scattered, hacked up and bleeding. All of them were, and are, suitable for first jhana meditation, particularly for those of lustful, deluded or excitable temperament.

There was also the meditation upon the loathsomeness of food and meditation on death, which were suitable only for access meditation.

Therefore, before women even entered the Sangha, as an act of mindfulness, it was customary for monks to perceive them as disgusting creatures, too repulsive to touch.

The sexual drive is primitive and natural, but as men and women have evolved, natural sensitivity, discrimination, and intelligence have been warped by Identity and have been used instead to support more fully the sexual drive. This has caused the gross distortion of the natural drive and indeed is directly related to problems in human relations, one of the most serious causes of suffering today.

Women too, through the Identity presence, have failed to develop that same available sensitivity, discrimination and natural intelligence correctly and have instead generated and misused those great human attributes, mainly to serve in seduction, manipulation and maintaining security in the face of the dangers presented in the past, and sometimes in the present, by the presence of the male.

Since the male sexual drives were considered a great hindrance in the striving for enlightenment, the monks believed the only way to eliminate their desire was to make the objects of their attachment less attractive in their minds. So the Sangha generated most of the rules to prevent temptation from taking hold.

When women entered, their rules also reflected this problem related to the female way and tried to prevent seduction of any kind. It is clear, however, that the women, due to the quality of those who entered, required much less control in that direction, while their male counterparts showed much more weakness.

You will remember the story of the courtesan who became a Buddhist follower and donated all her wealth to the Sangha. So many males in the Sangha had became obsessed with her that when she died, Buddha had her corpse put on display and told those disciples to observe the process of decay so that they would see how transient the qualities of beauty and sexuality were.

The problem was clearly that in using the tool of “revulsion” without sufficient understanding, the majority of the less awakened monks, together with the prevalent view of women as being only fit for childbirth, led to them seeing women as unworthy and unsuitable material for the Buddha Dharma path.

Was Buddha himself in any way biased towards women or was his concern only for the benefit of Sangha integrity?

Those who claim the former quote the Mahaparinibana Sutra V, where Ananda asks  Buddha how one should conduct oneself towards women. Buddha advises bhikkhus to take a rather special view.

Maha-paranibbana Sutta, V

How are we to conduct ourselves with regard to womankind? (asks Ananda).

As not seeing them Ananda, (replies Buddha).

But if we should see them, what are we to do?

Not talk Ananda.

But if they should speak to us Lord, what are we to do?

Keep wide-awake Ananda.

Buddha knew that the women used to meet Ananda and had raised no prior objections. Why here does he forbid all contact with women? It is true and correct, in view of the temptations involved, that he advises bhikkhus to avoid visiting families of lay Buddhists. This was a natural precaution.

However, we cannot take all that is written as truth and must judge such issues by internal integrity and consistency. Was then this extreme view indeed what Buddha advocated or was this a “filling” entered later into the texts in the successive narrations by someone with great zeal, but sincerity, in that direction?

Buddha himself did not avoid women. He had frequent connections with Vishakha who went to Buddha to receive teachings, while Kokanada, daughter of Pajjuna, visited Buddha late at night and Queen Mallika used to frequently visit him.

Yet we must remember that although he had developed a strong sense of the spiritual and intellectual liberty of women, as expressed in the Uphanishads and other sacred texts, he was still a victim of the prevailing thought that considered women inflicted with “two finger wisdom” (dvangulapaññaya). This derived from the idea that women were only fit for the kitchen where their knowledge was confined to pressing rice together with two fingers in a cooking pot. Thus they were considered to be blessed only with limited wisdom (parittapaññaya).

The introduction of women must indeed have been a socially enlightening experience. Buddha would then have been able to realize at first hand that the women were actually more sincere than many of the men and certainly could reach the same transcendental heights.

Perhaps no other text makes clearer the prevalent attitude of the monks than that of the Book of the Discipline II, where Maha Pajapati reports to Buddha how nuns are kept from their dhamma practice by monks who have them wash, dye and comb sheep's wool for them.

This detail illustrates that it is not in extreme cases that attitudes are shown, but in the small day to day events. Its importance, however, since it inhibited each nun’s progress, became the occasion for the laying down of the unformalized forfeiture rule for monks, which were later formally listed at the first convention after Buddha’s death. 

A monk, in this case, forfeited the robe in question and had to make a public admission of his folly. The rule “not to have a robe washed or dyed by a bhikkhuni who is not a relative,” also served, of course, to limit interaction that may have caused temptation to rise.

But Buddha’s true non-discriminating view was expounded in the Visuddhi Magga, Ch 1, in which a monk asked:

"Reverend Sir, have you seen a woman pass this way?"

And the questioned elder replied:

          Was it a woman, or a man

          That passed this way?  I cannot tell.

          But this I know, a set of bones

          Is travelling upon this road.

We must remember, however, that women ascetics were no novelty and many Buddhist women indeed had previously been forest dwellers, completely avoiding contact with their male counterparts, except during the rains. Yet while Buddha was scrupulously fair with women and saw no difference between them spiritually, he was clearly wise in terms of his discrimination of the differences between them and the sangha of men with respect to the dangers of being together within one cloister.

Bhikkhuni Separation and Subordination

An important question here then is really why  Buddha made the Bhikkhuni Sangha subordinate to the Bhikku Sangha. It is indeed a sufficiently sad commentary on the human condition that Buddha had little choice except to generate two separate Sanghas, and Buddha himself described the condition as the establishment of a “dyke” between the two sanghas.

His act of the creation of a women’s sangha is seen as a great revolutionary step, although the Jains for many years had maintained a sangha of female ascetics. Buddha’s revolutionary act was not in allowing women to follow him, but in molding them into a monastic Sangha more or less equal to men.

Perhaps, however, it would be better here to use Orwell’s expression from “Animal Farm” to describe that equality, and say that “All Sanghas were equal, but the male Sangha was more equal.”

When we look at the old Aryan history, we find that they had treated women quite differently than they were treated at the time of Buddha. The Aryan Atharva Veda, Shrasuta Sutras say that women could repeat the Mantras of the Vedas and they were taught to read Vedas.

Panini mentions that women attended special ceremonies and studied the various sections of the Veda and became expert in Mimansa. The great teacher Patanjali talks of women teachers teaching Vedas to girl students. Women entered into public discussions with men on religion, philosophy and metaphysics. Two stories show this clearly. The first is from the Mahabharata Santi Parva, Section CCCXXI, a public debate between Janaka and Sulabha, in which Julabha, a mendicant woman and clearly a wise teacher, debates with King Janaka, the ruler of Videha, who was a  willing listener. The second, which you may remember from Upahanishad study, is a conversation between Yajnavalkya and Gargi in which Gargi is perhaps a too eager a student

Mahabharata, Santi Parva, Section CCCXXI

Sulabha said: O king, speech ought always to be free from the nine verbal faults and the nine faults of judgment. It should also, while setting forth the meaning with perspicuity, be possessed of the eighteen well-known merits…and the five characteristics:

ambiguity, ascertainment of the faults and merits of premises and conclusions, the conclusion, and the element of persuasiveness or otherwise that attaches to the conclusion thus arrived at. These…five characteristics appertaining to the sense…constitute the authoritativeness of what is said.

Listen now to the characteristics of these requirements beginning with ambiguity, one after another, as I expound them according to the combinations.

AMBIGUITY

When knowledge rests on distinction, in consequence of the objects to be known being different from one another, and when (as regards the comprehension of the subject) the understanding rests upon many points, one after another, the combination of words (in whose case this occurs) is said to be vitiated by ambiguity.

ASCERTAINMENT OF FAULTS AND MERITS IN PREMISES AND CONCLUSIONS

By ascertainment (of faults and merits), called Sankhya, is meant the establishment, by elimination, of faults or merits (in premises and conclusions), adopting tentative meanings. Krama, or weighing the relative strength or weakness of the faults or merits (ascertained by the above process,) consists in settling the propriety of the priority or subsequence of the words employed in a sentence. This is the meaning attached to the word ‘Krama’ by persons conversant with the interpretation of sentences or texts.

CONCLUSION

By conclusion is meant the final determination, after this examination of what has been said on the subjects of religion, pleasure, wealth, and Emancipation, in respect of what is particularly is that has been said in the text. The sorrow born of wish or aversion increases to a great measure.

PERSUASION

The conduct, O king, that one pursues in such a matter (for dispelling the sorrow experienced) is called Prayojanam.

Take it for certain, O king, at my word, that these characteristics of Ambiguity and the other (numbering five in all), when occurring together, constitute a complete and intelligible sentence.

In was indeed one of the styles of all Indian discussion prior to Buddha to completely define all terms, so this style appears extremely stilted to many today. Indeed, this same style is carried even further in the Visuddhumagga, the definitive work upon virtue, concentration and wisdom. Thus Sullaba commences her discourse with this preamble before getting to her point.

The words I shall utter will be fraught with sense, free from ambiguity (in consequence of each of them not being symbols of many things), logical, free from pleonasm or tautology, smooth, certain, free from bombast, agreeable or sweet, truthful, inconsistent with the aggregate of three, (viz., Righteousness, Wealth, and Pleasure), refined (i.e., free from Prakriti), not elliptical or imperfect, destitute of harshness or difficulty of comprehension, characterized by due order, not far fetched in respect of sense, corrected with one another as cause and effect and each having a specific object.

I shall not tell thee anything, prompted by desire or wrath or fear or cupidity or abjectness or deceit or shame or compassion or pride. (I answer thee because it is proper for me to answer what thou hast said).

Her intention is laid clear so that all will understand. It is now up to the listener to decide whether she has proceeded with internal consistency and in fact does what she says she intends to do.

This preamble appears clumsy to us, but it shows the clarity of mind of the presenter, which is seldom seen today in discussion. It is clear, however, that in this type of dialogue, it is essential that there be someone prepared to listen with the same sort of honor and integrity, not someone who is preparing the answers while only half listening to the presenter.

She answers the question which she herself does not propose, but which is inherent in the dialogue: “Who is deserving of the title ‘worthy and honest speaker’?” to which she finlly states virtually, “I am one, so listen attentively to me.”

Now she is ready to make her point.

When the speaker, the hearer and the words said, thoroughly agree with one another in the course of speech, then does the sense or meaning come out very clearly. When, in the matter of what is to be said, the speaker shows disregard for the understanding of the hearer by uttering words whose meaning is understood by himself, then, however good those words may be, they become incapable of being seized by the hearer.

That speaker, again, who, abandoning all regard for his own meaning uses words that are of excellent sound and sense, awakens only erroneous impressions in the mind of the hearer. Such words in such connection become certainly faulty.

That speaker, however, who employs words that are, while expressing his own meaning, intelligible to the hearer as well, truly deserves to be called a speaker. No other man deserves the name. It behoveth thee, therefore, O king, to hear with concentrated attention these words of mine, fraught with meaning and enbued with a wealth of vocables.

I believe you will agree she was competent, confident and learned. Apart from that, what she has said in this treatise with regard to the true speaker is worth understanding and putting into practice.

Brihadaranyaka Uphanishad Chapter VI 18

Yajnavalkya and Gargi

  Then Gargi, the daughter of Vachaknu, questioned him. 

"Yajnavalkya, if all this is pervaded by water, by what, pray, is water pervaded?”

"By air, O Gargi." 

"By what, pray, is air pervaded?" 

"By the sky, O Gargi." 

"By what is the sky pervaded?" 

"By the world of the gandharvas, O Gargi." 

"By what is the world of the gandharvas pervaded?" 

"By the world of the sun, O Gargi. 

"By what is the world of the sun pervaded?" 

"By the world of the moon, O Gargi." 

"By what is the world of the moon pervaded?" 

"By the world of the stars, O Gargi." 

"By what is the world of the stars pervaded?" 

"By the world of the gods, O Gargi." 

"By what is the world of the gods pervaded?"

"By the world of Indra, O Gargi.” 

"By what is the world of Indra pervaded?" 

"By the World of Virij, O Gargi.” 

"By what is the World of Virij pervaded?" 

"By the World of Hiranyagarbha, O Gargi." 

"By what, pray, is the World of Hiranyagarbha pervaded?" 

"Do not, O Gargi," said he, "question too much, lest your head should fall off.

 You are questioning too much about a deity about whom we should not ask too much.

  Do not ask too much, O Gargi." 

  Thereupon Gargi, the daughter of Vachaknu, held her peace.

The Brahmanic years of control that had left the true religion behind caused a decline in spiritual matters and the years brought a terrible change in the status of women and the degradation of the Aryan culture. By the time Buddha began teaching, woman had lost their noble position and, what is perhaps worse, their status as human thinking creatures. Why? We cannot truly say, except that the rules of Manu that came into operation after Buddha began his teaching reflect the change that had overcome original Brahmic thinking.

Manu stated for example:

A female must be subject to the control of her father, husband or son and should never be independant (Manu:V:148 )

A wife, a son, and a slave, these three are declared to have no property; the wealth which they earn is acquired for him to whom they belong." (Manu VIII: 416).

"Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure else-where, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly worshipped as God by the faithful wife. (Manu: V:154).

"Like a sudra, a woman is entitled to only one sacrament, that is marriage." (Manu II:66-67, IX:126).

"Women have no right to study the Vedas.” (Manu IX 18)

That is why their Sanskars (rites) are performed without Veda Mantras. Since Veda mantras were used to eliminate sin, women were clearly considered sin laden. They were inferior, classified with the sudras and were not permited  spiritual knowledge, property, education or independence. They were abused like slaves and their comporment, if deemed incorrect, could result in cruel punishment.

 "A wife, a son, a slave, a pupil and a younger brother who have commited faults may be beaten with a rope or a split bamboo." (Manu VIII:299)

“The punsihment for the adultress is that she should be thrown to the dogs for being devoured in a public place.” (Manu VIII:371)

We are advised by Manu also of the current view of their character, which actually reflects as badly on the folly of men

"Women are able to lead astray in this world not only a fool but also a learned man to make him a slave of desire or anger." (Manu: II: 214).

 "It is the nature of the women to seduce men in the world; for that reason, the wise are never unguarded in the company females." (Manu: II:213).

"Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age. It is enough that he is a man; they give themselves to the handsome and the Ugly." (Manu: IX:14).

According to the Manu (IX: 17) women love their beds, seats, ornaments; impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice and bad conduct from parts of their nature

Note the following law which reflects the Buddhist Vinyana position, and shows that the Dangha too was not free from the prevalent ideas and fears.

"One should not sit in a lonely place with one's mother, sister, daughter, for the senses are powerful and overpower even a learned man." (Manu:II:215).

Perhaps the most degrading of all Manu’s laws was the one that insisted that it was the man’s perogative to force a wife to have intercourse with another man if he wished to have an heir and could not do so himself.

"The man appointed for her may approach her during the night silently." (Manu: IX:60).

There is nothing new or startling in the Laws of Manu about women. What Manu did was to convert prevalent view into the Law of the State.

Sannyas was not approved by the new Brahmins who, for a long period did not recognize the authority of the Upanishads. They were therefore opposed to the life of Sannyasins, although it had been an old heritage. Ultimately, they yielded to the old Sannyasin idea, but one of the conditions was that women (and Shudras) were not to be allowed to join. The law was broken, of course, by the forest dwellers. What unjust law is not?

Manu actually presented laws that were in part set out to counteract Buddha’s success in drawing women to Buddha Dharma. Buddha then could be considered as a counter revolutionary who restored the ancient rights of Aryan women, while not perhaps holding a complimentary view of their abilities at the time.

For over 1500 years, women became active in Buddhism, contributing to the spread of the Dharma, but finally, due to the growing hostility of the secular society and of the monks, nunneries were phased out and eliminated. For almost two thousand years in India, the birthplace of Buddhism, and in Sri Lanka, where Buddhism first took hold firmly upon foreign soil, there were no ordained women. Only in recent times has there been a reappearance of Buddhist nuns.

Little is actually written about these first Bhikkhunis. The only surviving text of Theravada Buddhism that is positively attributed to them is a compilation of their songs. When the rise of Hinduism, particularly the Tantric groups, grew in response to the Islamic invasions, many of the written texts were lost. Yet it is a mute testament to the nuns' spiritual worth that at least their poems (gathas) were preserved.

The Therigata

The Therigatha is a collection of verses or poems (gathas) credited to nuns who attained arahantship (enlightenment). It is paired with the Theragatha, a collection recording the spiritual attainment of monks. That the Buddhist monastic order included into the canon a collection commemorating nuns’ spiritual progress shows the respect the order, as a whole, must have had for the nuns’ achievements. It is important to note that in Therigatha, as well as in the Suttas of the Sisters section of the Samyutta Nikaya, it is recounted that the earliest nuns were indeed, as we have stated, permitted to live alone in the forest just like the brothers.

This is in marked contrast to the presumably later Vinaya (monastic) rules that forbade such an independent way of life. Thus, it seems that it was the convened Sangha after his death rather than the Buddhist movement during Gautama’s time, that generated formalized restrictions, including probably many that emphasized and made firm rules that made the nuns entirely subordinate to the monks.

                              Prajapati, Khema and Uppalavanna

      Prajapati, the First Buddhist Nun, Foremost in Experience

In the fifth year of his ministry, Buddha was staying at Vesali when he heard that his father, King Suddhodana, was ill. He decided to visit him again at Kapilavatthu to teach him the Dharma, and made the long journey. After hearing the Dharma, the king immediately attained arahantship and passed away peacefully seven days later. It was in this year that the order of nuns was founded at the request of Pajapati Gotami, Buddha's stepmother and maternal aunt, being the younger sister of his mother, Maya.

Prajapati was born at Devadaha, in the family of Maha Suppabuddha of the Gotama line, as the younger sister of Maha Maya whom King Suddhodana had married. When Maya died soon after her son's birth, Pajapati married Suddhodana and was responsible for Buddha’s upbringing. On Buddha’s visit to his ailing father, Prajapati approached Buddha with Ananda as her spokesman and asked him to ordain her into the Sangha, but each time the Buddha refused. After Buddha had stayed at Kapilavatthu a while, he journeyed back to Vesali.

Prajapati and the wives of the young nobles (five hundred is always given to mean a great number) who had heard the preaching on the bank of the Rohini river and had since been ordained, left their city to also travel to Vesali where the Buddha was staying, to make another attempt to become ordained themselves.

This time, Prajapati, at the head of the other honourable ladies, robed in ochre and with their hair shaved off, walked 150 miles from Kapilavatthu to Vesali. When she arrived at Vesali, her feet were swollen and her body was covered with dust. Ananda was surprised to see her in this condition. When Ananda asked Buddha once more to admit Pajapati Gotami as a nun, the Buddha once more refused.

So Ananda put the request in a different way. Respectfully he questioned the Buddha, "Lord, are women capable of realising the various stages of sainthood as nuns?"

"They are, Ananda," said the Buddha.

"If that is so, Lord, then it would be good if women could be ordained as nuns," said Ananda, encouraged by the Buddha's reply.

"If, Ananda, Maha Pajapati Gotami would accept Eight Conditions  it would be regarded that she has been ordained already as a nun." (Book of the Discipline, V)

Before we read these rules, we will attempt to ascertain their relevance, both at the time they were formulated and in their continued application today.

The Eight Conditions relative to the past

In the social system of Buddha’s time, women assumed a subsidiary role, basically accepting their lot in life without protest. Under that prevailing social system, there had developed incredible problems of dominance, submission, sex, manipulation and coercion between men and women.  In deciding to accept women into the sangha, Buddha had to somehow resolve that situation.

However, if he had tried to reform the existing social conditions and their internal manifestations, he would have fomented problems between men and women within the sangha where there existed none outside, and caused problems external to Buddhism by espousing revolutionary ideas within.

As solving these social problems was not in any way his first priority at the time, these eight rules had the objective of preserving order between the monks and the nuns, and  seemed to be functional at the time.

The Eight Conditions relative to the present

Today, however, the new concepts of liberation and equality have been added to Buddha’s original idea. Now modern women enter within Buddhism established under the old system and the first thing that concerns them is the social injustice of the inequality and not the folly of their Identity. From this arises their primary desire to change the system.

However, because the equality of the genders has still not brought peace and harmony within our society, nor has it brought the destruction of Identity within the sangha, some think it is better to forget that issue and concentrate on the true liberation, which destroys those differences.

One must remember that at the time of Buddha, there were women ascetics inside and outside of Buddhism who were held in high esteem. If it had not been for the development of the monasteries, none of these rules would have existed. Another problem is that the modern hierarchy has destroyed much of the force that pushes the human creature towards the letting go of the Identities. The old idea of true equality under the dharma, in which a leading nun is considered equal to a leading monk, but still does obeisance to a junior monk, has been lost.

Today there is a great change in the male-female relationships both in and out of the sangha. Now the male no longer has an overt dominance over the female, but this dominance still exists in all its force subliminally. The female now gives a great deal of importance to the concept of equality between the sexes within Buddhism, instead of concentrating on the real issue, which is the letting go of the Identities.

Keeping these thoughts in mind, we will now read these eight rules that were mentioned previously, stating:

(1) That in matters of respect and deference, a monk always had precedence over a nun.

This meant that a nun who had reached the highest level of attainment had to give deference to the newest ordained monk. It is this rule that causes much dissent and consternation today, especially among women within the order. Some of them have suggested that this rule may have been imposed to prevent the constant mental agitation of the social injustice of their position in the society relative to the men.

Perhaps, they say, with the position of women within the order legitimized by a rule of order, then its personal slight to women would be no longer felt. In this way, the nun would feel freer to forget the difference, fully understanding that the rule is a defence, not male oriented chauvinism. She can then remind herself that there is, within the sangha, true internal equality between the sexes in terms of the Dharma.

(2) That a nun must spend the rains retreat in a place separated from monks.

A rule that found full support at the time, both socially and spiritually.

(3) That nuns must ask monks for the date to hold the Uposatha and about teaching the Dharma.

Since the nuns had almost complete autonomy, this was essential to prevent de facto separation of the orders.

 (4) That when a nun does wrong she must admit it before the community of both nuns and monks.

 (5) That a nun who breaks an important rule must undergo punishment before both the nuns and the monks.

Two of the greatest problems that exist today are the relationship between a person and his livelihood, and between two or more persons, particularly those of the opposite sex. In Buddha’s day, both problems were less exaggerated; nonetheless, they existed as impediments to the Dharma.

Buddha was quite clear that the interrelation between men and woman as they then existed was completely unnatural, destroyed by thousands of years of Identity rule, where the evolved natural sensitivity, discrimination and intelligence had been forgotten.

These two rules make no sense from the point of view of established equality. It was most probably introduced not as a means to subdue women, but as a means to prevent the humiliation of men if the act had been reciprocal.  If the rule had not existed, the result may have been the hiding of faults to prevent this humiliation. All these rules suggest the state of the male-female taboos of the time, which are also reflected today in perhaps a more subtle form.

 (6) That a nun must be ordained by both an assembly of nuns and of monks.

The rule was for the maintenance of the unity of the order and to permit women to feel that they were not separated from the main sangha.

 (7) That a nun must not teach a monk

Once again a rule was meant not as a rebuke of woman’s ability, but to prevent external condemnation against Buddhist liberal tendencies

 (8) That nuns must not abuse or revile a monk.

This rule arises from the traditional social system of the times in which it was the continual practice for women to scold and berate men, it being their only real defense against social and physical abuse. To prevent these learned social responses, which were strong, this rule was introduced. Actually the rule would appear to be redundant in an advanced spiritual community, because it would clearly be unnatural to abuse or revile anyone.

Clearly Buddha had been well considering the question and had prepared the eight conditions to which Pajapati Gotami gladly agreed, becoming in that moment an ordained nun. Before long, she attained arahatship and later, at the Jeta Grove Vihara, was assigned the de facto leadership of the Sangha, being considered the foremost in experience.

Khema of Great Wisdom

Just as there were two disciples in the order of monks who were foremost in practice and understanding, likewise two woman a well as Pajapati were foremost amongst nuns. They were Khema and Uppalavanna.

The name Khema means still and serene and is used often to imply Nibbana. Khema belonged to a royal family from the land of Magadha. When she was of marriageable age, she became one of the chief consorts of King Bimbisara. As beautiful as her appearance was, equally beautiful was her life as the wife of an Indian Maharaja.

When she heard about Buddha from her husband, she became interested, but she had a certain reluctance to become involved with his teaching. She felt that the teaching would run counter to her life of sense-pleasures and indulgences. The king, however, knew how he could influence her to listen to the teaching. He described at length the harmony, the peace and beauty of the monastery in the Bamboo Grove, where  Buddha stayed frequently. Because she loved beauty, harmony and peace, she was persuaded to visit.

Decked out in royal splendor with silk and sandalwood, she went to the monastery. The Exalted One spoke to her and explained the law of the impermanence of all conditioned beauty to her. She penetrated this sermon fully and, still dressed in royal garments, she attained to enlightenment. She likewise became liberated through the power of Buddha's words while still dressed in the garments of the laity. Such an attainment, almost like lightning, is only possible when the seed of wisdom has long been ripening and virtue is fully matured.

Khema always tried to be near the source of wisdom and Buddha praised her as the nun foremost in wisdom.

A story is told that a King Pasenadi was traveling through his country, and one evening he arrived at a small township. He felt like having a conversation about the Dhamma and ordered a servant to find out whether there was a wise ascetic or priest in the town. The servant sounded everyone out, but could not find anyone whom his master could converse with. He reported this to the King and added that a nun of  Buddha lived in the town. Thus you can see that she was not cloistered.

It was the saintly Khema, who was famed everywhere for her wisdom and known to be clever, possessing deep insight. She had heard much Dhamma, and was a speaker of renown, knowing always the right retort. Thereupon the king went to the former Queen, greeted her with respect and had the following conversation with her:

Pasenadi: Does an Awakened One exist after death?

Khema.: The Exalted One has not declared that an Awakened One exists after death.

Pasenadi: Then an Awakened One does not exist after death?

Khema: That too, the Exalted One has not declared.

Pasenadi: Then the Awakened One exists after death and does not exist?

Khema: Even that, the Exalted One has not declared.

Pasenadi: Then one must say, the Awakened One neither exists nor not exists after death?

Khema: That too, the Exalted One has not declared.

Thereupon the King wanted to know why Buddha had rejected these four questions. First we must try to understand what these questions imply. The first question corresponds with the view of all those beings whose highest goal is to continue after death, spurred on by craving for existence. The answer that an Awakened One exists in one form or another is a view given by eternalists.

The second answer,-- that the Enlightened One does not exist after death,-- would be in keeping with craving for non-existence, i.e., annihilation, in which there is no after-life, or the continuation of the five aggregates (khandha) of form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness or in which that proposition is seen as absurd. But Buddha, although denying the passing on of identity or the aggregates, allowed that the energy of Karmic formation continued to exist and was not destroyed.

The third answer seeks a false middle position,-- a compromise,-- allowing that there was some permanent aspect, the essence,-- the actual person,-- that would remain. This also is part of an eternalist position, because there is no personal essence.

The fourth answer actually presents Buddha’s answer but it had to be denied, because those who had not encountered the direct experience could never understand. Thus it must be denied as an intellectual answer. In Buddhism, one reaches beyond the non-existence and the no non-existence.

Khema tried to explain this to the King with a simile. She asked him whether he had a clever mathematician or statistician who could calculate for him how many hundred, thousand or hundred-thousand grains of sand are contained in the river Ganges. The King replied that it was not possible. The nun then asked him whether he knew of anyone who could figure out how many gallons of water are contained in the great ocean. That, too, the King considered impossible. Khema asked him why it is not possible. The King replied that the ocean is mighty, deep, unfathomable.

Just so, said Khema, is the Exalted One. Whoever wishes to define the Awakened One, can only do so through the five clung-to aggregates and Buddha no longer clung-to them. "Released from clinging to form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness is the Enlightened One, mighty, deep unfathomable as the great ocean."

The King rejoiced in the penetrating explanation of the nun Khema. Later on he met the Enlightened One and asked him the same four questions. The Buddha explained it exactly as Khema had done, even using the same words. The King was amazed and recounted his conversation with the wise nun Khema, the Arahant. (Samyutta Nikaya  44,1)

Aguttara Nikàya V.7

Dhammikavaggo

At one time, The Blessed One was abiding in the monastery offered by Anathapindika in Jeta's grove in Savatthi. At that time, venerable Khema and venerable Sumana lived in the dark forest in Savatthi. Venerable Khema and venerable Sumana approached The Blessed One, worshipped, sat on the side and venerable Khema said:

Venerable sir, to the bhikkhu who is worthy, has destroyed desires, lived the holy life, done what should be done, abandoned the burden, attained the highest good, destroyed the bond to be and is released rightfully knowing it does not occur, there is a superior, there is an equal and there is an inferior.

Having said that, venerable Khema waited for the approval of the Teacher. Venerable Khema knowing, ‘the Teacher approves me’, got up from her seat, worshipped, circumambulated The Blessed One and went away.

Soon after venerable Khema had gone away, venerable Sumana said: Venerable sir, to the bhikkhu who is worthy, has destroyed desires, lived the holy life, done what should be done, abandoned the burden, attained the highest good, destroyed the bond to be and is released rightfully knowing it does not occur, there is no superior, there is no equal and there is no inferior.

Having said that venerable Sumana waited for the approval of the Teacher. Venerable Sumana knowing, ‘the Teacher approves me’, got up from his seat, worshipped, circumambulated The Blessed One and went away.

Soon after venerable Khema and venerable Sumana had gone away, The Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus:

Bhikkhus, the sons of clansmen declare their worthiness thus. The meaningful is told and the self is not superceeded. Yet some foolish men, making others laught at them, declare worthiness, later they fall into trouble.

Is not superior, nor inferior and does not go beyond the self,

Rebirth is destroyed, the holy life is lived and abides released from bonds.

Uppalavanna

   Samyutta Nikaya V.5

Uppalavanna Sutta

Uppalavanna was the daughter in a wealthy family in Savatthi. Because she was as beautiful as a blue lotus flower, she was called "Uppalavanna". The fame of her beauty spread far and wide and there were many suitors: princes, rich men and many others. But she decided, just like many of her male counterparts, that the mundane life of pleasure and plenty was not worth having. Seeking the truth, he became a Bhikkhuni and one day, after lighting a lamp, she kept her mind fixed on the flame, and meditated on the fire kasina (meditation device). In this way, she achieved the eighth Jhana state of neither perception nor no-perception, and went on to  attained arahatship.

In the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, Chapter 5 of the Sagathavagga-samyutta, we find one of her accounts of an experience which is interesting and informative.

…In the morning, the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna dressed... she stood at the foot of a sala tree in full flower.

Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:

"Having gone to a sala tree with flowering top,

You stand at its foot all alone, bhikkhuni.

There is none whose beauty can rival your own:

Foolish girl, have you no fear of rogues?"

Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna: "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."

Then the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna, having understood, "this is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:

"Though a hundred thousand rogues

Just like you might come here,

I stir not a hair, I feel no terror;

Even alone, Mara, I don't fear you.

I can make myself disappear

Or I can enter inside your belly.

I can stand between your eyebrows

Yet you won't catch a glimpse of me.

I am the master of my own mind,

The bases of power are well developed;

I am freed from every kind of bondage,

Therefore I don't fear you, friend."

Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Uppalavanna knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.

Do you see the depth of confidence in the power of her own nature that overcame these thoughts of harm and rape? It was a special quality many bhikkhnis possessed that was wanting in many of the monks. If all the monks had been like these three nuns, there would have been no need for councils and rules.

Where there is full comprehension, where can rules take hold?

 Visakha

Laywomen too played an important part in the development of Buddhism at that time. Such is the case of one of the most famous and important, the lay disciple Visakha

Having attained enlightenment and rejected all unnecessary self-mortifications,  Buddha and his Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis continued to wear the cast-off rags of cemeteries and dung-heaps. Health concerns were not foremost and there arose  diseases and illness. Buddha naturally, as his way was not of extreme asceticism,  permitted and encouraged the monks and nuns to use medicines and unguents when needed.  At that time being barefoot was quite normal, nevertheless, when brethren suffered from foot problems, foot-coverings were also permitted.

Once Buddha himself was taken ill. Ánanda went to Jivaka, a follower of Buddha and physician to Bimbisara, the king. And Jivaka gave medicines and baths to Buddha until his cure.

At that time, Pajjota, king of Ujjeni, was suffering from jaundice, and Jivaka, the physician to king Bimbisara, being of great reputation, was consulted. Eventually King Pajjota recovered and sent Jivaka a set of robes of the finest cloth. Jivaka immediately thought of Buddha and decided that it would be a perfect gift for the great Master.

Favaka approached Buddha and was reported to have said:

"Lord of the world, the Blessed One wears only robes made of rags taken from a dung-heap or a cemetery, and so also does the brotherhood of Bhikkhus. Now, Lord, this suit has been sent to me by King Pajjota, which is the best and most excellent, and the finest and the most precious, and the noblest that can be found. Lord of the world, may the Blessed One accept from me this suit, and may he allow the brotherhood of Bhikkhus to wear lay robes."

Buddha accepted the robe and made it known henceforth that the Bikkhus could wear robes of normal quality, the same as lay persons. It is said that when the people of Rajagaha heard of this, they presented thousands of robes to the assembly.

From then on it was customary for the Bhikkus and Bhikkhunis to accept robes naturally, without desire or a sense of possession.

Visakha, a wealthy woman in Savatthi had given to the order the Pubbarama or Eastern Garden. When Buddha stayed at  Savatthi, Visakha gave Buddha an invitation to take his meal at her house, which Buddha accepted. Heavy rain fell during the night and the following morning  and the Bikkhus took off their robes sensibly to keep them dry, letting the rain fall on their bodies.

The next day after Buddha had finished his meal Visahka came to him and with great reverence asked eight favors. When Buddha allowed her to list her requests, it is said that she made the following reply:

"I desire, Lord, through all my life long to bestow robes for the rainy season on the Sangha, and food for incoming Bhikkhus, and food for outgoing Bhikkhus, and food for the sick, and food for those who wait upon the sick, and medicine for the sick and a constant supply of rice milk for the Sangha, and bathing robes for the Bhikkhunis, the sisters."

 Buddha answered : "But what circumstance is it, O Visakha, that thou hast in view in asking these eight boons of the Tathágata?"

Visakha replied: "I gave command, Lord, to my maidservant, saying, 'Go, and announce to the brotherhood that the meal is ready.' And the maid went, but when she came to the vihara, she observed that the Bhikkhus had doffed their robes while it was raining, and she thought: 'These are not Bhikkhus, but naked ascetics letting the rain fall on them. So she returned to me and reported accordingly, and I had to send her a second time. Impure, Lord, is nakedness, and revolting. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sangha my life long with special garments for use in the rainy season.

"As to my second wish, Lord, an incoming Bhikkhu, not being able to take the direct roads, and not knowing the place where food can be procured, comes on his way tired out by seeking for alms. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sangha my life long with food for incoming Bhikkhus.

“Thirdly, Lord, an outgoing Bhikkhu, while seeking about for alms, may be left behind, or may arrive too late at the place whither he desires to go, and will set out on the road in weariness.

"Fourthly, Lord, if a sick Bhikkhu does not obtain suitable food, his sickness may increase upon him, and he may die. Fifthly, Lord, a Bhikkhu who is waiting upon the sick will lose his opportunity of going out to seek food for himself. Sixthly, Lord, if a sick Bhikkhu does not obtain suitable medicines, his sickness may increase upon him, and he may die.

"Seventhly, Lord, I have heard that the Blessed One has praised rice-milk, because it gives readiness of mind, dispels hunger and thirst; it is wholesome for the healthy as nourishment, and for the sick as a medicine. Therefore I desire to provide the Sangha my life long with a constant supply of rice-milk.

"Finally, Lord, the Bhikkhunis are in the habit of bathing in the river Achiravati with the courtesans, at the same landing-place, and naked. And the courtesans, Lord, ridicule the Bhikkhunis, saying, 'what is the good, ladies, of your maintaining chastity when you are young? When you are old, maintain chastity then; thus will you obtain both worldly pleasure and religious consolation.' Impure, Lord, is nakedness for a woman, disgusting, and revolting. These are the circumstances, Lord, that I had in view."

The Blessed One said: "But what was the advantage you had in view for yourself, O Visakha, in asking the eight boons of the Tathágata?"

Visakha replied: "Bhikkhus who have spent the rainy seasons in various places will come, Lord, to Savatthi to visit the Blessed One. And on coming to the Blessed One they will ask, saying: 'such and such a Bhikkhu, Lord, has died. What, now, is his destiny?' Then will the Blessed One explain that he has attained the fruits of conversion; that he has attained arahat-ship or has entered Nirvana, as the case may be.

"And I, going up to them, will ask, "Was that brother, Sirs, one of those who had formerly been at Savatthi?' If they reply to me, He has formerly been at Savatthi, then shall I arrive at the conclusion, For a certainty did that brother enjoy either the robes for the rainy season, or the food for the incoming Bhikkhus, or the food for the outgoing Bhikkhus, or the food for the sick, or the food for those that wait upon the sick, or the medicine for the sick, or the constant supply of rice-milk.'

"Then will gladness spring up within me; thus gladdened, joy will come to me; and so rejoicing all my mind will be at peace. Being thus at peace I shall experience a blissful feeling of content; and in that bliss my heart will be at rest. That will be to me an exercise of my moral sense, an exercise of my moral powers, an exercise of the seven kinds of wisdom! This Lord was the advantage I had in view for myself in asking those eight boons of the Blessed One."

The Blessed One said: "It is well, it is well, Visakha. Thou hast done well in asking these eight boons of the Tathágata with such advantages in view. Charity bestowed upon those who are worthy of it is like good seed sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions are like seed deposited in a bad soil. The passions of the receiver of the alms choke, as it were, the growth of merits." And the Blessed One gave this thanks to Visakha:

"O noble woman of an upright life,

Disciple of the Blessed One, thou givest

Unstintedly in purity of heart.

"Thou spreadest joy, assuagest pain,

and verily thy gift will be a blessing

As well to many others as to thee."

Certainly a worthy patron, but two of her remarks bear mentioning. The first was her response in talking of the naked Bhikkhus. She declared,  “Impure, Lord, is nakedness, and revolting”. Later in the same discourse when speaking of the Bhikkhunis who bathed naked in the river with the courtesans, “Impure, Lord, is nakedness for a woman, disgusting, and revolting.”

Seemingly of little import here. Note later that it was this same Visakha who was influential in the establishment of the rules for Bhikkunis after Buddha’s death.  

Exercise 4

I would like a page giving your impressions of the women mentioned and particularly Visakha.