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Buddhism follows the teachings of Siddhartha (later known as the Buddha) on how to reach complete enlightenment. Although Buddhism focuses on a continual path of “becoming” without any conceivable end, the human goal of enlightenment is Nirvana, an existence of complete bliss. One means to this end was to join the community of Buddhist monks known as the sanga.
Buddha did not initially allow women to participate in the sanga because he was afraid that their presence would disrupt the monks’ thoughts with sexual desires. One of the major precepts of Buddhism is self-control when it comes to sex. However, close to the end of the Buddha’s life, a good friend, Ananda, asked him if women could reach the state of nirvana. The Buddha said they could. Ananda then asked why women could not be in the sanga. Since the purpose of the sanga was to help people find the road to salvation, who would guide the women to complete enlightenment? At this, the Buddha reluctantly agreed to let women into the sanga. But he said that without women in the sanga, it would have lasted 1000 years. Now, with women allowed to join the community, the sanga would last only 500. Therefore, although women were now allowed to become nuns in the sanga, they were required to show greater respect to the monks than they received. For instance, a monk could censure a nun, but a nun could never censure a monk.
Buddhist teachings say to not focus on outer beauty but to look for beauty of the mind. For this reason it was more difficult for pretty women to be allowed into the sanga. There is a story of a pretty woman who was denied admittance into the sanga because of her physical appearance. Her desire for enlightenment was so great that she then scarred her face with a hot poker. When she tried again to be admitted as a nun into the sanga, she was admitted.
The Buddhist attitude toward the female gender is to look at all women as if they were your mother or sister. Therefore, a man should always be reverent and polite toward a woman. The Buddha also recognized that women are pilgrims searching for nirvana as much as men are pilgrims. But Buddhism calls for control of natural instincts, and sexual desire is regarded as the most powerful of all human instincts. Women are thus seen as the source of the most powerful obstacle on the road to enlightenment. This is at the heart of why women may be treated differently in Buddhism.
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