(Image: The Zendo at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Carmel Valley, California. Photo by Bradley Allen, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)
By Talea Shakun-Berkelhammer
This article serves to examine the historical context behind ordaining women within the Soto Zen tradition of Buddhism. Soto Zen is a sub tradition of the Mahāyāna, one of the three major traditions within Buddhism. The other two other traditions are Theravāda and Vajrayāna. Mahāyāna, originated in India and spread to areas such as Japan, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, Taiwan, etc. Soto Zen was established in Japan during the 13th century by Zen Master Dogen Zenji when he returned home from China (Just, 3). In China, Dogen had received the teachings of a 9th century lineage passed down from founders, Tozan (Ch. Dongshan) and Sozan (Ch. Caoshan) (Ibid). To begin, we will explore the origin of women ordination within Buddhism, specifically the Mahāyāna tradition, and then progress to a narrower inquiry of the Soto Zen within America.
Originally, the Buddha only ordained bhikkhus (i.e. monks) and not bhikkhunīs (i.e. nuns) and held reservations about instating an order of bhikkhunīs. With the acknowledgment that women have the same capacity to attain awakening (i.e. nibbāna) as men, the Buddha eventually consented to ordain women. However, bhikkhunīs must follow an additional eight rules, which bhikkhus were not obligated (Neumaier, 90-91). Three of those stand out as relevant to current controversy over female ordination within the Theravāda lineage. Firstly, all bhikkhunīs, no matter how seniors, are considered junior to even the youngest bhikkhu. Secondly, a bhikkhuni cannot reprimand a bhikkhu for violation of conduct based on Vinaya (e.g. monastic rules) but bhikkhu can do so to bhikkhunīs. Thirdly, for a bhikkhunī to be ordained she must receive approval by the lineage of both bhikkhunīs and bhikkhus. Alternatively, bhikkhus do not have to ask the bhikkhunī lineage to pass through full initiation (Ibid.). These additional rules impact the current life of bhikkhunīs in a variety of ways; furthermore, an embedded hierarchy of power perpetuated as the bhikkhu order possesses authority over the bhikkhunī order.
Once women were welcomed into the Sangha, lineages of bhikkhunīs within both Theravāda and Mahāyāna developed. The lineages proliferated for some time until the Theravada bhikkhunī order died out. Currently, there is widespread controversy over whether a bhikkhunī order may be fully reinstated. Traditionalists emphasize the ordination rules that five fully ordained bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs of the same tradition must be in present company to ordain a female novice (Neumaier, 102). Thereby, with a literal reading of the Vinaya, full ordination of Theravāda bhikkhuni lineage ceased eras ago while the bhikkhuni lineage of Mahāyāna has continued. Theravāda laywomen do receive Mahāyāna ordination, yet many of their communities do not recognize the legitimacy. A common contrasting argument points towards the Buddha’s frequent practice of changing minor rules depending on skillful means (i.e. upāya) of a given situation. In the Mahaparinibbana sutra (i.e. collection of the Buddha’s discourses) there is an occurrence of a bhikkhunī ordination in which “the Buddha authorized the ordination of nuns through monks alone” due to necessitating conditions (Neumaier, 102).
Although the bhikkhunī order within Mahāyāna has lasted to this day, there are still inequalities within Buddhism reinforcing gender discrimination and bias. The role of the Buddhist laywoman historically was a quietly devout woman, practicing generosity and ethical conduct through alms donations to the local ordained and within her family life. The laywoman’s role was isolated to private influence while public presence and authority was held and exercised by bhikkhus in monastic institutions (Neumaier, 93). Although some laywomen have served in informal leadership roles, ordained practitioners have historically been the only ones officially recognized within many traditions. Consequently, due to the loss of the bhikkhunī lineage in Theravāda, there was little to no public representation of women. Within Mahāyāna, even with the continuation of the bhikkhunīs’ lineage, there is often greater attribution of “spiritual power” and beneficial karma to bhikkhus (Tsomo, 303). Therefore, donations are given to bhikkhus over the bhikkhunīs. Laypeople offering alms believe their offerings will receive greater karma in return if given to a bhikkhus as opposed to a the less spiritually powerful bhikkhunī. In Theravāda, the goal is to attain awakening while the aspiration of Mahāyāna evolved into the bodhisattva ideal. A bodhisattva suspends one’s full awakening to return through rebirth to this cycle of existence (i.e. samsara) in order to alleviate the suffering of all sentient beings. Historically, in the case of bodhisattva depictions, predominantly masculine imagery highlights the common attribution of higher spiritual power to males. Although bodhisattva expressions were often masculine, Kuan Yin, a bodhisattva of compassion originating in China, became a prominent figure in Mahāyāna depicting the feminine as sacred. However, the sacralization of the feminine bodhisattva did not necessarily uplift women’s role or promote egalitarianism for laywomen (Wessinger, 139-140).
Women’s ordination was an integral aspect of Soto Zen from the origin. Soto Zen Master Dogen encouraged an egalitarian understanding of the Dharma and invited female practitioners to train, ordain, and live alongside men in shared monasteries (Just, 23). However, Dogen’s successor segregated bhikkhunīs and bhikkhus, which made it exceedingly difficult for women to receive the training and support necessary to ordain. Prior to Soto Zen arriving in America, bhikkhunis in Nagoya, Japan carried forth a successful movement for equality (Just, 48). Therefore, when Soto Zen migrated to the United States in the early 20th century, the values of equality developed in Japan were brought with the tradition (Just, 3). While most Japanese teachers are male, almost half the Buddhist Dharma teachers in the West are female and perhaps even more than the majority in Soto Zen (Just, 49). However, scholar Rita Gross reflects men are perceived as the “most respected and authoritative teachers” (Just, 49). Additionally, women in Soto Zen embody supporting roles more often than leadership. In the circumstance of a bhikkhunī leading, this tends to occur within smaller temple settings with large monastic centers led by bhikkhus.
In modern day America, Soto Zen faces some challenges in the effort to cultivate a community of greater inclusivity for women. There are few ideal models for a female Zen master, so practitioners may internalize masculine ideals and question female leaders (Just, 50). Moreover, certain acts are valued more than others, which includes prioritizing traditional men’s work over traditional women’s work. For example, Just points to Buddhist literature that outlines: “sweeping the monastery sidewalk is evidence of an elevated pursuit, but a woman caring for her home as her toddler eats breakfast is not” (Just, 50-51). In order to uncover and uproot institutionalized inferiority of women, Soto Zen communities are meeting questions of inclusiveness and oppression. Gross warns about the current generation’s assertion that looking into gender norms is “just genderizing the Dharma” (Ibid.) Instead, Gross calls for the necessity of first assessing manifestations of sexism in order to “ungenderize” the Dharma (Ibid.).
The egalitarian ethos of the United States has invited women to assume leadership roles traditionally held by males as well as created a form of Soto Zen more appealing to women (Tsomo, 306). Within the mid 20th century in the West, laypeople across Buddhist traditions began taking on more public positions in temples and Dharma centers as well as steadily in Asia too (Tsomo, 304). An example of an adaptation in Soto Zen includes many bhikkhunīs replacing androcentric wording in the sutras with gender neutral terms when they teach. Additionally, many bhikkhunīs are seeking to reference the feminine in the Dharma and explore how it may be further incorporated (Just, 6). While the bhikkhunī order is not controversial in Soto Zen, there are certainly many ways this tradition must evolve to grow in service to contemporary times.
Work Cited
Just, Courtney M., “New American Zen: Examining American Women’s Adaptation of
Traditional Japanese Soto Zen Practice” (2011). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
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Tsomo, K. L. (2013). Buddhist Women and Religious Leadership. In 1249168496 925505471 S. H. Callahan (Author), Religious Leadership: A Reference Handbook (pp. 302-307). Los Angeles: SAGE reference.
Tsomo, K. L. (2020). Women’s Ordination Across Cultures. In Women in Buddhist Traditions (pp. 109-131). New York: New York University Press.
Neumaier, E. K. (2015). Women in Buddhist Traditions. In 1249161223 925501035 L. M. Anderson & 1249161224 925501035 P. D. Young (Authors), Women and Religious Traditions. Don Mills, Ontario: OUP Canada.
Wessinger, C. (1993). Woman Guru, Woman Roshi: The Legitimation of Female Religious Leadership in Hindu and Buddhist Groups in America. In Women’s Leadership in Marginal Religions: Explorations Outside the Mainstream (pp. 125-145). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Women in American Buddhism. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2021, from https://pluralism.org/women-in-american-buddhism