The Buddhist temple leaders teaching shows that gender differences do not significantly impact spiritual advancement. Furthermore, the leaders do not provide fundamental differences that exist between men and females in the areas of spiritual advancement. However, Buddhist religious norms regarding the role of women and men in society differ significantly from nation to nation, which may be from the impact of feminists.
In the Buddhist culture, women are considered weak beings and require men to provide them with protection. Furthermore, men are considered to be the strong and family breadwinners. It is the responsibility of the man to ensure the family moral is maintained (Paudel & Dong, 2017). Women are viewed as polluted because of the menstruation period. Their position in society has always been after the males. The ruling of women not being able to be leaders is explained by certain narratives in Buddhism. They believe that women have a gender limitation that makes them unable to attain enlightenment (Forman-Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018). Enlightenment in women can only be achieved when they have achieved good karma and then be reborn as men (Paudel & Dong, 2017). Other Buddhists believe that when women are close to attaining enlightenment, they transform into males, making them earn the enlightenment.
The devotion of the Buddhists to various social customs has resulted in the partial spiritual development of the females. The restriction posed on worldly pleasures has made the males not engage in activities such as spending time with a woman in the same house and even having private conversations (Paudel & Dong, 2017). The roles of females in Buddhism have significantly impacted their participation in society (LaFever, 2017). The involvement of women in many societal activities has become a by-product of religious traditions (Paudel & Dong, 2017). Most opportunities in the community are for men, while women are given minor roles such as chores and child bearing
Theravada Buddhism is the most conservative when it comes to gender roles. Women in society have a lower rank compared to the monks. Even though women can be renunciates, they are considered to have a lower status than men (Anderson & Manring, 2018). When performing rituals and ceremonies in the communities, the males are the only ones allowed to perform. Women have been given minor roles such as caring for the old monks, cleaning the ritual places while being supervised by the monks, and food serving to the monastics (Di, 2020). In Mahayana Buddhism, the females seem to be more empowered than their counterparts of Theravada. Most of the Mahayana texts portray that females have equal potential with males and are capable of attaining Buddhahood (Forman-Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018). However, despite the principles showing women empowerment, Buddhism remains patriarchal.
Generally, female Buddhists have played significant roles in society, including performing duties such as motherly figures and dutiful nuns. Even though females have substantial roles in society and religious institutions, they are subjected to various, challenging guidelines when handling their monastic life (Forman-Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018). For example, in the Buddhist text, Siddhartha was very reluctant to allow women to be ordained despite the enactment of Eight Garudhammas (LaFever, 2017). The rules are particular to women as they are required to undergo training on discipline and not perform worships whenever the males are not present
Several Buddha scholars believed that women are not supposed to reach to become a Buddha because they have a different state of birth compared to their male counterparts. The teachings of Buddha shows that women have a lower rank than males and their position is in the peripheries of the Buddhist worship and leadership restricted to the monastery elite (Forman-Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018). The nun’s position is inferior to the monk’s position; they are required to have meals only after the monks have eaten and being behind the monks when performing ceremonies and rituals (Forman-Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018). Furthermore, the Gurudhamas text shows that after initiation of the senior nun, it is required that the nun bows down to the monk, implying the inferiority of women. The Buddhist culture is greatly deep-rooted among their society spreading the inferiority of the women (Forman-Rabinovici & Sommer, 2018). This has dramatically made women believe that they cannot attain the same position as males.
Budhism consider men and women to be the same in both words and actions. However, in most Asian countries, the supports provided to the female nun is less compared to the monks (LaFever, 2017). Some are even restricted from entering the shrines and performing religious tasks and rituals (LaFever, 2017). In places like India, the inferiority of women has been in existence even during the time of Buddha. The men have used the opportunity to gain popularity in society, excluding the women.