Putting an End to Buddhist Patriarchy

[Byokan]

Hi All,

there's a pretty good study guide on Women in Buddhism over at Everyday Zen:

http://everydayzen.org/study-guide/women-buddhism/

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[michaeljc]

patriarchy still a problem on the other side of the pond?

I believe not. The only permanent teacher in New Zealand is female. I believe that the situation in most developed Western countries is such that no one even notices if a pupil or teacher is female. - beyond what we may notice in any other setting.

m

sat 2-day

[Matt]

I have read the Women of the Way volume that Jundo mentions. The preface, if I remember correctly, details the author's pilgrimage to Eihei-ji and the discrimination she faced there. The book itself is made up of accounts of women in Zen who have been overlooked. A great book.

Gassho,
Matt
#SatToday

[Jundo]

I do want to say one thing about "discrimination" against women in Buddhism, and I need to be very very careful to explain myself.

It is very awkward to judge the values of centuries past, and the social structures of pre-industrial, agricultural societies by modern, 21st century values. These were class based societies, everyone had their "place" and their was little fluid movement. It is wonderful that we now value equality of the sexes, but other societies and times did not. (What we see now among the Taliban, folks, in their treatment of women was the norm in West Europe and America until only about a century ago). It may offend us now, but that is because we are imposing our vision of social equality and fluidity. It is a breath of fresh air now, but just was not so for thousands of years.

According to the story, the Buddha was very hesitant to admit women into the Sangha and only did so because he was begged. Even then, he imposed many restrictions including that a male priest, even if ordained for 1 day, was senior to any woman no matter her length of experience. Why? Most say that he simply did not want to challenge the accepted social norms of the time. Perhaps he himself was part of, and actually believed, those norms. Hard to say.

http://buddhism.about.com/od/buddhisthistory/a/buddhistwomen.htm

When one visits Eiheiji and such places, by the way, there is a tug of war because those places have one foot in the 21st century, one foot in the 13th. In any event, all of Japan (in my experience) is still back in the 1950's as far as women's equality ... with a women's place still being seen as primarily in the home as mother and homemaker. There is limited social fluidity for women in business, politics and such aside from a few exceptions. And (if I may observe from living here many years) I would say that the women of Japan are as responsible as the men for that fact, given that the vast majority of women here generally want and choose to be in the home and not in business etc.

http://marklsl.tripod.com/Writings/japan.htm

Unfortunately, that also means there are limited options for many Japanese women who do not want that. (Also, if I may say, there tend to be many articles like the following written with a certain bias that "the Japanese women should want that, and something is wrong that they do not" ... something the vast majority of Japanese women themselves might disagree with.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21599763-womens-lowly-status-japanese-workplace-has-barely-improved-decades-and-country

Most Japanese women seem to voluntarily choose and celebrate traditional women's roles for themselves as wives and mothers, although supporting the right of women not to so if they wish. A recent poll which may surprise some ... and I would say that the poll reflects merely what women believe for "women in general". In fact, I believe that the numbers supporting "stay at home raising the kids" would be higher if the women were talking about themselves, and what they will actually do in their own life.

About 40 percent of respondents in their 20s to 40s believe husbands should work full time while their wives stay at home, a recent survey has found.

Those who favored the idea accounted for 39.3 percent of the male respondents and 43.0 percent of the female respondents, according to the survey by the Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life and Wellness.

The results are in stark contrast with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aim to increase the ratio of women in the workforce as part of his government’s growth strategy.

Among the unmarried male respondents, 34.2 percent preferred the idea of working husbands with stay-at-home wives, compared with 37.9 percent in favor among the unmarried female respondents. The proportion came to 42.5 percent among the married male respondents and 46.1 percent among their female counterparts.

The results were “unexpected,” an analyst at the institute said. “This, however, may be because many believe that the current situation is not good for women to continue working after childbirth.”

Of all male respondents, 64.4 percent said women should concentrate on parenting while their children are very young. Female respondents who supported that view reached 70.9 percent. The survey was conducted over the Internet in late March. Valid responses totaled 3,616.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/13/national/40-of-japanese-want-wives-kept-out-of-workforce-survey-finds/#.VNRCJZ2Ud8E

Gassho, J

SatToday

[michaeljc]

And - we should not forget that within my parents generation the situation in most Western countries was similar to what Jundo has described in Japan. I witnessed it.

m

Sat 2-day

[Byrne]

When I was in my early 20s I did four tours of Japan with a punk band. The lead singer is Japanese and now lives in Tokyo with his wife and child. When I first went there I figured out pretty quickly that the society was much kinder to men than women, even to someone like me who was a foreigner with barely a grasp on the culture and language. This was especially ironic because the only reason we were able to afford to travel through the country was because the singers wife worked for an English school and had to travel throughout the country in a van owned by the school. We routed our tours around her work schedule. She'd do her thing. We'd do ours and everyone back in the van. If it wasn't for Shino, there was no possible way those tours would've worked.

Me and the drummer were the only white guys and frequently we would get confused by some aspect of the culture. The singer would always say, "Why do you do what you do?"

Gassho

Sat Today

[Myosha]

Hello,

So neat,

(Paraphrase) "You're either in the van, or you're off the van."


Gassho,
Myosha sat today