Buddhist feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

. It is an aspect of

feminist theology Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Neopaganism, Baháʼí Faith, Judaism, Islam and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those reli ...

which seeks to advance and understand the

equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

men A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...

and

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership from a Buddhist perspective. The Buddhist feminist Rita Gross describes Buddhist feminism as "the radical practice of the co-humanity of women and men."

Buddhist Feminism as a Recent Understanding

Parallels between Buddhism and Feminist understanding of equality between race, gender, class, sexuality and nationality have only recently begun to be explored. Buddhism's belief of understanding the truth of reality through practicing spiritual development. is beneficial to feminist theory, especially in comparison to other religions. These parallels are undergoing evaluation as religious understandings of feminism become increasingly scrutinized in society and popular discourse.

Ordination

Some Buddhist feminists advocate for the ordination of women in Buddhism. The ordination of women in Buddhism is and has always been practiced in some Buddhist regions, such as East Asia; is being revived in some countries such as Sri Lanka; and is newly beginning in some Western countries to which Buddhism has recently spread, such as the United States.

Criticisms

Jean Byrne argues that within this beginning of Buddhist Feminist understanding an ignorance of the reality of female and male roles may exist. Within her paper "Why I Am Not a Buddhist Feminist" she outlines the similarities shared between the two, and the possible increase in equality of genders, but highlights that because of this some misogynist and discriminatory aspects of Buddhism may be overlooked. The belief that Buddhism is a completely egalitarian religion concerns Byrne that this will overshadow some of the realities of Feminism in Buddhism. Postcolonial critics have noted the presence of more than one version of Buddhist feminism, critiquing, for example, the work of white liberal feminists like Rita Gross for presenting a myopic, universalist Buddhist feminism rooted in assumptions of white authority. In the process, the voices of non-white Buddhist feminists who may not fit the liberal mode of discourse are excluded and discounted.

References

External links

Acting with Compassion: Buddhism, Feminism, and the Environmental Crisis
* ttp://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/mother.htm Mothering: Moral Cultivation in Buddhist and Feminist Ethics

Buddhist Feminism as a Recent Understanding

Ordination

Criticisms

See also

References

External links

Further reading