The First Buddhist Women

"I love this book. Within the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism, there is one book called the Therigatha— the verses of the women elders. These are verses which are supposed to have been written by the first Buddhist nuns, those who heard the Buddha face-to-face and renounced and became nuns. These women often had homes and families. They left these, shaved their heads and took on the robes of a Buddhist nun. They followed the Buddha and eventually formed themselves into communities. “Greed and hatred are the poisons which create suffering according to Buddhism.” According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha was at first quite reluctant to ordain women. He brought men into his community as celibate monastics and then women asked him whether they could also become monastics and at first he is said to have refused. Eventually he said yes and the order of nuns become incredibly strong. And their verses are enshrined in the Therigatha . Susan Murcott’s book is a commentary on these Buddhist nuns, which includes her own translations of some of the poems and verses. What comes across is that these women were strong and determined. Some of them leave quite abusive households and become nuns. Some turn aside from admiration from suitors and most of them become enlightened. Here is just one example of the text. This is Sakula: I am the one who left son and daughter, money and grain , cut off my hair , and set out into homelessness. Under training on the straight way, desire and hatred fell away , along with the obsessions of the mind that combine with them. After my ordination I remembered I had been born before. The eye of heaven became clear. The elements of body and mind I saw as other, born from a cause, subject to decay. I have given up the obsessions of the mind. I am quenched and cool. (p51) This image of coolness is linked with Nirvana or Enlightenment. So you get this wonderful poetry. And I choose this book because of its emphasis on Buddhist women and because Susan Murcott has brought into her book not only the verses of the nuns but also their stories, bringing in her reaction to the nuns as one woman to others. Well, it depends where they are. There are women in places like Taiwan and Vietnam who can gain higher ordination as they did in the Buddha’s time. In some of the Theravada countries, higher ordination has been lost or never existed. And there has been a struggle in the last two decades to bring back higher ordination within these countries. Such struggles are present in other religions also where women are trying to gain their rightful place in the sacred."