Ambivalence Regarding Women and Female Gender in Premodern Shin Buddhism Study Notes

Complexity and Inconsistency Towards Women and Female Gender in Buddhist Tradition

• Historical Ambivalence: Buddhism’s historical attitudes toward women and the female gender are characterized as ambivalent and inconsistent.

• Henjō Nanshi (Sexual Transformation): A marked concept in Pure Land Buddhism is henjō nanshi (変成男児), the idea that women would be born in the Pure Land as males. Historical interpretations of this idea remained ambiguous.

• Scholarly Context: This study is backgrounded by extensive work since Diana Paul’s "Women in Buddhism" ($1979$).

• Multivocality: Sponberg ($1992$) identified four distinct views within the early tradition:     * Soteriological inclusiveness.     * Institutional androcentrism.     * Ascetic misogyny.     * Soteriological androgyny.

• Mahāyāna Stereotypes: Paul ($1979$) identified primary text representations including:     * The temptress and the mother.     * The nun.     * The "good daughter" and "good friend."     * The bodhisattva with and without sexual transformation.     * The feminine as celestial bodhisattva Kuan-yin.     * Queen Řĩmālā as a potential female Buddha.

• Permanent Institutional Tension: Wilson ($1996$) argued that the coexistence of women and a sangha attempting to be an all-male celibate club created a permanent tension regardless of the historical Buddha’s actual attitude.

• Heidegger’s Four Dimensions of Negativity: Simone Heidegger ($2006$, $1995$) noted four inconsistent dimensions of Buddhist negativity towards women:     * Actual biosocial suffering of women in past societies.     * The threat women posed to male celibacy.     * General male misogyny.     * Gender subordination in historical political economies and social imaginaries.

• Plurality of Buddhisms: Modern recognition views the religion as "Buddhisms" (plural), indicating a multiplicity of patterns rather than high commonality (Cuevas and Stone $2007$).

Premodern Japanese Historical Context

• Position of Women: Women initially held a strong position in the earliest monastic system but saw a decline during the Nara ($710-794$) and Heian ($794-1185$) periods (Barbara Ruch $2002$).

• GoshŁ Sanjū (且障三従): This concept involves "five obstructions and three obligations."     * Five Obstructions: Women cannot become Brahmā, Indra, Māra, a Chakravartin king, or a Buddha. The core idea is that women cannot rule over men.     * Three Obligations: Women must be subordinate to their fathers in natal homes, to husbands in marriage, and to children in old age. The core idea is the necessity of male protection and control.     * Origin: These concepts are rooted in patriarchal Indian and Chinese social practices embedded in texts produced by a male monastic class (Nagata $2002$).

• Variations of HenjŁ Nanshi: While suggesting female inferiority, the concept was multivocal. Famous examples include the sea dragon’s daughter in the Lotus Sutra. The Pure Land iteration—that women must be shape-shifted into male form in the Pure Land—is only one version.     * Apologetic View: HenjŁ nanshi offered relief from suffering and served as hŁben (方便), or skillful means, to encourage Buddhist orientation.     * Critical View: Modern commentators (Nagata $2002$, Hosokawa $1999$) argue the concept is purely misogynistic, teaching women to dislike their femaleness irrationally and resulting in "brainwashing."

Gender Transformation in Pure Land Sutras

• Textual Scarcity: Only one of the three major Pure Land sutras, "The Larger Sukhāvatī-vyūha" (Larger Amida Sūtra), mentions gender transformation.

• The Thirty-fifth Vow: The core passage (Taishō edition number $360$) states:     * "If, when I have become a Buddha, all the women in the countless, inconceivable Buddhaworlds… on hearing my name… become disgusted with the female body, if they take female form again after their lives come to an end, I shall not attain perfect awakening."

• Harrison’s Analysis ($1998$): Harrison argues the Sanskrit and Tibetan messages are "generalized blessings." Women can become men in the next life if they desire, but the promise is conditional and does not explicitly forbid women from being reborn in Sukhāvatī as women.

• Chinese Textual Variations: Five versions exist (T.362, $361$, $360$, $310.5$, $363$). They are inconsistent on transformation, though T.360 is closest to Sanskrit and Tibetan sources.

• Radical Egalitarianism: Despite the single-sex conception of Sukhāvatī, Harrison identifies a underlying "radical egalitarianism" aimed at overcoming non-dualistic divisions that stifle human creativity.

Revisionist Views of the Kamakura Reform Period ($1185-1333$)

• Taira Masayuki’s Critique: Taira ($1990$, $1998$, $2001$) challenges Kasahara’s ($1983$) model, which claimed "old Buddhism" denied female enlightenment and only Kamakura reformers established women’s salvation.

• Counter-Findings:     * Oldest Japanese Buddhism showed equality between monks and nuns.     * Kenmitsu (顕密) documents contain both positive and negative views on women lay practitioners.     * The view of women as "sinful" grew alongside the patriarchal system and an ideology of maternalism; salvation did not imply social equality.     * Pure Land reform teachings were often popularizations of ideas originating within kenmitsu thought.

Shinran’s Texts and the Ambiguity of Gender

• Shinran’s Thought ($1173-1262$): Shinran’s texts contain very little about women per se.

• HŁnen’s Influence: Shinran’s teacher HŁnen also did not address the issue systematically.     * HŁnen’s works involving women include "MuryŁjūkyŁ-shaku" (無量寿経釈), "Ichimai kishomon" (一枚起誳文), and "Nenbutsu ŁjŁ yŁgisho" (念仏往生要義抄).     * Fukuhara ($1991$) notes HŁnen accepted henjŁ nanshi but prioritized senju nenbutsu (専修念仏), or exclusive practice, suggesting nondiscrimination via the nenbutsu.

• Shinran’s Wasan (Hymns):     * JŁdo wasan 60: Summarizes the Thirty-fifth Vow of transformation into men to enable Buddhahood (SSZ2:493).     * KŁsō wasan 64: Summarizes Shandao (善導, $613-681$), stating women would not be free of the five obstructions without Amida’s Name (SSZ2:508).

• Nondiscrimination Passages: In the KyŁgyŁshinshō (教行信証), Shinran writes:     * "I realize that there is no discrimination between noble and humble… no differentiation between man and woman, old and young."

• Kanjin Interpretation: Shinran used kanjin (観心)-style interpretation (eisegesis), where text is made to conform to enlightened insight. Scholars like Yasutomi Shin’ya ($2004$) note that for Shinran, language was merely a "finger pointing at the moon."

Multiple Levels of Reception in Shin Buddhism

1. Common Japanese: Based on traditional Chinese/monastic interpretation. Pure Land is a "form" realm; transformation is necessary. Accepts raigŁ (来迎, descent of Amida), miracles, and pollution beliefs.

2. Shin Formless: Technical reading of Shinran. Pure Land is formless Nirvana; dissolution of karma occurs directly from the present female form. Rejects raigŁ, miracles, and pollution.

3. Shin Vernacular: Based on "provisional Pure Land" (kedo 化土). Pure Land is formful, allowing for karmic continuity and reunion with family. Rejects raigŁ and pollution, maintaining a degree of egalitarianism.

4. Pure Land in this World: A state of enlightenment achievable in the current body.

• The Case of Eshinni (恵信尼): Shinran’s wife. Dobbins ($2004$) suggests she followed the "Shin vernacular" understanding, expecting to enter the Pure Land in her current body, potentially ignoring henjŁ nanshi.

Evolution of Rhetoric: Zonkaku and Rennyo

• Zonkaku (存覚, $1290-1373$):     * Wrote "Nyonin ŁjŁ kikigaki" (女人往生聞書).     * Utilized traditional monastic tropes disparaging women (vanity, envy) to promote the necessity of the Thirty-fifth Vow.     * Shifted from akunin shōki (悪人正機, evil persons as objects of salvation) to nyonin shōki (女人正機, women as objects of salvation).

• Rennyo (蓮如, $1415-1499$):     * Known as the "Middle Founder."     * Wrote the GobunshŁ (御文章). References women in $58$ of $212$ letters.     * Stated women are "even deeper than men in their karmic trouble."     * The Flesh-Adhering Mask: A story illustrating women’s suffering and conflict (mother-in-law vs. daughter-in-law) resolved through nenbutsu.     * Sociological Context: Rennyo adapted Shinran’s language to fit the expanding patriarchal ie (家, household) system.     * Kengyokuni (見玉尼) Letter: Discusses the early death of his daughter Kengyoku; reveals Rennyo’s deep sympathy for women without discrimination.

Tokugawa-period (Edo) Shin Literature

• Genre 1: Hongan-ji Head Correspondence:     * RyŁnyo ($1612-1662$): Discussed obstacles lightly.     * Jūnyo ($1673-1739$): Emphasized heavy karma and the need for henjŁ nanshi.     * KŁnyo ($1798-1871$): Repeated standard language of female evils in fundraising letters.

• Genre 2: Popularization/Dantibon: "Nyonin kyōka-shū" (女人教化集) falsely attributed to Rennyo, emphasizing sinful nature and filial piety (kŁ 孝).

• Genre 3: MyŁkŁnin-den (妙好人伝):     * Collections of exemplary Shin followers ($157$ figures).     * Promoted "conservative values": filial piety, sexual reserve, self-sacrifice, and acceptance of social position.     * Related to the Bakufu’s "RyŁmin-den" (良民伝) and texts like "Onna daigaku" (女大学).

Numerical and Statistical Data

• Shinran’s Corpus: The English "Collected Works of Shinran" is nearly $700$ pages; the specific wasan on women occupy about half a page.

• Rennyo’s Letters:     * Total authenticated: $212$.     * Mentioning women: $58$.     * In the GobunshŁ collection ($80$ letters): $15$ mention women.     * Passages on the five obstacles/three submissions: $9$.     * Mentions of henjŁ nanshi: $1$ (excluded from main collection).

• MyŁkŁnin figures: $157$ in the main collection.

Questions & Discussion

• Inoue Takami (丕上尚実) Personal Communication:     * Question: Why don’t original texts explicitly state the dissolution of male/female forms?     * Response: Shinran wrote as a scholar-believer to other scholar-believers. Making a single statement is unwise when different levels of interpretation are possible. HenjŁ nanshi is an example of "textual resistance" requiring an eye for the spirit over the letter.

• Description or Prescription?: Scholars remain conflicted over whether Buddhist rhetoric was creating a situation of female spiritual unease or responding to an existing biosocial context.

• The Subaltern Paradox: Women in Shin Buddhist imagery share the trope of the "subaltern" and deprecated, whose lowliness is paradoxically reversed into spiritual value through faith.