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Women and Sexism in Japanese A Reexamination of ’s of Women

¼goshi Aiko

THE THEME OF WOMEN and sexism in her son. From this standpoint, women is one that is attracting a great deal of atten- could never be independent or exercise tion in Christian circles these days. This independence. This teaching was later upsurge of interest is attributable to the cli- assimilated into Buddhism. The mate of growing awareness among Western gosho sanju was introduced into Japan intellectuals that women have long been along with other important Buddhist isolated from the mainstream of intellectu- thought and used to discriminate against al as represented by Christianity. In women in many ways. contrast, the world of Japanese Buddhism Many Buddhist priests and scholars shows little active awareness of this theme have ignored these issues and contended as a problem demanding consideration. that there is no discrimination in This does not mean that there has been no Buddhism because from the standpoint of oppression of women in Buddhism. emptiness (šðnyat„ W) there is no distinction Women, in fact, have been discriminated between men and women. These same reli- against as the concept of the ³ve obstacles gious ³gures have also preached that, from and three obediences (goshõ sanju 2ìXZ) the standpoint of af³rming the manifold exempli³es. characteristics of human beings just as they The concept of the ³ve obstacles as artic- are, enlightenment makes allowances for ulated by male Buddhist priests around the every man and . ³rst century B.C.E. states that women are The preaching of male religious ³gures not to be thought of as: 1) Br„hma, the notwithstanding, there has been a long his- Creator and hence most superior ; 2) tory of discrimination against women in the Šakra Deranam Indra, the chief guardian Japanese Buddhist world. For example, deity of Buddhism; 3) M„ra, the devil who women were strictly barred from entering the injures lives and people’s good will; 4) the sacred precincts of Buddhist temples. kings of the four states—East, West, South Moreover, the sexist teaching of many and North, or the kings of gold, silver, cop- famous and respected Buddhist ³gures led per and iron; nor 5) Buddha. This concept has religious women to accept obedience to been interpreted as the ³ve-fold theory hin- men and a male-dominated society. Among dering women’s salvation in Buddhism. these ³gures, I view Shinran’s responsibili- The three obediences originated in the ty as the greatest. Shinran is one of the most Brahmanic thought of ancient India where popular ³gures in Japanese Buddhism and women were taught to obey three groups of the founder of Shin Buddhism (Jõdo men. As a child, a woman was to obey her Shinshð). His teachings have had enormous father. When she married, she had to obey inµuence not only on religious people but her husband. If widowed, she must obey also secular people in Japan. In this paper,

19 JAPAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW 59 1993

I hope to elucidate his view of women and ical indication of changing one’s sex for sal- its sexist structure. vation (henjõ nanshi ˆ¨C{). It has long been held that women’s salvation became THE VIEW OF WOMEN IN possible thanks to Amida’s merciful vow, and BUDDHISM that best supports women’s religious belief and practice. In order to understand Shinran’s view clearly, I think it is necessary to consider the From a feminist viewpoint, such thinking view of women held by the Pure Land sect is another form of sexism. The teaching that of Buddhism which Shinran followed and women can reach enlightenment only by later developed in his own way. According despising their female bodies and aspiring to to the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism, male bodies implies that a woman’s body is Amida Buddha, the main Buddha of the impure and sinful. In other words, being a sect, was the enlightened manifestation of woman is the worst and unhappiest state in Dharmakara who had set himself the twin this world. tasks of reaching and building In the period that Pure Land Buddhism the ideal Buddhist state, the Pure Land. He spread among the Japanese masses, women established forty-eight vows for this pur- were severely discriminated against in the pose. These vows are to lead all human patriarchal society of the day and had no beings to the true, ful³lled land. Dharmakara other option but to accept an androcentric Bodhisattiva pursued and accomplished all religion. Women supported the Amida faith these vows and thus became Amida and dreamed of in the Pure Land Buddha. Long ages have passed since that where there was no suffering and pain. In this time, but all beings are to be taught about the fashion, some of the most anti-female teach- Pure Land in which all people are equal ings were supported by women who were and experience no pain. willingly deceived into slavery by the Amida faith spread most quickly among power of this new belief. people living on the lowest rungs of society. It also spread among women who were, THE SITUATION OF WOMEN IN JAPANESE until then, excluded from salvation by the BUDDHISM other streams of Buddhism. Buddhism came to Japan in the sixth century. The thirty-³fth of Amida Buddha’s vows One chief characteristic of Buddhism is directly concerned with women’s real- adopted by the Japanese government was ization of enlightenment. The vow reads: its devotion to national security and ances- When I have attained enlightenment, all tor worship. Buddhism was accepted as the the females of the unfathomable and won- de facto state religion after its introduction derful Buddha countries of the ten quar- to the country. Its main task was to conduct ters, on hearing my name, shall awake in rituals and offer prayers for an easy child- joy, obtain faith, and rejoice, thereby birth, puri³cation after birth, good health, aspiring to enlightenment and despising wedding services and fertility. Thus, what the female form. If they beget again the began as a teaching of how to achieve female form in their after-life, may I never enlightenment in India soon found itself 1 obtain the Highest Perfect Knowledge! relegated to the salvation of the souls of the In light of this vow, any woman determined dead and funeral rites. to reach enlightenment must ³rst receive a In the thirteenth century, a Buddhist male body and only then be able to enter the reformation came about through the appear- Pure Land of Amida Buddha. This is a typ- ance and teaching of a number of important

20 ¼GOSHI: Women and Sexism in Japanese Buddhism

³gures. Among them were the Pure Land of his life. At dawn on the ninety-³fth day, master, Hõnen (1132–1212) and his disciple, he had a dream and decided to remain Shinran (1173–1262). They endeavored to down from the mountain in order to live make Buddhist practice easier so that the with the common people and practice the masses could reach salvation. According to teachings of Pure Land Buddhism (Jõdo- their teaching, one could achieve birth in the kyõ). The dream oracle which Shinran Pure Land merely by chanting the name, received from Kannon, the of “Namu Amida Butsu.” This simple formu- Mercy (Avalokitešvara), was as follows: la of faith has been cherished and handed When the devotee ³nds himself bound by down by the poor from generation to gener- his past karma to come into contact with ation. the female sex, I will incarnate myself as Shinran’s contribution to Pure Land a beautiful woman and become the object teaching is distinct from Hõnen’s in that he of his love. Throughout his life I will be his emphasizes faith rather than works to attain helpmate for the sake of embellishing this birth in the Pure Land. According to Shin- world, and on his death I will become his ran, people on the fringe of society—the guide to the Land of Bliss.2 poor, social outcasts and those branded as public sinners by virtue of their occupa- This dream oracle is well-known as that tion—could be saved and led to the Pure of Nyobon; nyo meaning “woman” and bon Land by their faith in the unfathomable meaning “to violate.” The dream thus refers compassion of Amida, even if they had vio- to having sexual relations with a woman lated Buddhist precepts and ignored which in the Buddhist tradition of the day Buddhist works. was a breaking of the precepts. Originally, Since Shinran singled out the discrimi- there were ³ve precepts in Buddhism: no nated people of his day to preach to, he has killing, no stealing, no adultery, no lying been deeply esteemed as the great Buddhist and no drinking of alcoholic beverages. ³gure who associated with the poor and Buddhist followers, especially the bhik¤u identi³ed with them. It is true that he was a (monk) and bhik¤u«‡ (), were required to great Buddhist in this regard, but as far as follow these precepts. However, it was very women are concerned, he was not free from dif³cult for Japanese monks to observe the androcentric and phallocentric thinking these precepts. of his time. When Buddhism was introduced into Shinran was born in Kyoto in 1173. Japan, it was established with strict monas- When he was nine years old, he embarked tic discipline. Monks were required to live on the path of religion and climbed Mount a celibate life with all sexual relations pro- Hiei where he underwent the rigorous reli- hibited. Over time, however, many monks gious training required of a Buddhist monk married in secret and had children. It is not at the µourishing Tendai monastery. At the clear why these monks violated the precept age of twenty-nine, circumstances led him to of celibacy, but several reasons have been descend the holy mountain and return to suggested. Buddhism’s necessary coexis- the common people among whom he tence with Shinto is one of the reasons preached. offered. According to letters written by his wife, Indigenous to Japan, Shinto is an ancient Eshinni, Shinran went down from Mount religion. According to Shinto myth, the Hiei and shut himself up at Rokkakudo in Japanese islands were created by the female Kyoto. He remained enclosed there for one deity, Izanami, and the male deity, Izanagi. hundred days and meditated on the direction In ancient Japan, women were recognized as

21 JAPAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW 59 1993 being invested with divine power, as Although Shinran’s view was not funda- reµected in the myth of Amaterasu, the Sun mentally different from that of Hõnen, he was . Both the Kojiki and the Nihon- far more deeply affected by conµict over the shoki, the ³rst historical chronicles of issue. He confronted his own growing Japan, indicate that ancient Japan was a awareness of sexual desire, but he did not matrilineal society and during the early his- wish to violate a woman and secretly torical periods, there were a number of against Buddhism as many priests of his reigns of empresses. day did. The famous dream oracle he Poetry written prior to the eighth centu- received reµects this struggle with his own ry (the Manyõshð, for example), reµects a lib- sexuality. eral attitude of women with regard to sexu- al matters. It was not a rare occurrence for SHINRAN’S VIEW OF WOMEN: THE IMAGE women to take the initiative in love. Under OF KANNON BOSATSU such circumstances, it may have been dif³- cult for Buddhist monks to observe celeba- According to Shinran, Kannon Bosatsu cy. Over the course of time, women came to (Avalokitešvara) appeared to him in a be regarded as de³led beings and censured dream and told him that if he were to break as temptresses by Buddhist leaders. the precept of celibacy, the woman he so In the Heian era (794–1185), esoteric violated would in truth be a manifestation of Buddhism was introduced to Japan and Kannon. In Shinran’s view, the oracle indi- which contained the sexist concept of cated that his sexual relations with a the ³ve obstacles and three obediences woman could be interpreted as ³nding became popular. The sin of women was Buddha in a female body. Against the back- emphasized and women’s sexual power, ground of a violation of the precepts and an regarded as divine in the past, began to be increasingly guilty conscience, Shinran saw reviled. It was during this period that Buddha’s salvation leading him to the Pure women were prohibited from entering Land. With this con³dence in the salvation those precincts set aside for religious prac- of Buddha, he decided to marry openly. tices necessary for the attainment of On the surface, this seems to be a very Buddhahood. moving religious story. As a result of Many Buddhist monks, however, did not Shinran’s teaching, women were upgraded stop their sexual relations with women. from being the objects of sexual desire to They continued to practice nyobon. With the status of Kannon Bosatsu who would the loss of divine status attributed to sexual save men in accepting their sexual desire. power, women became merely the objects of Because of this, it has been said that the male sexual desire and excluded from sal- idea of equal partnership and equal possi- vation because they were born women. bility for salvation were introduced into In the Kamakura era (1185–1382), new Japan by a most revered religious ³gure. religious leaders appeared who preached However, is this really the case? that salvation for women was possible. Just as some Christian feminists hold Among these are Hõnen and Shinran. that Eve and Mary are female models creat- Hõnen presented several views on the pos- ed by men, I would hold that whether as a sibility of salvation for women, but his temptress or as Kannon the image of views of women in general were little dif- woman is that which men want it to be. ferent from those prevailing at the time. He Implicit in Shinran’s teaching is the idea held that women were inherently endowed that if women did not want to be considered with serious such as the ³ve obstacles. as a temptress and excluded from salvation,

22 ¼GOSHI: Women and Sexism in Japanese Buddhism they had to become like Kannon in being men’s sexual need. In Shinran’s time, willing to accept male sexual desire. This women were willing to accept this image of would save them. Looked at from this per- themselves because it granted them the pos- spective, Shinran’s dream insight is a rather sibility of salvation. Women who sacri³ced androcentric idea. themselves could be considered as the Shinran’s view of Kannon Bosatsu was not incarnation of Kannon Bosatsu even though an orthodox one within the Buddhist tradi- they were sinful and impure. tion. Avalokitešvara was a male bodhisattva This paradoxical teaching that the most in India, but in China the bodhisattva sinful and de³led beings could be saved underwent a sexual transformation and through the compassion of Amida Buddha emerged as a beautiful, white-robed female was unique to Shinran. Shinran taught that ³gure, Kuan-yin. Although viewed as a “all sins of the past, present and the future woman, Kuan-yin was worshiped as the are changed to good. To be changed does not possessor of a magical power that could mean the sin is erased.”3 In other words, grant the wishes of her worshipers. Chinese women’s sins were changed to good be- women saw Kuan-yin as the symbol of lib- cause of Other Power (tariki), but their sins eration from the patriarchal system of their were never erased. Aware of their own sins, society because she could liberate women women should sacri³ce themselves for men from many kinds of suffering. and then, they could ³nd salvation. However, during her assimilation into Shinran, one of the greatest Japanese Japanese , Kuan-yin underwent Buddhist ³gures, idealized the relationship another kind of transformation. She became between men who require both maternal the Japanese diety Kannon Bosatsu who and sexual love and women who sacri³ce symbolized the compassion of motherhood. themselves to this need. Because of the In this guise, Kannon was very popular inµuence of Shinran’s teaching, many men among all kinds of people, regardless of sex and women internalized his ideas. or class. Kannon was thought to manifest From the psychological point of view, herself in whatever form was effective to this kind of male-female relationship save all beings in distress. resembles the -son relationship, so While the image of Kannon was present- it was never criticized as sexist. It has often ed as feminine and maternal, it had never been said that women are superior to men in been presented as sexual. In Shinran’s Japanese Buddhism because men cannot dream, however, while the maternal image live without women. This is very deceptive. of Kannon is reµected in her willingness to Women are still required to observe the sacri³ce herself for him, it is also sexual in three obediences: obedience to father when that she is willing to become the object of his young, to husband when married, and to desire. In Shinran’s dream, Kannon has son when widowed. Since women were undergone a fourth transformation. She required to obey, support and take care of manifests herself as a beautiful, sexually men, men became psychologically dependent desirable woman who will save men from on women. their sexual desires. The original teaching of Š„kyamuni led This transformation of Kannon from the to a very ascetical religion which required sacred goddess to the sexual woman reµects its disciples to train themselves and Shinran’s actual view of women. He observe strict precepts in order to attain desired maternal women who would Buddhahood. After assimilation into Jap- embrace men as a child and at the same anese society, it was transformed so radi- time, he wanted desirable women to satisfy cally that it produced a unique Buddhist

23 JAPAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW 59 1993 culture that makes much of an interdepen- Kannon Bosatsu. Women were taught that dent relationship based on maternal they were in themselves sinful and impure, sacri³ce. but they could be saved by becoming sacred It is generally held that the concept of who dedicated their sexuality to the dominance of men over women (danson men. johi C¨œ¦) came from Confucianism. I In the Japanese Buddhist tradition, cour- think, however, that the Buddhist teaching tesans who offered sexual pleasure to men of the ³ve obstacles and three obediences has were often regarded as the incarnation of had a far greater inµuence on Japanese men Kannon Bosatsu. Stories of the transforma- and women. Confucianism may have been tion of courtesans into Kannon were often preeminent in public life, but it was transmitted in folklore or dramatized in Buddhism that controlled and inµuenced Noh plays and became popular among the the collective consciousness of the Japanese people. Against this background, it was people. very dif³cult for women to refuse male sex- ual requests. In this world view, women MOTHERHOOD who did not accept the sexual desires of men could not become the sacred mother, The image of motherhood in Japanese Kannon Bosatsu. Buddhism is very different from that found In the Christian tradition, there has been in Christianity. Just as Christian feminist a distinction between woman the sexual theologians discuss the oppressive aspects of object, symbolized by Eve, and woman motherhood in Christianity, Buddhist fem- the mother, symbolized by Mary. Conse- inists must discuss the problematic aspects quently, the sacred mother could be di- of motherhood in Buddhism. A compara- vorced from the sexual object. In Bud- tive study of the Virgin Mary and Kannon dhism, on the other hand, the two functions Bosatsu would highlight the understanding were combined in the teaching that sexual of motherhood found in East and West. women could ful³ll the desire of men and The sexuality of the sacred mother is an thereby save them. important topic that needs to be addressed. I cannot say which is a better stance. In Christianity, the sexuality of the sacred Both Mary and Kannon are products of a mother was hidden and ignored, and Mary male fantasy conceived within patriarchal was worshiped as the symbol of virginity. As religion. We women must reclaim the a result, women in Christian societies were image of motherhood and women’s sexual- deprived of their own sexuality and forced ity in our own way. Japanese feminists, to maintain their virginity, not for them- especially, must strive to improve women’s selves, but for the men who would eventu- image and status so that women are seen as ally possess them. beings equal to men. In the Buddhist world, on the other hand, women were basically regarded as FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS sexual beings. Nonetheless, encouraged by their Buddhist beliefs, women could not Japanese patriarchy has forced women to help hoping for a transformation of gender assume the role of the oppressed at the bot- after death in order to achieve salvation. As tom of society. Under this system, women long as women lived as women, they were had led powerless lives. Buddhism has sup- forced to submit to fate. ported this system by preaching that In Japanese Buddhism, motherhood is women were sinful and should obey men. combined with sexuality as symbolized by One of the greatest Buddhist teachers,

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Shinran himself, taught an idealized rela- temple system stabilized in a pyramid-like tionship between men and women in pattern with males dominant at the top of the which women must always be motherly pyramid. and at the same time, objects of male desire. The position of Buddhist women, Even Buddhist in Japan were not whether nuns or lay, is a very subordinate exempt from being objects of sexual desire. one. They are expected to clean, cook and There are quite a few pornographic stories sew for the priests. With these duties, revolving around the theme of nuns’ sexu- women never found enough time for medi- ality which is severely taboo in other tation or other religious practices. Further- Buddhist countries. Can we really say that more, under the danka system women are not there has been no oppression of women in allowed to assume positions of power or Japanese Buddhism? responsibility. In addition to the issue I have treated in I cannot treat these problems on institu- this paper, there are many other problems of tional sexism in this paper. At present, sexism that women face in Buddhism. The many Buddhist women are asking the bud- most important among these is the danka sys- dhist organization to undertake institution- tem (;B£E) which began in the Edo era al reform. They have even found a few male (1615-–1868) and has continued until the priests and scholars to support them. These present. This family system is the structur- women and men have recognized the sins al support of Buddhist temples. Under this committed by Buddhism and are seeking to system, the family is recognized as the basic renew Buddhism. I hope that Japanese unit of Buddhism and each family is oblig- Buddhist leaders listen to these critics and ed to support a temple. Faith is not a matter initiate drastic reforms. for individual choice and ancestor worship is enforced. NOTES Almost all temples in Japan have been 1 Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi ([g3™, ÙXY handed down within a priest’s family from 2X) Muryõju-kyõ, Thirty-³fth Vow. one generation to the next, at least since the 2 Daisetsu Suzuki, trans., Collected Writings on Meiji era. Anyone born into a temple Shin Buddhism, 1973, p. 170. priest’s family continues in the priesthood, 3 Tannisho (Notes Lamenting Differences), and in this way temples became family pos- Ryukoku Translation Series, vol. 2, 1642, pp. sessions. The religious organization of the 15–16.

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