THE POWER OF DENIAL BUDDHISMS: A PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS SERIES EDITED BY STEPHEN F. TEISER A list of titles in this series appears at the back of the book THE POWER OF DENIAL BUDDHISM, PURITY, AND GENDER BERNARD FAURE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2003 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY All Rights Reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Faure, Bernard. The power of denial : Buddhism, purity, and gender / Bernard Faure. p. cm. — (Buddhisms) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-691-09170-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-691-09171-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Women—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 2. Sex—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 3. Buddhism—Doctrines. I. Title. II. Series. BQ4570.W6 F38 2003 294.3′082—dc21 2002066257 This book has been composed in Sabon Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ www.pupress.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 10987654321 To Ade`le, Gae¨lle, and Anaı¨s This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi Introduction “Soaring and Settling”—Too Soon? 2 The Cultural Approach 6 Gender Revisited 8 Gendering Buddhism 15 PART ONE: BUDDHISM AND WOMEN 21 CHAPTER ONE The Second Order 23 The Evolution of the Female San˙ gha 24 The Female Order in Japan 28 The Issue of Ordination 36 Sociological Context(s) 38 Sorely Missed 47 Nunhood and Feminism 51 CHAPTER TWO The Rhetoric of Subordination 55 A Theodicy of Disprivilege 57 The Five Obstacles and the Three Dependences 62 A Case of Blood Poisoning 66 Drinking from the Blood Bowl 73 The “Facts” of Life 79 The Red and the White 81 CHAPTER THREE The Rhetoric of Salvation 91 The Legend of the Na¯ga-Girl 91 Becoming Male 99 Interpretative Divergences 103 Amida’s Vow and Its Implications 106 A Feminine Topos 116 CHAPTER FOUR The Rhetoric of Equality 119 Gender Equality in Maha¯ya¯na 120 viii CONTENTS Gender Equality in Vajraya¯na 122 Chan/Zen Egalitarianism 127 PART TWO: IMAGINING BUDDHIST WOMEN 143 CHAPTER FIVE Monks, Mothers, and Motherhood 145 Bad Mothers 146 The Ambivalent Mother 148 Mater Dolorosa 148 The Forsaken Mother 152 The Changing Image of Motherhood 160 Varieties of Motherly Experience 163 Mad Mothers 167 The Law of Alliance 168 CHAPTER SIX Conflicting Images 181 Women in the Life of the Buddha 182 Queens, Empresses, and Other Impressive Ladies 188 Eminent Nuns 198 Femmes Fatales 204 Of Women and Jewels 205 PART THREE: WOMEN AGAINST BUDDHISM 217 CHAPTER SEVEN Crossing the Line 219 The Utopian Topos 222 Stopped in Their Tracks 224 Ku¯ kai’s Mother 228 The Kekkai Stone 233 Conflicting Interpretations 235 The Symbolic Reading of Transgression 238 The Kekkai and the Logic of Muen 243 CHAPTER EIGHT Women on the Move 250 The “Nuns of Kumano” 250 What’s in a Name 254 Down by the River 261 The Monk and the Bayade`re 262 The Discourteous Courtesan 267 Paradigms 269 CONTENTS ix CHAPTER NINE The Power of Women 287 The Myth of Tamayorihime 290 The Miko and the Monk 304 Women on the Edge 310 Women, Dragons, and Snakes 316 AFTERTHOUGHTS 325 NOTES 341 BIBLIOGRAPHY 401 INDEX 459 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WISH to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who have, in one way or another, helped me to bring this book to completion. There I is no way of acknowledging each and every individual who has par- ticipated in this dialogical process. A short list of the usual suspects would include: Wendi Adamek, Alice Bach, Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, Wendy Doniger, Jennifer Dumpert, Hubert Durt, Hank Glassman, Allan Gra- pard, Janet Gyatso, Linda Hess, Kuo Li-ying, Kawahashi Noriko, Susan Klein, Miriam Levering, Irene Lin, Ellen Neskar, Fabio Rambelli, and Mimi Yengpruksawan. Undergraduate and graduate students, over the years, have stimulated me through their questions and discussions. The first draft of the book was written during a year well spent at the Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies in 1994–95, and I am grateful for the institutional support I re- ceived from the Director, Terry MacDougall, and from his staff. Likewise, the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford, and its successive chairs, Arnie Eisen and Carl Bielefeldt, have been most supportive. I am finally grateful to my editor at Princeton University Press, Brigitta van Rhein- berg, for her kindness and patience. This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION HIS BOOK is the second part of a project on the place of sexuality and gender in Buddhism. The first part, published under the title T The Red Thread, dealt with the question of monastic discipline, especially the rule against illicit sex and its transgression. It also addressed the question of the so-called degeneration of the monastic order in Japan, in particular with the widespread practice of monks marrying or having concubines, and the equally prevalent monastic homosexuality (or rather pedophilia). Sexuality, denied in principle, became crucial, and Buddhism attempted to coopt or transform local cults (in which women played a large role), being in turn transformed by them. In the case of Japan, for instance, Buddhism tried to specialize in imperial rituals dealing with the prolificity of the imperial body and the prosperity of the imperial lineage. Whereas The Red Thread focused on male monastic sexuality, this work centers on Buddhist conceptions of women and constructions of gender. Although this artificial dichotomy between sexuality and gender is somewhat unfortunate, and potentially misleading, it is used heuristi- cally, as a tool for sorting out the staggering complexity of the issues. The present volume deals more specifically with the status and agency of women in a typically androcentric tradition like Japanese Buddhism. My general argument is that Buddhism is paradoxically neither as sexist nor as egalitarian as is usually thought. Women played an important role in Buddhism, not only as nuns and female mystics, but also as mothers (and wives) of the monks; in addition, in such capacity, they were the representatives of local cults, actively resisting what was at times per- ceived as a Buddhist take-over. Among these women, we also find courte- sans and prostitutes, who often were the privileged interlocutors of the monks. Women were divided, not only due to their own separate agenda, but also as a result of male domination, and some were clearly more op- pressed than others. Preaching nuns, for instance, seemed to side with the male institution in threatening other women with eternal exclusion from deliverance. Thus, we are faced with a broad spectrum of situations: from exclusion to inclusion (or the other way around, depending on one’s view- point, with discrimination as a case of “inclusive exclusion”); from agency or passivity within the patriarchal system to “life on the border- line”; to passivity or agency in the “te´ne`bres exte´rieures,” rejection or voluntary departure from the patriarchal Eden or Pure Land. Until now, the story or history of women in Buddhism has been repre- sented in a relatively linear fashion: as a shift from oppression to freedom, 2 INTRODUCTION a teleological narrative of progress and liberation (from so-called Hı¯na- ya¯na to Maha¯ya¯na, or again, from an elitist ideology to a more open and democratic one). While some scholars see Buddhism as part of a move- ment of emancipation, others see it as a source of oppression. Perhaps this is only a distinction between optimists and pessimists, if not between idealists and realists. In both cases, the identity of Buddhism (and of women) is seen as rather unproblematic. Things, however, are unfortu- nately (or fortunately) more complicated. As we begin to realize, the term “Buddhism” does not designate a monolithic entity, but covers a number of doctrines, ideologies, and practices—some of which seem to invite, tolerate, and even cultivate “otherness” on their margins; it also refers to various levels of discourse (ideological, institutional) that, although globally related at a given period, have relative autonomy and distinct dynamics. Thus, even the most reactionary ideology, while operating ac- cording to its own repressive dynamic, can be put to very different uses (some of them ironic, subversive) when it is articulated to specific cultural and institutional contexts, and manipulated by antagonistic historical agents. These tactics and strategies of inclusion, exclusion, and/or dis- crimination were permitted (yet constrained) by a certain number of mod- els, whose combinations are, if not endless, at least more numerous than usually recognized by partisans on both sides of the gender divide. Among them, we can mention: 1. male power (androcentrism, misogyny, patriarchy) 2. female power (biological, religious, political) 3. equality through conjunction of sexes (yin/yang) 4. complementarity through conjunction of sexes (Tantric or Daoist ritual) 5. rhetorical equality through denial of sex/gender (Maha¯ya¯na doctrine) “SOARING AND SETTLING”—TOO SOON? Many studies have been produced over the past twenty years about practi- cally every aspect of women’s lives in Western societies. Reacting against what she perceived as a certain female parochialism in gender studies, Nathalie Zemon Davis insisted that the focus should be on the relations between sexes rather than on women only. In the case of Buddhism, how- ever, there is no need yet to worry about having too many studies focusing only on women. We are still at the first stage, where we may need to listen carefully in order to hear the voices of women, in the interstices, or through the “italics” (the specific slant) of men’s discourse. Studies on Buddhism and gender have begun to appear, but they are usually limited to one tradition (in general Tantric or Tibetan Buddhism), INTRODUCTION 3 or in pushing a specific agenda.