On Jan. 19, women in US cities and around the globe will gather for the third annual Women’s March. In so doing, whether they know it or not, they’ll be following in the footsteps of Mahapajapati Gotami—a feminist from ancient India born in 600 BC, and the aunt and foster mother of Siddhārtha Gotama, best known as the Buddha, writes Ephrat Livni in the Quartz.
“This was the first women’s rights march in recorded history,” writes Pema Khandro Rinpoche in the Buddhist publication Lion’s Roar.
Read more
Mallaiyuran / January 14, 2019
Though is a little only we know about Pema Khandro Rinpoche, we still understand her mission. We support in her endeavors. We hail the great Mother’s deed, 2500 years ago. Then we take pride in the fact that she was a Hindu, the only religion accepts and recognize any dissidents of it.
Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s essay suggests Buddha, who fought against Aryan’s Brahmanism, too succumbed to the influence of Aryan’s female separation & degradation.
The drawing in the essay creates another controversy. Excavations and statues tell, Hindu pious women, like their counterpart men, refrained from dressing. Medieval time’s Karaikaal Ammaiyar to the current TN, Kerala racketeering so called “ Ammas-Mothers” are following that custom.(Theoretically, it is not custom, but the natural reaction of one who denounced all others.)Current history tells the Buddhist Monks’ dress’ is only Greek costume. There, once they adopted the Greek dress, they have deviated from the first principle of Saniyasam, not establish an identity for them. Buddhists shave their head to lose the figure (ID). Hindus leave it unattended and thus lose.
A right is material world matter. Spiritually of Hinduism and Buddhism abandon the material world to attain nirvana. The basic thing, a Hindu Sanyasi or an Original Buddhist monk has no rights. It’s all cremated when they accept their Sanyasam. Because she fought for right before she became a Sanyasi, it is not right to hold that deed on her name and degrade her eventual grater achievements.
/
Amarasiri / January 15, 2019
Mallaiyuran,
Buddha’s thoughts about women, though different from Hinduism, still very discriminatory to women
Just read up on the conversation between Buddha and Ananda on women Buddha asked Ananda to avoid them.
Since religions were stated by men, the women were always the underclass. Buddhism was no different
/
Good Student / January 16, 2019
Amarasiri,
You are showing your low IQ 79.
In the Buddha’s conversation with his cousin Ananda he very clearly affirms that women are capable of Enlightenment. And this lead to the founding of the women’s wing of the Buddhist order. There were safeguards placed to counter any prejudices against the women’s wing of the Sangha from the wider society at the time, though these appear to have been misinterpreted. There were also strictures placed for nuns security as one nun was raped when meditating in isolated places.
In fact Sinhalese women were the first non Indian women to become Buddhist nuns after Sanghmitta brought Bo tree sapling. These Sinhalese Buddhist nuns even ran hospitals in Anuradhapura. A transmission from this order still survives in Taiwan, though unfortunately it no longer exists in any meaningful sense in Sri Lanka due to ignorance and prejudices of mostly men.
In fairness it must be stated the Jains also founded a women’s wing in their Sangha; another great religion still surviving, but lacking the enormous peaceful influence which Buddhism had all over Asia until the bloodthirsty Muslims destroyed the Great Nalanda University.
Womens’ wings of both Buddhists and Jains can be contrasted with the very lowly place of women in Hinduism where widows used to be burnt alive on the husbands funeral pire.
And in the Manu dharma it is recommended that molten metal be poured on menstruating women (and low castes). Manu dharma was written by man/men with serious psychological problems.
You can see what an Enormously civilising effect Buddhism had.
/
Mallaiyuran / January 17, 2019
Manu Dharma:
First Buddha revived the Dravidian Brahmanism for the use of Hindus. This challenged the Aryan Hinduism. It appears a part of the Manu Dharma was developed to restore the weakening Arya Dharma. That could the reason Buddha’s followers created Buddhism about 150 after the death of Buddha, completely cutting off from Aryan Hinduism.
Manu Dharma is accepted in Southeast Asian Buddhism. Remember, it is a Dharma Book, many serious discussion of Dharma in that. The deviation from the common sense or logic might have been added by eventual editors. Because it doesn’t make sense a man who talks real logic suddenly loses consciousness and start to talk rubbish. There are many matters presented as Buddha talks are not his talks too, eventual editors’ works.
/
Amarasiri / January 17, 2019
Good Student,
You are becoming a Bad Student perhaps because your IQ is dropping, well below 79, the mean for Sri Lanka. You have a lot to learn, and your decreasing and low IQ may be an impediment.
However, take the position taken by the Philosopher Socrates, “I don’t know anything”, so that you can learn from what other’s know.
Ananda and Woman: Ref. Page 147, The Buddha and His Teachings, y Ven. Narada, New Edition 2012.
Ananda approached the Buddha and Asked Him:
“How are we to conduct ourselves, Lord, with regard to womankind?”
“As not seeing them, Ananda”
“But, if we should see them, Lord, what are we to do?”
“Do not talk to them, Ananda”
“But if they should speak to us, Lord, what are we to do?’
“Be watchful, Ananda”
Despite Buddhas objections,
Yes, Ananda did canvas and intervene to get Buddha, allow women to enter the order, AFTER resolute Pajapathi Gotami, walked 150 miles to Vesali, where Ven. Ananda finally intervened , and approached Buddha. (Ibid, p 152)
Anyway, Buddha allowed women to be Bhikkunis, with Eight Rules. If you claim to be student, with sufficient IQ, learn those eight rules.
PS. Did Buddha ordain the 7-year old Rahula as a Samanera? Is that child abuse?
/
Good Student / January 16, 2019
Amarasir,
Buddhists and (the Jains/Niganthas) WERE DIFFERENT. You pretend to be the “Mr Know All”, but you got this one very wrong.
/
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / January 17, 2019
Jainism is older than Buddhism. Mahavir the founder of Jainism and Buddha the founder of Buddhism lived at the same time 50 years apart. At that time it was Hindu philosophy that was in vogue in India. Philosophy and teaching of both Mahavir and Buddha are nothing but their interpretation of Hindu philosophy. Though Buddhists and Jains are different there is certain close resemblance. Religionists in the world consider both Jainism and Buddhism as off shoots of Hinduism and not ones who originated independent of Hinduism. When Buddha embarked on his mission to search for the way to release human beings from suffering, he said Hinduism has failed and people are suffering. It is over 2500 years since Buddha announced that he had found the truth which will eradicate the suffering of human beings, but sadly that has not happened. Still people are continuing to suffer the same plight as before Buddha’s endeavour. Only relief people got is through scientific discoveries during the last few centuries by non-Buddhists. Yes blood thirsty Muslims destroyed the great Nalanda university the same way blood thirsty Buddhists destroyed the great Jaffna library.
/
Amarasiri / January 18, 2019
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam,
“Still people are continuing to suffer the same plight as before Buddha’s endeavour. Only relief people got is through scientific discoveries during the last few centuries by non-Buddhists. Yes blood thirsty Muslims destroyed the great Nalanda university the same way blood thirsty Buddhists destroyed the great Jaffna library.”
Yes. People suffered when scripture, revelations, beliefs without support, were elevated above reason, ethics and observations. The West got out of this limitation with the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, that allowed people relief through scientific discoveries during the last few centuries by non-Buddhists and non-Muslims, even though the Muslims lost out due to the hegemony of the Ulama in the 11th Century, who elevated Revelation above Reason and Observations.
/
Punchi Point / January 20, 2019
The audacity of the Tamils is just sickening. Just imagine this man is comparing Nalanda to the pathetic public library in Jaffna?!! Please do not insult the Nalanda by comparing it to your pathetic Jaffna public library. Nalanda was a Mahavihara – a large monastic complex covering an area of 10km X 5km, while the Jaffna public library is an insignificant little public library, the size of an average house, nobody has even heard of before the fire in 1981. There was nothing specially great about it, it was just a public library.
Jaffna public library was built and maintained by the government you call “the Sinhalese government”, the very people you accuse of burning it. It is very dumb to claim that the government would burn down its own property. Upto today there has been no evidence to support these claims either. Only a film the Tamils say they have filmed. Nobody is asking how the Tamils were standing ready to film the fire in the middle of the night, nor why the film mysteriously didn’t film the people who burnt it… It is most likely that the LTTE who had carried out a series of arson in Jaffna during that time had done this too. That is why the film conveniently has not caught the people who burnt the library. If there were so many police and army burning the library surely some of them would have been caught on film too?
Also all the claims about the public library having irreplaceable historically important manuscripts are just bogus claims. The Jaffna public library didn’t contain any historically important documents, for the simple reason that there weren’t any. It has been noted by all scholars that the Tamils in Ceylon did not possess any ancient literature.
Continued below
/
Punchi Point / January 20, 2019
Contd.
But after the library fire Tamils fraudulently started claiming that ancient manuscripts and the original of Yaalpana Vaipava Malai had been kept in the library and had got burnt. While the truth of the matter was that there were no ancient Tamil manuscripts ever found in the island, for the obvious reason that the Tamils were not a settled community in ancient times. As for the original copy of the Yaalpana Vaipava Malai – it was never found after it was translated by C. Britto in 1879.
After decades of trying to find ancient Tamil documents to try to reconstruct a history for the Tamils in Ceylon, Mudaliyar Rasanayagam writes in 1926 in the book “Ancient Jaffna”, that there are no Tamil literature older than 14-15th century available to reconstruct Tamil history in Ceylon and that the original Yalpana Vaipava Malai could not be found to check the correctness of the printed version (see pages xx-xxi , “Ancient Jaffna” ). Incidentally Mudalyiar Rasanayagam was also the first commissioner of the Ceylon Historical Manuscript Commission which was established in 1931.
If you absolutely must compare the situation of Nalanda to Srilanka, then it is the Tamils who are equivalent to the Muslim invaders who destroyed Nalanda. The Mahaviharaya of Anuradhapura was attacked and destroyed by the Tamils many times, and finally it had to be abandoned after the Tamil (Chola) invasion in the 11th century. The ruins of the city where the Buddha statues are beheaded and viharas and dagobas burnt stand as evidence for the destruction and mayhem Tamils have created here. As late as the 16th century the Tamils ethnic cleansed all the Buddhists from northern part of the island, and today all the Sinhalese Buddhist sites are in ruins in Jaffna (Eg. Kadurugoda).
/
Amarasiri / January 17, 2019
Good Student , Bad Student,
The primary focus here is Buddha, Buddhists and women’s rights and Buddha’s thoughts on women.
“As not seeing them, Ananda”
“Do not talk to them, Ananda”
“Be watchful, Ananda” Said Buddha..
So, resolute Pajapathi Gotami, walked 150 miles to Vesali, to be treated like a human, but Buddha put 8 rules, all related to being under the male Bikkus,
Is the Mahanayaka a women? No!. Why not?
So, the Mahanayaka must be a Male Sinhala “Buddhist”., part of the Sinhala “Buddhist” tradition.
/
Amarasiri / January 17, 2019
Good Student,
Amarasiri Commented:
“Buddha’s thoughts about women, though different from Hinduism, still very discriminatory to women.”
No mention of Jains, only Buddha, Ananda and women, and Hinduism.
Do you have a comprehension problem?
/
SJ / January 15, 2019
“Current history tells the Buddhist Monks’ dress’ is only Greek costume.”
Good to know.
That will take the Sari also to Greece.
/
Mallaiyuran / January 16, 2019
” That will take the Sari also to Greece. “
Good to know. that too. Sad is that is you studied your logic from Weerawansa (2+2=22). But you are too smart to avoid explaining your quips, unlike Weerawansa.
You miss to read the comments but trolling always sheepishly.
” Excavations and statues tell, Hindu pious women, like their counterpart men, refrained from dressing”. Have seen any olden days Hindu statues or painting anywhere? Dressed like Greeks? I hope you studied in UK, not in Greece, aren’t you?
/
Sanga / January 14, 2019
It is often assumed that women in the ancient world held little power or influence. However, women in ancient Egypt could become highly influential physicians, political advisors, scribes, or even rulers. But like women in many cultures throughout history and today, they had to fight to acquire and hold onto their rights. The first female ruler known in ancient Egyptian history lived during the reign of the First Dynasty. Her name was Merneith; she was a consort and a regent around 2970 BC.
/
Rtd. Lt. Reginald Shamal Perera / January 15, 2019
I don’t mind a world where women are the primary providers in families where they manage the finances, they make all the decisions and even in bed they get on top and the lead the action.
The problem is they don’t want any of the hard work that comes with daily life, but they want to be part of all the “choice” deeds. And they want to manipulate modern society to their advantage.
The problem with us men is we never speak “on behalf” of another man where as women always stand up for another woman.
/
Native Vedda / January 15, 2019
Retarded ……………..
–
“I don’t mind a world where women are the primary providers in families where they manage the finances, they make all the decisions and even in bed they get on top and the lead the action.”
–
Isn’t it why they get the first plane to Middle East medieval kingdom to avoid lazy, useless, idling, …………….. Walter Mitties like you?
/
rajash / January 15, 2019
“…even in bed they get on top and the lead the action.”
now we know why Arabs want the wives of the likes of Retarded’s to come as maids.. ….
/
Good Student / January 16, 2019
Native Vedda,
I’ll agree with you on this one. Shamal is too much.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings about Tim Hortons, but you are such an obsessed Tamil racist. Any way we will agree on this one and air our disagreements on later occasions.
/
Thappu / January 15, 2019
Lt. Reginald Shamal Perera, I am not retired, just tired, tired of you. When you say that you let women get on top and lead the action, you don’t know what you are missing, you lazy bum.
/
Manilal / January 14, 2019
So Buddha was not infallible after all.
/
JD / January 14, 2019
This is talking about ancient Mahabharatha. At that time, if women did not have rights how did Maha PRajapathi marched. Besides, it was not a march. they all became ascetics and went to meet Lor buddha to become Bhikkunis.
/
JD / January 15, 2019
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2
/
postmodern hate bag / January 16, 2019
Mahaprajapathi was not concerned about feminism(as it’s currently defined). She wanted pabbajja to end suffering. Read the cannon.
At Buddhas time female renounciates(homeless) were either prostitutes or wives of other shramanic renounciates. Generally they were looked down(Rape was a common issue). Think of the practical issues it would have caused if Buddha accepeted females in to the order haphazardly. Monks would have zero time to meditate but take care of the nuns. Homeless holy life would become just like householders life and ultimately defeat the main reason of holy life.
Now to tackle modern third wave feminism. These people are one of the most facist extremist groups currently active in West. The folk want not eaquality of opertunity but “Equality of Outcome”. Readers, let that sink in for a minute.
Only if there were any previous attempts to do this that didn’t result in hundreds of millions of deaths. Hmmm….. To the Gulags you march!!!
/
justice / January 16, 2019
The Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka are against an Order of female equals.
Most monks felt unequal to their counterparts abroad, and sought “higher ordination” in Burma.
Buddhism has now spread to the west, and sexes are equals.
https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/to-west.htm
The British Army has Buddhist chaplains.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=British+Army+Buddhist+chaplains&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRwsXGqPLfAhWJpYMKHV_HDVsQsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1164&bih=552
/
scopsy potato / January 17, 2019
That’s because Sangha do not have power and authority to reinstate a nun lineage. Only Buddhas can do this. After all it’s Buddha Sashana not Sangha Sashana that has authorotive power. Only lesser and minor rules can be amended. And if any female truely thinks according to Noble eightfold path they wouldn’t need a separate female lineage officially recognized.
(it would ease walking the path but not a prerequisite)
Plus Buddhism wasn’t formulated around preserving it self or society but offering Samsaric Liberation. All these arguments arise due to your own conciet and ignorance. People likenes Eastern philosophies like shramanic traditions and less authorotive Veda traditions to Abrahamic monothiest religions. This is where the confusion starts. No these folk left their homes/households to find the ultimate truth. They weren’t concerned with our mundane lives. Though they can teach us a lot about it.
/
Plato / January 20, 2019
Karma , rebirth and nirvana are stupid concepts that make Buddhism a very silly religion or a philosophy to practice- Plato
/
Punchi Point / January 20, 2019
Sankaralingam, after you have read my two part reply to your stupid claims, and the totally misplaced parallels you have drawn between Nalanda and the pathetic Jaffna public library, please watch this video and learn a bit about what Nalanda was and see how stupid what you have written is.
The ancient university of Nalanda of India explained in Sinhala by mr Yadonandan Singh of India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b6mgTsBaO0
If you can’t understand what is being said just see and understand what Nalanda was.
/