May 10, 2008 - Buddhism and Mother's Day

The Buddha’s teachings made it very clear that enlightenment is open to all regardless of gender, and he established monastic orders for men and women that were identical in authority. Yet, despite foundational teachings of honoring and respecting women as equal partners in life and faith, all major faith traditions, including Buddhism, have failed to treat women with true equality.

All faiths have been reflective of the patriarchal cultures in which they exist. A faith may speak of the unique role of women, yet that role is nearly always subservient. This dominant/submissive binary seems hard-wired into our thinking after we adopted a patriarchal model thousands of years ago.

Although denied leadership roles in many faiths, it is in writing and service that the feminine is allowed full expression and the ability to shape beliefs. There is the glorious and vibrant poetry of St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena. In the eastern faiths, women poets like Mirabai and Rabia of Basra also expressed the ecstatic divine. Modernly, the American Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron, has written best-sellers, such as “Practicing Peace in Times of War” and we have Mother Teresa, of the Catholic tradition, as a bodhisattva of compassion.

Women, across all faiths and in all times, have been role models of compassion and nurturing. Embracing and expressing the feminine can only enhance one’s faith. The Buddha would agree.