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Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different forms of Buddhism. As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably. Although Buddha taught that wives should be obedient to their husbands (AN 5:33), he also taught that husbands should respect their wives – something that was revolutionary at the time. Scholars such as Bernard Faure and Miranda Shaw are in agreement that Buddhist studies is in its infancy in terms of addressing gender issues. Shaw gave an overview of the situation in 1994:
However Khandro Rinpoche, a female lama in Tibetan Buddhism, downplays the significance of growing attention to the topic:
==Women in Early Buddhism== The founder of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, permitted women to join his monastic community and fully participate in it, although there were certain provisos or ''garudhammas''. As Susan Murcott comments, "The nun's sangha was a radical experiment for its time." Dr. Mettanando Bhikkhu says of the First Buddhist council: Perhaps Mahakassappa and the bhikkhus of that time were jealous of the bhikkhunis being more popular and doing more teaching and social work than the bhikkhus. Their anti-women prejudice became institutionalized at that time with the eight garudhammas, the eight weighty restrictions. We must discontinue that prejudice.〔("The First Council and Suppression of the Bhikkhuni Order" )〕 According to Ajahn Sujato, the early texts state that the most severe of the ''garudhamma''s, which states that every nun must bow to every monk, was instituted by the Buddha because of the customs of the time, and modern scholars doubt that the rule even goes back to the Buddha at all. Furthermore, an identical rule is found in Jainism. According to Diana Paul, the traditional view of women in Early Buddhism is that they are inferior. Rita Gross agrees that "a misogynist strain is found in early Indian Buddhism. But the presence of some clearly misogynist doctrines does not mean that the whole of ancient Indian Buddhism was misogynist." The mix of positive attitudes to femininity with blatantly negative sentiment has led many writers to characterise early Buddhism's attitude to women as deeply ambivalent. Some commentators on the ''Aganna-Sutta'' from the Pāli Canon, a record of the teachings of Gautama Buddha, interpret it as showing women as responsible for the downfall of the human race. However, Buddhist interpretation is generally that it shows lust in general, rather than women, as causing the downfall.〔(【引用サイトリンク】format=PDF )〕 However, despite some less positive images of women in Early Buddhism, there are also examples in the Theravada Sutta Pitaka that suggest that the very concept of gender differentiation can serve as a hindrance to attaining nirvana, or enlightenment. For example, in the ''Bhikkhuni-samyutta'', found in the ''Sagatha-vagga'' of the Samyutta Nikaya, gender discrimination is stated to be the work of Mara, a personification of temptation from the Buddhist spiritual path. In the Soma Sutta, the bhikkhuni Soma states: "Anyone who thinks 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Women in Buddhism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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