Contributions and achievements by women were celebrated on International Women’s Day on March 8 by more than 25 nations, while the U.S. also devotes all of March to Women’s History Month. These observances serve as a call to action for gender equity and equality. In Buddhist sūtras, women appear as daughters, queens, wives and mothers, teachers and students, nuns, courtesans, laywomen, goddesses, and bodhisattvas.
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In texts such as The Questions of Gaṅgottarā, The Questions of an Old Lady, The Inquiry of the Girl Sumati, and The City Beggar Woman, we read stories about women who, through their merit, sincere wishes, intellect, good deeds, and other positive traits, are able to transcend their worldly conditions, and receive prophecies from the Buddha regarding their future awakening. The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī features a courtesan who also receives such a foretelling. These stories encourage us to recognize the inherent potential within all individuals and reaffirm that awakening is beyond gender.
For example, Gaṅgottarā is a laywoman who leaves her home to visit the Buddha Śākyamuni in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. The Buddha asks her from where she has come, sparking a dialogue on the true nature of things. Among other things, they discuss the fact that, from the perspective of ultimate truth, all things, including Gaṅgottarā herself, are like magical creations, and thus no one comes or goes or pursues nirvāṇa. After their dialogue, the Buddha smiles and says she will achieve parinirvāṇa, as did a thousand other laywomen named Gaṅgottarā.
In The City Beggar Woman, a poor woman’s offering of a single small lamp is contrasted with a thousand large, brightly burning lamps offered by the local king in honor of the Buddha. When lighting her small lamp with only a tiny amount of oil, the woman makes a sincere prayer that she too may one day achieve enlightenment and become a teacher of the Dharma, just like the Buddha. After she leaves to go back to the city, her modest lamp burns bright throughout the night and cannot be extinguished even by gales of wind and sheets of rain. When the Buddha saw this, he smiled and prophesied her awakening as a complete buddha.
“The city beggar woman lit a lamp with a tiny amount of oil
And, by the power of the mind set on awakening, it illuminated the whole world.” [1.13]
In Aśokadattā’s Prophecy, Aśokadattā, the daughter of King Ajātaśatru, is first thought to be rude because she remains seated when the Buddha’s eminent disciples come to the palace. But later, the young girl impresses the elders with her eloquence and ability to articulate the profound teachings on the emptiness of all phenomena—so much so that she ultimately gains awakening.
Women are prominently featured as teachers of the young layman Sudhana in The Stem Array, which is the final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Sudhana receives instruction from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. [s.1]
Elsewhere in the canon we can find other engaging examples of powerful women, although they're not always inclined toward spiritual accomplishment. Associate translator Dr. Annie Heckman notes, "In some cases, very independent women in the materials I translate are actually troublemakers or boundary pushers in terms of Buddhist monastic law, like the character Sthūlanandā, a nun who appears in the Vinaya section of the canon."
Despite the many examples of women in the Buddhist canon as positive influences, there is an ongoing paradox that reflects a contradictory and dual view of women. On one hand, we read descriptions of wise, intelligent and highly articulate women such as Aśokadattā. On the other hand, there are also passages in many of the texts that speak of women in derogatory ways, when seen with modern eyes. Ultimately, women must also transform into men in order to attain full awakening.
“It’s helpful to remember that these texts come out of a monastic setting, and reflect what appears to have been a dominant belief that you could not become fully awakened as a woman,” says Dr. George FitzHerbert, 84000 research editor who reviewed Aśokadattā’s Prophecy. “We can accept this as a kind of trope—that a female bodhisattva had to transform into a male to satisfy the societal norms in which these texts are rooted,” he said, adding that the “real teaching is that it’s all an illusion, that gender doesn’t matter.”
Dr. Ana Cristina O. Lopes, 84000 associate translator, said these rigid approaches to gender can be contrasted with the doctrinal teachings on emptiness and nonduality to create a sort of productive tension. The Teaching of Vimalakīrti evokes this tension in the story of a goddess who transforms Śāriputra into a female and who herself takes on the form of Śāriputra.
“This kind of narrative could help contemporary practitioners to differentiate the core teachings of Buddhism from societal influences and norms of the day that were demeaning for women,” Ana says. “This approach allows for a more balanced understanding that respects tradition while embracing progress.”
Visit our “Popular Themes” web pages to explore a curated collection of sūtras about women. These texts offer unique perspectives on women's contributions to Buddhism and their significance in the path to enlightenment.
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Story by Carol Tucker, communications editor
Contributions by Dr. Ana Cristina O. Lopes, Dr. Annie Heckman, and Dr. George FitzHerbert