Jaina System of Education

Author(s): Debendra Chandra Das Gupta
Publisher: Bharti Mahavidyalaya

Page 56

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JAINA SISTEM OF EDUCATION
Nomen are honoured there the gols arc plcased but where thcy art not honoured no sacrcd ritc yields rewards +
Let us non turn to the consideration of the position and dignity of women in the Buddhist India Frankly spcaling it was not a very clevated onc The Buddha vas against adimitting them into his Church and at last hc admitted a few at the repeated request of his disciplc Ananda The Mahaprajapati Golami the Lord s step-mother was the first to be admitted into the order along with the five hundred Sakya princesses
The Buddha did not think women to be fit for practical affairs of lifc because of their inherent intellectual inferiority His attitude on this point wil be distinctly clear from the following words of the text. Womenfolk are uncontrolled Ananda Womenfoll are weak in wisdom Ananda That is the reason that is the cause why tvomen folk do not sit in a court of justice do not embarh on business do not reach the essence of the deed " And again It is impossible for a woman to be an emperor of the world but is possible for a man to be But once women were admitted into the Buddhist Order women of all ranks-royal consorts females of aristocratic class widows 10 cast off women " curtezans 12 und women of the lowest rank 18 in society were freely adınitted by Lord Buddha into his cadeh. He rehabilitated them through a course of religious education into his Order and made thema fit for honourable profession of preaching and teaching But it must be noted that within the limited sphere of ecclesiastical activities the women once they were admitted were given a good deal of latitude.
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4 Manu tr by G Bohler P 8 verse no 56. 5 Vinaya Text Pitaka part in tr by T W Rhys Davids p 891 p 327 52 Psalms of the Early Sisters, tr by Mrs. Rhys Davids, p 6 P 7 56 Sadharma Pundarika u by H Kern, P 256 6 Anguttara Nikaya vol 11 p 99 7 Further Dialogue of Buddha vol. i p 191 8 Psalms of the Early Sisters PP 81-87
9. Ibid p 6 P 48 P 38 10 lbid p 62 P 131 11 Vinaya Text, vol. ui pp. 105 106 p. 108 na. Pealms of the Early Sisters p 59 1. Ibid P 96 13 Ibid P 129 P 181
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