It's a great pleasure tonight to introduce Paula Arai, who by our good fortune happens to be in town for a conference and is therefore has been kind enough to come and talk to us. She has just finished her Ph.D. at Harvard in the Religious Studies Department, specializing in Japanese Buddhism, and she spent some time there. I'm just going to say how happy I am for her to be here and let her tell you about her time spent in Japan at a Nisodo that Kathleen and I were at briefly last spring. She did the tough practice there of doing Rondo. We just visited and had a cup of tea.

[01:10]

Thank you very much for coming. Well, thank you all very much for coming this evening. I'm very happy to be here. I'm more accustomed to speaking with academics, so I'm very happy to be speaking with people who know the living tradition. I will let my story unfold as I give the presentation. I met Kito Shunko in the autumn of 1987 when I sojourned to India as a scholar of Buddhism. She is an elderly Soto Zen monastic woman who is returning to India for a final pilgrimage to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya. Although I had concentrated my Buddhist studies upon Japan, I was not aware of an extant order of Japanese female monastics there.

[02:12]

My first glimpse of her was clean shaven head and saffron robes. The traditional color of Indian monastics was compelling. Moving toward her, I realized her robes were Japanese in design, only they were not in the black common to monastics of Japan. Her aesthetic sensitivity and cultural awareness drew me to her side. In the softened light of evening, as we walked around the Mahabodhi Temple, her face glowed with the wisdom of enlightenment. Compassion emanated from her every motion as we moved through wispy clouds of incense, carrying the prayers of devotees. Among the spirited pilgrims and the desperate beggars, her laughter resounded with the peace of one who soared the heights and fathomed the depths. She was a living model of all that I had been studying. What teachings have helped her gain such wisdom? How did she train to be so compassionate?

[03:23]

Where is the spring of her ebullient laughter? I knew after our first conversation under the Bodhi tree that I wanted to learn as much as possible about her way of life. As we walked along the Narang River, where Shakyamuni once walked, a brilliantly pink sun arose in the sky. She wove stories of the years she spent in India building the Japanese temple in Bodh Gaya with poetry by Zen Master Dogen and information about a training monastery for women in Nagoya, Japan. We laughed heartily as the image of meeting again in that monastery for women worlds away from India flashed through our minds. I had found a living treasure of Japanese Buddhism. Let me back up and give you some historical perspective on Buddhist women. Ever since women

[04:27]

during Shakyamuni's lifetime, he claimed the right, ever since the women claimed the rights to seek ordination and pursue the contemplative life, Buddhist monastic orders for women have been an important mode in which women have expressed and explored their spiritual development. As scholars gain a clearer understanding of what female monastics have been involved in and what their perspective is on their own situations, a picture of strong, devout, and resilient monastic women is emerging. In light of this, however, most scholarship on nuns paints erroneous impressions that must be modified. Incorrect information and omission of information on monastic women create a similar effect, for they mute the voices of dedicated monastic women. Impressions of monastic women as weak social misfits with a rare woman who is an imperial nun linger in the literature. Descriptions like the following, which only present part of the picture,

[05:34]

confirm such impressions. Quoting from Margot Dooley's chapter on women in China from the book she edited, Cross-Cultural Study of Women, quote, the nunnery was a place of refuge for women who did not wish to marry, widows, abandoned concubines, and prostitutes, end quote. Although there were women who came from difficult circumstances, there is no evidence that this was a widespread or primary reason for pursuing monastic life. Even when the motivation to enter the monastic life did derive out of their poor life conditions, this does not mean that they were not sincere and dedicated to Buddhist teachings. Some texts even leave the impression that there are no Buddhist monastic women, especially in Japan. Nearly categorical exclusion from encyclopedic sources, including the Encyclopedia of Religion, recently re-edited in 1988, does not include

[06:39]

Buddhist nuns, and its brief entry for nun helps foster this unwarranted impression. Moreover, the entry for monk refers you to the entry for monasticism, which includes this section on Japanese Zen monasticism, describing the practices and lifestyles more commonly maintained by Zen nuns. Therefore, I cannot help but find humorous comments like, quote, the path of the nun, although theoretically viable as a religious practice in Buddhism from the outset, was destined for virtual distinction, which is found in Diana Paul's book, Women in Buddhism. When scholars have recognized the existence of female monastics, it is with some reservation. For example, the statement that, quote, the order of nuns was never taken very seriously by the Japanese, end quote, begs the question, which Japanese? It is safe to assume that at least the women took their

[07:42]

own lives seriously. The fact that women were the first monastics in Japan, and that they have continued to the present day to ordain women into the Buddhist path, a time span of over 1400 years, denied the validity of such statements. Furthermore, the record needs to be straightened out in terms of Zen nuns in particular. Sally King concludes in her article on egalitarian philosophies and sexist institutions that, quote, in Japanese Zen, there are virtually no prominent women, end quote. This lacked the necessary qualification in published historical texts. I might even add in published Western historical texts. The unambiguously established androcentric bias in historiography has created the illusion that women were not actively involved and prominent in their, at least their own spheres of influence. I'm not contesting that monastic

[08:47]

women did not always receive official recognition for their activities. I'm stressing that this lack of recognition indicates the prejudice practiced by the monastic institution. But this does not lead to the conclusion that women were not actively involved in a serious pursuit of the Buddhist life. Indeed, it is inconceivable that women who for centuries have dedicated their lives to Buddhist teachings would continue to choose to remain in a tradition that they did not find in some way valuable. To think that they might is to deny that they had the capacity to make sound and intelligent decisions about the course of their own lives. It is true that women of the 20th century did work hard for the official and equal status that they won only a few decades ago. But the moment they received this recognition did not mark the beginning of their intense practice or their dedication to the Buddhist path.

[09:52]

There is evidence that women were active throughout Buddhist history in Japan. One final note of reinterpretation is necessary. King concludes after the above quotation that given these poor conditions, it is scarcely possible, poor conditions that is of sotos and nuns, it is scarcely possible that any outstanding nuns could appear, end quote, until recent, what he adds later, until recent reforms. It is perhaps more to the point to say that the recent reforms were won because there were outstanding nuns who wrought them. Current scholarship is revealing that distinct concerns and circumstances characterize female monasticism cross-culturally. The roles of monastic women in society and their perceptions of themselves diverge from those of male monastic communities. Careful consideration of female monastic life, monastic women's contribution to modern society, and the self-definition of female

[11:00]

monastics illuminates a world of active and confident women dedicated to their religious practices. An example of the type of difference I uncovered between male and female monastics became apparent after I spoke with the monastic women about their self-perception. I found in their conversations they used terms to refer to themselves vis-a-vis male monastics that do not appear even in Japanese specialized dictionaries on Buddhism, which of course are written by men. If you look at the front side of your handout on the first page, and watch as I move along, the term soul is originally a generic non-gendered term deriving from the Sanskrit word sangha, which means Buddhist community, or more narrowly defined as monastic community. Male monastics adopted this term in Japan to describe themselves,

[12:05]

thereby asserting that they are the standard for a monastic and establishing a hierarchical relationship with women monastics. Women, on the other hand, created a vocabulary that suggests their self-perception as equal in monastic profession vis-a-vis male monastics. They correctly use the generic term soul to refer to all monastics, and they develop gender-specific terms to delineate between male and female monastics when necessary. Does that make sense? Okay. We in Western academe or Western languages must be careful, for the vast majority of texts translated into English invariably use the male vocabulary and render the generic term for monastic as the gender-exclusive term monk. Monastic women, however, see themselves included when they read these texts in Japanese.

[13:10]

Let us go back in time to a historic moment that is faded from our memory of the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. It is 584 CE. Buddhism is a fledgling new religion in the land of Kami, having been officially introduced only three decades ago. A young woman is profoundly moved by the new teachings she has heard. In a cultural climate where around her she has models of women engaged in religious affairs, it is natural that with the support of her family, she considers becoming ordained in the new religion. But in this she has no native role models. For no one, male or female, in this island country has been ordained into the Buddhist tradition. Nonetheless, courageous and compelled by the wisdom of these new teachings, she seeks to commit her life fully to them. She makes her

[14:21]

historic vows and becomes the first ordained Buddhist in Japan. Well over a millennium later, some people still remember her by her Buddhist name, Zenshin-ni. Ni is a suffix indicating none. Shortly thereafter, two women approach her. They too would like to devote their lives to the Dharma. Zenshin-ni takes them as her disciples and ordains them Zenso-ni and Ezen-ni. In 588, their zeal to gain a deeper understanding of the monastic regulations propels them to again make history by being the first Japanese to go abroad to study. They went to Korea. Upon their return, with heightened resolve and determination to establish this new religion on Japanese soil, they build the first Buddhist temple in Amadera,

[15:22]

a nun's temple they called Sakurai-ji. They chose a central location, Yamato. Both women and men came to them seeking teachings and ordination. It is now the year 590 CE. Shōtoku Taishi, a prince widely recognized for his contributions to establishing Buddhism in Japan, has not yet made his entrance onto the stage of Japanese culture. From these monumental moments in the development of Japanese Buddhist history, it is clear that women were a significant force in the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. Until now, their vital contributions to Japanese Buddhism have been obscured in the mire

[16:29]

of androcentric historiography, that is, history that has been written from a male perspective. Indeed, it is no quirk of historical circumstance that the first ordained Buddhists in Japan were women because women were central figures in the religious sphere of ancient Japanese culture. Women participated in numerous ancient rituals. They were especially respected for their shamanic powers and served as shamanesses. The centrality of women in indigenous Japanese religion is most compellingly illustrated in the fact that the highest deity in the indigenous pantheon of gods or kami is Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess. Unfortunately, subsequent historical developments have shrouded the powerful roles women have played in ancient history. Although it was a gradual process, the hierarchical structures, including religious organizations,

[17:31]

became increasingly male-dominated. A host of factors affected this change, including the adoption of Chinese governmental and social structures. The women-centered traditions of heredity and authority gave way to male-centered systems of heredity that offered women little institutional recognition. This has left us with the prevailing impression that women were inferior to men in Japanese social structures and institutions throughout Japanese history. On the contrary, women did not passively accept and simply succumb to the external pressures. Their genuine strength lies in their response to discrimination. Documents dating back to the mid-Heian period, 794 to 1185, record women protesting against unfair treatment. A prime example from the 9th century begins with the Tendai and Shingon sects

[18:34]

establishing a practice that prohibited women from their mountaintop temples and their mode of Buddhist practice. Furthermore, since the government granted Tendai and later Shingon control over the ordination platform, they chose to prohibit women from receiving precepts. The women of Heian Japan, however, did not let these obstacles deter their determination to seek the Dharma. In the face of these political and religious institutions threatening to exclude them from monastic life, women of Heian exercised their acumen and revealed their sincerity and determination to continue practicing Buddhism by creating their own form of Buddhist monasticism. Their actions reveal their insight into the fact that no institution has the authority to dictate the Dharma. The Heian women did not have to look far for Japanese role models of women who wielded

[19:39]

authority and commanded respect. Most prominent were the eight empresses who reigned during the Asuka and Nara periods, roughly 550 to 784. Therefore, women in the Heian period saw themselves as respected members of society who held a certain authority in determining matters of import. This confidence, combined with their penetrating insight that the living Dharma cannot be controlled by an institution, enabled them to prevail over the complications perpetrated by male-dominated institutions. Without sharing the advantages of governmental sponsorship that monks enjoyed, and in the face of male Buddhists not offering women ordination, Heian Buddhist women triumphed over this blatant inequity with their innovative thinking. Among many of their activities, these women created a new category they called Bosatsukaini, which was granted to those who took

[20:45]

the Bodhisattva vows. In so doing, they took the authority into their own hands and became Bodhisattva nuns. Their lives were similar to their predecessors in that they maintained the practices of nuns. They shaved their heads, wore Buddhist robes, and engaged in various forms of Buddhist practice. They were highly respected in society because a number of the nuns were women from the imperial family. Their perseverance is a genuine testimony to the strength of their commitment and the depth of their understanding of the Dharma. It is easy to imagine that many nuns had similar sentiments to those expressed in the following poem by the great Kamo priestess. With the scent of just one flower as my guide, won't I too see all the numberless Buddhas? The innovations implemented by the nuns revealed the strength of Heian period Buddhist women.

[21:51]

They did not allow official regulations determined by male authorities, nor a technical definition of the category nun dissuade them from their commitment to the Dharma. In a sense, they followed the precedent set by Mahaprajapati, the first Buddhist nun, who persisted in their efforts to establish the order of Buddhist monastic women, even though Shakyamuni, the enlightened founder of the tradition, initially resisted. Since the first Buddhist nuns did not have a quorum of 10 monks and 10 nuns present at their ordination ceremony to qualify them as official bhiksuni or nuns, why should it be absolutely required of those who seek ordination later? Let us now move on to the Kamakura period, 1186 to 1333, a time widely known as an inclusive era when Buddhism was brought to the common people. Leader after leader emerged from the

[22:55]

bastion of Buddhist power, Tienzan, the mountain monastery of Tendai Buddhism, to develop a new Buddhist teaching. Independently, each of them could not find the answer to their particular question on the top of Hieizan. Honen, the founder of Pure Land Buddhism, Qingnan, the founder of the true Pure Land Buddhist sect, Nichiren, the founder of the Nichiren sect, and Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen, each found a way to take the Buddhist teachings out of the courtly enclaves and elite Buddhist institutions and into the hearts of farmers, artisans, and numerous peoples whose names and faces are lost to posterity. Each leader offered a different reform of Buddhist teachings and practice, but it is often overlooked that they were all supportive of women, and all the great Kamakura Buddhist reformers had nuns among their disciples. In the name of their founder, Honen,

[24:00]

the Pure Land sect teaches that if one says Namu Amida Butsu, whether one is good or bad, male or female, all will be born in the Pure Land. Qingnan made a strong statement about his views on women when he openly married and ordained his wife as Qingni. His actions were based upon a dream he had that the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kamnon, said she would appear in a female body to him and become his wife. This convinced Qingnan that women had the potential for enlightenment, but one must remember that Qingnan held firmly to the belief that all were sinners and could only be saved through the grace of Amida Buddha. Nichiren makes reference to women attaining Buddhahood over 30 times in his writings. Basing his assertion upon the story of the Naga princess transforming her body into male form and becoming a Bodhisattva, Nichiren writes with conviction

[25:00]

in his book Hokke Dai Moksho that, quote, in the Lotus Sutra, for the first time the Buddha revealed that women could attain Buddhahood. Now let us take a look at the famous Zen master Dogen. Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, was part of the social climate of egalitarianism. Some even credit Dogen with being a pioneer feminist. The evidence suggests, however, that he was like the other reformers of his time. He took a clearly affirmative stance on his views of women. He unambiguously articulates in his text Nai Hai Tokuzui that male and female practitioners are equal. Just three years before he left for Echizen, on the far side of Japan away from the capital, he wrote this impassioned text in the spring of 1240 in order to extinguish the errors of those who harbor incorrect thoughts about women in the Dharma. He writes with conviction

[26:05]

that there is a hint of incredulity that serious students of the Dharma have not realized the meaning of the fundamental teaching that all existence are Buddha nature. Here Dogen clarifies the confusion surrounding female Dharma teachers. Quote, it is irrelevant whether a guide has male or female characteristics and the like. What counts is that the guide be a being of virtue, of thusness, end quote. He continues with advice on what is the appropriate way to express respect and gratitude to a teacher of the Dharma, irregardless of form. Quote, valuing the Dharma means that whether your guide is a pillar, a lantern, Buddhas, a fox, a demon, a man, a woman, if it upholds the great Dharma and attains the marrow, then you should offer your body mind as its seat and serve for immeasurable kalpas or eons.

[27:10]

End quote. Dogen substantiates his counsel with an explanation of the precedents established by those with whom Buddhism flourished in Song China. Quote, today in certain temples of great Song China, there are nuns who train. When a nun's attainment of the Dharma becomes known, an imperial edict is issued appointing her abbess of a nunnery. And thenceforth, she expounds the Dharma at her appointed temple. All the subordinates gather together in the hall instead to listen to the abbess's words on the Dharma and to exchange questions and answers. This has been the rule since olden times, end quote. As with much of Japanese Buddhism and culture, the Japanese turn to the Chinese for inspiration and guidance. Dogen is urging the Japanese to continue the equity equality accorded women and men in China, especially in regard to recognizing the true Dharma in female form.

[28:17]

Another quote, in the case of a nun who has received the treasury of the true Dharma eye through transmission. If the monks, this should read monastics, this is a prime example where it says monks when nuns are included. If the monastics of the four fruitions, Pratyeka Buddhas, and even those of the three wise stages and of the ten holy states pay homage to her and seek the Dharma from her, she should receive their obeisance. By what right are only males noble? The empty sky is the empty sky. The four elements are the four elements. The five skandhas of the five skandhas. To be female is exactly the same. As for the attainment of the way, both male and female can attain the way. Hence, both should have high regard for the attainment of the Dharma and not argue about differences between male and female. Such is the most marvelous law of the Buddha way, end quote.

[29:19]

Dogen includes an even more direct criticism of the practices he finds in Japan in the version of the Raihai Tokuzui found, you don't need to know all that. In this text, there is a poignant example of his frustration with Japanese Buddhist practices that helped increase his sense that the, that he was the first to introduce true Buddhism to Japan. Quote, there is a ridiculous custom in Japan. It is the practice that nuns and women are not allowed to enter the places called restricted territories or training halls of the Mahayana. Such a perverted custom has been practiced for ages without anyone realizing its wrongness in the least. Those practicing the ancient way do not reform it. And those who are learned and astute do not care about it. While some may say that it is the work of the incarnated Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, others claim that it is a legacy

[30:25]

from ancient worthies. Yet all fail to reason about it. Their egregious absurdity is truly hard to believe. This is still Dogen talking. If such obsolete practices do not have to be redressed, does it mean that the cycles of birth and death need not to be forsaken either? End quote. Based upon this statement, Dogen might have moved to Eheiji to actualize his understanding of Buddhism, which includes inclusive views, not as an indication that he changed his mind about women. This is a common concept found in many texts in Japanese and English. The timing of his departure from Kyoto occurring only three years after his unambiguous articulation of the errors of the ways of the established Buddhist traditions, institutions in regards to women suggests that the prevailing currents in society may have made it difficult for him to freely practice his

[31:31]

understanding of the Dharma. This would concur with the experiences of Honen, Shinran, and Nichiren, who all practiced egalitarianism and who, for various reasons, all had serious complications with the authorities. Dogen's move to Echizen then can be interpreted as, in part, an attempt to bring his actual Sangha closer to an ideal Sangha. Nonetheless, the prevailing interpretation is that he held egalitarian ideas in his early years, but he did not take them with him when he established his serious monastery in Echizen. This view of Dogen suggests that he was an inconsistent philosopher with little integrity. Although the historical record reveals an entirely different picture, Jun Kominamoto, in Women, Religion, and Sexuality, asserts that, when Dogen was young, he believed in the equality of men and women and criticized the foolishness

[32:35]

of the Mount Hiei and Mount Koya temples, which barred women from entering. However, in later years, by the time Dogen built Eheiji, he no longer believed in the equality of men and women and prohibited their entry." King reinforces the interpretation that Dogen had a change of heart towards women when she claims that Dogen moved to Eheiji, that it is a good example of a case in which Buddhist celibate monasticism functioned in practice to prevent women's access to one of the greatest Zen teachers in history." There is no clear evidence upon which these claims can be made. Moreover, women were also actively participating in Buddhist celibate monasticism. In the face of texts that develop his positive view of women and the historical records which

[33:37]

prove a number of monastic women were his disciples whom to the end of his life, there was little room to maintain the interpretation that Dogen was inconsistent either in his non-dualistic philosophy nor his monastic practice. Dogen's basic conception of monastic life is based upon Buddhism's paramount teaching on equality, emptiness. Heejin Kim, a scholar of Dogen, explains what occurs in Dogen's monastic education. Quote, initially the members may enter the community individually but they gradually realize that they are born out of the common root of absolute emptiness. Hence they are not an assemblage of isolated individuals but the children and flowers of emptiness. Monastic education is to help each other realize this common root in emptiness. This thoroughgoing non-dualism cannot apply to males only. To make it do so would require more philosophical magic

[34:41]

than even Dogen could muster. Dogen, however, did not need to perform philosophical gymnastics to support his monastic practice for it was in accord with his understanding that all emptiness, that all are emptiness and Buddha nature. Although none of them took on, none of the nuns took ordination under Dogen, a number of monastic women were in his religious order. All had chosen to transfer from the Dharamashu or another tradition into his order. This is where you might want to look either on the back side or the second page and see I never had so much fun but putting together this lineage chart of women. This is incomplete only because I'm sure there's more information to be found. His first female monastic disciple was given the dharma name Ryo-nen-ni. She is attributed

[35:41]

with being the primary influence in Dogen's most explicit teaching on the equality of male and female practitioners in the Bendowa. She became Dogen's first female monastic disciple one month before he wrote the Bendowa on August 15th, 1231. Dogen bestows rare praise upon her during the same time he was writing the Bendowa. In a dharma talk, he says that Ryo-nen-ni had peerless bodhicitta. Also in the Eihei Kodo group, which contains all of Dogen's sermons, Dogen wrote that Ryo-nen-ni was deeply devoted to the great way of the Buddhas. In the 10th chapter of the Eihei Kodo group, Dogen also wrote a poem upon Ryo-nen's passing. She probably died in the winter, for the poem makes reference to snow. Menzan-zenji confirms that Ryo-nen-ni was Dogen's disciple in his text that I can't pronounce very long. Although she was an elderly woman when she came under Dogen's tutelage, she is remembered

[36:48]

for having practiced intensely and making great strides in her understanding of the life of the dharma. She knew Zen from the marrow of her bones and is sometimes compared to the prominent nun Dogen heard about in China, Masan-ryo-nen-ni. Both were incontrovertibly highly respected and serve as historical proof that women were able to realize ultimate enlightenment. To offer an interpretation that suggests otherwise would, aside from defy living proof to the contrary, go against the fabric of Dogen's thoroughgoing non-dualistic philosophy. How are we doing on time? I will talk with people who want to know the details of all his other disciples. There is some. He had big donors and had women at his deathbed, which is a highly honored position to

[37:49]

be in. And his disciple, disciple's disciple, Keizan-zenji, as you can see on your chart, suddenly there is a large proliferation of women under Keizan. A few centuries later, during the feudalistic era known as the Tokugawa period, 1603 to 1867, the tide shifted to a regimented society controlled by the military government. A number of Amadero resisted the society's increasingly oppressive regulation in regards to women. In this feudalistic time period, even if a woman was suffering from abuse, she could not readily receive a divorce. But it was always available to men who were not

[38:50]

satisfied with their wives. The Amadera, the nuns' temples, therefore, established a system whereby a woman remaining at a temple for a certain period of time could be granted a divorce. The two most well-known of these temples are Tokeiji of the Rinzai sect and Mantokuji of the Ji sect. The courage displayed in opening their doors and offering refuge to women who sought assistance brought them fame. The temple was also a place where women could receive an education. Thus, for various reasons, women found safety and rewards in becoming a nun. It shows women found a way to take control of their own lives, even when limited by intense external control. The types of women who became nuns during the Tokugawa period include women from the imperial family and samurai families, very high class families, literary scholars, artists, prostitutes, and many who had a family relative who was already a nun, with a kind of diagonal hereditary line running.

[39:56]

Women entering the dharmic path during this period sometimes displayed a rare degree of determination. A poignant example of this is of the sincerity of these women is displayed in the story of Eshun Ni. She was the younger sister of the founder of Saikoji, a temple in the present day Odawara. Her brother forbid her ordination due to her peerless beauty. Unflinching in her resolve to fully commit her life to the Dharma, she responded with swift and irreversible conviction. The young beauty burned her face in the hibachi stove. Thereafter, her dedication to the Dharma was uncontested. Scholars, nevertheless, have treated the Buddhist tradition as though the adherents were primarily male. Most have overlooked the distinct contributions of monastic women.

[40:57]

Indeed, their legacy continues in the modern day. The activities of nuns from Dogen's sect of Zen are particularly noteworthy. Soto Zen monastic women currently constitute the largest and most organized sect of monastic women in Japan, with about 1,000 members. In two generations, they went from a position of little opportunity and recognition to a position of official equality. They won parity in sect regulations regarding instructional and religious ranks, created a national organization to officially represent their specific concerns to sect headquarters, and began publishing various journals written for and by nuns. One of their journals from the early 1960s features a poem written by the 20th century nun Topo Ni, perhaps because it reflects an awareness that nuns are acting in accord with the Dharma as they overturn centuries of inequity.

[41:58]

I'm becoming a beautiful nun. Nuns are forever praying for beautiful things. The Buddha probably does not like a nun who does not have spirit. A nun whose heart and body are beautiful are an incarnation of the Buddha. Continuing their march towards institutionalizing equality in the Zen sect, these visionary and powerful monastic women made unprecedented strides in terms of educational possibilities. They established three autonomous monasteries for women in different regions of Japan, Nagoya, Niigata, and Toyama. This century also saw the first monastic women educated and graduated from the Soto Shu's prestigious Komazawa University. In short, Soto Zen monastic women established the first official Zen monasteries to train women exclusively and gain equal rank with male monastics.

[42:59]

At the turn of this century, this event marked the first major accomplishment in the 20th century movement for equality between female and male monastics. At this time, however, monastic women were only allowed, at the time they began that is, were only allowed to care for the lowest rank of temple. These were small temples with no followers. At this time, the highest rank a woman could attain was lower than the lowest rank for a man. In 1953, however, all Buddhist sects in Japan underwent drastic modification. At this time, female monastics fought for and were granted more opportunities. They were officially permitted to become head priests or Jushoku of standard-ranked temples. In 1978, monastic women were allowed to attain the high rank of Ni-Dai-O-Sho, but in 1989, while I was still in Japan, the sect administration took off the

[44:02]

precept Ni, as you'll remember means none, for they were concerned that this prefix was a remnant of discrimination. This decision, however, was made without consulting the female monastics, who, on the contrary, preferred to retain the prefix Ni, for without it, their contributions would not be evident, since it is difficult to determine gender from Buddhist names. They see a clear difference between distinction and discrimination. They were preferred to add the prefix non- to male monastic titles, if you'll see their vocabulary. For nearly half a century, similar concerns have been circulated by a journal published for and by the monastic women called Otayori. This journal is published by the Soto-Shu Nisodan, an organization established in 1944 to officially represent the interests of female monastics. In short, in less than a century, Soto Zen monastic women established the first official

[45:08]

Zen monasteries to train women exclusively and gained equal rank with male monastics. Yet, in the midst of these significant advances, they maintain a genuine quality of traditional Zen Buddhist monasticism. Why don't I know? These women serve as a model for all women who seek liberation, triumphant over various forms of male domination. Modern Japanese Zen nuns maintain a traditional monastic lifestyle, not allowing the currents of modernity to dilute their religious commitment. They became creative innovators in order to enforce the egalitarian teachings of their founder

[46:11]

and reclaim the illustrious heritage of women in Japanese religion. That is, the Zen nuns who led the movement for the independence and equality of women do so precisely in order to transmit ancient religious and cultural traditions. In modern Japan, Zen monastic women are innovators for the sake of tradition. The historical and anthropological data reveal a dynamic picture of Zen monastic women in the 20th century. In the face of competing impulses coursing through modern Japanese society, they choose to be committed to traditional monastic practices. For example, everyone thinks that the regulations for monks were changed so they could officially marry, but they never changed the regulations for nuns because the nuns do not marry. This is not true. The nuns regulations are the same and were changed back in the late 19th

[47:13]

century along with the monks, but the nuns chose to maintain their Buddhist tradition and not follow the government's suggestions. Well, does that imply that the nuns could marry? Oh yes, back since the end of the 19th century. Zen monastic women play a dual role in Japanese society as preservers of religious and cultural traditions and as active participators in the progressive movement for the independence and equality of women. Contemporary Japanese society leaves little room for traditional arts and Buddhist values, yet monastic women keep these alive, anchoring the society to its refined cultural heritage and its traditions of discipline and respect. Finally, in the 20th century, they succeeded in officially institutionalizing the equality that Dogen taught

[48:14]

in the 13th century. Zen monastic women are genuine living treasures of Japanese Buddhism. The history of women in Japanese Buddhism is filled with courageous acts and personal victories from the first ordained Buddhist in the 6th century to the inclusive spirit of the medieval period, to the perspicacity and determination of nuns in the feudalistic period, to the leaders in educational and institutional reforms in the 20th century. The events highlighted here only begin to suggest a dim outline of the contours of a landscape rich with the sufferings and triumphs of centuries of women devoted to the Dharma. This is only a clue to the treasures buried in Japanese Buddhist history, waiting to be discovered. Let me move to the slides and I'll tell them what I skipped over so you haven't missed

[49:21]

it. I'm going to give you some more visual picture of what the nuns in modern Japan are like today. Here, the woman you see becoming ordained by the Abbas Aoyama sensei, those of you may know her, is a woman who was like the right hand of the president of a large company in Japan. She had a very solid career and was not a social misfit, but she deliberately decided to become a nun. You'll see in the background a picture of her father who, in the ceremony, she gives her respects, gratitude, and farewell to. Here, at this part of the ceremony, you saw the Abbas cutting her hair off. They went in the back and shaved all but the very top of her head, leaving a small piece of

[50:51]

hair where she can come back out and make her final bow to become a nun. At that moment, the last remnant of her previous life is removed from the crown of her head. Here, she's receiving the various things that come along with being a monastic. She will get bowls and robes and just a few other items. This is the entrance to the Aichi-Sanmon Nisodo in Nagoya, Japan. It came to this site after World War II. It is the strongest and largest of the three monasteries that officially grant degrees in Japan today. This is the view you see when you first come in.

[51:57]

It's the modern building has classrooms and kitchen and faucets with at least cold running water. Here's the bell tower. You'll see here Shunpo-san, who is the oldest novice at age 72. So anytime I got tired, I just thought of her and suddenly I got stronger. Excuse me? Oh no, sorry. This is just the trunk of the plum tree that is in front of the worship hall. Whoops, sorry. Here is the zendo. For those of you who know Chinese characters, you might be able to tell on the sign there's usually a part of the character that should include the character for mouth. But since you are to be silent in the zendo, that mouth is gone. Here is the back garden, a ginkgo tree.

[53:02]

And while they are in training, they're in training for a minimum of two years. If they have a high school diploma and they can train for seven years, more I suppose, but generally seven years is the longest in the monastery. Then they go out to their own temples and there are multitudes of empty temples because of the numbers of monastics, male and female, declining. This is one of the more elaborate rituals. You'll see Aoyama-sensei in her bright orange robe, face covered by the pillar. This is Aoyama-sensei at the New Year's ceremonial reading of the heart sutra. Not the heart sutra, the Prajna Paramita, the full wisdom sutra. And this is the fall. Sorry, this should be the different orders. We should hit fall first. This is also fall. This is for one of the more important ceremonious tea ceremonies.

[54:10]

The nuns, part of their training does include tea ceremony and also learning to cook some of the most finest of Japanese delicacies. This is an example. Here they're about to go out on Takahatsu or alms gathering and the way you tie the sandals are different if you are a monastic or if you are a lay person. So, they're getting instructions from the abbess. Here the abbess puts a little bit in their bowls, sending them off. And they're all leaving together, but they will disperse at the bottom of the hill. And I was taking, I always tried to stay out of the way, so I kept getting pictures of their backs and Aoyama-sensei made me run down the hill and says, we don't want to be shown all from our backsides. So, here is the front of them.

[55:14]

They also have sewing classes where this is also something that diverges from the male monastic training. The nuns learn to sew all their own garments and take the time to do that. Here is Aoyama-sensei serving tea. She is a very fine tea master, tea to a very high Roshi in her temple in the mountains in Nagano. And here you see most of the nuns are helping with a lay person's retreat that is held at Aoyama-sensei's temple, which should comfortably only sleep about 40 people, but about 250 come. You never see more efficient motion than in those three days. It's really beautiful. And here's the plum blossom tree in bloom, showing that it is now spring,

[56:23]

which means that it's time for graduation. Here the nun is giving her final respect to the abbess before going off. You see, she's all set for travel. All the things that she needs for travel are in the little pack on her back. And also visiting, right near the Nisodo in Nagoya, there is a relic, relics of the Buddha enshrined, and so they go and give their final respects there also. And this particular nun is someone who came to the nunnery with spiked hair and has really undergone a transformation. This nun, the little one in the front on the left, is perhaps the most important nun in the 20th

[57:26]

century. Her name is Kojima Kendo-sensei. She's now 94 years old, and her life story reads like all the pioneering activities of the nuns can be told through her life story. She's invincible. She fought many of the monks, the leaders of the Soto sect headquarters head-on. This, unfortunately, is not well focused, but I wanted to show it because you can at least see the yellow robe in the middle. The nuns also fought to be given an opportunity to be, to lead a ceremony in one of the sect's head, main temples, either Soji-ji or Ehe-ji. They have won the right. Soji-ji is Keizan Zenji's temple. If you remember, he's the one under whom many nuns were ordained back in the 14th century.

[58:31]

And the nuns gained the right at least once a year to have a nun lead the ceremonies. And here we see the first nun is a nun named Kato-sensei. She has passed away, but in a certain sense, Kojima-sensei was the one who was out stomping the streets and the tables to win the rights and Kato-sensei was the one who was holding down the fort and keeping the nuns disciplined in the monasteries during the middle part of the 20th century. And this is Kito-sensei, the nun I mentioned at the beginning. She was, went to India initially just for a year to help start the Japanese temple in Bodhgaya, where there are temples from almost all Buddhist countries. And she stayed for four years. Her love for the people really helped the Japanese temple become welcomed in Bodhgaya.

[59:37]

That's the Narand River. I show this merely to say that although at first the nuns did not have followers at their temples, some gradually did get followers who then had their ancestors worshipped at the nun's temple. And these are ancestor tablets that are placed in the back behind the main altar in the worship hall. And the nuns, one of their major responsibilities that also diverges from the monks, not that the monks don't have the responsibilities, but the nuns are the ones who tend to go into the homes to chant the sutras and then stay over cake and tea and discuss family problems and personal problems. And so they serve as a counselor in a way that is not easily accepted in modern Japanese society,

[60:41]

where any kind of counseling is immediately construed as mental illness. So the nuns serve this vital role in modern Japanese society very quietly. Here is another Buddhist relic site just outside of Nagoya. And at the left you see Kido sensei. There's the man at the right is a layman who helped carry various things up to the top of this mountain for us. Behind him is the tea ceremony teacher at the monastery. And to the left of her is the flower arranging teacher. These are all aspects of their training that help them, of course, be self-sufficient in their own temple. The monks, again, do not have this kind of training as a part of their monastic training. They usually,

[61:44]

quite frankly, get married and have their wives do it in their temple. Here there is a pilgrimage on the top of the mountain that is to 33 sites of Kannon. And here they're going around offering water and incense. And we had a meal and a tea ceremony at the top of this mountain. You'll see the tea ceremony teacher Kuriki sensei, who is now 85, was a little bit cold, so she put on my clothes. This is Kondo Tesshu sensei, who is the abbess of the Pure Land Monastery in Japan. There is one monastery for training Pure Land nuns. It's located in Kyoto. And she is highly educated

[62:46]

in the secular world and then became a nun. And she's very outspoken for Buddhist nuns in modern Japan. Wonderful woman. Yes, she speaks English too, some. This is a nun who is an imperial nun. She is in a beautiful, beautiful temple off of the edge of Kyoto, under the shadows of Hieizan, that Tendai Monastery. It's called Jakkoin. And she's from a long legacy of imperial nuns. And her temple is so beautiful and famous that she gets many visitors coming for various reasons, just to look at the architecture in the gardens or also to come and worship. She says when she closes the gates at five o'clock, she goes out and does calisthenics,

[63:49]

because she's also in her late 80s, because she does not want to become a burden to anyone. And so she's trying to keep herself healthy. The imperial nuns, I haven't been able to trace it, but you see in historical paintings that imperial nuns tended to wear this. For those of you who have shaved your head, I'm not, but I'm told when it's hot, it's really hot. And when it's cold, it's really cold. So this is perhaps tempers that some, I don't know the significance. No, I don't know. Perhaps high nuns in her sect. I don't know how widespread this is. They're from the imperial family. The blood is imperial, I guess. This is Kito Sensei, who to me is like a plum blossom, a flower

[64:56]

that is strong enough to be beautiful and gentle in the harshest conditions. Plum blossoms bloom in the winter, which to me epitomizes the life, particularly of the nuns who were born up through the middle of the 20th century. They are the most beautiful group of nuns I've ever met who are very strong, strong enough to be utterly graceful. So that concludes the slides. I'm sorry. So, time for questions?

[65:59]

Oh, no. Okay. You don't have to get up tomorrow morning. That's right. Oh, you don't? No. So please, any questions? Yes. Have you seen the movie Behind the Veil? No. The movie about nuns? Mostly European Christian nuns? It's very great. But it kind of chronicles the history of Christian nuns in Europe and in the British Isles. And it was saying that up until like the mid-Middle Ages, all monasteries had a female section and a male section. They were very separate and very equal. And then, I guess around the 13th century, the women started becoming oppressed and not allowed to contribute to scientific research. And there just seemed to be a real upheaval. And it seems like, in a way, that's what you were saying it happened to in Japanese nuns.

[67:03]

But in the beginning, they were more equal? I would say at the very beginning, they were the only ones. Or nomads. What happened was very complex. The governmental institutions started changing. Taxation. About every dimension of society either changed or was established. Japan was a very small country with a civilization that was not nearly as advanced as China. So they basically took in wholesale a lot of Chinese culture that included teachings that placed women and men at a hierarchical scale. Which placed the men higher. So this slowly eroded. I followed the regulations and how they changed over time.

[68:04]

When the government decided it was going to be a patrilocal society. But it took 200 years for that transformation to actually transpire. And regulations saying which temple gets how much money. And you see more and more the men's temples were getting money. And then they decided they were going to move their monastery up onto a mountain. They said women can't go on the mountain because of various reasons that the mountain must be pure. And women cannot go on top of the mountain. And so slowly, for various reasons, it began to erode. Yes? Your second chart here seems to indicate that the disciples always came back as males. Dogen did not ordain any nuns.

[69:07]

And the nuns all were ordained in another sect. And moved into his sect. This chart reveals a tremendous amount of research. Of obscure text. Picking out little details and using them as confirmation. This is by no means a complete picture. Exactly how they're all related. And what they actually did. And how many more there were. This is far from complete. So many of your questions. Wanting to know more about these nuns. I have them too. And I would be happy if someone else found the answer. But he didn't order Ejo either. No, Ejo also came. So they were Ejo who became the patriarch, I guess you can call him. After Dogen and Egini were sibling disciples.

[70:16]

Yes? I don't know if you can hear me. We chant. We used to say women's and takers. Now we say women's and ancestors. We chant a particular lineage. Which is. Though as you say you can't tell from the name whether it's male or female. It's obviously all male. When you were in the women's and ancestors community. When they chant lineage. What lineage do they chant? They chant the one that's probably the same one you chant. And then they add their own at the end. So at the end it has the most recent, previous. So it's a mix. I don't know a lot about it. But I read some about the Korean tradition. There's a transmission from teacher to disciple to disciple. Is that same in Zen?

[71:24]

Is there a transmission? In Soto Zen you're talking about? Soto Zen because of the concept that all are sentient. All beings, all existence are enlightened. It's not the sense of transmission. Or like you find transmission in Chinese Zen. It's not the same thing. It's the more senior. The more skillful and administrative things. There are various aspects that go into who gets to be the next leader. And now it's done by election. Election? Take note. In our tradition there's a transmission ceremony. Where the teacher transmits the Dharma. It's an official ceremony. The disciples receive transmission from the nuns. I'm talking about that. Yes, the nuns do that.

[72:25]

With one another. They have their own lineage. They have been doing it all along. It has become official in this century. Earlier this century. But they were always doing it. And what frequently happened was for technical reasons because they didn't officially recognize ordination from a nun to a nun there was a man, a monk's name placed there who was a real person but the real teacher was a nun. Could you say something about the differences between the tradition in Korea and the tradition in the way the tradition is here? No, I can't. Sorry. Could you say more about how the abbess is elected? The abbess is elected? Is she elected? How do they do it? I don't know the exact procedure. It's the higher level. If you become a certain rank then you can become a voting person in the community. Even to be the high Zen master

[73:28]

of all of the Soto Zen sect you can technically vote for a nun and a nun can technically be elected as the next Zen master but my sense is we will not see that in this century and not likely in the next. Is there any difference in the practice of sitting the sessions out within the nunnery? Is there any difference in the way sitting? It's perhaps better to start out with the difference between any two monasteries anywhere. Say distinct differences based along gender lines it's hard to say because what's really what is a male style is not clear. I mean in Soto Zen there are certain traditions and there are variations among them. One thing maybe if you compare Soto Zen

[74:30]

from Rinzai Zen Rinzai Zen has much more pushing and hitting and ridiculing and I do not know so I would wonder if in the Rinzai Zen women's monasteries that is the approach but there is no today no Rinzai Zen women's monastery that offers official degrees. There is one temple that has about five Rinzai nuns practicing there but Rinzai Zen nuns will come to the Soto Zen monastery for women to receive training even though they go to the Soto. So there's no Soto [...] There's no for instance differences and just to give an example there isn't any more chanting or other emphasis on other kinds of practices. No. What you might find

[75:31]

and this is perhaps where the real practice where the real polishing happens is there's more how do I put it delicately Put it in delicately There's more reading of other people's mails and then using it against them or they're responsible for a high teacher's robes and they come back and they're gone and then they look like they messed up there's a lot more of this more subtle kind of I don't know what you call it it's clearly things that happen in any society and the monastery is not exempt from people having difficulties getting along So it happens maybe in the

[76:36]

women's monastery because the numbers are smaller than male monasteries have hundreds so you can find some kind of anonymity in the women's monastery because it's very small everyone knows everything you can tell who's walking behind you and you can get used to people's habits like oh she's just walking because the towel's crooked I mean you it's it gets very intense so this is where the real polishing comes and you see someone who's been there seven years can go through this and be unshaken and the younger ones and particularly the younger, the newest and then the next to the newest that's where you get the most tension Things are very hierarchical within

[77:38]

Yes, everything is hierarchical where you take off your slippers where you place your towel what order you get in the bath everything is done that way so when I first went I thought this is not Zen and this is Confucian contamination of Zen and then I realized that okay this is East Asian Buddhism but it's extremely effective if every word you say has to be said in the right conjugation of verb for the person you're talking to and if you're always conscious of okay there's only going to be five people in this room so I take my slippers off this far from the door because I'm in this order in the rank if you're always conscious of the minutest detail of everyone around you this is very efficient at breaking down the ego otherwise you are in constant pain laughter laughter

[78:39]

laughter laughter This happens less than an hour Excuse me? laughter Well they didn't really understand that this was really true laughter This happens to both men and women I remember a teacher a monk who came and helped who had been the valedictorian at Tokyo University but it made him because he stayed for the ceremony a little late getting to age and he was junior to a 14 year old and he had to treat him and he said boy this is the hardest thing on my ego that I've ever had and here I was valedictorian at Harvard you know at Japanese Harvard and there I was I had to pay my respects to the 14 year old function Chunpo-san though being 72 she was already full of enough grace before entering that she didn't have as hard a time but

[79:41]

the women in their 40's having to work under women in their early 30's that's where you also say 30 years ago the average novice was in her teens was 16 today the average age of a novice is 43 and so you get women who have had families, have had careers, have done many many things and then choose to become a nun and this is deliberate choice and so they persevere but that means that they weren't as pliable as the nuns were when they were 16 so I think it's even more intense now than it was 30 years ago If they leave their families do they divorce to go into the monastery? Some have divorced some have are widows some I guess I won't say that in public

[80:46]

but they all of them have taken their children no I'm sorry I really can't all of them have to the abbess will not let anyone into the monastery whose children are not clearly well taken care of you can't so it's usually by another family member it has to be clearly a situation where if things become very complicated and difficult that it's a relationship that can withstand it, she will not allow a child to be disrupted because the mother wants to be in a monastery one thing that's very clear is nuns although their numbers are decreasing and many monks say well look at us we have our heirs because we're married and our children then take over the temple

[81:47]

and they lead much more comfortable lives materially and so more men will then become monks because it's not as far as stretch to be from a lay life to the life of these kind of reformed monks um the nuns life there is a large gap between the average lay life and their life and so less and less women become ordained because it's hard and you have to really be serious and so some say well use the argument if we loosen up just a little bit then maybe we'll get more people the leaders of the nuns do not want this and in the survey that I did of 150 nuns nationwide there were only a handful that thought that loosening the regulations would be an option

[82:48]

that most nuns they realize if we're going to be monastics there's no point in saying okay you can live like a monastic and I mean live like a lay person and be called a monastic yeah they don't want to blur that line well that continues when they go to their own temple oh yes that's where the difference is the men in their training temples of course they don't have a choice they have to live the monastic lifestyle where you see the difference is when the monks graduate they go into their own temple and they marry not all of them I'm just talking in general terms but I'm talking about the majority will marry and have temples and then you say my son wants a stereo and wears a funeral there is a lot of that going on and the nuns because they don't have a lot of followers and they don't have families they're not as concerned about

[83:49]

the economic factor and the temples of course don't pay taxes and people in the neighborhood will give them food and they do do various ceremonies so many of the nuns in Japan are doing they don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from so it's a very different life once they're out in their own temples do they do some memorial services? yes of course I saw it in the news though but in general oh yes that's happening more and more and as there are less and less monastics in general all of them are called to help with everyone else's ceremonies and so I actually never saw a nun who had very much free time even nuns in their mid-eighties were running around it was simply incredible that their state of health because they have cleaned with no cleansers and really gotten down on their hands and knees scrubbing and have done all the labor

[84:50]

that's required, the gardening and every aspect of it that their bodies they've lived this very healthy life and so if you compare an eighty year old lay woman with an eighty year old monastic woman who was say ordained when she was in her teens their state of health is entirely different yeah so are they viewed differently in Japan? I mean because they practice in this way, they're celibate are they viewed I mean I mean obviously people go to the monetarily they don't have, but how do people it varies there are people who have never had contact with nuns don't know and there is the image that you find in the western literature that they must have been misfit there must be something wrong with them why would they have chosen this you do hear that a lot

[85:52]

among people who have never met a nun but people who have actually met a nun invariably I hate to say this in the presence of monks but invariably they will say they respect the nuns much higher than they respect the monks because the nuns abide by the traditional regulations and the lifestyle in the training temple when they leave they leave after a certain period of time how do they staff the temple I mean do they bring people back to teach various things yes so they ask them to come back the teachers do not live there except the abbess because all the temples are close by they just come in for the class and teach but the ino and those are higher ranked those are training positions when you've been there for a certain period of time right yeah so by the end of their seven years they will have done

[86:53]

shiho with Aoyama Roshi it depends I mean all nuns in there do not have Aoyama sensei as their teacher she's the abbess but they're not all her type right they come there for training right do some of them come already ordained they all have to come ordained you cannot enter the training monastery unless you come as a lay woman you have to have a teacher she was ordaining someone here you showed a photograph that was in her temple in Nagano it's a training monastery it does have a temple in it but it's a training monastery so the abbess of another actual temple ordains the person, the nun and who then goes to the training monastery right, right, in this case it just so happens sorry I didn't make it clear it's like getting sent to Tassajara after you've been ordained we haven't done any ordination for Tassajara

[87:54]

Aoyama sensei does have the largest number of disciples and in large part it's because she is extremely strict and obviously these women who have given up everything they want the strictness, they've chosen that there's one who stayed there many years and is now back in the states Diane San and there's a woman from Brazil Cohen San who was there who has also graduated from the training monastery there were three from Minnesota Tejo and Emyo and Yuko who spent time there so when are you going to publish? well in part that's beyond my control there is a publisher

[88:57]

who will there's no signed contract but it's very likely they will a year year and a half when you list these disciples this means these are these people had sheho from Dogon? the nuns under Dogon were not Dogon did not ordain them the details of even if there was a system like sheho back then I mean he wrote about it a lot but how it worked particularly you don't know what it is I know this is not an answerable question but is there is there anything that you've found that gives any indication

[89:57]

of why men would be threatened by women disciples? it just comes up again and again and I don't know it just eludes me every time I try to come up with something that would not only cause a question but cause this incredible degradation that somehow I can't understand how it would happen if these women say oh they must be right and so it just eludes me why it would be so threatening no one I use the policy that you can't say what happened if you can't say what did happen and I can tell you a quick little story where that became crystal clear there was someone giving a lecture a Buddhist scholar giving a

[90:59]

lecture on Buddhist topics who said that nuns in such and such a tradition did not study philosophy and I said I thought my goodness he must know something about nuns

[91:12]

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