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Buddhist Women as Leaders=佛教女眾的領導典範 |
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Author |
Karma Lekshe Tsomo (著)=釋慧空 (au.)
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Source |
國際佛教善女人大會(第11屆)=Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women(11th)
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Date | 2009.12.28 |
Publisher | Sakyadhita: the international association of buddhist women |
Publisher Url |
http://www.sakyadhita.org/
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Location | HCM City, Vietnam [胡志明市, 越南] |
Content type | 會議論文=Proceeding Article |
Language | 中文=Chinese; 英文=English |
Note | 會議地點:越南胡志明市;時間:2009.12.18 - 2010.01.03;大會主題:傑出的女性修行者與典範=Eminent Buddhist Women |
Abstract | For Buddhists, the epitome of enlightened leadership is the Buddha himself. The Buddha led by teaching a path to awakening that is open to all. The path to awakening – a process of purifying the mind of afflictions, such as greed, hatred, and ignorance – is one that can be followed by women and men alike. Traditionally, however, the fact that the Buddha, the model of human perfection, was male seemed to imply to future generations that men were more somehow more capable of awakening than women. This impression was bolstered by the eight special rules attributed to the Buddha that assigned nuns a subordinate status within the Sangha (monastic order). As a consequence, it became customary in Buddhist societies to give greater opportunities to monks than to nuns, men than to women, and boys than to girls.
Historically, monasteries for monks were the democratically organized training centers for Buddhist leadership and over the centuries most Buddhist leaders have been male. Nuns lived in separate monastic centers that were similarly organized, but because they depended on the monks for certain rituals, a gender hierarchy developed. However, the subordinate status of nuns is at odds with the Buddhist theory that mind has no intrinsic gender, hence there is no inherent impediment to women’s enlightenment. Women have equal potential for liberation and therefore should have equal access to Buddhist knowledge and training. Any impediments to women’s full participation in the tradition are impermanent and can be removed. Based on this logic, today Buddhist women are initiating widespread changes for women around the world.
This paper is an exploration of what traditional models of leadership mean for women. Because women have generally played supportive roles in Buddhist societies and have often lacked access to formal education, models of women’s leadership are few. This paper will examine the paths to leadership that were traditionally open to women, their effectiveness, and their relevance for Buddhist women today.
對於佛教徒而言,我們所謂的開悟領袖典範即為佛陀本人。佛陀當年的領導方式就是為眾生開啟一條通往解脫之道。這個解脫之道─不斷的淨化內心及所有煩惱的過程,例如:貪、瞋、癡三毒─無論男女皆可遵循。但傳統上,我們卻見到佛陀這位所謂人類最高証悟境界的模範本身為男眾,這樣的事實對後代來說似乎意味著男眾比女眾更能獲得解脫。而在被歸諸於佛陀所說,置尼眾於僧團次屬地位的八敬法中,這樣的情況更加被強化。而且,在佛教社會中重男輕女也似乎成為了一種習俗,因此大部分的機會都給了出家男眾而非尼眾、給在家男居士而非女眾、給男生而非女生。
在歷史上,男眾寺院基本上採民主方式組織,訓練男眾成為佛教界領袖的中心。幾個世紀以來,佛教界的領導人物皆為男眾。尼眾通常在另外的寺院生活,她們的組織方式類似,但由於她們必須依靠男眾執行一些儀軌,所以因為性別而形成的階級因此產生。然而,尼眾附屬的地位與佛教的重要理論是背道而馳的─心性無男女性別之分,因此,便無所謂女人較無法開悟的現象。女眾與男眾有平等証悟解脫的潛能,因此,她們應該必須有平等接受佛教知識與訓練的機會。任何阻擋女眾全面參與佛教傳統的障礙亦為無常,所以也能夠被改變。基於這樣的邏輯,今日的佛教女眾也在世界各地積極為女眾進行一些改變。
本論文要探討的是傳統中的領導模式對女眾的意義。因為女眾在佛教社會中所扮演的通常為較次要的支持角色,且通常較沒有機會接受正式的教育,因此女眾的領導模式截至目前為止可說是少之又少。這篇論文即為了檢視在傳統中,女眾可通往領導模式的道路,其效果為何?以及這些模式與今日的佛教女眾相關性又是如何? |
Hits | 880 |
Created date | 2010.01.18 |
Modified date | 2015.08.17 |
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