This article explores narratives relevant to the study of the representation of women’s soteriological agency in the Middle Period by looking at two parallel versions of a story that are located respectively in the Mūlasarvāstivāda and the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya. 1 The first story—in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya—is about a woman who, due to an oversight by Ɩnanda, misses the occasion to be exposed to the inspiring qualities of the Buddha and therefore to develop an aspiration to Buddhahood. In the second story—in the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya—the opportunity is not lost on Ɩnanda who gives the woman an exposition of the Buddha’s qualities. This second case, which involves some textual difficulties, appears to describe a declaration of assurance of liberation obtained by the woman, which is understood as a potential for Buddhahood in the Vinaya commentary extant in Chinese, possibly as a result of an explanatory gloss inserted in China. Both stories (and the Vinaya commentary) show a positive attitude towards women. This testifies to the existence of a multitude of voices in gender-related soteriological discourse, not only in narrative collections such as the Avadānaśataka and the “Scripture of the Wise and the Fool” (Dhammadinnā 2015), but also in stories transmitted within the boundaries of canonical normative texts such as the Vinayas. The primary sources offered in translation and the topics broached in the discussion offer a window onto the intersection of Buddhist soteriological and social ideologies as reflected in Buddhist legal texts in late antique and medieval India, and beyond it.
目次
Abstract 33 Introduction 34 I. A Woman’s Missed Aspiration to Buddhahood in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya 37 II. A Woman’s Vast Merit (All the Way to Liberation) in the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya 41 III. Textual Difficulties & Soteriological Goals 43 IV. The Module with the Buddha’s Qualities & Textual Development 49 V. Ɩnanda’s Role 53 VI. Scholasticism & Agency 56 VII. Do Women Only Belong in the Kitchen? 57 Conclusion 61 Acknowledgment 62 Abbreviations 63 References 63
