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56 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

Nevertheless, from both the Prātimokṣayāna and Geshe Dadul: She is mentioned almost everywhere
Pāramitāyāna sutras, females have to, from a certain from Vinaya to Pāramitā to sūtra volumes in the
point of their spiritual journey, be born as males for Tibetan Buddhist canons. They include Vinayavastu;
several lifetimes until they become fully enlightened Vinayavibhaṅga; Vinaya-kshudraka-vastu, belonging
Buddhas eventually. to the Vinaya section of the canons. She also appears
in Jātakanidanam in the Pāramitā section, and
Here, according to a doctoral thesis titled Gender and Bhadrakalpika, Upaya-kaulsalya, Abhinskramana sūtra,
the Soteriology Debate in Buddhism: Is a Female Buddha and Karma-shataka, belonging to the sūtra section.
Possible in Non-Esoteric Buddhism by Karma Sonam In particular, Jātakanidanam, Dege 32, Pāramitā
Palmo, a Ph.D. from Tasmania University, claims that section, on page 247a2, carries a special story of the
“… the premises used to rule out a female Buddha, Buddha related to Yashodharā. After 12 years of being
according to Śrāvakayāna and Pāramitayāna (non- away from his father’s place, i.e. 6 years since his
Tantric Mahāyāna), are not supported by the Buddha‘s enlightenment, he is back, with a few of his disciples,
own teachings as recorded in canonical texts, and such at his father’s palace for lunch at the king’s invitation.
premise are employed only in the commentaries, and After the meal, Buddha foresaw Yashodharā becoming
therefore in the hermeneutic works of later scholars.” ordained and eventually attaining Arhathood. He
prepares her by teaching the four noble truths before
We hardly know much about Yashodharā other than leaving with his disciples.
that she became a nun. Are there scriptural sources
that explain some of her contributions during her Sometimes we hear comments by certain Buddhist
life time? teachers that one is born a female because of
bad karma being done in past lives. How do we
Aggacitta: I’m not aware of any in the Pāli Canon except understand such negative comments about women?
for a Yasodhara-therīyāpadāna, attributed to her in the
Khuddaka Nikāya, which is obviously a very late work Aggacitta: Two cases of gender change after full
in which she describes her past kamma and aspirations ordination were recorded in the Vinaya canon, one
related to her relationship with Sumedho the Buddha-to- each among the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis respectively.
be, and the desirable results of her past dāna. However, When they were referred to the Buddha, he decreed that
nothing is mentioned about her contributions to society. each was to be transferred to the respective monastic
communities and their seniority retained without any
Min Wei: The Princess Yasodharā may occupy only requirement for re-ordination.
a small space in the early Buddha narrative, but her
elusive figure has continued to fascinate Buddhists The commentary then explained the kammic mechanism
over the centuries. According to tradition, following involved in this phenomenon thus: among the two
the renunciation of Siddhārtha, Yasodharā continued to genders, the male is superior and the female inferior.
reside in the palace of King Suddhodana and brought Therefore, the male gender disappears because of
up their son Rahula. It appears that she has continued strong unwholesome kamma and the female gender
to take an interest in the developments in relation to is established because of weak wholesome kamma.
the ascetic life of her husband. When she heard that Similarly, the female gender disappears because of strong
her husband has shaved his head, was wearing simple unwholesome kamma but the male gender is established
yellow robes and has given up using perfumes and because of strong wholesome kamma. So, both genders
garlands, she did likewise. When she heard that he was disappear because of unwholesome kamma and (the
having only one meal a day and was sleeping on a low, opposite) is obtained because of wholesome kamma.
hard bed, she too had only one meal a day and slept on a
low, hard bed. When her own family and other relatives My personal view is that there is nothing negative
offered to maintain her, she refused their offers and or positive about this objective explanation of the
when several eligible princes offered to marry her, she mechanism of kamma. Moreover, it also shows that both
rejected their proposals. genders are produced by wholesome kamma although
the strength varies.