A Garland of Feminist Reflections: Forty Years of Religious Exploration

18. Buddhist Women and Teaching Authority

Buddhist Women and Teaching Authority The primary feminist criticism of Buddhism is that most often, dharma teachers are men. Feminists have responded with two solutions to this problem. One obvious solution would be to make structural changes to ensure that women are trained as teachers, and then to make sure that women are promoted as teachers. Other feminists have proposed a different solution, stating that giving dharma teachers any real authority is itself a patriarchal practice which cannot be redeemed by encouraging women to become dharma teachers. Many Westerners are deeply suspicious of the authority a Vajrayana or Zen dharma teacher has over his or her students. Especially after scandals involving abuses of power that rocked North American Buddhism in the 1980s, suspicions about unlimited teaching authority increased. Nevertheless, from the point of view of Buddhist practice, there are limits as to how egalitarian and democratic Buddhism can become. While power has been and can be abused, some aspects of Buddhist life do require the authority of a lineage and a teacher. It is important to sort out which issues can be decided by group consensus and which aspects of Buddhist life cannot be subjected to majority rule. It is dangerous for people who do not understand Buddhist teachings well and who have not practiced for many years to decide what should be taught or what meditation technique to use. Many fundamental Buddhist teachings, such as the Four Noble Truths or Egolessness, go so much against the grain of people’s ordinary hopes and fears that they 281 chapter 18 Gross_Ch18 10/17/08 16:29 Page 281 would never be the result of a popular vote, which is why democracy is a poor tool for deciding what should be taught at a Buddhist dharma center. Authoritative teachers are unlikely to become unnecessary in genuine Buddhism any time soon. On the other hand, the authority of dharma teachers pertains to dharma, to the teachings and practices of Buddhism, not to a sangha’s institutional life, which can be decided by the community. Even though dharma teachers have spiritual authority, they must be subject to judgment by the community if they engage in inappropriate behavior, such as sexual misconduct, misappropriation of funds, or other undharmic conduct. Because dharma teaching is so important in Buddhism, the acid test for whether Buddhism has overcome its male-dominant heritage is the frequency with which women become dharma teachers. There is no logical reason why about half the dharma teachers should not be women. That historically men nevertheless have monopolized teaching roles can be traced to two factors: (1) the male-dominated cultures in which Buddhism was founded and in which it has always been practiced, and (2) some of the rules of Buddhist institutional life. Some people think that this historical generalization is no longer relevant because of the visibility and popularity of some North American women dharma teachers, such as Pema Chodron, and the fact that many North American women are senior teachers. Buddhism, however, is a much larger and longer-lived phenomenon than Western convert Buddhism, and those historical norms are still widespread in much of the Buddhist world. Even among North American Buddhists, a disproportionate percentage of the most respected and authoritative teachers are men, especially among those who follow various forms of Tibetan Buddhism. This claim can readily be verified by looking at teachers’ ads in North American Buddhist publications. In a recent issue of Buddhadharma, thirteen teachers were pictured in ads for dharma programs they were leading; twelve of them were men. The Shambhala Sun ads pictured nineteen male teachers and no female teachers. In Tricycle, the ratio was fifteen male teachers to two women teachers. That magazine was advertising its own “Tele-Teachings” series, featuring six male teachers and one female teacher. North American Buddhists tout the fact that roughly half of the people teaching at most dharma centers are women. Nevertheless, a phenomenon I have long observed still prevails. Within the hierarchy of those who have teaching titles and authority, men dominate at the top ranks while women often do most of the teaching at 282 Buddhist Women and Teaching Authority Gross_Ch18 10/17/08 16:29 Page 282 the lower ranks. Given these facts, premature self-congratulations and denial of the relevance of the issue of female teachers are probably unwarranted. Instead, we should question more deeply why women teachers are so important, what...