[Buddha-l] To whom should teachings be given

[dvf at umich.edu]

Miriam Levering wrote:

> It seems to me, Dave, that you miss the specific meaning of the 
> passage--only a >woman accompanied by a man (in the Indian social 
> world, this would have been >her husband, father, brother, son) can 
> be guaranteed not to be a prostitute or >a woman sexually active 
> outside of marriage.

Miriam, thank you for your criticism. Your points are all well taken, 
and I agree with what you have written. With what I said, I did not 
wish to deny such a reading of that part of the passage.

However, there seems to me to be a difference between some passages in 
the Dharmashastras, for instance, that are "ostensibly" geared toward 
maintaining the "chastity" of the woman, and those found in Buddhist 
monastic texts that are, again ostensibly, concerned primarily with 
maintaining the chastity of the monk. Both texts do seem to draw upon a 
common set of chauvanistic social beliefs and practices, and the 
Buddhists do very little to question these common Indian social norms.

Do you think that the objectification of women in classical Indian 
society, in which women were seen as property passing from patriarchal 
family to family, is the same sort of objectification of women that 
occurs in a monastic context, which portrays them as "sexually 
insatiable" and a "snare for monks," as you note? They seem consonant 
with each other but perhaps reflect some differing perspectives and 
concerns.

Best regards,

Dave Fiordalis