“THE POSITION . . . . . . . . . BUDDHISM 497
feels that she cannot live with him, and she does not become a social outcaste after her husband’s death, but can re-marry if she desires so. Women may have their own affairs, in fact in Burma as well as in Tibet (of which countries I can speak of my own experience) women are perfect equals of men, socially as well as in respect of business affairs, and they often show more enterprise and ability than men, who gladly leave these things to their womenfolk.
Such a position of women in Buddhist society would hardly have been possible if, as the author of the article under review assert, “ the Buddha has a prejudice against women and was forever exhorting men to beware of them. ”
To accuse the Buddha, who certainly was the most broadminded, most liberal and tolerant of all the great teachers of the past, and who due to this was and still is revered far beyond the confines of India as no other of her sons,—to accuse such a Teacher of prejudice is certainly an extraordinary feat of misjudgment. If of all the great sages of India was only the Buddha who had a world wide appeal, it was His complete lack of any prejudice (how otherwise, could He be acclaimed and recognized as the Enlightened One ? ) the universality of His outlook and His deep understanding of human nature, irrespective of caste, colour, or sex.
It was He, in fact who laid the foundations for the emancipation of women (who under the laws of Manu were in a very unfavourable position) as our learned author admits, thus contradicting his own previous statement that the Buddhists were the first to thrust women into the background. It was the Buddha who declared in unmistakable words that a woman has as great a chance to attain sainthood as a man.
This attitude of early Buddhism is confirmed by the fact that the Buddha on one occasion refused an invitation from princes, because He had already accepted that of a courtesan. The princes were shocked that a “ frivolous woman like Amrapali should be thus honoured by the Buddha and tried to dissuade Him. But the Buddha stuck to his word, and Amrapali become one of His most praised woman, disciples. If he had harboured any prejudice against, women here would have been the opportunity to show it.