The following contains excerpts from the bestselling book The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists -- Explained by David N. Snyder, Ph.D. with a Foreword by the Venerable Madewela Punnaji. Go to this link for more information and to order:
www.TheDhamma.comThe book contains 90 lists of the Buddha's teachings with the 29 most important lists explained in detail. The teachings in these lists provide tranquility, insights, and wisdom which are conducive to the happiness and well being for anyone of any religion and even to those with no religion.
Theravada - (Pali) The way of the elders. The oldest, most orthodox form of Buddhism. The teachings and practices are virtually unchanged from the time of the Buddha, including the monastic orders and the rules for the monastic communities and the emphasis on meditation and the teachings of the Eightfold Middle Path.
There are two basic forms of Theravada that have developed in modern, developed countries. One is the ethnic-Asian form which has come to modern countries virtually unchanged from its form in its home country (typically or usually a Southeast Asian country). In the ethnic-Asian form there are more rituals, chanting, and ceremonies. In many cases the Buddhist temple is also a cultural center. The other form of Theravada that has developed in modern countries is a non-sectarian Vipassana. In this form there are few, if any, rituals chanting, or ceremonies and the dharma teacher is more likely to be a lay person rather than a monk or nun. The emphasis is on Vipassana meditation and many of the members of such a group are likely to report that they are not Buddhist. Both are excellent forms of practice to follow. They are not in conflict with each other just as no Buddhist school is in conflict with another or any other religion.
Tipitaka - (Pali) Three baskets. It refers to the three large parts of the Buddhist scriptures, the Suttas, Vinaya, and Abhidhamma. The tipitaka is approximately 20,000 pages long.
Vipassana - (Pali) Insight. Insight meditation, the procedure for seeing Reality, attaining wisdom, calming and purifying the mind, and attaining enlightenment.
The Buddha’s teachings are focused on the Eightfold Middle Path which is characterized by Morality, Concentration, and Wisdom. All three are cultivated in the 8 fold path. There are many schools of Buddhism and many varieties all of which emphasize different aspects in practice, such as chanting, meditation, bodhisattva ideal, and prostrations.
The Theravada places a balance between the different types of practice with about an equal importance given to all the types including chanting / prayer (such as loving kindness prayers), meditation, generosity and helping others, and reading / studying and analyzing. Contrary to some belief, the Theravada does include an emphasis on compassion, generosity, and helping others, including aiding them in their attainments. There is just more of an equal footing given to individual attainments along with helping others and the other practices mentioned here.
The Buddha did not call his followers Buddhists and in fact in at least one instance recommended that Buddhism be called vibhajjavada, which means “doctrine of analysis.” The followers would be called vibhajjavadins, which would basically mean “analysts” or “those who analyze.”
The Theravada also acknowledges that progress on the Path is gradual, which is supportive of the gradual training involved with meditation and study. In the Pali Canon, Majjhima Nikaya, Kiagiri Sutta 70. 22 the Buddha says,“Bhikkhus, I do not say that the final knowledge is achieved all at once. On the contrary, final knowledge is achieved by gradual training, by gradual practice, gradual progress.”
The Buddha further talks about studying the dharma, following the dharma, having faith or confidence in the teachings by hearing it and memorizing some of it, and practicing it. In MN Subha Sutta 99. 4 the Buddha says,“I am one who speaks after making an analysis.”
In MN Ganakamoggalaha Sutta 107. 3 the Buddha states,“It is possible, Brahmin, to describe gradual training, gradual practice, and gradual progress in this Dhamma and Disciplne.”
The encyclopedia entry for Vibhajjavada is as follows:
The Vibhajjavada school says that the first step to insight has to be achieved by the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith. This school was introduced to Sri Lanka by the Venerable Mahinda, son of Emperor Asoka, who brought with him the Pali Canon. Vibhajjavada is an ancestor of the school known today as Theravada.
The Theravada can be seen as the foundation of Buddhism with its origin to the time of Buddha and the equal importance given to all forms of practice. The other schools of Buddhism are not wrong and in fact are on the Path to enlightenment in the same way, they just emphasize different characteristics of the foundation more and specialize in one or more forms of practice, but do not reject the foundation.
As stated above, the Theravada school of Buddhism is known as “the way of the elders” and is considered the oldest, most orthodox form of Buddhism. But this does not make it a rigid and dogmatic or fundamentalist school of Buddhism. The remainder of this webpage will focus on this issue of fundamentalism to show that this is not the intention or purpose of Theravada and a small minority of monks and lay people who are attempting to take Theravada in this fundamentalist direction are actually going against the Buddha’s teachings.
Before enlightenment, the Buddha spent six years meditating in the Dungasiri Mountains in a cave. He rarely ate food and underwent long fasts. He was practicing the ascetic practices which to this day are still practiced by some Hindu ascetic sadhus (spiritual contemplatives). He reached high level of trance and absorption, but not the ultimate insights of enlightenment. One day he heard some people talking about their instruments. A teacher remarked that the strings will not work if they are too tight or if they are too loose. The future Buddha continued his meditation and realized that his extremist practices were not working to get him to the final liberation. He realized that a “middle way” was necessary. He bathed in the river and then accepted some rice cooked in milk from a local village woman named Sujata. It was only then with the nourishment from food and after the relaxing bath in the river that the future Buddha could sit under the Bodhi tree and later attain enlightenment.
By definition, this “middle way” cannot be a fundamentalist path. Fundamentalists in all religions are very dogmatic, inflexible, uncompromising, and repeat and memorize scripture references ad nauseam to attack those with progressive ideas and philosophies in their religions. Often, fundamentalist views become authoritarian, dictatorial, and sometimes even violent. In contrast, the Buddha’s middle way is a progressive way, that is compromising, flexible, open to other views, tolerant, unattached, and peaceful.
The progressive teachings of the Buddha
The Buddha was a social reformer and revolutionary philosophical leader. Some incorrectly believe that the Buddha formed Buddhism out of Hinduism. The Buddha actually “rediscovered” Buddhism as he said that there were many “buddhas” or enlightened ones before him, before recorded written history and that there will be many more after him. It follows that there can also be buddhas or enlightened ones on other planets with intelligent life, making Buddhism a truly universal religion which can exist in any country, culture, time period, or even any planet, regardless of caste, national origin, race, ethnicity, or gender.
The Buddha completely broke away from the prevailing Hindu doctrines as he rejected animal sacrifices, wars, violence, killing, caste system, discrimination, inequality of men and women. Today Hindus honor the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu, the preserver god, but they see the most differences between their religion and the Theravada. This is because the Theravada has maintained the original teachings of Buddha as much as possible. The Mahayana for example, now has a plethora of gods and goddesses and a living god in the pure land, known as Amitabha who is prayed to in the hope of getting to that heavenly realm. The Hindus of today see little differences between Mahayana and their religion of Hinduism. Theologically the Buddha also differed from the prevailing Hindu doctrines with his insistence on doctrines such as no-self (instead of the permanent soul found in most religious beliefs), the concept of re-birth as opposed to reincarnation, and his opposition to what might be called “new age” practices today such as astrology, palm reading, psychic claims, channeling, and other so-called super human feats which people usually charge a hefty fee for. The Buddha did not deny the existence of the possibility for some super human feats, but did not want them flaunted in exhibitions and definitely not for income.
The Buddha was the first person in known history to condemn slavery. He also condemned the caste system of India. The Buddha was from a high caste himself, but rejected such systems of inequality. When the Buddha was asked who a Brahmin (highest caste) was in his religion, the Buddha answered:
“(He/She) who hurts not any living being, whether feeble or strong, who neither kills nor causes to kill - him I call a Brahmin.” (Dhammapada, chapter 26, verse 405)
This “no killing or causing to kill” can be by anyone and does not require birth to a certain family, caste, etc. The Buddha taught that everyone has the capacity for enlightenment and to end suffering. His teachings and his order of monks and nuns was (and is) open to people from all countries and races. During the Buddha’s time there was a severely hunch-backed person who had a great thirst for the Buddha’s teachings, followed them and obtained enlightenment. Many slaves and other out-castes from the pre-Buddhist era joined Buddha’s order of monks and also obtained enlightenment. Another quote from the Buddha on the caste system is:
“Birth makes no Brahmin, nor non-Brahmin, makes; it is life’s doing that mold the Brahmin true. Their lives mold farmers, tradesmen, merchants, and serfs. Their lives mold robbers, soldiers, chaplains, and kings. By birth is not one an out-caste. By birth is not one a Brahmin. By deeds is one an out-caste. By deeds is one a Brahmin.”
Majjhima Nikaya 98, Vasettha Sutta 57-59
Although racism still exists in many countries, we know that the ideologies of this hatred make no sense from the biological sciences and from common sense. All humans are the same and tend to be very diverse in interests, intelligence, and skills, regardless of color or national origin. When we have an understanding and acceptance of re-birth, we know that there may have been countless lives where we were a white man, a black man, Asian woman, Arab man, or any of the other innumerable possibilities. If people really understood and accepted re-birth, there would be much greater peace in the world.
The Buddha was also the first person in known history to set up a monastic order for women. At first the Buddha was somewhat reluctant to allow an order of nuns, but this is because of the highly sexist society of ancient India. Still in this twenty-first century that we live in, women do not have full equal rights with men in most countries and do not even make as much salary as men for the same type of work. The Buddha lived in a much more sexist society than we live in. The Buddha did agree to create an order of nuns and stated that they are no different than men in capacity for enlightenment. At first there were more rules for nuns than the rules for monks, but they primarily dealt with the protection of the nuns. For example, a nun was raped when walking through a forest by herself. The Buddha followed this incident with a rule that no nun could walk through the forest by herself.
Many women joined the order of nuns, including a former prostitute named Ambapali. Many of these nuns, including Ambapali attained enlightenment.
In some Asian countries there is a cultural custom to state that only men can become enlightened. A woman’s only hope was to practice the five precepts and hope to be re-born as a man. This is not the Buddha’s teachings, but a later sexist custom added to justify continued patriarchal, male dominated rule.
In modern, developed countries dharma teachers are much more likely to be lay people. They have careers and families and usually teach without any charges. Like the monks and nuns, they generously offer dharma instruction with a genuine concern for helping others. The vipassana tradition is based on this appropriate notion of offering the teachings with no charge. These lay teachers are just as likely to be women as they are men and they share full equal rights within the Buddhist community. In spite of the added rules on the nuns during the time of the Buddha, the establishment of an order for women was highly revolutionary, taking place over five hundred years before the birth of Christ.
Another revolutionary aspect to the Buddha’s religion (philosophy or way of life, whichever you prefer) is the fact that large parts of the Buddhist scriptures were written by women. The Buddhist scriptures’ version of the “Psalms” was almost entirely written by Buddhist nuns. It includes several books and several hundred pages, nearly all written by women. (Davids, Norman, Pali Text Society) This fact is revolutionary and unparalleled in human history. No other major religion before or after the Buddha’s time included scriptures which were written by women.
The fundamentalist response and views toward women and progressive ideas
In spite of the Buddha’s many progressive teachings as shown above, there are a minority of monks and lay people in Theravada who have taken a few verses literally in order to attempt to make the Buddha’s teachings sexist and discriminatory. If they are successful it will produce a terrible effect to Buddhism and the Buddha’s teachings, leading to its downfall. In this age we live in to take a progressive teaching and make it into a discriminatory one with sexism by treating women as if they were inferior will discourage and prevent so many people from entering the Buddha’s wonderful path. This webpage is to provide support to all intelligent and progressive people that although the fundamentalists’ voice may be loud, they are not speaking from the Buddha’s teachings and are speaking only from ignorance.
The fundamentalist Buddhists contend that the Buddha reluctantly granted permission for women to enter the Order of monastics and become nuns. They also point to a verse which the Buddha says that his religion will last only 500 years because he allowed women to become monastics. There are also additional rules for nuns, including 8 heavy rules which clearly appear to place the nuns lower than the male monastics, including rules that a women ordained for 100 years is still lower in rank to a monk ordained one day and another rule that nuns cannot teach or ordain monks.
The bhikkhuni line thrived for centuries and was highlighted by Sanghamitta, the daughter of King Ashoka, who went to Sri Lanka to establish the line there and brought with her a sapling of the original Bodhi tree where Buddha got enlightenment. Over years of warfare, many thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns were killed. The bhikkhu (monk) line managed to survive the centuries of warfare, but the bhikkhuni line died out and there were no more Theravada nuns in existence. Women who want to ordain in Theravada must receive the double ordination ceremony from a qualified monk and nun who must be present. Since there were no more nuns, no women could get full ordination and could only be satisfied with a lesser 8 precept arrangement (wearing white instead of yellow or saffron) while the men still had full rights to ordain in either 8 precept or the full 10 precept / 227 precept saffron robed full ordination. On an account of this minor “technicality” fundamentalist Theravadins have held that women cannot receive full ordination anymore and those who do so are “invalid.”
A progressive response from a progressive Theravadin
The first thing we must remember is that the Buddha’s teachings were oral for several hundred years before being written down. They were memorized by monks who met at several council meetings before the words were written down. Anyone who has taken even a very beginning communication class in school or college knows how easily words can get distorted over a very short amount of time. This is why fundamentalism is so wrong, because often the words and letters that are so adhered to are not even the real words of their religious founder, guru, rabbi, or teacher. People who follow the general principles of their religions and avoid rote memorization and rattling off of key verses to suit their customs are doing a much better service to their religions and tend to be more tolerant and accepting of others, including adherents of other religions.
“Bhikkhus, there are these four knots. What four? The bodily knot of covetousness, the bodily knot of ill will, the bodily knot of distorted grasp of rules and vows, the bodily knot of adherence to dogmatic assertion of truth.”
Samyutta Nikaya 45.174
The Buddha also clearly did not say that the literal word of the discourses should be accepted. This is most noted in the Kalama Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya 3.65) and also in the following discourse:
“Monks, these two slander the Tathagata. Which two? He who explains a discourse whose meaning needs to be inferred as one whose meaning has already been fully drawn out. And he who explains a discourse whose meaning has already been fully drawn out as one whose meaning needs to be inferred. These are two who slander the Tathagata.”
Anguttara Nikaya 2.25
Note the words in bold, which show that there are at least some discourses where the meaning is to be inferred and the literal meaning will be wrong. And then, also, there are some discourses which should be taken literally, but the point the Buddha makes, is that it is not all of them.
It is quite possible that the Buddha never had any reluctance to accept women into an Order of monastics. The Buddha broke away from virtually every type of Hindu belief at the time and was well ahead of his time in his insistence on social reforms.
In ancient India the Vedas and other religious texts were written in Sanskrit. Sanskrit was the language of the Brahmins, the highest caste and the language of the sadhus, the religious contemplatives. The Buddha deliberately spoke in Pali, the language of the commoners to show that his teachings are universal and meant for all, not just men, not just the Brahmins. The Buddha was from the Khattiya (warrior) caste which is the second highest caste, yet he still disregarded these social inequities and favored egalitarianism.
One of the Buddha’s first teachings were against the caste system. He gave the famous saying against caste, that “birth does not make one a Brahmin” in the fifth week after his enlightenment. In Bodh Gaya, India where the Buddha attained enlightenment there is a large sign commemorating this saying at the Maha Bodhi temple complex. This quote is significant because birth does not make you a higher person than another. In the same way as we are born male or female, it is not this birth, this gender which makes us higher or lower. It is our deeds in words, thoughts, and actions which make us higher or lower.
The Buddha was asked in so many words, "is there even one woman nun who is fully enlightened." The Buddha responded, "There are not only one hundred . . . or five hundred, but far more bhikkhunis, my disciples, who by realizing for themselves with direct knowledge here and now enter upon and abide in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom . . ." Sutta 73 Majjhima Nikaya and also in other sutras too.
In the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhunisamyutta there are several reports of how well the nuns do against temptations from Mara (an evil deva or negative mental states, depending upon your interpretation). In SN 5.1 Mara asks a nun, "There is no escape in the world, So what will you do with seclusion? Enjoy the delights of sensual pleasure: Don't be remorseful later!"
The bhikkhuni (nun) responds,"There is an escape in the world which I have closely touched with wisdom. O Evil One, kinsman of the negligent, You do not know that state. Sensual pleasures are like swords and stakes; the aggregates like their chopping block. What you call sensual delight has become for me nondelight."
In another part, Mara asks "Are you on the lookout for a man?" And again the bhikkhuni rebukes Mara and Mara leaves disappointed.
Theravadins and all other Buddhists agree that any woman has the capacity for full enlightenment. There are three types of buddhas or enlightened ones. One is a buddha who teaches others; another is a silent buddha who attains enlightenment but does not teach, but presumably can still send his or her “rays” of metta - loving kindness to the world. The third type of buddha is a samma-sam-buddha, which is a special buddha which comes around only once every 5,000 to 15,000 years to teach the dharma when the dharma has died out from the world. This “savior” type of buddha is who the Buddha was. The next “savior” buddha is foretold by the Buddha to come in 5,000 years after his death, or roughly the year 4517 (not for another 2,500 years), named Maitreya.
In all three types of buddha, there is full liberation and nirvana. One does not need to be a samma-sam-buddha to attain enlightenment or nirvana. Thus, full liberation is open to women. However, there are fundamentalist Buddhists who contend that only a man can become a samma-sam-buddha. The issue is mostly meaningless, since we already have a Buddha for our time and well over 99% of us will not attain to any of the three types of buddha, let alone the samma-sam-buddha title. But it still makes a point that only men can have this title and this is still a subtle form of sexism which can be used to discriminate in other ways.
The famous Theravada teacher Dipa Ma, was sitting quietly in her room one day while her teacher and another teacher were talking. Her teacher remarked that only a man can become a buddha (samma-sam-buddha). Dipa Ma immediately rose from her silence and exclaimed, “I can do anything a man can do!” The guests erupted with laughter and agreement. Dipa Ma was an amazing woman who mastered all the jhanas and taught vipassana from her humble small home in India.
What is the origin of this crazy idea that only a man can become a samma-sam-buddha? It all stems from the 32 marks of a great man. There are a few sutras which mention the 32 marks of a great man and how the Buddha possesses these marks. If you see the list of these so-called great marks, you will see that they are truly mythological and completely legendary; certainly nothing to be taken seriously or to justify sexism.
Some of the items on this list of 32 marks of a great man include a lion’s chest, a jaw like a lion, a tongue that is so long that it can reach the forehead and both ear holes, 40 teeth, and a penis encased in a sheath. Because the list is that of a great “man” and includes the penis encased in a sheath, it obviously excludes women. But anyone with a little common sense can see these mythological claims are designed to elevate the status of religious leaders by making them sound super human. It helps to convert the uneducated masses, but does nothing to shed more light on the wonderful teachings of the man who became a buddha.
The origin of the 32 marks of a great man has nothing to do with Buddhism. This is a pre-Buddhistic concept. This is proven by the fact that Asita, the seer who came to see the baby Buddha just after birth predicted that the Buddha will either become a great king and ruler or a great religious man. This seer named Asita, checked the baby Buddha and found the 32 marks of a great man present on Buddha. This was before the Buddha’s enlightenment, before Buddhism, and before the Buddha’s first teachings.
I see no logic in saying that only men can become a samma-sam-buddha. The Buddha was quite clear that women have the capacity to become fully enlightened and many nuns were certified to have done so during the Buddha’s time. Nirvana and enlightenment are not any different for any of the three types of buddha. Therefore, any woman can become any of the three types of buddha.
In regard to the bhikkhuni line, this was finally revived in Sarnath, India in 1996. Progressive Theravada monks ordained the first women as fully ordained Theravada nuns with saffron robes. The Mahayana bhikkhuni line never died out, just the Theravada one. So women have received the double ordination with Mahayana nuns and Theravada monks present. Many Mahayana nuns had both a Theravada and Mahayana ordination so that line never really died out, just the exclusively Theravada bhikkhuni line. So leave it to the fundamentalists to once again say that the ordinations are invalid, just because there were no exclusively Theravada nuns present. Since that time hundreds, to nearly thousands of women have been ordained as full bhikkhunis. They have been most readily accepted in Western nations, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. The most resistance against the full ordinations has come from the traditions and monks from Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand.
Ayya Khema was a German born fully ordained nun who wrote many bestselling books and was a master of the dharma and the jhanas. She opened many monasteries and temples in Asia and Europe. Ven. Dr. Dhammananda (C. Kabilsingh) and Ven. Dr. Kusuma are fully ordained bhikkhunis, both with a Ph.D. and are continuing in Sri Lanka and Thailand where Ayya Khema left off and have written on the subject of women’s status. They state that the 8 heavy rules cannot be taken seriously. There are verses in the sutras where the Buddha pointed out some bad monks to some nuns. The Buddha told the nuns not to respect these bad monks. The first nuns did not have nuns present to ordain them. The first nuns did not have senior nuns to seek full ordination to after a probationary period (no. 6 of the 8 heavy rules). Also, there are sutras where the Buddha deliberately remains silent while nuns are giving a dharma talk. After the dharma talk, the Buddha exclaims that he could not have said it any better (such as in Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 44 where the Buddha praises the enlightened nun, Ven. Dhammadina).
All of the above points run contrary to the 8 heavy rules and would not be allowed by the 8 heavy rules, which all shows that these rules were added much later. They were added later to justify sexism, to keep nuns in an inferior position.
“Birth does not make one a Brahmin.” The Buddha is also saying “gender does not make one a Brahmin, or a monk, or a holy person” because one is born male or female. It is our deeds in words, actions, and thoughts which make you a Brahmin, a monk worthy of respect, or a holy person.
The only remaining point I have not refuted of the fundamentalists in their case against women is the line where the Buddha says that his religion will only last 500 years since he ordained women. I will say that there could be a possibility that the Buddha did say that and that he may have in fact been reluctant to ordain women at first. But this does not make him a sexist. One must remember the social context at the time of the Buddha. He lived in a very sexist society. The Buddha always presented his teachings in the context of his audience and what they were ready for. If he was speaking to a group of people who were attracted to the devotional aspects of religion, he would adjust his talk accordingly. Once a group of people were complaining that he does not make any miracles, perform any healings, or any other supernatural powers. The Buddha had those abilities, but did not want to flaunt it and wanted his religion to be focused on his teachings and the meditation practice. But he understood the context of his audience and there at that time did make his body appear to be many, although it is one. He “multiplied” his body some one thousand fold. On another occasion he is said to have walked across the Ganges river without sinking in, basically walking on water, just like Jesus, only over 500 years earlier.
Once when visiting the Kalamas, who were very intelligent, he gave one of his best discourses where he blasted the authorities of gurus, scriptures, and tradition:
“Do not believe in something because it is reported. Do not believe in something because it has been practiced by generations or becomes a tradition or part of a culture. Do not believe in something because a scripture says it is so. Do not believe in something believing a god has inspired it. Do not believe in something a teacher tells you to. Do not believe in something because the authorities say it is so. Do not believe in hearsay, rumor, speculative opinion, public opinion, or mere acceptance to logic and inference alone. Help yourself, accept as completely true only that which you test for yourself and know to be good for yourself and others.” Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 Kalama Sutta
Consider the context of the situation of women during the time of the Buddha:
Women were not allowed to leave the home. They were to stay inside and could only go to the marketplace or another public place if they were in the presence of their husband, or if no husband, then their brother or father. Women, especially high caste women do not work outside the home at all. Education is discouraged, especially higher education for women. When a woman’s husband comes home from work she is to greet him with respect and place her hand at his feet. If a woman wanted to divorce her husband, she could only do so after proving a total of 7 bad character flaws. If she cannot prove all 7, then she cannot get her divorce. She may only marry a member of her caste and her family must pay a dowry to the husband’s family. A woman cannot become a sadhu (contemplative) while she is married or is still menstruating. Women cannot become priests at all in the Hindu religion.
The above situation of women during the time of Buddha sounds pretty bad, right? Actually, that is the status of women in India TODAY! In urban areas, the situation has improved a little, but in rural areas this is how women are treated in 21st century India. I recently came back from a Buddhist pilgrimage in India and witnessed this myself. We can just imagine how much even worse it may have been during the time of Buddha, over 2,500 years ago!
The Buddha did not make any rule that women need to wait until they stop menstruating before becoming nuns. This concept that a woman is unclean because she menstruates is common in many religions but is notably absent in Buddhism. Menstruation is a natural procedure and there would be no men in this world were it not for women’s ability to have monthly cycles and pregnancies.
Considering the context and degree of sexism in India during the time of Buddha still through today, it is no wonder that the Buddha may have actually said those things about being reluctant and that his religion would only last 500 years. If we look at history, the Buddha was correct. Back then there were no airplanes, fax machines, internet, etc. People defined their world in terms of their 500 mile radius. Buddhism did die out from its home country of India and it started to die out right at about 500 years after the death - paranirvana of Buddha. A famous Hindi king took back control of India and wanted the caste system back since he was a member of a high caste. He brought the caste system back and then there was the acceptance of Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu. Suddenly there was no more reason for Buddhism among the Indians. They abandoned Buddhism, but fortunately, the teachings did survive in Sri Lanka and other Southeast Asian nations and then the Mahayana spread to Tibet, China, and the rest of Asia.
Since the Buddha always considered the context of his audience and what they were ready for it is highly probably that he wanted to gradually phase out the sexist policies, as the people were ready for it. There is already evidence that this is what he did with his teachings on nonviolence toward animals and the environment, by gradually phasing out the consumption of meat, which of course causes the killing of animals. See:
http://www.veggiebuddhists.com/Today we live in the 21st century and there is certainly no need to continue the antiquated sexist policies. As shown above, the sexist policies run contrary to the spirit and intent of the Buddha’s universal and wonderful wisdom. For Theravada Buddhism to correct itself and become the orthodox, not fundamentalist school of Buddhism, it needs to fully embrace the progressive messages of the Buddha for the 21st century and beyond:
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Social engagement, more work in the areas of charities to the homeless and other causes, such as anti-war.
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Full equal rights for women, no exceptions, continue with full ordinations of qualified women as bhikkhunis, and full acceptance of their ordinations by the male monks.
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More concern for the environment and leanings toward vegetarianism. Vegetarianism may not be the goal, but it does provide a light and a direction. (Thich Nhat Hanh)
There are already progressive Theravada groups that are following the Buddha’s message with the above three points, including:
Bhavana Society, led by Ven. Dr. Gunaratana in West Virginia. He has ordained many women as full bhikkhunis.
Dharma Vijaya, led by Ven. Dr. Piyananda in Los Angeles, has also ordained many women.
S. N. Goenka, the most famous lay Theravada Buddhist has 10 day retreat programs throughout the world. His assistant teachers are both male and female.
Maha Upasika Bongkot, a woman, leader of the international retreat center in Sravasti, India has 100 men and women, all 8 precept and equal, all vegetarian and all work on the premises for the dharma and social engagement.
IMS and Spirit Rock, in the USA are lay led Theravada retreat centers with male and female senior teachers, vegetarian meals, social engagement.
May all beings be happy!
The above contains excerpts from the bestselling book The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists -- Explained by David N. Snyder, Ph.D. with a Foreword by the Venerable Madewela Punnaji. Go to this link for more information and to order:
The book contains 90 lists of the Buddha's teachings with the 29 most important lists explained in detail. The teachings in these lists provide tranquility, insights, and wisdom which are conducive to the happiness and well being for anyone of any religion and even to those with no religion.