Daoism & The Gendered Priesthood
Traditional Daoist teaching places great emphasis on the matriarchal origins of the world. Of understanding and fostering respect for the mother and her offspring, but also of her mysterious and unknowable, distant depth. The cosmic origin born from nothing in the darkness. It speaks of the harmony of filial and parental virtue, the distaste of the victory and abiding by the rituals of mourning. Only briefly does the Lao Zi make specific comparative gendered reference to ‘understand(ing) the male but sustain(ing) the female’ but places it within the context of broader harmonious complementary pairings. Similarly with Confucian teaching, it’s remarkable how ungendered many of the Analects are, speaking more to a universal set of virtues as opposed to the highly gendered Christian virtues of Father and Son.
Both Cho’s reading on the development of female Korean Buddhist practice and DeVido’s text on the evolution of Taiwanese Buddhist nun culture provide fascinating insight into the more practical, tactical, and highly gendered practices which are very different in lived experience from the original teachings of Confucius or the metaphysical teachings of the Lao Zi. And in many ways, despite gendered suppression of female spiritual vocation as Buddhist practice spread beyond China and Japan, Korean and Taiwanese nuns were essential to the faith’s survival, eventual flourishing, and more widespread adoption.
Female ordinance was often challenging, and those seeking to become nuns were often viewed as having ulterior motives arising from widowhood, lack of economic or familial means, gender discrimination, or simply having no other choice. Cho motivates an argument that Confucian historians were less than generous towards Korean women during the Chosŏn Dynasty, arguing that female Buddhists were ‘frequently depicted as tainted and potentially tainting because of their Buddhist faith and their status as women, so frequently the accusations naturally implied and linked them with sexual impropriety’. Yet the diligent, persistent work of female Buddhists, irrespective of ordinance, ensured continuity of ritual and education, as well as stability, especially during the uncertainty of The Colonial Period.
So, there’s a delta between the lightly gendered teachings, and the highly gendered lived experience of ordinance and recognized, clergical vocation. If harmony, equality and the complementary aspirations of Daoist and Buddhist faith are paramount, why then, as the faith began to travel beyond China and Japan, did it become more gendered? As a means of control? As something simply reflective of the more broadly gendered roles of the era? And how do these behaviors show up in other faiths?
Christian, specifically Catholic Christian ordinance is highly gendered, with only about 200 ordained Catholic female priests in the world, most of them in America. This is a great recent article on females who hear the call of the priesthood but also feel the suppression of The Vatican, and has many echoes of both Cho and DeVido’s papers. Much of this is centered around the priesthood needing to reflect and represent the image of the Son of God. There is no ‘daughter of God’ in Christian faith, but as congregations dwindle, especially fueled by the impact of a global pandemic, it may be worth taking note of the historical existential work performed by the female Buddhist nuns of Korea and Taiwan and embracing their critical work of survival and flourishing which came from East Asian mixed-sangha communities.
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