76 CHAPTER THREEinferiority. The Verses of the Women Elders (the Pali Canon's Therigatha)-an
anthology of73 poems celebrating Awakening, composed by elder nuns and
memorized by monks and nuns for many centuries-demonstrates that
throughout the Hinayana tradition women have been recognized as having at-
tained full arhantship, a state of liberation equal to that of the Master's. As an
additional measure to prevent the nuns' position in the hierarchy from being
abused or misconstrued, the Buddha formulated rules to keep the rrionks in
check. For instance, monks were forbidden even to request that nuns perform
menial tasks for them, and nuns had the right to publicly boycott any monk
who treated them in an unseemly manner.
Although the arrangement formalizing relations between the monks and
nuns may offend modern sensibilities, it was kinder to womankind than were
religious and social arrangements throughout the rest of the ancient and mod-
ern world. In all historical civilizations women were largely excluded from re-
ligious hierarchies and positions of social power, and relegated to inferior status
in the family. The Buddha, however, was careful to provide his female disci-
ples, both nuns and lay women, with opportunities for spiritual advancement.. For example, a Pali Sutra (S.XXXVII.34) encourages education for female lay
disciples; this one text may account for the Buddhist countries of Southeast
Asia having had the highest female literacy rates in the world for centuries.
Among the illustrious nuns, the canon records Uppalaval:)-1)-a Theri (female
elder), one of the Buddha's chief disciples, as being foremost among nuns in
psychic powers; Khema Theri, the other chief nun disciple and a former queen
of King Bimbisara, was ranked foremost among the nuns in terms of her dis-
cernment. Kisagotami Theri excelled in the frugality of her lifestyle, whereas
Dhammadinna excell.ed in her ability to teach the Dharma. Bhadda Kapilani
Theri adopted the renunciant Path when her family arranged a marriage for
her to Pippali (Mahakasyapa, who became one of the Buddha's most eminent
disciples), but the pair did not consummate their marriage because both had
experienced great compassion after seeing worms and insects killed as a result
of plowing. They gave up wealth and family, and after the Order ofNuns was
founded Bhadda Kapilani Theri became an arhant, declared by the Buddha to
be foremost among nuns who could remember past lives. Bhadda-Kul:)--
9-alakesa, foremost among nuns in swift intuition, had fallen in love with a
handsome but thieving man, whom she pushed off a cliff when she discovered
his intentions to steal her jewels and kill her. She joined a sect of extreme as-
cetics but then left them. Meeting the Buddha, she attained arhantship while
hearing him preach, after which she received ordination. As for Mahaprajapati,
the Buddha's aunt and the most senior of the nuns, she gained Awakening after.
hearing a short sermon from the Buddha on the basic distinguishing character-
istics of Dharma and Vinaya. Upon taking leave of the Buddha before her
death at the age of 120, she performed various miracles, second only to those
of the Buddha's cremation rites; her five hundred companions died with her.
Other Theris were experts on the Vinaya and meditation, whereas some were
known as excellent Dharma preachers with followings of their own.
Less is known about nuns after the Buddha's death and on into Mahayana
times (see Section 5.2). The texts record few important nun teachers after the