Resumo de The First Buddhist Nuns - http://buddhism.about.com/od/keyfigures/a/Mahapajapati.htm

The First BuddhistNunsTheBuddha's teachings have universal relevance, no matter whether you are male orfemale. Initially, those who chose the 'holy life', in other words, a life ofcelibacy and intensive moral and meditative training, were exclusively male.This no doubt reflected the social structure of the times, where women had apredominantly domestic role and were under the governance of father or husband.MahapajapatiThere is asignificant point in the Buddha's life, however, when this male monopoly wasbroken. The person who initiated this was none other than the Buddha'sstepmother and mother's sister, Mahapajapati, who had looked after from when hewas only seven days old.The occasion wassoon after his father's death when the Buddha was visiting Kapilavathu, the capitalcity of the region where he was born. Mahapajapaticame to him and requested that women be allowed to go forth into the homelesslife. She asked the Buddha this three times and three times he refused. (Noreason is given in the particular scripture the reasons for this refusal.)Sometime later,Mahapajapati cut off her hair and donned the yellow robe (as was customary withmonks). Accompanied by other women of the same persuasion, she sought anaudience with the Buddha once again. As she waited, Ananda - one of theBuddha's closest disciples - came upon her exhausted from her journey andsobbing heartily.AnandaAnanda asked her whyshe was so unhappy. She replied that it was because the Buddha would not allowwomen to enter the holy life as nuns. Taking pity on her, Ananda went to theBuddha himself and pleaded on her behalf. Like Mahapajapati, he asked theBuddha three times and likewise was refused three times.'I wonder,' thoughtAnanda, 'what if I asked the question in another way?' So Ananda went to theBuddha again and asked him whether women were capable of gaining enlightenmentif they were to embrace the holy life fully. The Buddha replied that they were.Ananda then argued that if that were the case, and that considering Mahapajapatihad been as good as a mother to him, he should allow women to go forth into theholy life.The Buddha finallyrelented and agreed that women could embrace the holy life but stipulated eightconditions. Some of these clearly placed Nuns in a secondary position to monksin terms of status. For example, a nun 'must not find fault with or abuse amonk in any manner at all'. Mahapajapati accepted all eight conditions happilyand thus the first Buddhist nuns came into being.QuestionsThe scriptures suggestthat the Buddha was still uneasy about this. Later, he tells Ananda that hadwomen not been accepted in this way the Sanghawould have lasted a thousand years but would now only endure for five hundred.There is no doubtthat this episode in the Buddha's life makes us wonder what lay behind hisapparent reluctance. Did he think that a mixed gender Sangha would ultimatelyprove a distraction to practice? Or did he think that a woman's place in thesocial fabric should stay as it had always had been? There is evidenceelsewhere in the early scriptures of the dangers monks face with sexualattraction, something that their celibate life seeks to overcome. Could it bethat the Buddha felt that it would be harder for monks (and for that matternuns) to overcome sexual desire where the two sexes were working alongside eachother?As for the Buddhaconforming to the views of his social milieu, this seems unlikely. The Buddhacriticized the caste system and taught that whatever class you came from didn'tmatter. What mattered was your moral life and your motivation. Indeed, peoplefrom the lowest caste were allowed to join the Sangha.

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