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A Study of Gender Equality in Humanistic Buddhism
Since Humanistic Buddhism was first proposed by Master Taixu, the issue of gender equality has gradually kindled widespread discussion in the field of Buddhism. During the Republican Era, Master Taixu and the female Buddhists of the Pure Bodhi Vihara have actively expressed their views on gender equality. Eventually, they reached a consensus of respecting a woman’s character, protecting her rights, and advocating equal status between men and women. After 1949, under the impetus of Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Venerable Yin Shun, Venerable Sheng Yen, Venerable Chaohwei, thoughts on gender equality in Taiwan have made great strides. After 1980, the rejuvenation of Humanistic Buddhism in Mainland China in turn developed thoughts on gender equality. As a result, the overall status of female Buddhists in Mainland China has remarkably improved.
Bodhisattva in the Perfection of Wisdom Buddhist Texts
When we talk about the Prajnaparamita, we sometimes get deep into it. To begin, I have always been interested in the fact that before Sakyamuni became the Buddha and gained his enlightenment, he went to other teachers. We don’t often think about what his teachers have taught him. For example, Alara Kalama taught him a meditation where he could experience infinite space and be conscious of infinite space. After being taught about how to meditate in this way and having experienced infinite space, the Buddha thought it was interesting but it wasn’t good enough. He still hasn’t had the release and hasn’t reached moksha. So, he continued to study with other teachers. Uddaka taught him to go deeper into his mind and reach a mental state which is neither perception nor the lack of perception. A very deep and special state. But, once again, it wasn’t sufficient. Why wasn’t it sufficient? What was lacking? Why did he keep pursuing another path? What was the path he pursued? And, what was the difference between what he finally reached and what his great teachers had taught him? I looked into the Eight Thousand-Line Perfection of Wisdom Sutra having these questions in mind. When we look into this sutra, it is interesting to see that when the Buddha had gathered his audience, all of them were arhats. There was not a bodhisattva in sight. Where were all these bodhisattvas then? What we later on defined as a bodhisattva is what the Prajnaparamita Sutras taught for the first time. The Prajnaparamita created the bodhisattvas. In other words, at the time when he started teaching, this was the first Prajnaparamita Sutra. When the Buddha first taught it, there were no bodhisattvas of the type that we later see. Later in the sutra the bodhisattvas appeared. It was a sequential thing. In the beginning, it tells us that everybody was an arhat.
論說一切有部佛學思想的「人間性」
說一切有部在佛教歷史上曾形成「一切有宗遍行各地」的盛況，是現存僅有兩個能夠將經典文獻完整流傳下來的部派之一，其文獻相當完整地保留在漢譯經典中，而赤銅鍱部的文獻則以巴利文的形式保留在斯里蘭卡、緬甸等地。這就決定了如果要研究原始佛教的早期思想，乃至追溯大乘佛教的思想來源，則不可能回避「種別最繁，傳譯最備，而與大乘論書亦最相關」的說一切有部思想。說一切有部的思想中，「人間性」的特點尤為突出，主要體現在五個方面：一是成佛唯在人間，二是教法唯在人間，三是佛弟子們唯在人間，四是佛學義理的安立以人間為中心，五是整個修證體系皆以人間為中心。這「五個特點」充分體現了說一切有部以「人間為中心的價值方向」，印順法師在《大乘廣五蘊論講記》中也說道，說一切有部其實就是講人間的佛教。
