The Buddha's 'Wisest Female Disciple': Bhikkhuni Khema
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- We'll look at the life of Bhikkhunī Khemā, whom the Buddha called his wisest female disciple, using a sutta about her, a poem she wrote, and later material from the Theravāda commentaries. These will help illustrate her incisive approach to the dharma.
**NB: sometimes in the video I refer to Khemā as “Bhikkhunī” even before she was ordained. This is a slip of the tongue!
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✅ Videos mentioned:
Why Won't the Buddha Answer You? - • Why Won't the Buddha A...
When is a Translation Not a Translation? Poems of the Earliest Buddhist Women - • When is a Translation ...
Who is Māra in Buddhism? • Who is Mara in Buddhism?
Who Are You? The Five Aggregates of Buddhism - • Who Are You? The Five ...
✅ Article referenced:
Gisela Krey, “On Women as Teachers in Early Buddhism: Dhammadinnā and Khemā” in Buddhist Studies Review (2010) 27.1: journals.equinoxpub.com/index...
✅ Books referenced:
Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha, pp. 263-269. -- amzn.to/3E0GrQe
Charles Hallisey (trans.), Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women, p. 79. -- amzn.to/3jWzbx1
✅ Suttas referenced:
suttacentral.net/an1.235-247/...
www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN...
suttacentral.net/sn44.1/en/su...
suttacentral.net/sn22.36/en/s...
suttacentral.net/thig6.3/en/s...
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00:00 Intro
02:50 The literary evidence
04:26 The role of the commentaries
05:37 Khemā’s early life, as given in the commentaries
08:55 Khemā in the suttas: her talk with King Pasenadi
10:06 The Unanswered Questions
11:25 Khemā’s similes
12:17 “Measuring” an awakened person
13:16 We are measured by that which we cling to
15:15 Khemā’s poem in the Therīgāthā
16:27 Māra portrayed as a Brahmin householder
18:28 The Buddha’s path
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@C-2-RESH-18 KEK Well he said something similar in the Kālāma Sutta that I did a video on awhile back: czcams.com/video/Aa5cyQBBy-g/video.html
Thank you SO MUCH for this! The Khema Sutta is among the most meaningful pieces in the whole Pali Canon for me. And while women have been erased from so much of world history, including Buddhist history, it makes a world of difference when someone brings whatever is possible about them to light. I was so surprised and delighted that you responded so kindly and thoughtfully to my request. So grateful, Doug.
Hey great Yibambe, sorry I messed up your screen name ... argh! 😄🙏
@@DougsDharma Haha! No problem. I was so moved that you read and responded to my request with such kindness and generosity.
It's a pleasure to see how - week after week - you manage to break down complex/extensive topics and lots of of material into a concise video.
😊🙏🏻
My pleasure xiao mao! 🙏😊
My name is named after her by my grandfather 🥰
Oh very nice!
Thank you for this. Women including me, have been suffering due to this situation. Well done. Women have much to offer.
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I really love this discussion on the state of being and its measure in terms of the 5 aggregates
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Really appreciate your work doug!!!may tripple gem bless you.love from srilanka
My pleasure! 🙏😊
Amazing content as always sir doug🙏
Much appreciated! 🙏
I loved it when you said that the later material is not as trustworthy. I'm used to reading the early suttas, and yesterday I finally got around to reading the legendary Lotus Sutta.
The only thing I can say is that it reads like bad fanfiction. Like Mary Sue decided to write a sutta. It is so, so, sooooo bizarre.
Well the later material tends to be more overtly hagiographical and cosmological.
Thank you so much for covering her story. (^_^)
👍👍👍
Thank you for your content! Even if you don't read German you might be interested to know about this book: 'Der Buddha sprach nicht nur für Mönche und Nonnen' (The Buddha Did Not Only Speak To Monks And Nuns), by Fritz Schäfer, Werner Kristkeitz Verlag, 2002. It has 877 pages and is the work of years and years of research and of a deep love for the Dharma. May all beings be well.
Interesting! I'm sorry it hasn't been translated, maybe Bhikkhu Anālayo will write about it someday. (He is German).
Sujata would be great too. So glad she came along when needed. Gassho, Jikai
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Could you do a video about green Tara? Or any of the 21 taras?
Mostly I focus on material from early Buddhism, and that is quite a bit later. I might do something on them eventually!
@@DougsDharma thanks for replying 😄 that would be really interesting, I would love to see you talk about her
I watched this video.
Thanks!
Is there gonna be a hard copy of your book available??
For now the distributor is only doing digital copies. I have no idea whether or when that might change, but if it does I'll let everyone know!
Is Bhikhuni Khema related to Amrapali of Vashali, who was courtesan and was celebrated as the most beautiful woman and lover of king Bindusara?
The courtesan Ambapālī was a different figure in early Buddhism. So far as I know they were not related.
It's King Bimbisara. Bindusara was a Mauryan King and father of King Asoka.
Perhaps most of the history of Bhikkuni Khema was either neglected or not recorded due to misogyny or increasing patriarchal attitudes of later Bhikhhus
That's certainly possible.
Sir in here,
The word "Thathagata" has two meanings.
1.the 'Perfect One', lit.
2.the one who has 'thus gone', or 'thus come', is an epithet of the Buddha used by him when speaking of himself.
To the often asked questions, whether the Tathāgata still exists after death, or not, it is said that, in the highest sense (paramattha, q.v.) the Tathāgata cannot, even at lifetime, be discovered, how much less after death, and that neither the 5 groups of existence (khandha, q.v.) are to be regarded as the Tathāgata, nor can the Tathāgata be found outside these corporeal and mental phenomena. The meaning intended here is that,there exist only these ever-changing corporeal and mental phenomena, arising and vanishing from moment to moment, but no separate entity, no personality
When the commentaries in this connection explain Tathāgata by 'living being' (satta), they mean to say that here the questioners are using the merely conventional expression, Tathāgata, in the sense of a really existing entity.
In this sutta "thathagatha" means a being or the self.
(Extracted from a source )
Thanks for the female representation. Too bad the buddha didn't address the inherent, self-perpetuating cyle of abuse that patriarchy results in... Glad to be in a time where we're figuring out that "we're not our gender" either.
maybe another video about how and why women have been historically barred from monasteries, teaching, and the current conversation around gender meeting these old traditions... etc
Yes, thanks Erica. I've done a couple of videos that touch on these topics: czcams.com/video/864ksDOZwXk/video.html on women in Buddhism, and czcams.com/video/9lhyjbhrIRs/video.html on the controversies over nuns in Buddhism.
@@DougsDharma thank you!
Actually, Buddha was not really that interested in actively changing society. So, instead of fighting patriarchy, racism, slavery etc etc, he just gave people the opportunity to be a part of his Sangha and learn the difference between good and bad. So, his approach was a pretty passive one. As far as women are concerned, at least he believed that they can achieve Nirvana. That's why, he praised many women for practicing the Dhamma properly ...
Title sounds a bit sexist
Yes it's hard to know quite how to appropriately title the video for a general audience. Indeed, that's how she was referred to by the Buddha.
I've changed the title as you suggest ... which may help clarify it a little.