Garudhamma 8 and Gender Equality in Early Buddhism : หน้า 3/39

Abstract: Garudhamma 8, What did the Lord Buddha Establish? by Wilaiporn SUCHARITTHAMMAKUL This paper deals with the Buddhist outlook on gender issues. Contemporary feminists have extrapolated modern ideas of gender equality to make conclusions about the gender values of early Buddhism. The centre of the heated gender equality debate for scholars and laypeople has been the validity of the eight garudhamma — with a movement started on April 1, 2001 for their abolition, under the premise that they are not believed to be the authentic teachings of the Buddha. Therefore, this paper will first consider whether the eight garudhamma are the authentic teachings of the Buddha, then consider them in terms of gender equality. According to the limit of the paper I discuss the first four of the eight garudhamma. In each item of the eight garudhamma, I will discuss the evidence that supports the idea that they are not authentic teachings of the Buddha considering also from sutta, vinaya and commentaries of the Pāli canon. Finally, whether they are the authentic teachings of the Buddha are considered. According to my research, I found that the above idea was based on some improper interpretations of the definition and translation of some items in the eight garudhamma, a misunderstanding about how the Buddha applied non-Buddhist norms with the Buddhist community, and