The Bahudhatuka-Sutta and Its Parallels on Women's Inabilities (Essay‪)‬

Introduction According to early Buddhist thought, the ability to attain any of the four stages of awakening is independent of gender. An explicit endorsement of women's abilities to reach awakening can be found in a discourse in the Samyutta-nikaya and its counterparts in two Samyukta-agama collections translated into Chinese, which allegorically refer to a set of wholesome qualities as a vehicle for approaching liberation. The three versions agree that by means of this vehicle the goal of liberation can be reached independent of whether the one who mounts the vehicle is a woman or a man. (1)