Buddhist Angel of Darkness and Opened Public Preaches

Women` s life in sangha was not a sheer joy. Alongside with everyday deprivations of life, need to live in the commune; getting along with the other women a nun had her own interior doubting regarding chosen way. Doubting like this is stored in a chapter in “Bhikkhuni- samute”. “Bhikkhuni- samute” also includes 10 sutras which are grouped by question – answer model. A nun meets Mara - Buddhist angel of darkness and the last asks her various provocative questions. You should not treat this story too literary. In the Buddhist tradition Mara rather personifies inner weakness and uncertainty than a kind of anthropomorphous mythological creature. One of the frequent doubting was the point of view revealing that was better to enjoy this life here and now, when you were young, then later not to feel regret about lost opportunities. Desire to have children – was another temptation. There was a point of view that a woman could not achieve the state of Enlightenment at all or hesitation in Buddha doctrine and consequently a wish to follow another doctrine. One of the issues was that it was not safe for a woman to meditate in the lonely places, where she could be raped. In this case doubting is resolved because a woman is supposed to acquire the supernatural abilities and could resist any violator. However is notable that this question was appealed to a nun that was already raped after her consecration, so that this doubting was not baseless. Alongside with the everyday matters nuns had doctrinal questions like who created this world and all living creatures. Buddha as is known denied existence of any God- Creator, that is why to answer this and many other questions was need in good and deep knowledge of Buddhist doctrine. This is one of the most widespread questions. Nevertheless all nuns gave the right answers and disgraced Mara, sad and disappointed, disappeared from the place of temptation. Actually, the answers themselves did not play any role. The triumph over Mara came when this woman got to know, recognized him, Mara – so that he realized her doubting and hesitation. Thus “sati” experience became apparent and developed, it is called- attentiveness and awareness - and this is one of the main steps in Buddhist practice.

I must say, that women entered Buddhist society not as nuns but also as active secular followers and energetically supported Buddha teaching. In general, Buddhist commune consisted of 4 sections: monks, nuns, Buddhist layman and Buddhist laywoman. Functioning of monastic commune completely depended on material support of laymen and laywomen that is why Buddhist laywomen played an important role. Buddhist monks paid off this support by opened public preaching, addressing to all levels of the Indian population as well as towards women. If a layman invited a monk to visit his house, then after it a monk usually delivered a lecture from Bible, explaining this or that point of Buddha doctrine. By the way, these issues might reveal not just moral points but also very complicated things. We can find a bright example of this sort of meeting in “Melinda’s questions”. A woman invited two monks the share the table and after that monks delivered the preaching regarding Abhidharma (the most comprehensive section of Buddha teaching).