But I was confining myself to answering Jason's question. The answer may not have any bearing on the topic as a whole, for as far as I know the commentators don't link the inferiority of feminine rūpadhammas with the inability of a woman to become a Sammāsambuddha.thecap wrote:Dhammanando: I didn't miss it. It just isn't relevant to the question that Jason was raising.
It is relevant to the topic.
No. It means that those material dhammas originated by wholesome kamma will be superior to those originated by unwholesome kamma. When talking abhidhammically one must get into the habit of conceiving matters in impersonal terms.Dhammanando: The fact that women's bodies are weaker and more easily injured than those of men lends support to the abhidhammikas' claim that the femininity rūpadhammas are generated by past akusala kamma and masculinity rūpadhammas by past kusala kammas.
Does this mean that being a woman is a punishment for past misdeeds?
Possession of a body composed in part of non-optimal rūpadhammas.The fact that women have the canniness to make the best of a bad lot doesn't negate this.
What "bad lot", Bhante?
I was making an analogy.A one-legged beggar, by eliciting more sympathy from passers-by, might well make a better living than a two-legged beggar; nonetheless, it remains the case that two-leggedness is the more desirable state.
Women aren't cripples.
Other things being equal, a human is better advantaged by being a biped than a uniped; nonetheless, some human unipeds can turn their less-than-optimal state to good use.
Other things being equal, a human is better advantaged by being a man than a woman; nonetheless, some women can turn their less-than-optimal state to good use. As you put it yourself:
"Women can and do well pretend to be weaker than they are in order to attract mates, for this is what usually pleases the male ego."
In practice, of course, other things are rarely equal. Better, for example, to have the feminine rūpadhammas of a Mahāpajāpati or a Khemā than the male ones of a Devadatta or an Ariṭṭha the vulture-trainer.
Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu