India’s Buddhist nuns you don’t hear about: Landladies, loan sharks, merchants

#ThinkingMedieval
The history of Buddhism is often thought about as a history of intrepid men-from the Buddha to the hundreds of monks, preachers and translators who carried their doctrines to the corners of the world. The voices of Buddhist women have been lost to us. But new research reveals that they had brilliant commercial and religious minds, shaping the financial fortunes of the Buddhist sangha. Anirudh Kanisetti explains through the story of Sthulananda, Buddhist nun and loan shark extraordinaire.
Sources:
Schopen, Gregory. Buddhist nuns, monks, and other worldly matters: Recent papers on monastic Buddhism in India. University of Hawaii Press, 2014.
Ray, Himanshu Prabha. The winds of change: Buddhism and the maritime links of early South Asia. 1995.
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[@JuspreethSingh]

"Buddhism, like all successful religions, grew, not because it was emancipatory, but because it could do business well; and when needed, ruthlessly." Arey, itna sach nahi bolna tha bhaiya!!

[@nowwhat6716]

Why are U talking in air dude. Kisenay bataya nahi proof bi dena hota Hain.

[@jayantkamble6082]

Not only Buddhism but all religions do business.

[@user-lx6fi9uc2g]

Most chaityas had groups of monks that worked on manufacturing various commercial products for sale and revenue-generation for the financial growth of the sangha.

[@J-IFWBR]

epic format, the print is so good!

[@uccaisiravas]

These are from papers of Gregory Schopen on Sarvastivada vinaya. Many believe that these "rules" caused the rise of Mahayana!

[@killualaura]

very interesting topic!

[@studytime2570]

any content related to India-China issue exists. ccp bots in the comment section: we are summoned 🇨🇳

[@ritanarayanan1489]

Happy that u guys are becoming grounded about Buddhism. Take a look at Buddhism & nuns ....... it is the well connected Tibetan nuns( via India) who are much better off. The tibetan system in old Tibet was anything but Berkeley liberalism. With research about the other Buddhist schools ( particularly thailand) the picture is quite different. Of course Buddhism has greatly benefitted by global money & foreigners. Or else the feudalism & serfdom in many societies is hardly enchanting. Nice to see this note.

[@urjoon]

Your videos are very well researched and make for interesting hearing. But can you please mention dates more often. The only date here that you mention is 400-200 bce. But Sthulananda was in the 6th century ce. Recounting dates more often will gives us a sense of history.

[@ranganathanv5365]

The audio needs to be improved

[@arvindgupta2610]

😮scandalous 😮

[@hotfun07]

4:08-4:18 Only by legal systems of 'some parts' of Gangetic Plains? Were other parts of the sub continent following more 'liberal' legal systems?

[@sraj7885]

Why did Budhism disappear from India, it's birth place? What were the reasons? Would love to see your take in a future episode.

[@jayantkamble6082]

Every religion require royal patronage but after 12th century AD Buddhism and Jainism don't get political support.

[@sraj7885]

Budha is considered one of the 10 avatars of Vishnu. What led to this? One of the reasonings I heard: People were converting to Budhism in droves, so the Hindu religious heads came up with a master stroke and made Budha an avatar of lord Vishnu, thus convincing Hindus that Budhism is part of Hinduism anyway, so no need to convert. Is this borne out by historical facts?

[@surajs5913]

​@@sraj7885kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2bJZaidmL96Y68

[@surajs5913]

​@@sraj7885buddha claimed to be from the ishvaku solar dynasty, which is the same dynasty of Bhagawan Rama... then can you claim that this claim by the buddha was the reason people converted to buddhism? Moreover buddhist texts themselves claim that the buddha is reincarnated as either a kshatriya or a brahmana, i wonder how the anti casteist credentials of buddhism get affected by those historically recorded literature.

[@surajs5913]

​@@sraj7885strangely, all the earlier buddhist dominated regions of India like sindh, afghanistan, kashmir, bihar, or even kerala now have high muslim population - one has to wonder why is that - and whether the story of these places is similar to the story of xinjiang. As i recall genghis khan was a buddhist and that had a part to play in him choosing not to personaly invade India - but the later descendents of the great khan like timur were muslims as i recall - so much so that the name "khan" has become associated with islam in India...

[@MudraRakshas]

हमें डॉ आंबेडकर के रूप में नये बुद्ध मिले, अभिमान है हमें. Whole world will embrace ambedkarism one day

[@philoseternal]

What is the point you are trying to get at?

[@shalinitiwariscorner5210]

Even in Panchatantra and Suka Saptati, you will find the narrative of women being super clever and making fool of men. But were women in ancient India really that much of a mastermind? Or was it just misogyny of male writers ?!

[@studytime2570]

Here before ccp operated commentaries flows

[@suchithraraghavan5335]

print anti india?

[@karthiksheshadri6600]

oh god this joker again..

[@mohitanand1844]

Thank god for that .Buddhist and nun?? Lol

[@nowwhat6716]

Trying to claim Buddha as an avatar to trying defaming them , what's the issue with this channel?

[@rajeevsowale1706]

Why are u targetting Buddhis nuns only. u will find cheats and selfish people in all religions... Donations are in every religion.. Buddha is the only teacher who said if you believe in me only then follows me.. He never claimed to be God There is some good reason why so many asian countries have flourished with Buddhism.

[@laxmihari100]

HINDUISM OR HINDUTVA PHILOSOPHY IS NOT A RELIGION, IT IS A SOCIAL MECHANISM OR SOCIAL ALGORITHM OR SOCIAL SPECIFICATIONS CREATED BY THE SCOUNDRELS CALLED AS BRAHMANAS TO DISCRIMINATE THE MULNIVASIS I.E SC, ST, OBC AND MINORITIES.