Freedom of Women (Historical Texts)

According to another verse of the above Senior Nun Soma:


According to Buddhist philosophy, not only this male and female egos matter, but also any type of ego is considered a defilement.

If anyone identifies himself as "anything", it is called "ego".(as a human/ man/ woman/ billionaire/ beggar/ beatiful/ ugly/ good/ bad ..etc. or a form/ consciousness/ feeling ..etc.)

Because of this personal identity, he compares himself as superior/ inferior/ equal to someone else. These are considered the 3 types of ego which become 9 types as follows.

I am superior to the superior,
I am superior to the inferior,
I am superior to the equal,
I am inferior to the superior,
I am inferior to the inferior,
I am inferior to the equal,
I am equal to the superior,
I am equal to the inferior,
I am equal to the equal.

So according to Buddhism, "Equality" also a type of ego. (🙂!!Gender equality??😊)

The "belief" of the personal identity is called "Identity view" which is considered the worst fetter. (View and ego are different but supports each other).

And the root cause of all the suffering is considered the "Ignorance", the unknowingness of the reality.

According to Buddhism there are only impermanent mental phenomena and impermanent material phenomena in this world. The entity "Person/self" is considered a "mere concept" which is not real.

Buddhists are taught to analyze the mentalities and materialities repeatedly, in order to ensure that there is no "person" whatsoever.

Because there is no reality called "self" in the first place, identifying "self" with "anything" is considered a defilement. It is considered an identification of a "concept" with "anything". In this way, ego is considered a defilement.

According to Buddhist philosophy, as long as someone couldn't analyze the world into "Impermanent mental and material phenomena", he believes that there is a permanent entity "Himself" somewhere. Some are said to be identifying material body as self. The ones who have already seen the impermanence of materiality are said to be identifying the mentality as self. More advanced Non-buddhist hermits are said to be identifying the subtle part of mentality (called conciousness) as self.

The Buddhist texts introduces an analytical way to understand the difference between "Concepts" and "Realities" in order to see the world as it is. After gaining the basic understanding of the world, one is advised to master it until the understanding becomes perfect and unwavering. The perfect realization of the truths is considered the liberation, the end of suffering, according to Theravada Buddhism.