1 Aversion to women and misogyny in Theravada Buddhism Before discussing Tipitaka’s “conflicting information” regarding women, one must ponder how could Theravada relate to people an astonishing story, which essence is disparaging to the Buddha himself. Theravada’s story of how the system of Bhikkhuni was formed is outrageously belittling the Buddha! 1. Disparaging Shakyamuni Buddha A prominent Theravada monk answered a question regarding discrimination against women and published it in the Buddhist Channel website: under the title: Was the Lord Buddha a sexiest? (by Mettanando Bhikkhu, Bangkok Post May 9, 2006) The monk’s answer is the following: “Like most religious texts handed down from antiquity, the Tripitaka offers conflicting information regarding the status of women. One of the key references that strongly discriminates against women is the legend of the origin of the nuns (bhikkhuni), in which the Buddha showed his strong disapproval of women’s ordination as requested by Prajapati Gautami, his aunt and stepmother. Ananda, the Buddha’s close attendant stepped in and negotiated on her behalf. As a result, the Buddha laid down a set of special rules, or the so-called Eight Heavy Duties (Garudhammas) that established the conditions for women’s ordination, and nuns were required to strictly adhere to them for the rest of their lives”. Source: https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,2666,0,0,1,0* According to this and similar sources, scholars circulate a story which conveys an implication that - essentially - the Buddha did not want ordination of women. Most astonishingly, the mentioned story reveals that the Buddha, the World Honoured One of supreme enlightenment, was essentially “not awakened” to the importance of women’s ordination and was unwilling to include women in the Buddhist Order. Inclusion of women as nuns was not the initiative of the Buddha, we are informed, nor it occurred to his mind of enlightenment as anything important or necessary, but it was suggested to him by a young disciple, Ananda. Ananda “persuaded the Buddha” to change his mind about women, according to Theravada’s story, and succeeded in convincing the Buddha to allow for ordination of women!