There might be an easy answer to this, but correct me if I'm wrong: the suttas and commentaries were compiled by men (except for the Verses of the Elder Nuns)...Is it possible sexist monks/scholars ignored female Sammasambuddhas?Will wrote:Have not read every post here, so apologies if this was mentioned.
Instead of arguing about Buddha's motives, whether he said what he said or it was tampered with, whether patriarchy rules etc.- why not just search the records for a female Buddha? There have been many buddhas before Gotama and there will be more. The next one will be male, as were all that came before, so far as I know of. The Jains (a non-theistic group) have a very long list of Tirthankaras - they were all male.
The Mahayana and Hinduism have very high avatars or bodhisattvas that are female - Tara & Parvati for example. But as far as Buddhas go, I am not aware of any females. (If one wants to add "yet" - feel free.)
Dhammakid