What does the Buddha mean about women in sutta AN 5.230?
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Is this Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN 5.230)sutta true? Is it translated to English from the Pali correctly?
>AN 5.230
Numbered Discourses 5.230
>23. Long Wandering
Black Snakes (2nd)
“Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks of a black snake. What five? It’s irritable, acrimonious, venomous, fork-tongued, and treacherous. These are the five dangers of a black snake.
>In the same way there are five drawbacks of a lady. What five? She’s irritable, acrimonious, venomous, fork-tongued, and treacherous. This is a lady’s venom: usually she’s very lustful. This is a lady’s forked tongue: usually she speaks divisively. This is a lady’s treachery: usually she’s an adulteress. These are the five drawbacks of a lady.”
https://suttacentral.net/an5.230/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin
Ajahn Sujato says it's just wrong, but I wonder if its mistranslated. Are there any other suttas where the Buddha appears to believe things that seem to be born of kilesa. Do any Buddhists believe this sutta? How old is this sutta? I am thinking that that it must be a bad teaching that maybe some monk with too much kilesa slipped in there?
>Ajahn Sujato: "And no, I don’t think this was really spoken by the Buddha. Deal with it.
What I’m interested in is to subject this text to the same elementary standard that the Buddha himself insisted on, and that we would apply to any other truth claims: does it stack up against the evidence? I assume it doesn’t, but I’d like to see the proof. Does anyone know of any objective, empirically based psychological studies that statistically examine possible gender differences between men and women in these traits?"...
https://sujato.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/is-this-sutta-true/
Unless I am just too unenlightened to understand, that sutta doesn't sound like the Buddha I follow. Is it in the context of meditation against sensual desire? Does this damage the reputation of the Buddha? Does the Buddha have to be completely perfect within our unenlightened understanding? That sutta seems impossible though. The Buddha did ordain Bhikkhunis so I was thinking this sutta must be a fraud, right?
Asked by Lowbrow
(7459 rep)
Feb 13, 2026, 09:11 AM
Last activity: Feb 13, 2026, 11:21 AM
Last activity: Feb 13, 2026, 11:21 AM