本論文試從大乘《大般涅槃經》中對女性的種種描繪敘述，整理出經文中對女性之正面與負面的看法，從而探究此部唱言人人本具佛性、人人皆可成佛之經典，對女性種種負面描述之可能原因，以及女性是否須先經過轉女成男之變身才能成佛之問題。《大般涅槃經》中對女性之負面描述，可能肈因於古印度社會對女性之成見與刻板印象，也可能出自佛陀應機說法之必要以及告誡比丘持戒清淨之可能障礙，另一些負面的描述是對治凡人對色身之執著與貪愛，與性別無關。在《法華經》及其他許多經典中，女人必須等待轉女身成男身之後，才有機會成佛。《大般涅槃經》中，則以心靈上轉女成男的方式，表現出女身成佛的可能性。在諸多大乘經典中，《大般涅槃經》可能是列出參與聽經聞法之女性人數最多的一部經典。在讚揚阿羅漢比丘尼的修行成就中，顯示出女性的覺悟能力和修行成就，並不亞於男性，她們的成就指向女身成佛之可能性。基本上，大乘《大般涅槃經》是一部肯定女性的能力和修行成就的經典。 This study is an attempt to discuss the views on women as revealed in The Mahaparinirvana Sutra. The main interest in the interpretation and discussion of passages from the sutra is to get a clear picture of how women are portrayed in the sutra and to find out whether the negative view on women conflicts with the key concept advocated in the sutra, that is, the equal possibility for all beings in the world to become a Buddha. If we peruse the sutra carefully, we will find quite a few positive and negative descriptions of women in it. After an overall examination, it is discovered that the positive descriptions of women are mostly limited to praising the virtues of a mother, while the negative descriptions might be the result of social-cultural traditions in India, a skillful means of the Buddha to teach his doctrine, his way of urging his male disciples to strictly observe the precept of keeping celibate, and his admonition against one’s attachment to one’s physical form, the last of which may not be related to any biases against women at all. While The Lotus Sutra holds that a woman has to physiologically transform herself into a man before she can attain Buddhahood, The Mahaparinirvana Sutra postulates that a woman can attain Buddhahood if she can just convert her female mentality into the male mentality. The names and number of female practitioners with very distinguished achievement listed in The Mahaparinirvana Sutra are greatly more than those of any other Mahayana sutras. In conclusion, though this sutra contains many negative descriptions of women, it still affirms women’s ability to achieve Buddhahood.
