Vasubandhu on Sex and Gender

At several places in his Treasury of Abhidharma (Abhidharmakośa) and its auto-commentary (Bhāṣya), the Indian Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu (4th cent. CE) discusses the features in virtue of which humans are differentiated into men, women, and various “third-sex” categories. This paper examines these passages and attempts to articulate Vasubandhu’s understanding of sex and gender. Much of Vasubandhu’s discussion of sexed and gendered traits is situated within the context of Abhidharma discourse on the category of “controlling faculties” (indriya), and more broadly within the context of philosophical theorizing about the reproduction and development of living organisms. I will argue that Vasubandhu’s theory of sex and gender is driven by his view of the relationship between biology and religious cultivation. Any satisfactory theory of the sexed condition of humans, for Vasubandhu, is conditioned by the Buddhist insistence on the possibility of changing the conditions of human life through meditative practice and spiritual attainment.