Family Life in Buddhism
The Buddha offers advice to married women in the Anguttara Nikaya (7:59; IV 91-94), from the Pali (Theravada) canon, where he tells of seven types of wives - the first three types are destined for unhappiness, while the last four, as they are imbued with long term self control, are destined to be happy. These latter wives are characterised as alternately benevolent and possibly dominant (motherly-wife), equal (friend-wife) and submissive (sister-wife and slave-wife) - the Buddha thus endorsed a variety of power dynamics within marriage.
According to Diana Paul, Buddhism inherited a view of women whereby if they are not represented as mothers then they are portrayed as either lustful temptresses or as evil incarnate.
Read more about this topic: Women In Buddhism
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