འཕགས་པ་ཆས་ཀྱ་ཕང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.6

intro.6

One additional theme brought up by this sūtra deserves to be mentioned here. The modern reader may indeed be surprised by several passages describing how various physical and mental ailments that afflict women are caused by parasites (Tib. srin bu, Skt. krimi/kṛmi) that subsist in different parts of their bodies. According to the sūtra, such parasites are responsible for a host of (mostly undesirable) traits in the female physique. For example, some such parasites are said to live in the urinary tracts of women, where they find nourishment by eating away at their host. The parasites are described as causing women to become mentally disturbed, thus making them engage in uninhibited sexual activity. Other parasites are said to gnaw away at women’s brains, noses, throats, and so forth. The sūtra seems to describe the presence of these parasites in the female body as also accounting for the physical traits characteristic of women, such as their absence of facial hair, bulging breasts, and smooth throats.