1(279) "It is impossible and inconceivable, bhikkhus, that a woman could be an arahant who is a perfectly enlightened Buddha … (280) … that a woman could be a wheel-turning monarch … (281) … that a woman could occupy the position of Sakka … (282) … that a woman could occupy the position of Māra … (283) … that a woman could occupy the position of Brahmā; there is no such possibility. But it is possible that a man could occupy the position of Brahmā; there is such a possibility." [n.157] It seems that in the old Nikāyas the idea of aspiring for future Buddhahood is not raised at all. Thus the claim being made here is not that a woman cannot become a perfectly enlightened Buddha in a future life but that a Buddha is always male. The assertion in this sutta need not be read as excluding the possibility that one who is presently a woman could become a Buddha, but this would have to take place in a future life, after she has undergone a change of gender. The statements are no doubt formulated in the context of the Indian culture of the period, which always assigned positions of authority to males. MĀ 181, a Chinese parallel of MN 115, does not include the section on the inabilities of women. Nevertheless, we do find the declaration that a woman cannot become a Buddha in another Chinese parallel of the sutta, at T XVII 713b20–22. It also occurs in a sūtra quoted in the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā at T XXVI 502b16–18, and in the *Śāriputrābhidharma Śāstra at T XXVIII, 600b10–12. According to such later canonical texts as the Buddhavaṁsa, if a woman resolves to attain Buddhahood in the presence of a Buddha, her resolution does not succeed (i.e., she does not receive the prediction of future Buddhahood). For the resolution to succeed, the aspirant must be a male who has left the home life. See Bodhi 2007: 251–53. Sakka is the ruler of the devas in the Tāvatiṁsa heaven.