also said to influence the future of Buddhism. One story which illustrates this is that of the first nun, Mahapajapati Gotami, which includes a prediction that because the Buddha allowed the ordination of women as nuns, the Buddhist Dharma will decline faster. In his White Bones Red Rot Black Snakes, Bhikkhu Sujato pointed out that the Jātakas were compiled by many people over a long time. Rather than representing a single, coherent Buddhist position regarding women, he argued that they represent multiple conflicting attitudes, an ambiguity which cannot be easily represented in the doctrinal or philosophical texts. One of the major cause of negative views of women is the confusion and tension around sexuality experienced by those who have chosen a renunciant life. While the early texts advise to deal with this through mindfulness and meditation, in the stories the tensions become externalized as negative characteristics of women. Such views should not be seen as fixed, however, since Buddhism is not essentialist. Negative characteristics of women—like negative characteristics of men, which are also depicted—are qualities to be overcome and transformed through spiritual development. Thus Buddhism has always insisted the women are equal to men in their capacity for awakening. Animals Animals feature prominently in Buddhist myths, whether domesticated beasts like the cow or the cat, or wild beasts such as the lion or crocodile. The Jātakas frequently feature talking animals and common fable tropes such as the donkey that clothes himself in a lion's skin. A distinctive feature of Buddhist tales, however, is that the ethical implications of such talking beasts are not dismissed. Instead, it is in dialogue with talking beasts that ethics of non-violence and restraint in killing animals are developed. In some Jātakas it is also common that an animal acts in a more moral manner than a human. Several kinds of animals appear regularly enough that they assume the role of stock characters. The lion is strong and fearless, the jackal, his nemesis, is weak, craven, and duplicitous. Animals can also symbolically represent other Buddhist themes, the lion for example is said to represent the Buddha (who is also known as the "lion of the Sakya clan", Sakyasimha), since the lion is the king of the animals, with the loudest roar and the Buddha is the foremost of all humans with the most superior teaching. The deer represents renunciation, since it never sleeps in the same