five obstacles ［五障］ ( go-shō): Also, five hindrances. Five obstructions to women’s attainment. The view that a woman cannot become a Brahmā, a Shakra, a devil king, a wheel-turning king, or a Buddha. This concept is referred to in a number of Buddhist writings, and is mentioned and then refuted in the “Devadatta” (twelfth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. This refutation takes place through the example of the dragon king’s daughter who instantaneously attains Buddhahood, the most difficult of all five, when challenged by Shāriputra on the grounds that women are subject to these five obstacles. The expression “five obstacles and three obediences” is often used in reference to the hindrances that prevent women from attaining Buddhahood. The “three obediences,” also known as the “three submissions,” was a code of conduct derived from Brahmanism and Confucianism that required women to obey their parents in childhood, their husbands after marriage, and their sons in old age.