Thai nuns still yearning for recognition

Thai nuns still yearning for recognition
Anasuya Sanyal
23 Jun 2013

It is a rock star welcome in Bangkok for the world's highest ranking Buddhist nun from Japan. But all the excitement over Shinso Ito's visit contrasts with the status of nuns in Thailand.

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A Buddhist nun offers food to a Thai drug addict patient at a monastery (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)

BANGKOK: It is a rock star welcome in Bangkok for the world's highest ranking Buddhist nun from Japan. But all the excitement over Shinso Ito's visit contrasts with the status of nuns in Thailand.

And some women of the cloth want to change this.

Thailand's Buddhist leaders are all male monks and abbots and despite the millions of female faithful, it is illegal for women to be ordained as fully fledged monks, equivalent in stature and all else to monks.

Thailand does have a female spiritual tradition - they wear white robes and are called "mae chee".

But many Thais think that women should not be part of the male only monastic tradition so important for the country's Buddhists.

Fully ordained Buddhist nuns are not legally recognised in Thailand, as they are in Myanmar and Sri Lanka - a sign of continuing gender inequality women still encounter among the varying Buddhist traditions.

For Bhikkuni Dhammananda the path to becoming a nun has been a long one.

With no tradition of Buddhists nuns in Thailand, she had to be ordained in Sri Lanka as Thailand's first ever Theravada nun.

But she's hoping that will change.

Bhikkuni Dhammananda, Abbess of Songdhammakalyani Temple, said: "That's why I became very serious in my research, to find out that Buddha also gave ordination to women. But it is only in our country that this has never arrived... We are starting something new for Thai culture, but (female) ordination has always been there; ordination has always been there in the history of Buddhism."

Bhikkuni Dhammanda says she will continue to support the ordination of other nuns in Thailand but the law must be changed by politicians at the government level and not at the temple.

Mae Chee Sansanee, on the other hand, left a high powered career and founded the Sathira Dhammasathan meditation centre.

She encourages young girls to join her spiritual community for short periods of time, just like boys do.

She said: "For me after 33 years as a nun, the first 7 years I spent learning from teachers. This is essential, for nuns to get opportunity from monks.

But after we have developed and refined our mind, we can then create a community of nuns that is self-sufficient. And through our good deeds, we gain reverence and acceptance from society. "

But despite her popularity, she says she accepts her status and won't try to campaign for a change in the law.

channelnewsasia.com

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Originally Posted by Mid

And some women of the cloth want to change this.


(and further down)


But despite her popularity, she says she accepts her status and won't try to campaign for a change in the law.

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Is not "acceptence" of what is one of the overarching principles of buddism?

I would have thought that a buddist campaigning to change something about buddism would be an automatic "fail"

They want equality with monks, cell phones, tv's , computers, free love, and drugs.

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Originally Posted by nidhogg

I would have thought that a buddist campaigning to change something about buddism would be an automatic "fail"

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Yes... that whole self-immolation thing hardly comes with the whiff of success.

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Originally Posted by phunphin

They want equality with monks, cell phones, tv's , computers, free love, and drugs.

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I doubt it, I don't see these Nuns walking around Pantip every time I go there.

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Originally Posted by phunphin

They want equality with monks, cell phones, tv's , computers, free love, and drugs.

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get with the times

it is learjets and rolls royce's now

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Originally Posted by phunphin

They want equality with monks,..... free love.

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There's no such thing as a free lunch, especially not in Thailand

Cheers

Supposedly during the Buddha's time women could become monks. A lot of things were different in the beginning but Buddhism as with other religions is something different today. And as you can see from the news year after year, there are so many esteemed leaders in it who turn out to be warped and devious. Today we are more willing to criticize than ever but in the past the openness to speak up may not have often been there. What damage was done in the centuries of silence before?

If you are interested in Buddhism or just wish to know more for conversations sake, this video documentary will not disappoint you. Enjoy!

Video: Full Program | Watch The Buddha Online | PBS Video

They want free love, but until they accept it from the monks, they'll always play 2nd fiddle.

Buddha advised against women joining the sangha, for obvious reasons.

That point does not necessarily forbid women from becoming nuns.

Women can form their own sangha as Buddhists.

As Buddhists, causing another to violate any of the five precepts embodied in the doctrine of dharma is tantamount to violating those precepts.

Thus women may not enter the sangha occupied by men devoted to dharmakaya as monks, as they may unwittingly or otherwise distract ordained monks from proper practice of dharmakaya.

A separate sangha of female devotees or nuns is entirely acceptable under Buddhism.

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Are you getting your

^^
Post count up

Obviously.

Other than that, each point is emphasized.