Thailand's female monks

[Ensapa]

Here's a nice article about the nuns in thailand.

Thailand's female monks

Thai women have not been ordained as monks for seven centuries - but one woman is trying to revive the tradition.
Laura Villadiego and Biel Calderon Last Modified: 17 Jun 2013 15:58

Nakhon Pathom, Thailand - For more than seven centuries, Buddhist women have not been allowed to become ordained in Thailand. The last bhikkhunis - female Buddhist monks - died in the 13th century, and men took a predominant position in Thailand's Theravada brand of Buddhism.

Chatsumarn Kabilsingh has been trying to revive the bhikkuni tradition. "In Buddhism, men and women are treated equally, but the Thai culture tends to place women lower," said the 68-year-old Chatsumarn, who left her life as a professor at a renowned Thai university in 2000 to enter monastic life. After three years of learning the Buddha's precepts in Taiwan, she was ordained as a full bhikkhuni in Sri Lanka. Her name was changed to the Venerable Dhammananda, and she returned to Thailand to help other women follow the same path.

But Thai Sangha, the religious authority in the country, does not recognise these ordinations, citing a 1928 religious order forbidding monks from ordaining women. According to the Buddha's teachings, a male monk has to be ordained by a quorum of male monks, but women need both male and female monks' quora. This order makes it effectively impossible for women to be ordained in Thailand; they must travel to foreign countries to become monks.

Dhammananda was the first Thai woman in centuries to be ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk. Despite the official ban, she now runs the Songdhammakalyani Monastery, the first all-female temple in Thailand, located in Nakhon Pathom near Bangkok.

Other women join the ten permanent monks twice a year in temporary ordinations. They spend a few days with Dhammananda learning the precepts of the Buddha. In Theravada Buddhism, it is believed that being ordained at least once in one's lifetime it is the best way to gain karma for themselves or their relatives. "I wanted to be ordained because I want my parents [to] go to heaven," said Paranee, one of the women ordained last April, who works as an assurance agent near Bangkok.

Along with Paranee, 43 other women - most of them from Thailand but also from India and Vietnam - were ordained for nine days and participated in the monastic activities. They shaved their heads and woke up everyday at 5am to meditate. Some days they begged for food in the morning or tidied up the temple's garden.

Today, about 150 bhikkhunis practice in ten temples across Thailand, founded following Dhammananda's example.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2013/06/20136295128230163.html

[RedLantern]

Ordained female monks in Thailand consider their gender to be essential bridge to women they help through charity work and spiritual guidance,as male monks are not allowed to be alone with women.They have their own problems.They lack legal recognition and so have no right to the state benefits male monks received.
That highlights a persistent issue of discrimination for women across the country.A revived campaign to grant female monks legal recognition was launched quietly at the end of July,with advocates hoping that minimal fanfare would help them evade the conservative religious opposition that has kept the movement from strengthening for more than eighty years.

[Tenzin Malgyur]

Venerable Dhammananda did not take no for an answer towards her path to getting ordained as a nun. She travelled to study Buddha's precepts in Taiwan and was eventually ordained as a bhikkhuni in Sri Lanka. Then she returned to Thailand to set up the first all-female temple. She is really determined to benefit other women who have the same intention to walk the same path, even though there is an official ban on female getting ordained as a nun in Thailand. Because of Venerable Dhammananda's efforts, now women from many backgrounds can be ordained as a member of the sangha community and perform their monastic duties.

[fruven]

Thank you for posting this article. It shows that there is a large disparity between monks and nuns and especially in Thailand where if a female wishes to become fully ordained nun it is, technically, impossible. They even go into the extend of banning the monastery opened by Dhammananda, the first Thai woman to be ordained.

What happened if there is no more monks and only nuns are left in a country? Is it possible for a male to become a monk? Or he can only become a 'nun'? And if he is allowed to ordained because the nuns permit and grant his ordination he must hold nuns' vow?

[Jessie Fong]

Thank you for posting this article. It shows that there is a large disparity between monks and nuns and especially in Thailand where if a female wishes to become fully ordained nun it is, technically, impossible. They even go into the extend of banning the monastery opened by Dhammananda, the first Thai woman to be ordained.

What happened if there is no more monks and only nuns are left in a country? Is it possible for a male to become a monk? Or he can only become a 'nun'? And if he is allowed to ordained because the nuns permit and grant his ordination he must hold nuns' vow?

To answer your question about the non-existence of monks in future.  I guess they should be resourceful enough to be ordained in other Buddhist countries?

If Chatsumarn could go all the way to Taiwan to study and be ordained in Sri Lanka, then men who aspire to be monks can take the same steps.

Is there any hard and fast rule that prevents one from being ordained in another country?

[Dondrup Shugden]

Another inspiring story to illustrate that with the right motivation and sincerity, a human being is limitless in its endeavour.

Let us always support the Sangha (no matter whether monks or nuns) to thrive to preserve the Dharma. Beautiful achievement.