Women in Buddhism
I always knew I wanted to be a bhiksuni in the Sangha, and that I wanted to study the traditions of Buddhism. It was a goal I worked towards from a very young age. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities to become well educated here in the village, and for a short time before my parents passed I travelled to some of our neighbouring countries to study their traditions in Buddhism. This experience really got me thinking about the role of women in Buddhism.
The Buddha allowed women to join the Sangha, and to participate in the fulsome experience of the monastic community. I am grateful for this teaching so that I could live the life I am living now. The Buddha allowing women to join the Sangha was revolutionary, especially for its time; a time when women were considered less than men. Over time, there has been many traditions in Buddhism that have developed, and not all traditions have carried this teaching of the Buddha with them. In Thailand, women were meant to be lay followers and to earn merit in hope of being reborn a man. Women’s ordination was not accepted by the government. In order for a women to be ordained a nun, they need a monk and a nun, but since monks were not allowed to ordain women in Thailand, monks and nuns from Sri Lanka would perform the ordination. It was an inspiring day for many, when in 2002 Thailand had their first ordination ceremony for women held by a nun from Sri Lanka, but in the presence of a Monk from Thailand. The battle for equality in Thailand is on-going and women are hopeful that the government will soon accept a female sangha, just as was permitted from the Buddha. Being able to witness the culture in Thailand was an incredible experience for me.
Over the years, I have studied women in Buddhism, and although the teachings of the Buddha were revolutionary for his time for allowing women to join the Sangha, there is still a significant amount of patriarchy and inequality with in Buddhism. The process for women to join the Sangha is different for that of men and consists of three steps. The first step for becoming a Bhiksuni is for women to leave home; this step can be more difficult for women than for men, as there is social pressure to fill specific responsibilities as women; for example, women are expected to have children and raise them. Women must be twenty before they can be ordained, and they also need permission from a nun, a monk, their parents, and their husband if they have one, in order to join the Sangha.
The second step to attaining ordination is to become a probationary nun. For two years, a probationary nun trains under a senior nun. In this stage, women observe the five precepts to decipher if they can honor them. The five precepts being: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no consumption of alcohol. As a sixth precept, a probationary nun also refrains from eating at the wrong times.
The last step of the ordination process is ordination. When men become ordained, they only require a Monk’s approval, however nuns require both a nun’s acceptance which is said to “raise her up”, and a monk’s acceptance which is said to “ordain her fully”. An ordained Monk has 227 rules to follow, an ordained nun has 311 rules to follow. In many of the Buddhist traditions, women pray to be born a man in the next cycle of samsara, because although women can be enlightened, there are many more obstacles for women, and being a man is a higher honour.
The nunnery were I live here in the village is small and tattered. The roof leaks, walls are cracked, and the floors are made of cement. The nuns here work together to keep it functional, and to try and fix it up as best we can, but at the end of the day, I do not choose to live here for the remarkable accommodations. I am here to devote my time and my mind to the study and practise of the dharma. A typical day in the nunnery for me consists of group prayers, individual meditation, various chores, listening to teachings of the Buddha, and working on translations. Some of these daily practices have been a challenge since we lost most of our books in the storm. When the Lama came to our village and heard of our loss, he donated enough money for us to rebuild a library, and to build the village’s very first printing press. I am so grateful to the Lama for his kindness and compassion. Having a printing press here in the village is exciting news for a scholar such as myself.
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