Towards a New Role of Nuns in Buddhist Societies

An INEB Seminar for Asian Engaged Buddhist Nuns

2. Aim of the Workshop and Participants

Despite the various activities there is a deficit of regular exchange of information and experiences on international level. The idea of this workshop was to go beyond the sparse bilateral exchanges and to bring Buddhist nuns from various Asian countries together. It was the first one of this kind organized by INEB. Eleven nuns and six laywomen (including facilitator and translator) participated at the workshop. The goal of this seminar was:

1. To provide an opportunity for Buddhist nuns from different cultures and traditions to exchange information about their situation, problems and needs. The result of the discussions will enable INEB to plan its directions and programs to help the nuns through its existing networks in different countries. 2. To provide a chance for nuns to share their experiences both with their practices and their social activities. This exchange will allow the nuns to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses and to see how they can support each other in the future. It is expected that this seminar should create a small network among nuns in Asia for future cooperation.

The participants of the seminar came from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Unfortunately nuns from Vietnam and Burma were not able to attend the seminar due to political reasons. The Military Government in Burma respective the Communist Government in Vietnam make it extremely difficult for religious persons to leave their country for seminars or Conferences. There was also no participation of Laotian nuns due to a lack of proper contacts to Buddhist nuns in Laos. But one lay Buddhist woman and medical doctor from Vientiane (who is involved in various social activities) was able to participate and offered her help to identify Buddhist nuns. The one participant from Bangladesh, a lay-woman in her early twenties, is preparing to become nun and plans to study Buddhism in Thailand before she returns to her home country in order to establish a nuns community. There is no such community in Bangladesh, yet. Two lay-women from Cambodia participated in order to help with the translation. Their peace work under the umbrella of the Dhammayietra Center (which was founded by INEB patron Somdech Maha Ghosananda) Phnom Penh involves collaboration with Buddhist nuns especially at the annual dhamma yietra. Because the workshop was rather small and confined to Asian nuns it created a very familiar atmosphere. This made it easier for the participants to overcome the difficulties with communication and to open their heart.

Active involvement and self-determination were the key of the workshop since especially the nuns in Theravada-Buddhist societies are used to listen and to follow other authorities such as the monks. In this respect the exchange with the Bhutanese nun from the Mahayana tradition was very enriching.

3. Activities carried out

The seminar consisted of two parts. It began with a three days seminar from June 1-3, followed by a four day study tour to different nunneries and projects run by nuns and monks. The seminar took place at the same site as the 8th INEB Conference (June 2-6) at the Leadership Training School near Kanchanaburi in order to give the nuns the opportunity to participate at various activities of the Conference. During the three days seminar the nuns could learn from each others situation and difficulties. They could also learn about various projects carried out by different Buddhist groups from all over the world, e.g. the recently inaugurated Sri Lankan Bhikkhuni Development Organization, which aims to revive the Bhikkhuni Order in Sri Lanka and to improve the educational standard of the nuns. The nuns said that this activity helped open their perspectives on what other engaged Buddhists can do to help society and thus motivated and strengthened their effort to do their work at home. One nun from Sri Lanka wrote in a letter recently: "I am determined to do some service to our country with the experience I got from the programmes I participated in. Even by now I have planned to build a building to be used as a pre-school, a dhamma school, and a place for meetings… It was a great pleasure to work with all of you for the 5 days we had our programs like the members of one family. I think that it is very important that such programmes are held in each country in each year."

One particular session of the Conference that concerned directly with the nuns was the panel discussion on 'Women and Buddhism'. There the participants from Bhutan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand gave first hand information about their struggle to a broader audium of some 80 people from around 25 countries. The discussion revealed that the Sri Lankan Dasa Silas Mata (as they are called) seemed to be in the best situation among all the nuns who came to this seminar. They can perform their own ordination, have their own temple, and they generally get support both from the public and particularly from the government. The Dasa Silas Mata told about their many years of struggle and insistence on wearing the yellow robe. Last year they send ten nuns to Benares (Varanasi) in India to be ordained in Mahayana tradition. One of their future projects include convincing the monk's council to accept the 10 new Bhikkhuni to be equivalent to Theravada Bhikkhuni (as their precepts are the same) so that the Bhikkhuni order in Theravada Buddhism can be reborn again after more than 1,000 years of absence.

The exposure trip from June 5-8 introduced the international participants to different forms of Buddhist practice, everyday experiences, and social activism of Thai Mae Chees in a way which affirmed the importance of women-centered Buddhist communities while demonstrated that there is much work to be done.

Day 1 (5 June 1997): The branch of the Thai Nuns Institute was the first community to be visited. The community is located in Ratchaburi, a city Southwest of Bangkok. It is an area where Buddhism was already introduced in the 6th Century. One of the interesting projects run by the community is called Dhamma Jarinee (Dhamma for young girls). This project was established for young girls from poor or broken families from rural areas of Thailand. It aims to provide opportunity for this at-risk youth to finish junior and senior high school and avoid problems associated in Thai society with child exploitation. Dhamma Jarinee was founded as part of the Thai Nuns Institute six years ago by Mae Chee Prathin, the head of the Community who was recently elected as the president of the Thai Nuns Institute. The community includes around ten lay women who came to live here for different lengths of retreat. There are girls aged twelve to eighteen, who range in number from about twenty during the early years to nearly fifty recently; more girls would like to attend the school, but the limited facilities and funding have prevented further expansion. The girls are provided with free room, board, and education though the financial support from public and the Thai Nuns Institute under the patronage of H.H. the Queen of Thailand. Their classwork includes both the regular school curriculum and some study of the Buddhist Tripitaka texts. The students are asked to take eight precepts, eat only two meals a day in traditional monastic fashion and are also encouraged to chant and meditate for an hour and a half every day. In the past years a few girls decided to be ordained as a nun after school completing, but this decision is left to the individual student herself. During the six years of existence some twenty students have gone to a college on their own expense, after completing high school. This impressive number shows that Dhamma Jaree is today a successful educational institution.

This first stop of the exposure trip allowed our group to begin to get to know each other better, and to talk informally with nuns from the community and with Mae Chee Phratin herself. Language provided the main obstacle in communicating, but through the several interpreters and different levels of familiarity with English the group managed quite well. For the participants the impression of this school revealed how different their situation is. Among the nun participants all but the Sri Lankan Dasa Sila Mata were ordained by monks. They mostly live in the temple under the care of the monks. Their financial support comes either from the families or the monastery they are living in. If the nuns want to have a full ordination as Bhikkhuni they can only do it in Mahayana tradition as in Theravada Buddhism the tradition ended already 500 years ago. The participants discussed about the various efforts to revive Bhikkhuni ordination in some Theravada Buddhist countries, especially in Sri Lanka where the movement is very strong and progressive. In North-Thailand recently an old temple was discovered in Ubosoth (Chiang Mai province), specially built about five centuries ago for Bhikkhuni ordination.

Mae Chee Prathin stressed that the relatively large number of nuns (around 10,000 nuns) in Thailand, have to go for a long struggle in order to receive financial support from the public and the government which would be proportional to that what the almost 200,000 monks receive. The formal visit of the community ended with joining in the regular evening chanting. The group exchanged the way of chanting in different Buddhist styles and texts. Later the evening the group shared their ideas about Buddhism from a women's perspective and how it is expressed in the different cultures and regions. The chorus of seventy or so young girls, old and young nuns and some lay women chanting together was quite moving in its powerful and peaceful quality. In the respective night-quarters animated conversations went well into the night all around the grounds.

Day 2 (6 June 1997): The second stop was Khao Phra nunnery in Suphanburi, northwest of Bangkok. This nunnery was built on top of a solitary hill towering over the surrounding country-side, which is now approached by a stairway with 404 steps. The nunnery was originally founded twenty-three years ago, when it was already associated with a monk who first lived here, hence the name Khao Phra meaning monk's hill, and already had a stupa built several centuries ago. Sunantha, the foundress, worked with a few nuns at the beginning to build a few functional buildings and left some unfinished ones to her successor when she died nine years ago. The seriousness of the Buddhist practice at this nunnery is seen in Sunantha's having meditation and prayer for years in a small retreat hut built on a platform. She also did not acknowledge the customary inferior status of nuns in Thailand, traditionally seen in white robes and taking eight or ten precepts, but instead wore yellow robes in the same manner as monks. The communication around the surrounding area recognized the seriousness of her practice and her insight through donations of food and other supplies and of parcels of land surrounding the hill. Khao Phra itself is government-owned land. After her master died Mae Chee Sarocha became abbess. She leads the community of 14 nuns and completed the unfinished buildings and even built a few more. They did most of the construction work manually by pounding stones to use for covering the top, building the dining hall and kitchen with two men who taught them how to do the work, putting up electricity and plumbing work. Villagers from surrounding communities also helped building up the place especially the construction of the stairway. The participants were impressed by the cement sculpture statues of Faruda, Indra and a Dharani water Goddess scattered across the hilltop grounds made by Sarocha and the other nuns. Sarocha also leads her community to continue with meditation practice, living a real harmonic Sangha life and at the same time carry out a number of social work projects. Her fundraising work includes a planned home for the elderly and the reparation of the badly damaged stupa. Sarocha has always been wearing a white robe in order to comply with the rules and regulations of nunhood. Her combined spiritual insight and administrative skills have been recognized by her fellow nuns who elected her as their second highest official.

The most enjoyable part of the visit was a lively discussion held after walking meditation seated in a circle in front of a large Buddha statue. After introductions we exchanged questions and answers about the different situations of the nuns and their practice in different Buddhist countries and traditions. This dialogue quickly centered on the nun's interest in the Tibetan Buddhist practice and the different experiences of Ven. Wang Mo, the only Bhikkhuni in the group. Wang Mo had to travel to the United States for the Bhikkhuni ordination. Her experiences in a tradition where ordained persons and also lay persons who committed themselves in serious practice are given the same respect as monks was of great interest for the rest of the group.

Day 3 (7 June 1997): The third stop on the tour was at Phrabat Namphu temple in Lopburi, about 100 km north of Bangkok. This temple has become well-known for its Dhammaraksaniwesana Project, a center for treating people with Aids and HIV patients an helping them to die peacefully and spiritually. The center was founded by Ven. Alongkot in 1992 with the initial support of INEB and today of H.H. the King's Mother and several other private and government agencies. The center has grown exponentially to it's present size of some 300 beds, largely because hospitals have run out of beds for Aids patients. A residential treatment center is also needed because so many families, communities and health professions, including doctors and nurses, have refused to treat of house Aids patients due to fear of infection. Here the care for the residents is free. The center is run by resident Aids patients under the guidance of the director monk. Their work consists largely of care for the resident as well as preparing those who passed away for cremation. A very important component of the center's work includes public education, which occurs through presentations to the large number of daily visitors to the center, through the active speaking schedule of Ven. Alongkot, and through a mobile education team which travels to different provinces countrywide helping families and communities to accept those who have Aids.

Now the center is getting substantial funding from the government, largely because responsible government agencies are ignorant and incapable of handling the Aids epidemic1. The very existence of the center and Ven. Alongkot's continued health are themselves evidence to the Thai public, including health professionals, the family and community members that one can help taking care and live with HIV and Aids patients without contracting the disease.

Because of the success this center has had, and because of the dire need for treatment facilities, other monks and a few HIV patients themselves have begun to open similar centers elsewhere in the country.

Sathien Dhammasathan in a north Bangkok suburb was the final destination of the exposure trip. Founded by Mae Chee Sansanee 10 years ago, this center was by far the largest and best-funded place which the group visited. The center itself is built in a luxuriously dense garden with elegantly appointed buildings scattered about, and housing about ten young nuns who mostly come from the Northeast of Thailand. Mae Chee Sansanee introduced the center's programs to the guests. They include a Home for Women who have suffered from domestic violence (including rape) and unmarried pregnancy. This project was started six years ago and has been run in cooperation with a few hospitals in Bangkok where the women decided to keep the baby and gave birth, but don't have a place where they can stay. At present the center has six mothers. This home is located in the center compound itself and part of the nun's community where both mothers and babies will go eat with the nuns and join in both the morning and the evening chanting and meditation. There is a counselor who comes to visit the women once a week. The counselor also gives counseling to the family of origin of the women and works through different steps to work things out between the women and the family so that the women can return to their home if they want to. When the children from this home are big enough they will be sent to the kindergarten project which is within walking distance from the center. The mother whose baby goes to kindergarten will also help out with different works at the kindergarten. The kindergarten project is the work that the center cooperates with a hospital, a temple in the neighborhood, and the Ministry of Education. The role of the center is to send young nuns to teach children to practice Dhamma through songs, story telling and other form of Arts. Four years ago when the project first started most children were from the Home for Women and the poor families in the neighborhood that the nuns found along different routes during their morning almsround. Because of the success of the project today the kindergarten has more than 400 children and 30% of these children are from middle class and rich families. When the group visited the kindergarten the following morning they were very impressed by the set up of class-rooms and the green surroundings of the kindergarten.

The final day (8 June 1997): After visiting the Home for Women and the kindergarten the participants had a wrap up and evaluation session (results s. #4).

4. Evaluation - Future Plans

The group concluded that four main areas have been covered from the seminar and the study tour:

• The exchange of the situation, obstacles, needs and hopes of nuns from each country.
  
  
• The exchange of both personal lives, their work and practice of nuns from different cultures and practices.
  
  
• The examples of different Thai nun communities: their living together as a spiritual Sangha, their relationship with the surrounding communities, their social works and their struggles in trying to contribute their Dhamma works for society while at the same time maintaining their harmonious and spiritual lives.
  
  
• Friendship among the participants has been sowed despite difficulties in communication. Although the network is not formally established this friendship will definitely open up possibilities for the group to learn and connect to each other more in the future.
  
  

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