Thailand's female monks (cautiously) lobby for legal recognition

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A quiet campaign to grant female monks legal recognition began this summer. Advocates hope that the minimal fanfare will help the 'Bhikkhunis' evade conservative religious opposition.

BANGKOK, THAILAND -- Dhammananda Bhikkhuni grips a wobbly stack of feminine hygiene products and sorts them on a long table. Her followers watch before mimicking her quick movements.

<< Novice monk Dhammarakhita (C), dressed in a brick-colored robe after her ordination by Sri Lankan Bhikkuni, an order of female monks, gestures at Songdharmakalyani Temple in Nakhon Pathom, in this 2002 file photo. Formally known as Varangghana Vanavichayen, Dhammarakhita, a mother of two who divorced her husband to dedicate her life to Buddhism, became the first woman to be ordained as a monk in Thailand.
AFP/Newscom File

Bhikkhunis (Pee-KOO-nees), ordained female monks, in Thailand consider their gender to be an essential bridge to the women they help through charity work and spiritual guidance, since women are forbidden to be alone with male monks, known as Bhikkhu (Pee-KOO).

But Thai Bhikkhunis have their own limitations, not just because they number only 25 compared with the approximate 200,000 male monks here. They lack legal recognition – a denial that accompanies various withholdings of public benefits, and it highlights a persistent issue of discrimination for women across the country.

A revived campaign to grant Bhikkhunis legal recognition launched quietly at the end of July, with advocates hoping that minimal fanfare would help them evade the conservative religious opposition that has prevented the movement from strengthening for more than 80 years.

“This is a basic human rights issue,” says prominent former senator and lawyer Paiboon Nititawan, an organizer of the Bhikkhunis’ rights movement.

The new approach to take a cautious tact to achieve legal recognition for Bhikkhunis won’t grant them entirely equal status with the male monks. But Bhikkhunis and their supporters are eager to accept whatever gains they can secure in the still largely conservative country.

The trick? “We have to stay low key,” says Dhammananda, the eldest and longest-standing Bhikkhuni in Thailand. “We won’t go out and march through the streets.”

Dhammananda presides over a monastery that is home to nine Bhikkhunis in Nakhon Pathom province, one-hour northwest of Bangkok.

The residing Bhikkhunis, all ordained in Sri Lanka, which practices their observed chapter of Buddhism, Theravada, strictly follow the eight guiding principles of Buddhism.

Like their male counterparts, the women pray several times a day and discuss Buddhist teachings. But only Bhikkhuni can physically touch the other women who travel long distances for prayer.

“I love that it is easy to touch and talk with Dhammananda,” said Khun Tip, a layperson who visits the monastery daily. “Women who have problems with their husbands or families cannot talk to male monks about these things.”

Hurdles for women monks

Everyday barriers male monks don’t have to consider stunt Bhikkhunis’ work with women, the female monks say.

Male monks receive free public transportation and reserved bus seats, government identification cards, and public funds to support their monasteries. Bhikkhunis, meanwhile, have to rely on help from laypeople and private donations.

“If we go on the bus there is no place for us to sit,” explains Dhammananda. “To many people, this here would not be considered a temple, because with a temple you must have a monk, and we are not considered that.”

Bhikkhunis’ rights campaign reveals the subtle, yet entrenched brand of gender discrimination in Thailand, which has achieved gender parity in classrooms and the workforce. However, women still earn only 94 percent of what male colleagues make and hold the minority of executive, high-level positions in business and politics.

Dhammananda acknowledges the “injustice” of Bhikkhunis’ lack of recognition, but says if their campaign is to be successful it must appeal to Buddhist morals and honor the Buddha's word – not necessarily women's empowerment.

“We will bring these donations to women who are in the local prison,” explained Ms. Dhammananda. “If we don’t, then who?”

Thai constitution

Bhikkhuni ordination is permitted under the Thai constitution, but the Thai Sangha Council, a government-linked religious advisory group, does not accept Bhikkhunis’ legal status or right to be ordained within the country. It cites a 1928 Sangha Act, which banned ordination of women following the last known attempt to recognize Bhikkhunis.

A new constitution in 1932 made that religious order void, says Mr. Nititawan.

But the Thai Sangha and some Bhikkhu – who remain largely unaware of the revitalized campaign – continue to cite the 1928 order, which recognizes only Bhikkhu, along with Vietnamese and Chinese male monks.

Nititawan says nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition to propose an amendment to the Sangha Act – one-tenth of what is needed to bring the measure before the Thai Parliament.

The change in law would place Bhikkhunis in the “other sangha,” or ordained monks, category, along with Vietnamese and Chinese monks. Bhikkhuni would still have to travel abroad to receive ordination, a costly and time consuming process of several years.

“We believe that the government will support this because there is no reason not to,” explained Sutada Mekrungruengkul, director of the Gender and Development Research Institute in Bangkok, who helped organize the campaign’s launch among 30 people in Bangkok on July 29.

The movement also references the Buddha's support of Bhikkhunis when he allowed women to join the order of female Sangha, according to Dhammananda, because they were capable of enlightenment.

Dhammananda received her full ordination in 2003 and took over the temple her mother, the first fully ordained woman in Thailand, built in the 1970s.

A former university professor and divorced mother of three grown children, Dhammananda, then known as Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, says she found her spiritual calling mid life, when she felt something was missing from her otherwise full life. She realized it was a lack of fulfillment of her spirituality. She looked in the mirror one day and asked herself, “How much longer do I have to keep on doing this?” Competing for recognition at work seemed insignificant to adopting a simpler life of charity, reflection, and spirituality.

Other Bhikkhunis also chose ordination over promising careers.

Dhamma Vijaya planned to become an ambassador, and later considered social justice work, before she joined the monastery as a novice.

“It doesn’t matter to me that we are not recognized,” Ms. Dhamma said. “I would like to learn and that is my right.”

She thinks that the ranks of Bhikkhunis will grow if they receive legal recognition.

“It will help us become stronger,” Dhamma continued.

Approximately 1,200 Bhikkhunis practice across Southeast Asia and some parts of South Asia, among other places. Aside from Sri Lanka, Bhikkhunis can also receive ordination in China, Taiwan, Australia, and the United States.

Many national communities of Bhikkhunis say they have had their own struggles for equality, and they support one another through an international alliance. The alliance, of which Dhammanada is a member, works to support ordination of women worldwide.

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Thailand's Buddhist monks to get food lessons after study

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Bangkok, Thailand -- The Buddhist monks of Thailand are not known to be an especially active bunch. Prayers, chanting and the collecting of alms take up much of their time.

<< The monastic lifestyle isn't as healthy as one might expect, researchers found.

But a new study suggests this lack of activity is not as healthy as one would assume. The investigation by Thai academics has discovered that 45 per cent of monks are obese while a full 40 per cent of them suffer from congenital diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Many of them also suffer from various allergies.

The reason for this dismal situation, the scientists concurred, was an unhealthy diet and insufficient exercise. Much of the food donated to monks when they interact with the public is rich and oily and often contains too much sugar. In the evenings, when they are not supposed to eat, many of them will enjoy sweet soft drinks, usually also laden with sugar.

Some monks told the researchers they may sip as many as three such drinks a night.

Along with this is an unhealthy lifestyle. A report in The Nation newspaper said that apart from making their walks for alms, their only real exercise was sweeping the courtyards of their temples. Just over 20 per cent of the monks have annual health check-ups.

The survey's participants were 246 monks from the Dhammayuttika Nikaya and Mahayana movements in 11 of Thailand’s provinces.

The newspaper reported that following the investigation by Dr Pinij Larpthananon and Prof Jongjit Angkatavanich from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, and Dr Phramaha Suthit Aphakaro, director of the Buddhist research institute at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, a dual track plan had been put into place.

Not only will monks be educated about the sort of food they should be collecting, but a public education campaign will seek to advise people on healthy options they can give to the men in saffron robes.

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Thailand’s young Buddhist nuns challenge social conventions

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Bangkok, Thailand -- Beam Atchimapon is already three days late for the new school term in her native city, the Thai capital of Bangkok – but for a good cause.

<< Novice Thai nuns are seen before they receive food from people during the Songkran festival at the Sathira-Dhammasathan Buddhist meditation centre in Bangkok April 13, 2011. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

The nine-year-old is part of a small but growing group of Thai girls who choose to spend part of the school holiday as Buddhist nuns, down to having their heads shaven.

The temporary ordination of young men has long been part of Thai culture, with men spending a few days as monks and returning to their normal professions after time at a monastery.

But the ordination of “mae ji” or “nuns” is less common, and the idea that women should not play an active role in monastic life still prevails among more conservative Thais.

Fully ordained Buddhist nuns are not legally recognized, as they are in Myanmar and Sri Lanka – one sign of the inequality women still face in certain fields in Thailand.

“Thailand does not fully recognize the role of Buddhist nuns,” said Sansanee Sthuratsuta, a nun and founder of the Sathira Dammasathan center, a learning centre on the outskirts of Bangkok that is something of a green oasis.

Sansanee used to be a celebrated television personality in Thailand but gave up her fame for life as a nun 35 years ago. Her centre allows men and women to come and practice meditation, learn yoga and take part in retreats, part of its mission to make Buddhism an integral part of peoples’ lives.

She started the ordination of young nuns 3 years ago to raise awareness of nuns in the nation, where their role as spiritual leaders takes a backseat to their male counterparts.

“Nuns need to be educated. This is more important than a law that elevates the status of nuns in Thailand. If society can rely on nuns then they can be spiritual leaders,” she said.

This year, to celebrate 2,600 years since the Buddha gained enlightenment, the center arranged for the ordination of 137 women between the ages of five and 63.

The ordination involved shaving their hair off and living as a Buddhist nun for 20 days, including going on rounds to collect alms from worshippers at dawn, wearing simple white cotton clothes, and daily meditation classes.

The act of shaving their heads teaches the children to not hold on to impermanent things, Sansanee said.

"When we shaved off their hair the girls just said 'Take it off'. They are not embarrassed," said Sansanee. "None of these children were forced to come here. They volunteered."

The "mae ji noi" or "little nuns" are not from troubled families or poor backgrounds. The girls ordained at the center come from middle class Thai families that believe a religious education can enhance their child's formal education.

"My mother told me about it but I wanted to come here," said Beam, who attends a international school. "We are taught about the environment and about the Buddha."

The girls wake before sunrise, and finish their day with evening meditation at 6 p.m. The strict schedule is an impressive undertaking for the children but they take it in their stride, displaying a discipline beyond their years.

"Life is not just about finding money. It's about being useful to society and contributing in a positive way," said Sansanee.

"We believe they learn about life here whether they are walking or showering, they learn about awareness and everything becomes an act of meditation," Sansanee said.

Not all the time is spent in serious pursuits.

During one outdoor lesson the youngest nun Ploy, 5, ties two leaves together with a hair band and plays a shadow puppet game in the sun.

"Look! It's a rabbit!" says Ploy, to the amusement of her teachers.

The girls' parents feel the experience is more than worth it for what their daughters gain.

"My daughter has ordained for the second year. She is a more thoughtful child and she is doing very well at art in school now," said Karun Sribumroong, whose daughter Pim is eight. "Her time here made her even more creative and imaginative."

(Writing and Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, editing by Paul Casciato)

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