Perpetuating sexism through prayers

Perpetuating sexism through prayers

Thai Buddhism, imbued with old gender and cultural beliefs, has no room for women's spirituality. But this can change.  Bangkok Post photo
Thai Buddhism, imbued with old gender and cultural beliefs, has no room for women's spirituality. But this can change.  Bangkok Post photo

Is it possible that women's lower status in Thai society has something to do with the way we Thai Buddhists pray?

Every time we recite the words Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha in Thai to pay respects to the Three Refuges in Buddhism, what are the images in our mind?

Buddha is the Awakened One, or the Buddha. Dhamma means the natural reality -- ever changing, uncontrollable, the state that is not me nor mine. But when we recite the word sangha or phra song in Thai, we only think of male Buddhist monks.

This is not only wrong, it is the basis of gender oppression in Thai Buddhism. It's why Thai Buddhism has no room for female monastics and why the Thai clergy prohibits the ordination of their female counterpart or bhikkhunis.

The clergy insist they are not discriminating against female monks at all; they are just being faithful to the monastic disciplines set by the Buddha.

According to the clergy, female ordination requires double ordinations, first from the bhikkhuni order, and then by the monks. Since the bhikkhuni lineage of the orthodox Theravada tradition subscribed by Thailand has long been extinct, proper female ordination is no longer possible, the elders insist.

Their seemingly objective rationality turned into fury when a group of Thai women sought female ordination in Sri Lanka. The clergy immediately brushed up an old order prohibiting female ordination and issued a stern warning prohibiting monks from associating with bhikkhunis, or risk punishment.

Why such fierce hostility? Several years ago, a well-known forest monastery held a press conference to ostracise a prominent monk for supporting female ordination. I asked an elder there why he thought women should not be ordained. The answer was eye-opening.

If we let women be ordained, then there would be female monks all over the place, he scoffed.

That was my satori moment. I understood at once that the female ordination ban has nothing to do with the Vinaya or monastic code of conduct. It's about patriarchy. It's about power, the huge benefits it brings, and the need to safeguard the perks from outsiders.

Of course, women can live a monastic life, but only as head-shaven, white-clad nuns under monks' control.

Want to be on an equal footing as monks? Not a chance.

A respectable monk, yet a misogynist. If anything, it shows how deep sexism is in the Thai psyche. So deep that it often remains unscathed despite years of serious religious devotion.

If spiritual practice is about peeling away layers after layers of prejudice until one realises the truth that all is one, prejudice against women certainly represents a huge spiritual challenge for monks to transcend.

It is understandably difficult for monks in a patriarchal culture to break away from this cultural chain. And society is not very helpful.

By making monks one of the three pillars in Buddhism, which are systematically perpetuated in daily prayers, the monks have become sacred figures and pampered to the point of being spoiled.

Until very recently, people tended to keep silent at monks' misconducts "out of respect for the sacred saffron robe".

When monks' scandals became prevalent, there have been efforts to adjust the meaning of Sangha in the prayers. Sangha -- one of the three refuges of Buddhists -- does not mean all monks, but only the good ones who are true to the teachings, they explain.

Good or bad monks, the gender is still male only, mind you.

This is not what Sangha really means. In Pali, sangha has two meanings. The first meaning is a community of Buddhist monastics, bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. The second meaning is a community of ethical-spiritual people who practice the teachings of Buddha. They include male and female monks as well as male and female lay followers.

A highly-acclaimed Buddhist treatise, Dhammanudhamma Patipatti, by an anonymous dhamma teacher, explains clearly that the word Sangha means people who follow the teachings of Lord Buddha regardless of gender.

This community of Buddhist practitioners is divided into two groups. One is the sommutti sangha -- the ordained monks and female monks who have not yet attained spiritual liberation.

The other is the ariya sangha -- any followers who have attained different levels of spiritual liberation, the highest level being nirvana. Be they lay persons or monastics, women or men, humans or celestial beings, they can become ariya sangha if they have attained certain levels of spiritual purification.

Why then has the meaning of sangha been reduced to male monks only?

It is probably the same answer why the Buddhist treatise "Dhammanudhamma Patipatti" was believed to be authored by Luang Pu Man, a highly-revered forest monk and meditation master who was widely believed to be an enlightened one.

The rationale is that only a monk of profound knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures with a very high level of spiritual attainment could explain the path of spiritual liberation so clearly and accurately.

Had it not been for the research of two academics, Martin Seeger and Naris Charaschanyawong, we would not have known the truth.

The real author of this book was no monk. It was a woman -- Khunying Yai Damrongthammasan (1886-1944). A respectable Buddhist practitioner, her extensive knowledge of the scriptures and deep spiritual practices had won recognition from leading monks of her time, including the reformist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.

It is believed that she had attained a high level of spirituality because she could determine the time when her mind would leave her body.

In her last day of life, according to the book Damrongtham by Martin Seeger and Naris charaschanyawong, Khunying Yai, then living as a nun, invited a monk to recite a set of scriptures she had chose to listen to one last time. When the monk finished, she prostrated on the ground to give him respects, then said: "May I leave my body here." Then she breathed her last breath and passed away in that position.

Was she a woman of high spiritual attainment? Was she an ariya sangha? What happened speaks for itself.

Women's spirituality had no room in Thai Buddhism and we know why. Thanks to "Gender and the Path to Awakening: Hidden Stories of Nuns in Modern Thai Buddhism" by Martin Seeger, a professor at the University of Leeds, we learn about other women with advanced knowledge and practices in Buddhism.

Many of them are believed to be spiritually liberated. After the cremation, their bones crystalised and became phra dhatu similar to those of highly respected monks believed to have reached a high level of spirituality.

If enlightenment can occur to anyone who is committed to spiritual practices regardless of gender and social status, it's unnecessary for women to seek formal ordination, right?

That is what many monks say to dismiss female ordination. It that is the case, men also don't need to become monks, right? Undeniably, ordination is a crucial tool to systematically sustain a religious system. Ordination allows those with deep religious commitment to practice without having to worry about worldly obligations.

Society also benefits. The monastics' spiritual experiences and compassion provide a living proof that it's possible to attain inner peace, serving as an inspiration for others to follow the spiritual path of selflessness.

But only men have this ordination privilege in our society. Without a system to support female ordination, only a small group of financially secure women can devote their lives as nuns or bhikkhunis. Poor women need to be temple labour in exchange for shelter and a chance to live a religious life.

The monks' institution plays an important role in rescuing poor boys from a life of hardship, giving them education and a secure future. More often than not, their poor sisters need to drop out of school and work to support their families.

Many poor girls have become victims of the flesh trade. It's not uncommon that they need to send a big sum of money to finance their brothers' extravagant ordination ceremony.

There's still a deep cultural belief that mothers, although they cannot be ordained, can go to heaven through holding the son's saffron robe.

If society were to support bhikkhunis as an institution, poor girls will have the same educational support and opportunities as their brothers. It would be easier for women to devote themselves to a monastic life. Female saints would be no longer uncommon. When female followers need advice, the bhikkhuni will certainly serve them better.

How to make this happen? We can start with correcting the way we pray.

Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha are our spiritual refuges. Buddhists recite this in our prayers every day. But here Sangha does not mean monks only. It means monks, female monks, and every one of us who follow the Buddha's path.

This correct understanding will not only give an equal space for women in religion. It will also remind us Buddhists that we are our own refuge. No one can rescue us spiritually unless we practice the teachings.

Next time we pray, remember the Sangha is not monks. Regardless of ordination and saffron robes, if we follow the spiritual path, we are the Sangha ourselves. That's how we can stop sexism in Thai Buddhism -- with our prayers.


Sanitsuda Ekachai is former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.

Sanitsuda Ekachai

Former editorial pages editor

Sanitsuda Ekachai is a former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post. She writes on human rights, gender, and Thai Buddhism.

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