England-born Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo has dedicated her life as a woman to achieving enlightenment – spending years isolated in a cave in the Himalayas to follow the harsh path of the most dedicated yogis in a phase . She later established a nunnery in India that focused on giving women Tibetan Buddhism Some equal opportunities are reserved for monks.
The venerable Dhammananda gave up his family life and a distinguished academic career in Thailand to follow the Buddha’s path. She then challenged her homeland’s unequal status of women in Buddhist practice by traveling to Sri Lanka to become Thailand’s first fully ordained nun in Theravada, one of the oldest forms of Buddhism.
Born in a different world, they are among a group of respected female monasteries or “bhikkhunis”, individuals and academics who have challenged long-standing patriarchal traditions. She has paved the way for progress for Buddhist women in recent decades – from education to advanced degrees and from the creation of nuns to attaining full ordination.
In all branches, however, many at the forefront of the movement say that more needs to be done so that women have equal opportunities.
“This is changing because there is a lot more interest in the feminine. Why have women been so neglected and overlooked for centuries, not just in Buddhism, but around the world?” Palmo said. About 100 nuns live and study in India at their Dongyu Gatsal linga nunnery.
This story is part of a series by The Associated Press and Religion News Service on the roles of women in men-led religion.
Women were involved in Buddhism from its earliest years, and their monastic ordination is more than 2,500 years old, said Judith Simmer-Brown, Emeritus Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University in Colorado, a liberal arts school affiliated with Buddhism. But as monasticism spread from India to other countries, there were often additional requirements to be appointed in those patriarchal societies.
“Full coordination has been very difficult for women,” Simer-Brown said of some of the branches. “Even though Buddhist teachings always say that women have the same potential to become enlightened and may be better suited to enlightenment than men.”
She said that over the past 25 years, as Buddhism has developed in the West and Asian Buddhist societies have been influenced by feminism, there is a greater awareness of the importance of women’s leadership.
In Buddhism, the status of women varies across countries and branches that follow different traditions and practices. Women can be equated with monks in China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, mostly dominated by the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Female ordination is not available in the Tibetan tradition, nor in Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar.
Women are also banned from becoming monks in Thailand, where more than 90% of the population is Buddhist. Historically, women could only become white-clothed nuns, who were often regarded as the glorified householders of the temple. But dozens have traveled to Sri Lanka to achieve complete coordination.
Dhammananda, the pioneering Thai nun, was a respected Buddhist scholar and television personality prior to her ordination. One day she looked in the mirror and heard an inner voice asking: “How long should I do this?” She took a vow of celibacy and decided to live separately from her three sons, traveling to Sri Lanka for her novice ordination in 2001.
When she returned to Thailand wearing a shaved head and saffron robes reserved for men, she faced criticism for defying the Buddhist male-led hierarchy. They used to say: “Imagine a woman wearing a robe, she would be crazy,” said Dhammanand, who was appointed in 2003 in full.
Two decades later, she said, people on the street no longer “look at you with surprised eyes” because Thailand now has more than 280 women nationwide, although they and their monasteries are not legally recognized and are part of the state. Does not get funding.
Dhammananda argues that the Buddha created religion in the form of a four-legged stool – monks, nuns, laymen and common women.
“We are on the right side of history,” she said.
Women lead simple lifestyles and are governed by 311 rules including celibacy. His rank and hundreds of candidates include a former Google executive, a Harvard graduate, journalist and doctor, as well as the village’s noodle vendor.
Buddhist Thai women are playing a more important role, said Kritsana Raksachom, a nun and lecturer at Bangkok’s Maha Chulalongkorn Rajvidyalay University. They lead meditation courses with both male and female followers, teach Buddhism and Pali languages to monks and novices at public Buddhist universities, and run charities.
In Sri Lanka, the Bhikkhuni order was established in the 3rd century BCE after the introduction of Buddhism from India, but later disappeared due to foreign invasions and other factors. It was not until the late 80s and 90s that the first Sri Lankan nuns in more than a millennium attained their high ordination.
peradenye dhamshantiA nun at the Paramita International Buddhist Meditation Center in Sri Lanka said that ordinary women and nuns have made significant progress. But he regrets that he still lacks adequate education and space to meditate.
Paula Arai, a professor of religious studies at Louisiana State University, said Buddhist women in Japan focus on caring for the bereaved, the mentally ill, the elderly and families. Male and female monastic ranks are equal, and women have “this ‘chutzpa’ because when the tradition was introduced in Japan in the sixth century, women were ordained solely,” Arai said.
In Tibetan Buddhism, nuns have enjoyed many privileges historically reserved for monks. They include studying for the Geshema, the highest and most sought-after degree of tradition, which for centuries had been rejected by them.
“The balance is changing because now, certainly in Tibetan Buddhism, nuns are highly educated and have the same degree as monks,” Palmo said. “They’re teaching too, and so their confidence level has gone up tremendously.”
Nevertheless, she laments that women in the Tibetan tradition can only become novice nuns and cannot be fully ordained.
“They’re standing at the door, but they’re not entering,” said Palmo. “It is sad that such protests are taking place.”
After seeing the unequal opportunities for women, the venerable Karma Lekhe Tsomo made it his lifelong mission to correct the imbalance.
Born in California, she grew up surfing and traveled to Asia in the 1950s, when teachers, monasteries, and books on Buddhism were hard to find. She studied with masters of Tibetan Buddhism and, in the late 80s, organized a leading international conference of Buddhist women in the same village where the Buddha was awakened. She created the Shakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and an education project for women running schools in Bangladesh, Laos and the Himalayas.
“To achieve that highest level, women need equal means to work, men have equal opportunities,” said Somo, who is a professor of Buddhist studies. University of San Diego,
Author and journalist Michaela Haas praised Tsomo, Palmo and other women in her book “Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West”. But he is disappointed with the lack of progress.
“We should continue to stick together, and despite these great female teachers, the tradition hasn’t changed that much,” she said.
“They have to work extra hard and do double the work and be super, super qualified.” Meanwhile, in some monasteries, she said, women, even nuns, are tasked with cooking and washing clothes, “so it’s still an old-fashioned understanding of gender roles.”
The Venerable Thubten Chodron, who first traveled to India in the 1970s to study under the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist masters, said he has seen “huge” positive changes for nuns since then. In 2003 he opened Sravasti Abbey in Washington state, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western monks and nuns in the US.
The day begins with teachings and meditation before dawn and is followed by chanting sessions.
Chodron, who wrote books with the Dalai Lama and author of “Buddhism for Beginners”, said, “I am training all those who are to come, who have a sincere motivation and the discipline that we keep here. , want to follow him.”
One of his students is 38-year-old Thubten Damacho. Born in Singapore, she was introduced to Buddhism at Princeton University. She met Chodron after graduation, received her ordination at Sravasti Abbey and was ordained fully in Taiwan.
“It was a while before I realized, ‘Oh, this coordination isn’t available to all women,'” Damcho said. “I’m living in a time where it’s possible again, and how rare and amazing it is.”
The venerable Dhammananda gave up his family life and a distinguished academic career in Thailand to follow the Buddha’s path. She then challenged her homeland’s unequal status of women in Buddhist practice by traveling to Sri Lanka to become Thailand’s first fully ordained nun in Theravada, one of the oldest forms of Buddhism.
Born in a different world, they are among a group of respected female monasteries or “bhikkhunis”, individuals and academics who have challenged long-standing patriarchal traditions. She has paved the way for progress for Buddhist women in recent decades – from education to advanced degrees and from the creation of nuns to attaining full ordination.
In all branches, however, many at the forefront of the movement say that more needs to be done so that women have equal opportunities.
“This is changing because there is a lot more interest in the feminine. Why have women been so neglected and overlooked for centuries, not just in Buddhism, but around the world?” Palmo said. About 100 nuns live and study in India at their Dongyu Gatsal linga nunnery.
This story is part of a series by The Associated Press and Religion News Service on the roles of women in men-led religion.
Women were involved in Buddhism from its earliest years, and their monastic ordination is more than 2,500 years old, said Judith Simmer-Brown, Emeritus Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University in Colorado, a liberal arts school affiliated with Buddhism. But as monasticism spread from India to other countries, there were often additional requirements to be appointed in those patriarchal societies.
“Full coordination has been very difficult for women,” Simer-Brown said of some of the branches. “Even though Buddhist teachings always say that women have the same potential to become enlightened and may be better suited to enlightenment than men.”
She said that over the past 25 years, as Buddhism has developed in the West and Asian Buddhist societies have been influenced by feminism, there is a greater awareness of the importance of women’s leadership.
In Buddhism, the status of women varies across countries and branches that follow different traditions and practices. Women can be equated with monks in China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, mostly dominated by the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Female ordination is not available in the Tibetan tradition, nor in Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar.
Women are also banned from becoming monks in Thailand, where more than 90% of the population is Buddhist. Historically, women could only become white-clothed nuns, who were often regarded as the glorified householders of the temple. But dozens have traveled to Sri Lanka to achieve complete coordination.
Dhammananda, the pioneering Thai nun, was a respected Buddhist scholar and television personality prior to her ordination. One day she looked in the mirror and heard an inner voice asking: “How long should I do this?” She took a vow of celibacy and decided to live separately from her three sons, traveling to Sri Lanka for her novice ordination in 2001.
When she returned to Thailand wearing a shaved head and saffron robes reserved for men, she faced criticism for defying the Buddhist male-led hierarchy. They used to say: “Imagine a woman wearing a robe, she would be crazy,” said Dhammanand, who was appointed in 2003 in full.
Two decades later, she said, people on the street no longer “look at you with surprised eyes” because Thailand now has more than 280 women nationwide, although they and their monasteries are not legally recognized and are part of the state. Does not get funding.
Dhammananda argues that the Buddha created religion in the form of a four-legged stool – monks, nuns, laymen and common women.
“We are on the right side of history,” she said.
Women lead simple lifestyles and are governed by 311 rules including celibacy. His rank and hundreds of candidates include a former Google executive, a Harvard graduate, journalist and doctor, as well as the village’s noodle vendor.
Buddhist Thai women are playing a more important role, said Kritsana Raksachom, a nun and lecturer at Bangkok’s Maha Chulalongkorn Rajvidyalay University. They lead meditation courses with both male and female followers, teach Buddhism and Pali languages to monks and novices at public Buddhist universities, and run charities.
In Sri Lanka, the Bhikkhuni order was established in the 3rd century BCE after the introduction of Buddhism from India, but later disappeared due to foreign invasions and other factors. It was not until the late 80s and 90s that the first Sri Lankan nuns in more than a millennium attained their high ordination.
peradenye dhamshantiA nun at the Paramita International Buddhist Meditation Center in Sri Lanka said that ordinary women and nuns have made significant progress. But he regrets that he still lacks adequate education and space to meditate.
Paula Arai, a professor of religious studies at Louisiana State University, said Buddhist women in Japan focus on caring for the bereaved, the mentally ill, the elderly and families. Male and female monastic ranks are equal, and women have “this ‘chutzpa’ because when the tradition was introduced in Japan in the sixth century, women were ordained solely,” Arai said.
In Tibetan Buddhism, nuns have enjoyed many privileges historically reserved for monks. They include studying for the Geshema, the highest and most sought-after degree of tradition, which for centuries had been rejected by them.
“The balance is changing because now, certainly in Tibetan Buddhism, nuns are highly educated and have the same degree as monks,” Palmo said. “They’re teaching too, and so their confidence level has gone up tremendously.”
Nevertheless, she laments that women in the Tibetan tradition can only become novice nuns and cannot be fully ordained.
“They’re standing at the door, but they’re not entering,” said Palmo. “It is sad that such protests are taking place.”
After seeing the unequal opportunities for women, the venerable Karma Lekhe Tsomo made it his lifelong mission to correct the imbalance.
Born in California, she grew up surfing and traveled to Asia in the 1950s, when teachers, monasteries, and books on Buddhism were hard to find. She studied with masters of Tibetan Buddhism and, in the late 80s, organized a leading international conference of Buddhist women in the same village where the Buddha was awakened. She created the Shakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and an education project for women running schools in Bangladesh, Laos and the Himalayas.
“To achieve that highest level, women need equal means to work, men have equal opportunities,” said Somo, who is a professor of Buddhist studies. University of San Diego,
Author and journalist Michaela Haas praised Tsomo, Palmo and other women in her book “Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West”. But he is disappointed with the lack of progress.
“We should continue to stick together, and despite these great female teachers, the tradition hasn’t changed that much,” she said.
“They have to work extra hard and do double the work and be super, super qualified.” Meanwhile, in some monasteries, she said, women, even nuns, are tasked with cooking and washing clothes, “so it’s still an old-fashioned understanding of gender roles.”
The Venerable Thubten Chodron, who first traveled to India in the 1970s to study under the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist masters, said he has seen “huge” positive changes for nuns since then. In 2003 he opened Sravasti Abbey in Washington state, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western monks and nuns in the US.
The day begins with teachings and meditation before dawn and is followed by chanting sessions.
Chodron, who wrote books with the Dalai Lama and author of “Buddhism for Beginners”, said, “I am training all those who are to come, who have a sincere motivation and the discipline that we keep here. , want to follow him.”
One of his students is 38-year-old Thubten Damacho. Born in Singapore, she was introduced to Buddhism at Princeton University. She met Chodron after graduation, received her ordination at Sravasti Abbey and was ordained fully in Taiwan.
“It was a while before I realized, ‘Oh, this coordination isn’t available to all women,'” Damcho said. “I’m living in a time where it’s possible again, and how rare and amazing it is.”
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