Special Sharing by a Woman Bhikkuni

At this Symposium, we also had a specially invited guest to come and share her struggles with us as a woman seeking to be recognised as a legitimate cleric in her own religious circle. (I do hope this wasn't done with particular reference to any undertones of seeking to have "women priests" in the Holy Catholic Church!)

Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, ordained Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, is a Thai Buddhist monk. On February 28 2003, the Venerable Dhammananda received full bhikkhuni ordination in Sri Lanka. She is the first Thai woman to be ordained in a Theravada monastic lineage. She is the abbess of the only temple in Thailand where there are fully ordained woman monks. She currently resides at the Songdhammakalyani Monastery in the Muang District, Nakhonpathom province, Thailand.

Since the Venerable Dhammananda was ordained nine years ago, many other nuns had been ordained as monks. They were not illegal, but neither were they recognised officially by the Thai government. Their temple had likewise not been recognised by the Thai government, and this recognition was contingent upon the recognition of women monks by the government. Thailand boasts of the highest population of Buddhists, with Myanmar being the second.

The speaker mentioned that the Buddha did ordain women. The first women he ordained were his own stepmother and aunt. Initially, he did not agree to ordain them and refused them three times. After three times asking, the Buddha did ordain them because he recognised that women could be enlightened.

She commented, in response to a question by an Archbishop from Myanmar, that Myanmar would be the last nation to ever recognise the ordination of women monks. This was because the monks in Myanmar were very strong and confident that their understand of Buddhism was the only right interpretation. It seemed almost impossible that they would be enlightened in terms of woman participation in the clerical role of women in Buddhism.

Most male monks in Thailand, she explained, accepted women monks at a personal level, even very senior male monks. However, because the religious community had not given official recognition to the women monks, this acceptance remained at a very personal level. Male monks who ever attempted to openly demonstrate acceptance of women monks might suffer structural discrimination.

The Venerable Dhammananda also recorded her dismay at the way in which the people of the world wasted resources such as water and food. She commented that the people of God had to be particularly serious about ecological concerns, as the world was now living on the resources of our children and grandchildren. Her comment was a sober reminder of our common responsibility for ecological responsibility.