Ancient Buddhist Secret
Realizing that it isn't so much the religion, but rather the culture that places women in subordinate positions, I guess I wasn't surpised when I read that women in Thailand were not allowed to become monks. Since that is one of the same issues I have with some Evangelicals as well as the Catholic Church, I just wrote it off as the ever present remmnants of a patriarchal world that - slowly, surely and inevitably - will change. The fact that they are talking about reinstating an ancient order means that it was once allowed.
In the kingdom, a small group of women are challenging the Buddhist authorities by trying to reinstate an ancient and controversial order of monks.
[...]
Traditionally, the status of women in Thai Buddhism is lower than that of men's.
Women cannot be in physical contact with monks. When offering alms, they must the food on a cloth, and they are not allowed in certain areas of the monasteries.
Dhammananda said that led to women and girls having low self-esteem.
Dhammananda said: 'Women always pray - literally pray - that in the next life I will be born a man. You can be enlightened in a woman's body.'
But not everyone believes in her mission.
Thailand's religious authorities said the Bhikkuni order administered under Theravada Buddhism was over, and could never be revived.
Phra Sripariyattimoli, Buddhism Protection Office, said that to change, one needed to correct many things.
He said Theravada would become like Mahayana Buddhism and these could lead to many other changes, including monks being able to have a wife.
Critics said women who wanted to lead an ordained life should simply become nuns.
However, Dhammananda's supporters argued that by not allowing women monks, religious authorities were sending a message to girls and women that Buddhism was not relevant to them.
And they ask where does that leave Thai women?
Dhammananda said: 'Why is the door for women to be ordained locked but the door for women to go into prostitution so wide open?
"If we open up the door for women to be ordained, would it help to uplift the woman's status?"
I'm not sure that opening the door for women to be ordained would up the status but it certainly couldn't hurt. The million dollar question about the ease of entry into prostitution vs. ordination is one that needs to be addressed with a quickness.
my state @ 3:51 PM :: Permalink
1 Comments
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1 Comments:
You seem to imply that the monks are the Thai equivalent of a priest or a minister. This is not the case. There is no real equivalent and barring women from being monks is hardly the same act as barring women from becoming priests. About 60% of all Thai men enter the monkhood, most for only a few weeks or months before disrobing. Becoming a monk for most is simply a ritual act of growing up. It is not an organized, hierachical clergy.
This is not to say there is not sexism in Thai society, but that the monk issue is not the best way to look at it.
Furthermore, despite issues such as prostitution that attract a lot of public attention, there is much to argue that Thai society is less sexist than the West. Particularly would be the much larger role that women tend to play in Thai society as the traditional economic head of the household often controlling her husband's income and deciding all financial matters.
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