Kristin Barendsen's Articles on Lions Roar

On February 28, 2003, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, formerly known as Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, became the first Thai woman to receive full ordination as a Theravadin nun. Kristin Barendsen reports on Dhammananda's steadfast commitment to paving the way for other Thai women practitioners. Just before dawn, bright spots of saffron and orange move slowly down the dim streets and low tones of chanting linger in the cool air. Thailand's estimated 300,000 monastics are out on morning rounds, cradling their alms bowls. Of these monastics, only three are women. One is the Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, who has just become a bhikkhuni despite living in a country where such ordination of women is forbidden. Tall for a Thai woman and a youthful fifty-eight, Dhammananda wears the saffron robes with grace. A dozen women walk behind her; they are mae chees—Thailand's white-robed renunciates who are considered neither lay nor monastic. On the quiet street a line of laypeople and children are waiting. They carefully place their gifts of food in Dhammananda's black metal bowl, then kneel on the ground and prostrate three times. Dhammananda chants a verse in Pali, smiles and asks a child if she will be on time for her English lesson later that day. The girl looks up, giggles, and bows. Two years ago, Dhammananda gave up her worldly life as Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, an accomplished Buddhist scholar, author and university lecturer. Because Thailand's laws and Buddhist clergy forbid women to ordain as samaneris (novices) or bhikkhunis, Chatsumarn sought novice ordination in nearby Sri Lanka in March, 2001. Recently, she returned to Sri Lanka to receive full ordination, becoming Thailand's first Theravadin bhikkhuni. "I know I am walking my path and that I'm being watched very carefully from above," she says. "I know I'm well protected. Even if I may be speaking alone, one against 62,000,000, that's fine with me. That's what dharma does to you-dharma protects you." And other Thai women are attempting to follow in her footsteps. Dhammananda's novice ordination two years ago sparked a strong public debate, bringing protests by the Thai clergy and ridicule from the conservative press. "In the beginning, some monks put up posters against it," she remembers. "A couple of senior monks gave negative interviews to the press." A mainstream newspaper and television station derided Dhammananda and her supporters. She received hate mail and e-mail messages that she calls "devilish." But opinions seem to be gradually changing. "The monks who were speaking openly against it last year now are becoming more neutral," she says. "A couple are outspokenly positive. They say, 'Just keep on doing good work, be patient and perseverant.'" The Bangkok Post has strongly supported her cause, calling her novice ordination "momentous in the development of Buddhism in Thailand." This year a Thai senator conducted a study on whether women's ordination would damage Thai Buddhism, and submitted her recommendation to the senate that women's ordination be allowed. In this predominantly Theravada Buddhist country, monks are so highly respected that even the king bows to them and assumes an physically inferior posture in their presence. Laypeople improve their karma by giving monks alms and donations to build new temples. Each family hopes to gain respect and merit by sending one son to the monastery, and nearly all Thai men spend at least a few weeks or months wearing the saffron robes. For some, it's a way to get a good education; for others, it's a way to devote their lives to the dharma. Women attracted to the renunciate life, however, face a different set of circumstances. Women can become mae chees, who shave their heads, wear white and take only eight vows (monks take 227), but they are not allowed the full 311-vow ordination of a bhikkhuni. Because mae chees are not considered monastics or laypeople, their status is in limbo. Usually they work as temple hands, cooking and cleaning for the monks, and they rarely receive any education. They don't go on alms rounds since they are not a merit-making vehicle for laypeople. As the respected Thai monk scholar Phra Dhammapitaka told the Bangkok Post: "Socially, [mae chees] are not seen as the equals of monks....They're generally thought of as heartbroken women seeking refuge, or as down-and-outs with nowhere to go." There are 10,000 to 20,000 mae chees in Thailand, in contrast to 300,000 monks. Of the 32,000 temples in Thailand, fewer than a handful are dedicated to women. One of these temples for women is Wat Songdhamma Kalayani, some thirty-four miles southwest of Bangkok, where Dhammananda is acting abbess. It was Dhammananda's mother, Voramai Kabilsingh, who built the temple forty years ago. Voramai received bhikkhuni ordination in the Mahayana tradition in 1971 in Taiwan. She was the first Thai bhikkhuni, and her daughter has now become the first Thai Theravada bhikkhuni. When Dhammananda's mother Voramai was ordained, the Thai clergy voiced both protest and support, but there was no active resistance. An accomplished jujitsu practitioner and sword fighter, the Venerable Voramai bought a field of rice paddies near the city of Nakorn Pathom from the consort of King Rama VI in 1960. She had the land converted into usable temple grounds, and built a vihara that serves as both meditation and dining hall. Locals believed she had clairvoyant and healing abilities, and they flocked to her Sunday dharma talks in hopes of seeing her for private counseling and healing sessions. Before she was ordained, Voramai separated from her husband, a liberal politician who Dhammananda says "always stood for the right thing, even though he was put in jail many times." At fifty-eight, he was ordained as a monk and lived as a monk until his death at seventy-seven. "He always said that he would like to die in the robes," recalls Dhammananda. Today followers refer to Voramai as Luang Yaa, or "grandmother monk," and to Dhammananda as Luang Mee, "mother monk." Now ninety-four, Luang Yaa is confined to bed by osteoporosis. She lives in an air-conditioned, free-standing glass room on the second floor of the temple building. As a laywoman, Dr. Chatsumarn took her mother's last name, Kabilsingh, or "Red Lion," to signal that she was continuing her mother's work. The name suits her well. Two parts fire, one part sharp wit and one part tempering smile, Dhammananda defies Thai cultural norms of the shy, polite woman who runs the show behind the scenes. Dhammananda quite obviously runs the show, and her presence commands respect. Though she can be abrupt, even dismissive at times, her humor adds balance and lightness. She is welcoming to guests and generous with her time. Dhammananda had a distinguished career prior to her ordination. After getting her Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from Maghda University in India, she taught Buddhist philosophy in Bangkok at Maha Chula Sangha University and at Thammasat University. She also co-founded and directed Thammasat's Indian Studies Center. She speaks English fluently, is a popular speaker at international conferences, and is the author of several books in English and in Thai, including Thai Women and Buddhism, published by Parallax Press. Before she married at age twenty-eight, Dhammananda told her fiancé she would someday become a monastic. "I don't think he took it seriously. He accepted it just because he wanted to get married," she recalls. The couple had two sons. "I wish I could show you some of my lay pictures, wearing makeup, jewelry, everything. I had a whole bunch of jewelry. I always kept my nails long, and they never touched the soil." Now Dhammananda is often seen in her working robes planting flowers around the property. "I used to feel so happy putting on makeup. You look at yourself in the mirror every morning, you smile at yourself a little bit. Then suddenly you think, 'It's so stupid you have been doing this for so many years,'" Dhammananda laughs. "I felt so bored. And I started noticing that everything goes according to faces. The face that you want to put on for people to see. And I got a repulsive feeling. I knew I didn't have to be involved in that kind of world anymore. I could step out. "So I took early retirement. I had tasted everything—wealth, name, fame, whatever—and I knew what the extreme of it felt like. During that time it was good, but you know, that's it. It's like when you have eaten something to the brim. If you eat more, you just vomit." After she felt the call to ordain, she filed for divorce. "I told my husband that I wanted to follow my path, that I wanted to do something much more meaningful than just sit at home being an old lady. He gave in unwillingly. "So Dr. Chatsumarn is gone. I have to deal with this nun. When I was in worldly life, I had to decorate myself to the fullest. And then when I gave up, I gave up to the fullest!" She looks at her robes. "They seem cumbersome, but actually they're very comfortable and secure. We have to say certain words when we put on the robes. It's very nice, reminding yourself of what is your life commitment." She explains that the Buddha himself ordained hundreds of women as bhikkhunis. "We're struggling to maintain the status that was given to us by the Buddha," Dhammananda says. But when Buddhism came to Thailand around the time of Christ, a bhikkhuni sangha was never instated, and in fact bhikkhuni ordination died out in all Theravada countries. Mahayana countries today offer full bhikkhuni ordination; Taiwan and Korea, especially, have thriving bhikkhuni sanghas. In Tibetan Buddhism, ordination is available at the novice level only, although some women have received higher ordination through the Chinese tradition. In Thailand, the problem with reviving a bhikkhuni order today stems from a vinaya rule requiring dual ordination: women must be ordained first by five bhikkhunis, then by five bhikkhus. Since no bhikkhunis...

Joan Halifax: Fearless and Fragile

Ordained At Last

TEACHINGS

LIFE

EXPLORE BUDDHISM

NEWS