Bangkok, Thailand -- Many in the
Thai state, clergy, and mainstream population are in a tizzy over
one woman named Dhammananda. As a Bhikkuni, a Theravada Buddhist
nun, she’s raised hackles for much of the past decade by attempting
to reestablish the Bhikkuni lineage in Thailand.
Although these
nuns exist elsewhere in the world, Thai Buddhists have denied
women’s ability to take the same monastic vows as men for ages.
This spiritual embargo is just one egregious example of the ways in
which Buddhism, theoretically an egalitarian faith, gets bogged
down in a mire of misogyny and cultural mores from region to
region, failing to live up to its noblest values. But Dhammananda,
who was ordained in Sri Lanka by more woman-positive Theravada
monks in 2003, now operates an all-nun temple a couple of hours
outside of Bangkok and helps to ordain other women. She is, in
Thailand, the avatar of an emergent Buddhist feminism, using the
logic and tools of her faith to push for equal spiritual rights and
access for women in her nation and beyond.
While Buddhist history is full of Bhikkunis and
other prominent women, and Buddhist theology can even be used to
break down gender as a construct, it’s worth acknowledging that
there’s plenty in the faith’s scriptures that can be weaponized in
the name of patriarchal control. Stories abound of the Buddha
urging women to be doting wives and Buddhist nuns exist separate
from and under very different rules than monks.
Apologists explain away these disturbing blips
as pragmatic artifacts of the Buddha’s era - a radical religious
ideology making accommodations for its own existence within a rigid
social structure. Some just see these old stories as irrelevant.
They say Buddhism is a means by which women and other marginalized
peoples can potentially construct a new identity or gain a new
status defined by faith and spiritual merit rather than gender or
birth. But regardless of the theoretical potential of abstract
Buddhism, the fact remains that it’s pretty easy to use the faith
as a tool in the perpetuation of a misogynistic society.
Thai society is a
particularly egregious example of hijacking religion in the name of
a pro-male status quo. Becoming a Bhikku (a male monk) brings great
social status and material rewards for men, but in Thai Buddhism,
women are limited to the role of Mae Chi—essentially the
spiritually, socially, and materially inferior handmaidens of
monks. The Thai Buddhist clergy have gone so far as to suggest that
Bhikkunis never truly existed, that women cannot attain equal
spiritual status as men, and that, as good Buddhists, women in
abusive relationships should accept their fate as karma. And
variations on this unfortunate dynamic play out all over the world,
as in Western Buddhist circles where a trickle of sex scandals
continually reminds people of the potential abuse and coercion male
spiritual leaders of any faith can wield over devotees.
But rather than turn away from Buddhism, many
women have embraced the egalitarian ideals of the faith as tools to
undermine patriarchic societies. Thai Bhikkunis write beautifully
about taking their vows because they saw faith as a source of
progress rather than traditionalism. This kind of Buddhist feminism
has taken root far beyond Thailand as well, especially in places
like America and Europe where many of the early disciples of
Buddhist teachers and leaders were women. Unsettled by misogynistic
undertones and passages in Buddhist history, society, and
literature, these young Buddhist communities have sought to
gender-neutralize liturgies, recover female Buddhist history and
icons from the mists of time, and set up collaborative
organizations, helping other women across the world gain religious
access and education traditionally denied to them.
Bhikkunis like Dhammananda and their allies have
inspired a flowering of female leadership and engagement in
Buddhism the world over. These Buddhist feminists, whether by
bucking norms or by engaging in meaningful theological dialogue
with their male peers, are opening up ever more space for women to
participate in and enjoy the social and spiritual fruits of
Buddhism. Hopefully, if they continue on their current track, they
may be able to finally align Buddhism’s rough reality with its
idealistic egalitarian promise.