Dear friends,
Thanissara just sent me this letter. Having known her as a nun at Amaravati and having just come out of the community from which these events have been occurring, I would encourage you to read the letter below and sign the petition if you too are concerned and agree with the points.
Metta,
Ajahn Thanasanti
Dear friends,
I invite you to consider signing this petition http://new.ipetitions.com/petition/bhikkhuni-ordination/
You will see that it is an expression of concern and disagreement in view of:
the lack of acknowledgment regards the legitimacy of the recent Perth Bhikkhuni ordinations undertaken by Ajahn Brahm by the Forest Sangha elders
Ajahn Brahm’s consequent expulsion and the delisting of Wat Bodinyana from the lineage of Ajahn Chah
the un-negotiated 5 point agreement placed upon the nuns at Chithurst and Amaravati monasteries by the UK male elder council. The UK nuns signed under pressure, in an atmosphere of secrecy, having been made clear to them that no further ordinations would happen without their consent to these five points (which mirror the garudhammas but go further in disallowing them from seeking Bhikkhuni ordination)
This is challenging territory. In the transmission of the Buddhadhamma in the West, in which the monastic community plays a vital role, a culture of dissent is not usually encouraged, or necessarily seen as conducive for practice. However there are moments when right speech is not silence, but is challenge and a respectful invitation into dialogue. I believe in the light of these recent events, this is such a moment.Over 30 years, inspired by meeting Ajahn Chah in the UK in 1977, and consequently visiting Ajahn Chah’s first Western nun Kum fa at Wat Nanachat; further since ordaining as one of the first four nuns in the UK in 1979, I have been party to both the extraordinary blessings of the dharma transmission of this lineage, but also very sadly, the painful and complex ambivalence regards the placement of nuns within this same order. This has had repercussions for women lay practitioners as well as implications for the wider community.
With the recent events mentioned above, I believe we have reached a possible ‘zeitgeist’ moment when much that has been held in the shadows can come to light. At the very least, a positive outcome of this petition and further letters to the Western elder council would be an open space for considered, wise and compassionate dialogue within the four fold sangha regards the issues contained within the petition.
Thank you for your kind attention
in dhamma
Thanissara
www.dharmagiri.orgThis site on Face Book ‘Women & The Forest Sangha’ has relevent links to all sides of the discussion posted on its Discussion Board.
http://tinyurl.com/yzdukao
Points of Clarification:
Here in the US, where monks aren’t supported by the community, whether a woman is alowed ordination or not isn’t as important as it is in Buddhist cultures. For us, it’s just about a new sense of self, albeit, one that helps focus ones attention.
In a country like Thailand, the option to ordinate as a monk and receive the support of the community could tear apart the economic fabric of the sex trade. Little girls who now have no other option than sex work could have the spiritual and economic freedom to live, by the grace of Buddha’s teachings.
The choice of male monastics to limit full ordination to boys and men is the strongest support of the sex trade imaginable. It is also the continued support of tremendous suffering.
It is what it is.
What you are pointing to is that the prejudice involved causes unimaginable suffering. Thank you for writing.
please allow equality for the nuns. they have thie in manymany countries
such as nepal and tibet and western countries and i really believe
that an open heart budddhist mind calls for nun equality.
thank you, linda seese
Dear Linda,
The reasons why prejudices form and what keeps them in place is unfortunately very complex. And while there are many who see the need to move out from prejudice and see the importance of nuns having autonomy and equality in their lives, it is going to take a lot of people and skillful conditions to help make this vision a reality. That is the vision of Awakening Truth.
I have attended many retreats at Amaravati & also visit the monastary often. I am saddended to have read about the Nun’s situation of which I was not aware. The Nun’s are a blessing, the retreats led by the Nun’s I have attended have touched more deeply and I feel Buddhist Nun’s have as much if not more to teach the world than the Monks. There is a compassion that comes through the teaching by the Nun’s that I have not felt with the male Sangha.
It is a real shame that I find out that the male mind dominated preducices towards women also exist in the Forest Sangha. I do not believe the original teaching of the Buddha would have had any predjudice towards any beings.
I am totally shocked and upset to hear about this.The Buddha’s teaching is on equility,compassion and peace.There should not be any gender prejudice in a monastery.
For Stuart and Gan Kin Yoke: the heartbreak you describe is understandable. There is enormous sadness in coming to terms with something that before had been invisible and is discordant with your sense of how things should be. Unfortunately there can be a big difference between the ways things should be and the ways things are. I would agree that what the nuns have to offer is immeasurable and would also agree that the Buddhist basic premise is to do no harm. Where the situation gets complicated is in various peoples interpretation of what that means and the overlay of protecting the tradition and the loyalty to certain teachers and teachings. It is easy to say that there shouldn’t be any prejudice. It is more difficult to take the Dhamma Vinaya that has certain cultural biases embedded in it, to look carefully at how this is affecting the people who are practicing, and to be clear about moving out of these biases particularly when careful adherence to the Dhamma Vinaya is the basis upon which the tradition defines itself. This seems to be where different people are making different choices about how to move forward. For me the overriding urgency to move out of these cultural biases is what shaped my decision to leave the monasteries affiliated with Amaravati and to try and create an environment where it would be possible to live as a nun where this was a value that was supported. Have you read the two articles that have been published recently? You can find links to them here:
http://awakeningtruth.org/resources-nuns.php
They have more information about the situation as well as some interesting ideas about what is needed now.
Be well. No matter what is happening in the forest Tradition, what is important is to protect your own aspiration to awaken.