Women in Buddhism

One day Sister Chan Khong asked Thay, "Thay, why do women have to take 348 precepts instead of 248 precepts like men. Is there discrimination in Buddhism?". Thich Nhat Hanh explained to her that most of the additional precepts arose due to the prevalent circumstances. For example, a nun was assaulted when she was traveling by herself so a precept was created that nuns would not travel alone.

Precepts are mindfulness trainings that help an individual be free from certain samsaric bonds, negative actions, emotional knots and material dependencies. All monks and nuns are expected to practice the fourteen precepts also known as the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings (#14Mindfulness). The other precepts are not obligatory. Many precepts like 'unless a monk is ill he should only travel on foot' are not followed by most monks and nuns. It would be very difficult for Thich Nhat Hanh to come to India if he were to follow that precept!

We must understand that being enlightened, being a promising scholar, being a monastic and being a Buddhist are not the same. Enlightenment or the knowledge of the dharma is not restricted to the monastic community. Many monks themselves have lived the life of a hermit away from their monastery after seeking ordination. Some of them have even married while continuing to practice the dharma with the same or even greater proficiency. Anyone can be enlightened or acquire exceptional knowledge of the dharma. So a woman has as good a chance of being enlightened as a man.

A monastic community is like any other community. Not all monks and nuns are at the same level. However, by becoming a monk out of free will they have expressed their commitment to practicing the path. The members of a monastic community are provided with access to proficient teachers and dharma resources. The status of a woman in a monastic community depends on the culture and mindset of people who make up that community. You may want to take a closer look at the order before becoming a monk or a nun if you do not have a teacher already.

A Buddhist in the dharmic sense is one who practices the five mindfulness trainings or Panchasila at the very least. Many sects accept one as a Buddhist if one takes refuge in the triple gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha). This is the same for both men and women.

The right way to go about if you really wish to dedicate your life to learning and practicing the path is to first find the right teacher or the right environment. The next step is to practice under the guidance of the teacher or by yourself. One who is pessimistic is unlikely to promote optimism. Similarly, one who is unhappy cannot truly show others the way to happiness. The measure of progress is not just the understanding of texts but also how happy you are on the path. We can begin to experience happiness when we begin to develop an understanding of interbeing and interpenetration, impermanence and practice the Five Mindfulness trainings (#5Mindfulness). We can then help others do the same and help them water the seeds of mindfulness. Mindfulness leads to concentration which leads to insight. You can see that this is gender independent.

Here is how Sister Chan Khong found her teacher (as recorded by Andrea Miller):

"“You have a good heart,” Chan Khong’s first Buddhist teacher told her. “With all the generous work that you do, you will be reborn into a wealthy family. Perhaps you will be a princess.” But Chan Khong wasn’t concerned about her next life, much less the possibility of a royal pedigree. Her focus was the present moment: the hungry need food, the sick need medicine, and they need it right now.

“You need to study scriptures more and work to become enlightened,” continued her teacher. “After you are enlightened, you will be able to save countless beings.” The idea was that if she practiced Buddhism diligently, she would be reborn as a man in her next life; then she might become a bodhisattva, and later still a Buddha with miraculous powers. But again Chan Khong felt alienated by these goals. She didn’t want miraculous powers or to be a man, and to her this enlightenment smacked of both sexism and irrelevance.

In the autumn of 1959, Chan Khong had a conversation with a prominent Buddhist monk during which she asked many questions about the dharma. But he didn’t answer any of them. Instead, for each question he took out a book by Thich Nhat Hanh—a monk who Chan Khong had never heard of—and said, “The answer to your question is in here.” Chan Khong would have preferred talking to the monk in front of her, but she agreed to read the material when she had time. Then a month later, Chan Khong attended a course Nhat Hanh was teaching in Saigon. Impressed from the first lecture, she felt she’d never before heard anyone speak so beautifully and profoundly.

The following year, Chan Khong began corresponding with Nhat Hanh. In his first note, he wrote in his impeccable script about the mountain monastery where he lived—the wet wood he cooked with and the cold, singing wind outside. In later notes he addressed Chan Khong’s concern that most Buddhists didn’t seem to care about the poor and that they viewed social work as mere merit work.

According to Nhat Hanh, it was possible to find enlightenment helping those in need—or doing any other activity—as long as it was done mindfully. He believed that Buddhism had a great deal to contribute to society, and he promised to support Chan Khong in her efforts. He planned to bring together people with the same vision and to establish villages to serve as models for development, as well as founding training centers for workers in education, agriculture, and health care.

Thich Nhat Hanh was the teacher she had been looking for."

#Vijñaptimātra #ThichNhatHanh #SisterChanKhong #Pratimoksha #Women #Buddhism