THAILAND – Not allowing women in business, society, across cultures; the basic right to live a life of choice seems to come naturally. Often times citing reasons from tradition or prejudices passed down through generations. But many times the Gender Discrimination is due to preconceived, societal and personal notions about how gender should ‘look’, ‘act’, or ‘behave’.
Here is a story of a woman who defied centuries-old tradition and an all-male clergy to step out of the box and live a life she believed in.
Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammananda (born Chatsumarn Kabilsingh on October 6, 1944 (age 78)) is the first woman in Thailand to become an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. Theravada means ‘doctrine of the elders’, it’s one of the largest movements in Buddhism and is popular in countries including Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Thailand.
Chatsumarn Kabilsingh taught for 27 years at the Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. She is a well-known author of many books on contemporary issues in Asian Buddhism. She was also a popular TV Talk-show host until she decided to renounce everything to be ordained as a Buddhist monk when she was in her 50s.
Chatsumarn’s decision to seek ordination was hugely controversial and she was criticised by the conservative Buddhist leaders, who said it was wrong for women to wear the robes. She travelled to Srilanka in 2001 and was officially ordained as a full bhikkhuni in 2003 – the first Thai woman to be ordained in a Theravada monastic lineage as Dhammananda.
Venerable Dhammananda is currently the Abbess of the Songdhammakalyani Monastery, Thailand’s only all-female monastery and one that is not recognised by the government or religious authorities.
“I did not choose to be ordained because I want people to recognize me. I did it because I want to carry on the heritage of the Lord Buddha. I am trying to revive the four pillars of Buddhism—bhikkus, bhikkhunis, laymen and laywomen—that will sustain the religion into the future. Religion is never complete without the participation of women. Are you comfortable on a chair with only three legs, when it should be four?”
Venerable Bhikkhuni Dhammanand
Gender discrimination in Thai Buddhism
The official religion of Thailand is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by about 94% of the population. Every man in Thailand is required to become a monk for a period of time before the age of 20.
However, females cannot be ordained as monks.
An official Bhikkhuni ordination ceremony requires 10 female and 10 male monks to participate. This is impossible in Thailand due to a buddhist order passed in 1928 banning male monks from conducting female ordinations.
Phra Thamkittimetee from the Buddhist Protection Society of Thailand said in 2022, “The monks law doesn’t recognise them therefore, they cannot be ordained.”
Today, there are about 250,000 male monks. In contrast, there are only 270 female monks across Thailand and they were all ordained outside the country.
“It’s a shame that women aren’t allowed to make decisions for their own lives. You have to rebel against injustice because this is not right,” said Ven. Dhammananda in a Reuters interview.
Phra Thamkittimetee however says the monkhood is not sexist, but he worries about temptations that might arise if women come into the fold.
The governing body for monks, the Supreme Sangha Council, refuses to recognise female monks and says that such a thing never existed in Thailand, so it cannot be introduced.
For similar women's empowerment stories of women in business and society, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER.
Rebel women blazing the path in an all-male clergy
Ven. Dhammananda says, “I knew exactly what I was doing so I never wavered when people said something”.
Ven. Dhammanand gets her conviction from her mother, pioneering educator Voramai Kabilsingh. Voramai was educated by Catholic nuns. She was passionate about education and faith; she published a Buddhist newsletter from a homemade printing press and set up a makeshift school in her house for nuns and monks who were uneducated. She took the first steps towards lower ordination in the 1950’s as that was as far a Thai Buddhist woman could go then.
Bhikkhuni Dhammananda with her mother, Voramai Kabilsingh
Voramai, also called Ta Tao Fa Tzu was ordained as Bhikkhuni in a Dharmaguptaka lineage in Taiwan – the first modern Thai bhikkhuni.
She also said, “My duty as a mother does not stop with my ordination.”
Ven. Dhammanand looks back and remembers, “This is a profound sentence because men, when they receive ordination, always leave their families. But, if my mother had left us I would have been a street kid. So instead she turned the household into a temple. I was 10.”
“There were white-robed women but the white-robed women were almost always looked down upon by the people. People thought maybe they had no place to go, maybe broken hearts. Mostly they were not educated, they had only four years of formal education.”
“My mother was not happy with the status of women at that time, she wanted to give them education.” So she found a piece of land outside Bangkok and the temple has been there for more than 50 years now.
It was the first temple in Thailand built by women, for women.
As an adult, Ven. Dhammanand supported the project but was also establishing her own career and life. She received a B.A in Philisophy, an M.A in Religion from Canada and a Phd in Buddhism from India. This was very unusual for a Thai woman.
Along with being a professor, renowned author and TV Talk show host, she was married, had three sons and three grandchildren.
With her mother as example, Chatsumarn did not hesitate to renounce the material world to walk the path of the Buddha, defying tradition and society while remaining a mother to her children.
The mother-daughter duo are true rebel women who dared to live their dreams against all odds.
In her own words, Ven. Dhammanand’s describes her journey from a woman in business to a fully ordained Buddhist monk, as reported by ABC News –
The idea of becoming ordained happened quite abruptly. I was already in my 50s. I liked putting on make-up in the morning and looking at myself in the mirror. I was wearing lipstick, eye lashes, whatever, you name it. I enjoyed looking beautiful.
But, one morning I looked at myself and I said – as if I was talking to another person – “How long will I have to do this?”
I had enough of the flashy life. Emptiness.
People always say, you are very brave to do what you have done, because I was the only one woman (monk) in this country. But I didn’t feel that way. I didn’t feel one bit that I was brave. I felt as if it was a normal thing.
Some people would say, “How dare you wear the robe?” I said, “Why not?”
“My message is this: number one, the way out is possible; number two, you have to start; number three, you have to start now because everyone is waiting for everyone else to start, so it never gets started. You can do it.
“People say all kinds of things but it is only their lips. That’s it. If you are swayed by what people say then you can never, ever do anything.
Ven. Dhammanand remains a Monk, a happy Feminist and a Mother.
NBC News says, ‘Efforts in the past by advocates to undo the 1928 order have been futile. It has been officially upheld during meetings of the Sangha Supreme Council, the council of top monks, in 2002 and most recently in 2014.
Although, not recognised by the government, Ven. Dhammananda has held ordination ceremonies for many women over the years in the Songdhammakalyani monastery.
She says on ABC News, “I keep telling [the candidates] that you are part of this movement that is going to be written down in history, that we are on the right side of history.”
The Thai government says this is not gender discrimination but they are upholding a long-standing tradition. Women are free to travel to other countries and get ordained, just not in their own country.
While government and religion try to figure out gender boundaries, the rebel women and believers of Thailand continue to calmly walk the path of the Buddha.
We aim to showcase stories of empowerment, courage and about those who dare to follow their dreams against all odds, from around the world. Do you know of someone like this?
