It feels as if my life had been leading up to me becoming a Buddhist nun. For as long as I can remember my father has been telling me that it is fate that I should become one. The day that I was born just happened to be the same day that My grandmother was murdered by a group of invading nomads. Ever since then my father has been saying it is my fate to become a nun. He never pressured me into it like many of my friend’s fathers did. Many of my friends in the nunnery used becoming a nun as a way to escape from their previous lives. Joining the nunnery provides women with opportunities that had not been previously available. In the nunnery, many girls who were previously illiterate are given the chance to read and write. Also, another reason …show more content…
Becoming an ordinated into Buddhism is not an easy task, especially being a woman. In order to become a nun, there are many steps we have to follow in order to be ordained. The earliest that boys or girls are allowed to join the monastery is 12, at this age after studying for several years we take our first precepts, which is pretty much that we won’t drink, have sex, murder or commit other sins. When we turn 18, boys are able to become fully ordained and are required to take 215-263 precepts. When we turn 18, however, we are given an intermediate ordinance then we must study for 2 more years before taking between 290-380 precepts. Ever since Buddhism was founded, there has been a prejudice against women. It is said that the only reason women are even allowed to be ordained in our religion is because the Great Buddha’s mother had to persuade him to allow women. To this day, there continues to be great prejudice against us. Many monasteries vehemently refuse to ordain women and in some cases refuse their allowance in the monastery …show more content…
Colorful silks hung from the ceilings and lined the walls. There were pictures of Buddha and famous Bodhisattvas from all over the region. That night, as I recited sutras and prayers the monks cut off my hair and shaved my head smooth. I was then presented with the 3 pieces of clothing that I will wear for the rest of my life, An inner robe, a shirt, and an outer robe. After this ceremony I lived in the monastery until I was 18 and I took all of my final precepts. At the monastery, in addition to memorizing sutras and saying our prayers, we were taught how to sweep floors, how to eat, how to walk, how to salute a superior, how to speak, how to dress and how to make a bed in addition to other things. The monastery I stayed at was very nice. We had a courtyard in the middle with dormitories on two side, one for girls and one for boys. On the outside was several acres of farmland. This farmland was taken care of by a serf household and in return for their services, they took a small portion of the yield. Some of the produce can be lent out to people with interest. This is actually one of the ways we bring in the most
Wu Zhao, the first female emperor of China, rose to power during the Tang Dynasty and her active role with Buddhism fabricated a perpetual impact in the Chinese society as a whole. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration, under Wu’s reign, formed a symbiotic relationship with one another. She is considered to be one of the most prominent advocators of the religion during the era. Her efforts to spread of Buddhism and the monetary support help Buddhism to expand throughout the people significantly, which provide the religion another source of financial income to spread even further. Regardless of Empress Wu’s intention, she has furnished the religion in numerous ways, but what did she receive in return? This proposes the question: To what extent did Empress Wu’s support of Buddhism, politically and financially, help Wu and better her empire overall?
Buddhism is considered as one of the leading religions throughout the world today. In order for a Buddhist to follow the religion, there are certain set of guidelines that one has to follow to gain a better life, but most people have other factors that they have to face along this path. The story, “The Journey of One Buddhist Nun” by Sid Brown, is an account of a Thai woman, Maechi Wabi, who entered a spiritual life along with life struggles and outside influences. According to Brown, Wabi faced many challenges along the way to liberation and two challenges she faced most are the gender and socioeconomic issues which she overcame during her spiritual journey.
...ed access to federal subsidies that were given to all farmers. These federal programs were administered locally by a small class that controlled the counties. If they said that their county didn’t have the need for these checks they were returned, or in some cases pocketed by the landowners themselves instead of giving them to the sharecroppers. (Kreisler internet)
We live in a fallen world filled with evil desires, temptations, and idols. Many believed that if one desires to be as holy and as close to God as possible then they must distance themselves from sin. This involves putting aside worldly desires and possessions since anything of this fallen world is sinful. This calling brought many people to live simplistic lives alone. However, around fourth century a man named Pachomius founded a place where people with this similar interest could live together, known as a monastery (Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert). This way of living became very appealing not only for spiritual pursuits but also for the pursuit of knowledge. Outside of monasteries the literacy rate was extremely low. For the most part only monks knew how to read and write. For these reasons monasteries began to be established all over Europe. However, with so many of them styles and rules became very different. There were many different kinds of rule that separated monasteries fro...
The teachings of the Buddha do not only benefit men but also women. However, when trying to be ordained, women meet more problems than men do. According to the difference in precepts for monks and nuns, nuns are inferior to monks in all circumstances. (Walsh 2016) These differences combined with the low social status of women during the time of the Buddha have formed a popular view about Buddhism that discriminates against women. However although there is evidence that emphasize the difference in treating women and men in Buddhism, it is Buddhism that propose the equality between women and men, thus further raising the status of women in social circumstances. In this paper, I will focus on the traditional view of women
In the documentary, it shows how they worship Buddhism by offering food. When offering food, they both say some chat as they did in meditation. In Buddhism, offering food is very important because you are given without the thought of wanting something back and in return, you get good karma; that good karma can be given to others to help their life better. Questions that I have arisen in this regard is why Maechi Wabi still want to go forth as a Maechi when she finds out that to become a nun you need money? In fact, she already knows that her family is poor and she won’t be able to afford it. Another question is that I notice in the Thai society women were viewed as powerless and have more karma which is one of the reasons why they’re born to be a woman, so why the society or government didn’t support the idea of becoming a nun to help women escape from samsara or reduce their
devout Buddhist that their house was turned into a temple. At the age of 12, Saicho
“In Tantric Buddhism, we are dealing with a misogynist, destructive, masculine philosophy and religion which is hostile to life – i.e. the precise opposite of that for which it is trustingly and magnanimously welcomed in the figure of the Dalai Lama.”[1] Within Tibetan Buddhism, there is an inherent contradiction regarding the status of women. Although in many aspects women are seen and treated as inferior to men, several of the ancient and fundamental values of Tibetan Buddhism, and more specifically Tantric Buddhism, emphasize equality of the sexes, universal compassion, and most importantly the significant and essential role of the woman. Tibetan Buddhist nuns have been trying to correct this contradiction for years to remove the inferior and degrading stereotype that defines them and to be seen as equal to men. Beginning with the emergence of Tibetan Buddhism from India until today, the status of women, both physically and symbolically has declined due to the patriarchal system adopted by Tibet. “The mystery of Tantric Buddhism consists in the sacrifice of the feminine principle and the manipulation of erotic love in order to attain universal androcentric power.”[2] In their patriarchal society, the symbol of the woman is used by men now as an instrument; manipulated by men in order to acquire control and power.
"Basics of Buddhism." n.d. The Living Edens: Thailand. Public Broadcasting Service. Website. 6 March 2014. .
I was always fascinated in the Buddhist religion and this class assignment was a great opportunity for me to take advantage of my curiosity. I decided I would visit a Buddhist center. With the company of my mother, I went to the Diamond Way Buddhist Center in Miami. According to my interview with the Buddhist that instructed the meditation service, every Monday and Friday they have a meditation service for the 16th Karmapa meditation from 8:00pm to 8:30pm. This center is part of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (Anonymous). Upon arriving, I realized that it was in someone’s home. Many Buddhist offer their homes for Buddhist centers and are unpaid for their services. However, they do accept donations. Before entering the house, we had to remove our shoes. When we entered I could smell the scent of incense burning. As presented in World-Faiths, removing your shoes before entering a Buddhist center or temple is a form of worship. Also, incense and candles are used to represent Buddha’s enlightenment (World-Faiths).
As with most religions, the early years of Buddhism are shrouded in obscurity. One thing is certain, however, and that is that the Sangha, the Buddhist order of monks, survived the physical death, or Parinirvana, of the Buddha. But the period between that event and the reemergence of Buddhism into the light of history around 250 B.C.E. is somewhat unclear (Hawkins, 1999). Buddhist tradition holds that there was a meeting, or council, held immediately following the Buddha's death. The major concern of this meeting was to stabilize the Buddhist scriptures by coming to an agreement as to what were the accepted scriptures as spoken by the Buddha. For a variety of reasons, no such agreement seems to have been reached, although there was some general agreement on the basic message of the Buddha. This meant that to a certain extent the interpretation of what was a genuine Buddhist scripture and what was not was left up to the individual Buddhist.
"What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre." What is Buddhism? | The Buddhist Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
He set these rules to help create a peaceful atmosphere for the Buddhist community and to avoid corruption in the Buddhist community. All monks and/or nuns must not only follow these rules, but also many other rules and principles. The Eightfold Path labels all of the rights of monks and helps guide them to peace within themselves. The Eightfold Path guides monks and nuns towards Nirvana through eight simple principles. The first principle, the Right of Understanding, explains the significance of understanding situations the way they occur instead of understanding things from one’s personal experiences.
Vetter, T. (1988). The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism. New York: E.J. Brill.