Women on the Path: The Transnational Sangha

by Vinita Agrawal

Free am I, oh so free am I
Being freed
By means of the three crooked things:
The mortar, pestle, and my crooked husband!
(Therigatha 11)

In the quest for enlightenment, men and women are equal. Emancipation is a matter of the heart—so why should it matter whether the individual who seeks it is a man or a woman? In reality however, women who are on the spiritual path have vastly different stories to tell as compared to their male counterparts. They face many obstacles in their endeavors towards self-realization—more, perhaps, than in any other area of their lives.

Family and societal pressures, traditional mindsets, dictates of patriarchy, and lack of women teachers are some common difficulties that stall women from seeking the road to liberation.

Interviewing Buddhist Women: Su Su Sein

Su Su Sein
Photo by Helen Richardson

By Willow Myers

It was 1987 and Su Su Sein planed to attend the first Buddhist Women's Conference in November in Bodhgaya, India. When she arrived at the airport she handed over her passport, a passport she wouldn't see again for twenty-six years. According to Su Su, "They took our passports, not just mine, all of us. At that time things were different and they became very hard to get after that. I was only able to get a passport again this summer—around July [2012]. This was because now the government has new rules. They  opened a new office in upper Burma; it only took three weeks—it's easy so now."

As this quiet, slightly stooped, unassuming Asian woman of sixty-six years tells me her story I notice myself reacting and marveling at her patience. I tell her that November of 1986 is the birthdate of my son, the year before the conference. I comment that I was a young woman when I had him and now he is an adult and I am old enough to be a grandmother. Waiting twenty-five years to leave her country is a long time! I wonder if this was frustrating for her. We struggle a bit with our language differences, laughing at ourselves until she understands what I'm asking. Then she replies, "I felt sorry, very sorry I couldn't leave . . . I'm very happy now."

Bhikkhuni Today: The Joys and Challenges of a Pioneer

by Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni

Theravada prayer flags made of recycled robes with aspirations for Māgha Pūjā (Sangha Day) at
Santi Forest Monastery on February 25, 2013

This article was originally published in a different format in Present.

I am blessed to be an American-born bhikkhuni living in the United States, blessed to be part of a society that insists on equality, celebrates pioneers, and encourages living according to one's values. My vision of how laypeople and monastics can evolve as an integrated community to support each other to awaken would not be possible in many other contexts. For a variety of reasons, the US is a highly favorable container in which Buddhism can flourish in our postmodern world.

Remembering Khandro Tsering Chödrön, “The Queen of the Dakinis”

by Michaela Haas

Khandro Tsering Chödrön at Lerab Ling Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Center in France ©Rigpa

Wherever she went, whether it be in a small park in India or a hospital in Europe, inadvertently people would feel drawn to her. Not knowing anything about her, people would inquire as to who the petite Asian lady in the wheelchair was, noting they felt a special presence. In his bestselling book, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, her nephew, Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche, refers to Khandro Tsering Chödron as "the greatest woman master of our day." In her, he goes on to say, "you see very clearly what years of the deepest devotion and practice can create out of the human spirit. Her humility and beauty of heart, and the shining simplicity, modesty, and lucid, tender wisdom of her presence are honored by all Tibetans, even though she herself has tried as far as possible to remain in the background, never to push herself forward, and to live the hidden and austere life of an ancient contemplative."

Ordination of Buddhist Nuns: The Ice Seems to Be Broken

by Jampa Tsedroen (Carola Roloff)

His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama at the First International Sangha Conference

For forty years, His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet has stood firmly in support of the revival of the ordination of nuns. In a forward written recently for a booklet on Tibetan nuns, [1]  H.H. the Dalai Lama explains how, in the eighth century, when the Indian master Śāntarakṣita (725–788) brought the ordination lineage for monks (bhikṣus) to Tibet, he did not bring nuns (bhikṣuṇīs), thus the ordination lineage for nuns could not take root in Tibet.

“It would be good if Tibetan bhikṣus were to agree upon a way in which the Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikṣuṇī ordination could be given. . . . We Tibetans were very fortunate,” the Dalai Lama continues, “that after a decline during the reign of King Langdarma in the ninth century, we were able to restore the bhikṣu lineage which was on the verge of extinction in Tibet. As a result, many people have been able to listen, reflect, and meditate on the Dharma as fully ordained monks, and this has been of great benefit to Tibetan society and sentient beings in general. It is my hope that we may also find a way to establish the bhikṣuṇī saṅgha in the Tibetan community as well.”

In the Company of Spiritual Friends: Sri Lanka’s Buddhist Nuns

by Susanne Mrozik

Author Susanne Mrozik with a spiritual friend

This article was first published by the Alliance for Bhikkhunis in the summer 2011 edition of  Present, a journal that documents the voices and activities of Theravada Buddhist women.

It is, once again, a very hot and humid day in Sri Lanka. I prepare to board one of several buses I will take today to travel to a meeting that I'm not sure I really want to attend. Sweaty and grimy, dreading the hours of uncomfortable travel ahead of me, I am in a bad mood. But as I step into the bus, I see a Buddhist nun seated in the front row. I sit down next to her, we smile at each other, and my bad mood lifts. I am in the company of a kalyanamitta, or spiritual friend.

Ven. Payutto, a Thai monk-scholar, tells us that a spiritual friend is anyone “who is well prepared with the proper qualities to teach, suggest, point out, encourage, assist, and give guidance for getting started on the path of Buddhist training.” Buddhist scriptures also tell us that spiritual friends, like the nun seated next to me, can teach without even saying a word. This nun’s kind, but disciplined demeanor visibly embodies her Buddhist training. Seeing her, I come back to the present moment, briefly letting go of my aversion to the physical discomforts of the day, and open up to the possibility of joyful human connection even on a really hot bus.

Liberation in the Midst of Suffering

by Ryūmon Hilda Gutierrez Baldoquín Sensei

"Taj Mohammad, center, borrowed money to pay for hospital treatment for his wife
and medical care for some of his children." Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Recently two articles leading with pause-moment headlines landed in my inbox within twenty-four hours of each other. The first one in the Atlantic reminds me “How Racism is Bad for Our Bodies” and the second one, in the Huffington Post, reminds me “Buddhist ‘People Of Color Sanghas,’ Diversity Efforts Address Conflict About Race Among Meditators.”