MarkoBeocanin wrote: ↑Sat Jun 16, 2018 11:38 am
1. Do you think Buddhism has a specific stance on gender and gender roles, especially the roles of women?
2. What are your thoughts on the work of Buddhist groups such as Sakyadhita that actively work in initiatives such as the support of nun-ordination and female education programs?
Also, to add to or clarify my previous post:
1. Buddhism has different teachings for laypeople and for monks/nuns.
2. Gender roles are more important for laypeople than for monks & nuns; given monks & nuns basically have the same purpose.
3. Therefore, gender roles appear unrelated to Sakyadhita because any obstacles to female ordination in countries such as Thailand or Burma is not related to gender roles but is related to the historical breaking of the bhikkhuni (nun) lineage and the respective institutional views towards this.
4. This said, in a culture such as Thailand, monks are considered role models for laymen where as nuns are generally not considered role models for laywomen. Thai women often do not respect nuns as they respect monks (although it may be difficult to research this as a fact).
Thai men can enter a monastery at any stage in their life. However, doing so before marriage is often seen as a sign that a man will be a devoted and thoughtful husband, able to guide his wife on the right path. Some women may even not consent to marry a man who has not ordained, with those who have spent time as a monk is considered ‘ripe’.
Traditionally, parents in Thailand play a big part in choosing spouses for their children. It is not uncommon for a woman’s family to look unfavourably upon a suitor who has not spent time in a monastery. For them, displaying a willingness to live a simple life and learn more about the Buddhist faith can say much about a man’s character.
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailan ... g-married/
"The second rite in the life span of most Thai men is ordination into the monk hood. Traditionally, a young man is not socially accepted until he has become a monk, and many parents insist that after a son reaches the age of twenty he will be ordained before marriage or starting an official career. There are also many other reasons for entering the monk hood, such as to make merit for departed souls of relatives, or for one's parents when they are still living, or to repay a promise to the Buddha after asking him to solve personal or family problems.
Ordination takes place all through the month of July, before the three-month retreat during the rainy season. The man's head is shaved and he wears a white robe for a day before he is officially ordained; there is chanting and celebration and, in rural areas, the whole community joins in and thereby gains merit. On the day of the ceremony, the prospective monk is taken around the temple three times and then into its convention hall, where all the monks await him. Having been previously trained, he undergoes an enquiry by a senior monk in front of the Buddha image, and if he satisfies all the conditions for becoming a monk, the congregation accepts him. He is then instructed on his obligations, dons saffron robes, and is admitted as a monk. For the next three months of the rainy season he is expected to live at the wat, exemplifying the Buddhist ideal in life and undergoing rigorous training in body and mind control, after which he may, if he chooses, return to being a layman."
https://www.buddhismwithoutboundaries.c ... of-passage
There was a famous Thai monk named Buddhadasa Bhikkhu who publish a rant against Feminism but his American leftwing translator had it removed. All that I can find of this rant is:
The same old monk says something here:
Now, let us look at the words "female" and "male". In everyday, worldly language, these words mean the two sexesÐthe female sex and the male sex. In Dhamma language, however, they refer to the distinguishing marks and signs of certain duties which Nature has assigned to human beings: duties which must be performed co-operatively, in partnership. Female and male have nothing to do with the exchange and consumption of sexual flavors. Rather, they point to the fact that human beings must exist in the world and that the species must not become extinct. This means that the human race must be preserved through the duty of reproduction for as long a time as is necessary for humanity to realize the highest Dhamma, Nibbana. The duties called for by this necessity must be divided between the female and male. Once the female and male exist, they help each other to lighten their burdens by dividing their everyday responsibilities and work, which, when done correctly, is Dhamma practice.
In Dhamma language, the signs of the duties which Nature has stipulated in this way are known as "female" and "male". This isn't the lowly meaning assumed in everyday language. We shouldn't think of female and male solely in terms of an instinctual animal activity. Rather, we ought to think of them as signs of the division of those duties which can be carried out properly only in co-operation
http://dhammatalks.net/Books5/Bhikkhu_B ... nguage.htm
Articles like this might be helpful:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/aut ... riage.html
https://www.dhammatalks.net/Books2/Bhan ... elieve.htm
Best wishes
Never ordained... not an anonymous-online-bhikkhu or ex-bhikkhu...
