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Thesis for Submission FROM LAṄKĀ TO LĀN NĀ: REGIONAL BHIKKHUNĪ IDENTITY AND TRANSNATIONAL BUDDHIST NETWORKS A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Asian Studies by Claire Poggi Elliot August 2020 © 2020 Claire Poggi Elliot ABSTRACT In 1996 the first public ordination of Theravāda bhikkhunī took place in India, spurring the creation of the first new lineage of female Theravāda monastics in a millennium. Despite debates about their legitimacy, this new lineage spread quickly within Sri Lanka, and then to Thailand in 2001. Because ordaining women remains illegal in Thailand, new bhikkhunī fly to Sri Lanka for their upasampadā ritual, resulting in a strong and continuing international network. This does not mean, however, that the bhikkhunī movement is a homogeneous or entirely harmonious one. Using data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and publications by bhikkhunī in Sri Lanka and Thailand, I look specifically at how one of the largest Thai bhikkhunī communities, Nirotharam, centered in Chiang Mai, navigates their local and trans-local contexts. These bhikkhunī localize their practice in northern-Thai forms of Buddhist monasticism. This gains Nirotharam support from local northern monks, who use their patronage of the bhikkhunī as a form of criticism against the central Thai Sangha, though the women themselves vocally support the central Thai Sangha. This careful mediation between local and national support is further complicated by the Thai bhikkhunī's dependence on Sri Lankan monastics for ordinations. Nirotharam bhikkhunī are in constant communication with, and under surveillance by, Sri Lankan monastics thanks to modern technological developments. This novel extended relationship between a fraternity and its ordination source has altered both the Thai bhikkhunī’s and the Sri Lankan Monastics practices, beliefs, and narratives. This thesis argues that the Nirotharam fraternity identity is produced through that process of constant negotiation with their local, national, and transnational contexts. Furthermore, on a local, national, and trans-local level, Nirotharam has substantially altered their network in turn. This work explores what it means to be a monastic, the role of lineage, the self-conscious struggle to define the term “Theravāda,” and how regional Buddhist projects may develop differently as a result of local specificities. %i BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Claire Elliot was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She first became interested in Thailand and Thai Buddhism when she lived in Bangkok for a year as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. Claire graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, majoring in Religious Studies, and minoring in Architectural History. She then spent another year living in Southeast Asia, teaching English in a small elementary school in Na Hua Bo, Sakon Nakhon, Thailand, until she began working as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Pekan, Pehang, Malaysia. Claire will graduate from Cornell in 2020, with an MA in Asian Studies, focusing on South and Southeast Asia. %ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As with all such works, this thesis was only possible thanks to abundant support from my advisors, friends, family and university. The list of people I will thank here is long, and still too short, as I have benefited from many kind words and favors. I would like to thank my advisor, the incomparable Anne Blackburn, who introduced me to Sri Lankan studies, and who inspires me with her precise and subtle thinking. I would also like to thank my other committee member, Tamara Loos, who always made time for me, and who asked questions which cut to the core of the project. I am grateful to Justin McDaniel, who read proposals and drafts of this thesis, and who has always supported me on my academic journey, pushing me to think bigger. I would like to thank the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and Cornell’s Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) for the travel funds to complete my fieldwork. My language teachers, Bandara Herath and Ngampit Jagacinski taught me the language skills necessary to complete my interviews, and helped me to conceptualize my project from a more Lankan or Thai perspective. I am grateful to Catherine Appert, who advised me on multi-sited ethnographic theories and helped me prepare for field work, and to Julia Cassaniti, who advised me on how to approach my interviews, and shared with me some notes on Wat Tham Thong. I would like to thank Martin Seeger, who Skyped with me to discuss obscure bhikkhun$ rituals, Louis Gabaude, who helped clarify some points regarding “ordination” and translations, and Daniel Boucher, who frequently made himself available to discuss specific forest monastic practices. Orn, Kittipong, Bruno, and Anna all supported me emotionally, and gave me key advice on the practical aspects of completing this thesis. I am grateful to Cornell’s SEAP, SAP, and the nascent Buddhist Studies group for making Cornell such an intellectually productive %iii space to learn and talk about Buddhism, and South and Southeast Asia. Ayako Itoh, Nicola Delia, Olivier de Bernon, and Todd Perreira all took the time to help me find documents which were important to my research, and which I could not find in the usual manner. Cornell’s matchless Gregory Green helped me find many English and Thai-language documents, books, and articles, becoming even more vital to my research as COVID-19 restricted normal library access. Daphne Weber and Tyler Lehrer, who have both completed MA theses focused on some of the same bhikkhun$ communities, helped me organize my thoughts and ideas every step of the way. They, along with Susanne Mrozik introduced me to members of various bhikkhun$ communities, helping me make the most of my short time in the field. I would like to thank all the bhikkhun$ and bhikkhu who opened their monasteries to me and took time out of their busy days to speak with me. Bhikkhun$ Dhammananda and Wimalajothi Thero both advised my generously, and gave me books to help in my research. Bikkhun$ Nanthayani, Bhikkhun$ Vijithananda, and Bhikkhun$ Dhammananda also fed me, offered to host me overnight, and made themselves available to me over the phone and over Skype, even after I had returned to the US. They, along with Bhikkhun$ Dhammacari and many other here un-named bhikkhun$ are the backbone of this project. They inspire me with their friendship, kindness, and commitment to their ascetic practice. %iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Biographical Sketch ii Acknowledgments iii Table of Contents v Style Notes vi Introduction 1 Terms of Interest 16 “Ordination” 16 Bhikkhun$ versus “Nun” 18 Therav&da versus Mah&y&na 20 Thammayut versus Mahanikai 21 Nik&ya versus Fraternity 22 Sorority versus Fraternity 23 Sangha 24 Lineage 24 Thai Bhikkhu versus Thai Bhikkhun$ 25 Chapter One: The Local Context 27 Biography of Nanthayani 30 Reform and Critique 52 Nirotharam’s Active Role 63 Chapter Two: Training and Networks 71 2008 Bhikkhuni Ordination 74 S&ma'er$ and Sikkham&n& 75 Training 77 Education and Examinations 78 Vu((h&na Sammuti 84 Exams in Sri Lanka 91 Co-operatives and Contracts 98 Conclusion 106 Thai Language Bibliography 117 English Language Bibliography 117 Appendix 126 Appendix 1: Relocalization Oppositional Fields 126 Appendix 2: Table of Tamnan Bhikkhun$ 127 Appendix 3: The ‘ordination hall’ at the Sakyadhita Training and Meditation Center 128 Appendix 4: An Email from Dhammacari to Nanthayani 129 Appendix 5: Cooperative Agreement 130 %v STYLE NOTES In this thesis, I discuss many Thai and Sri Lankan monastics who move between their native languages, English, and P&li. My northern Thai Bhikkhun$ informants, who are the primary focus of this thesis, rely heavily on P&li and following their lead, I also employ the P&li terms instead of the Thai ones, writing Theravāda, and bhikkhunī, rather than therawat (เถรวาท) and phiksuni (ภกษณ). Occasionally, when words are most commonly used in Thai, I will prefer the Thai transliteration, such as Thammayut (ธรรมยต) and Mahanikai (มหานกาย) rather than the Pāli Dhammayuttika Nikāya and Mahā Nikāya. I write Pāli terms with diacritics for clarity and romanize Thai terms using the Royal Thai General Style, except when some other spelling is common. I make an effort to include the Thai spelling of Thai words next to their first use, to reduce any further confusion. My use of Sinhala is limited to names, all of which already have standard transliterations. Foreign language words are italicized and defined at their first use and then italicized on their first use in each subsequent sub-chapter, or for added emphasis. %vi INTRODUCTION Since 1996, the Theravāda Buddhist world has been swept up with the newly revived bhikkhunī (fully ordained Buddhist nun) community. The new ordination lineage spread from Sri Lanka to Thailand, Taiwan, India, and over ten other countries, with bhikkhun$ growing rapidly in number, and becoming the subject of interest and debate at the highest levels of government and monastic orders.1 The validity of the ordinations has become a hotly contested topic. Many argue that it is impossible to revive the Therav&da bhikkhunī lineage, maintaining that without a full quorum of ordained Therav&da bhikkhunī and a pavattini (a senior bhikkhunī who has been ordained for at least 12 years and acts as preceptor to grant the ordination), all new ordinations are invalid. Within the community of people who accept the bhikkhun$ ordinations as legitimate, however, the debate has shifted from “Can they be ordained?” to “Who can be ordained?” Since the first wave of ordinations in Thailand, spanning from about 2001 to 2008, a new series of rituals and bureaucratic steps of increasing formality has emerged as monastics negotiate who is an appropriate candidate for full ordination.
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