BUDDHIST WOMEN IN A GLOBAL MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY BUDDHIST WOMEN IN A GLOBAL MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo Published By www.sukhihotu.com Sukhi Hotu Dhamma Publications Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Copyright © 2008 Karma Lekshe Tsomo All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN 983-9382-40-2 Dedication This book is dedicated to the memory of Sramanerika Padma Chhokid. In the summer of 2006, Venerable Chhokid traveled to the 9th Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women in Kuala Lumpur where she became terminally ill. With great effort and the help of many friends she made the journey home to Spiti and passed away shortly thereafter at Yangchen Choling Monastery, high in the Indian Himalayas. Her life of kindness, courage, and selfless commitment to the Dharma continues to inspire everyone she knew. Contents Contributors xiii Introduction xx Karma Lekshe Tsomo DIALOGUE ACROSS CULTURES: GLOBAL NETWORKS 1 Roots/Routes: Transmitting the Buddhadharma across Time and Place: Challenges and Implications for Contemporary Buddhist Women 3 Sharon A. Suh 2 Pioneering Buddhist Women across Cultures 10 Hema Goonatilake 3 Korean Buddhist Women’s Reflections on the 8th Sakyadhita Conference 20 Bongak Sunim 4 Transforming Differences into Strengths: The Case of Buddhists in Singapore 26 Ai-Girl Tan 5 Women’s Spirituality, Sensuality and Sources of Sustenance: A Crosscultural Psychological Examination 36 Julie Thomas vii Contents RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN GLOBAL BUDDHISM 6 Beyond Caste, Sexism, and Racism: Re-establishing Buddhadhamma in the Land of the Buddha 51 Dharmacharini Karunamaya and Dharmacharini Jnanasuri 7 What’s Buddhism Have To Do With Black Women? 59 Zenju— Earthlyn M. Manuel 8 Losing Ground in Gender Equality in a Multicultural Society: Buddhist Women’s Experience in Nepal 69 Sumon K. Tuladhar BRIDGING CULTURE IN ART 9 Music for the Heart and Soul 77 Imee Ooi 10 Singing the Dharma: Practise through Music 80 Hyeseon Sunim 11 Understanding Buddhism through Fiction Films 85 Hyangsoon Yi — 12 Enlightenment in the Chan Paintings of Bhiks. un. i Hiuwan 90 Jenlang Shih BUDDHIST WOMEN IN TRADITIONAL CULTURES 13 Contextualising Guanyin: Buddhist Philosophy and the Effect of Gender Divisions 101 Adrienne Cochran 14 Buddhism, Shamanism, and Women in Korean History 108 Jeong-Hee Kim 15 Teaching Thien Vietnam across Cultures 118 Hue Can 16 Buddhist Nuns in Malaysia 122 Seet Lee Terk 17 The Buddha and the Spirit World: Healing Praxis in a Himalayan Monastery 129 Karma Lekshe Tsomo viii Contents PHOTOGRAPHS 139 BUDDHIST WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURES 18 Thai Buddhist Nuns and the Thai Buddhist Nuns’ Institute 149 Kritsana Raksachom 19 Contributions of Buddhist Women in the Malaysian Buddhist Youth Movement 153 Ai Sim Hea — 20 Bhiks. un. i is as Leaders in Contemporary Taiwan 160 Hong-Xiang Shi 21 New Opportunities and Challenges for Buddhist Women in Nepal 165 — Bhikkhun. i Nyanawati 22 Buddhist Women in Canada: Researching Identity and Influence 171 Mavis Fenn 23 Hospice Care from a Buddhist Perspective: A Spiritual Path for Both Patients and Hospice Volunteers 178 Pik Pin Goh 24 Women’s Buddhist Practise in the U.S.: The 2005 Conference at Smith College 183 Susanne Mrozik ¦ BHIKS. UN. VINAYA AND FULL ORDINATION FOR WOMEN 25 The Gender Issue in Contemporary Taiwan Buddhism 189 Yu-Chen Li — 26 Visible and Invisible Obstacles Facing the Bhikkhun. i Movement in Thailand 200 Kulavir Prapapornpipat — 27 Generation to Generation: Transmitting the Bhiks. un. i Lineage in the Tibetan Tradition 205 Jampa Tsedroen 28 Buddhist Monasticism in a Consumer Culture 216 Tenzin Palmo ix Contents INNOVATIVE INSTITUTIONS FOR BUDDHIST WOMEN 29 Starting a Tibetan Learning Centre for Nuns in South India 223 Tenzin Yangdon 30 Buddhist Women at Wat Paknam in Bangkok 226 Amphai Tansomboon 31 Ashram Mata Meditation Centre for Women: A Hermitage for Buddhist Practise 237 Tipawan Tipayatuss 32 Initial Six Years of the First Buddhist College for Nuns and Laywomen in Thailand 240 Monica Lindberg Falk and Srisalab Upamai TRANSLATING THE DHARMA: BUDDHISM, MULTICULTURALISM, AND LANGUAGE 33 You Don’t Understand Me: Respectful Listening Skills 249 Malia Dominica Wong 34 The Name of the Nun: Towards the Use of Inclusive Language and True Equality in the Buddhist Community 260 Christie Yu-Ling Chang 35 Translating the Dharma and Gender Discrimination: The Blame Should Be on Us 267 Shobha Rani Dash 36 The Language of Tibetan Nuns in the Indian Himalayas: Continuities as Change 274 Carole Winklemann 37 The Net of Indra: A Writing Workshop on Women’s Global Connectedness 282 Sandy Boucher PHOTOGRAPHS 287 Bibliography 295 Index 301 x Photo Captions p. 139 A bhiksuni performs a Korean Buddhist monastic dance. p. 140 Nuns from Vietnam lead the evening chanting. Dhammacarini Jnanasuri from the Indian Dalit community and p. 141 Bhikkhuni Santini of Indonesia in dialogue. The late Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda hosts conference p. 142 participants at the Maha Vihara. Himalayan nuns from Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Tibet lead the p. 143 evening chanting. Professor Sharon Suh of the University of Seattle delivers the p. 144 keynote address. Bhikkhuni Kusuma of Sri Lanka asks a challenging question p. 145 on the roles of Buddhist nuns. Imee Ooi from Malaysia explains what inspires her to compose p. 146 Buddhist music. xi Bhiksuni Jampa Tsedroen, Malia Dominica Wong, and p. 287 Bhiksuni Tenzin Palmo express interreligious friendship. Zenjū Earthlyn M. Manuel from the San Francisoco Zen p. 288 Center speaks on “What’s Buddhism Have to Do with Black Women?” Zorigma Budaeva from Buryatia greets Bhiksuni Chang Heng, p. 289 chair of the Malaysian Conference Planning Committee. Conference speakers gather in front of Sau Seng Lum, the p. 290 conference venue in Kuala Lumpur. Participants bridge language barriers and cultural differences p. 291 by exchanging of images. p. 292 Korean laywomen and nuns chant the Heart of Wisdom Sutra. Laughter links women (including nuns) from all around the p. 293 world. Every morning, participants learn different Buddhist p. 294 meditation traditions from each other and practice together. xii Contributors Sandy Boucher is a writer, teacher, and editor with twenty years of Buddhist meditation experience. She is the author of seven books, including: Dancing in the Dharma: The Life and Teachings of Ruth Denison; Hidden Spring: A Buddhist Woman Confronts Cancer; Discovering Kwan Yin; Opening the Lotus: A Woman’s Guide to Buddhism; and Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism. — Hue Can is a native of Vietnam. A bhiks. un. i practising in the Thien (Zen) tradition, she is well known for teaching Dharma through stories. She lives in Australia, where she teaches meditation to students of all cultural backgrounds. Christie Yu-Ling Chang is an assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation at National Taiwan University. She received her doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Hawai#i with research on cross-cultural language learning. She is currently resident director of the Council on International Educational Exchange in Taiwan. Adrienne Cochran is an associate professor at TransPacific Hawai#i College in Honolulu, where she teaches philosophy, humanities, and women’s studies courses. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Hawai#i at Manoa in 1999. Her article entitled, “Teaching Non-Western Students about Western Culture: Western Values Considered in a Global Context” was published in Networks: An On-line Journal for Teacher Research. Shobha Rani Dash earned a Ph.D. from Otani University, Kyoto, in 2004. A native of India, she is currently teaching at Otani University, Kyoto. Her primary field of research is women and Buddhism, particularly in India and — Japan. Currently she is preparing a biographical database on bhikkhun. i s of the Therav—ada tradition and is involved with a project on the study of palm leaf manuscripts. xiii Contributors Monica Lindberg Falk is a researcher and lecturer at Gothenburg University, Sweden where she received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology. Her research focuses on the interconnectedness of gender, religion and social change in Southeast Asia. She is currently carrying out a project on gender and Socially Engaged Buddhism in Thailand. Her contributions to Asian Studies include a series of articles in English and Swedish on gender and Buddhism and the monograph Making Fields of Merit: Buddhist Nuns and Gendered Orders in Thailand. Mavis Fenn is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Waterloo (St. Paul's College), Canada. Her current research is on Buddhist women in Canada and Buddhist students at university. Her most recent published articles include “Kut.adanta Sutta: Tradition in Tension” and “Buddhist Diversity in Ontario.” Pik Pin Goh is an M.D. specialising in public health ophthalmology. She is a researcher in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the president of Kasih Hospice Care Society. She is also a board member at the Losang Dragpa Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Hema Goonatilake received her Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 1974. She was a senior faculty member at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, until 1989. Since then, she has served as a gender and development expert to UNDP and UNIFEM (New York), and UNDP (Cambodia), and as an advisor to the Buddhist Institute, Cambodia. She was a founding member of Voice of Women, the first feminist group in Sri Lanka, and co-founder of the Centre for Women’s Research, Sri Lanka. Ai Sim Hea is a Chinese physician and acupuncturist.