Four Buddhist Communities in the New Inclusiveness
Author: Liberal HomoDeus
Date: 15th October 2019
Keywords: Upasika, Khun Yay, Dhammakaya, woman, Theravada
Length: 1343 words
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When, the Abbot Dhammajayo, together with Khun Yay Chandra: the founder of the temple decided to allow lay females working full-time in-monastic compound to accommodate the increasing demands of the fledgling Dhammakaya temple, both and the first group of female volunteers set a precedent for the social equality and inclusivity of women in the modern Thai Buddhism. It had changed the face of the four traditional Buddhist companies to be a brand-new outlook made up with monk, novice, Upasaka, Upasika. Within its social context, this was viewed as a bold and radical action.
Stretching back to the dawn of founding history, when these female pioneers had first formed the group and set up the quasi-official position from scratch, it was without a blueprint to follow. Regardless of any time or circumstance, they had created a role by placing their own imprint upon the position, that was in both style and substance but at the same time, they learned from one another, sharing a common bond and experience. Yet from the beginning, they had struggled with the proper manner in which to carry out their role. By viewing themselves as full partners within a spiritual family unit, they rose to the occasions and carried out their duties with dedication, perseverance, aplomb, dignity and mindfulness and it has helped play a pivotal role in shaping the contours of the development of female monastic community’s culture since then.
To sustain the monastic membership, they sought the living modality and found the metaphor that would blend their roles as being a graduated woman to the modern society, a spiritual daughter to the Lord Buddha, a meditation mentor to the general public, a religious worker for Buddhism and a visible public body all together. They exercised intelligence and initiative to play a substantial role in the monastic life, and over the times, these temple’s female members not only helped develop their own community’s culture but also the temple’s organizational tradition and outlook.
In the ideological aspect, of course, they were and are very humble to make the positive impact to the community and Buddhism. In the temple and throughout the contribution, they all focus on the reasons they all joined the temple and what they fighting for when they first took on the membership. They all love the organization because they know it will be a historic institute so it can’t help to not to feel tremendous pride and privilege at this point.
Gradually, time gave them the lesson to learn that when long friendships among themselves along the path of spiritual practice is a central feature of their life, it is almost impossible—just as the Buddha says—for spiritual qualities conducive to awakening not to ripen. Loving and appreciating their spiritual friends, even when they are difficult, as they sometimes are, is the path’s fullness and completion. Friendship ripens and deepens their capacity for compassion. Each one learns, understand and accept real-life complexity as that it is normal for some among the members even having a deep understanding of the Dhamma and still having areas that were completely undeveloped. It is simply because every Dhamma practitioner has his/her own strengths and vulnerabilities, and each needs to know which areas of one’s own life need attention, which need more cultivation or development.
It is obvious that the more they are established in their practice, the more they understand that the support their spiritual friends provided is the most fundamental and the most healing kind: gentle encouragement to awaken. Moreover, they realize at times things are tough, having a trusted friend to help shoulder the burden makes survival not only infinitely more possible but also much lovelier. Certainly, these help them in the living environment be able to receive a true friend’s criticism with loving-kindness because they know that it comes from a loving heart seeking only their benefit and well-being.
Now, the founding generation who within the first couple decades working to establish Dhammakaya temple is ripen and age; they are more mature and can appreciate the nobility and uniqueness of each friend, the twists and turns of each life, and the gift each has given them. At this point, they are retiring, or getting ready to retire. After a while they begin attending the funerals of their dearest friends, and each loss seems to increase the gravity and preciousness of their own life and makes the remaining friendships among Sisters-in-Dhamma even more important.
Dhammakaya temple has already reached its 5th decade old. Yet, the temple’s female role and condition still face many of the same challenges and rewards. From the first day they took the position, they were subject to unrelenting peer pressure and expectation as well as public examination and today’s public lens is even wider and sharper, perhaps making their role even more challenging.
Looking forward, they know that they need the new brood to help refreshing their female monastic community and their working environment and make the mission in teaching Dhammakaya meditation relevant to the new gens lifestyle and make it globally. The Temple administration also truly realize that they need to invest in the new generations because it is important.
The present generation of the Upasika’s community has let go of some of the old cultural biases of Buddhism and brought it into the 21st century forms. Now it is the job of Temple’s new generations to take it into the 22nd century, in terms of greater technology, diversity, justice, social action, and so forth. As they know that the next decade they will move in the 22nd century with the millennium generation. Now, they are trying to bridge the gaps of the present four ‘in-house’ generations: Baby Boomer, Gen.X, Gen.Y, Gen.Z, making up of their living and working environment.
A difference between the founding generation and the present generation is that they now have a little bit more license to be creative about how they express their ideas and attitudes. I see a little more effort within the congregation to turn the lens outward and see how they can take in a wider field of concern to help with the work of their meditation practice and the teaching of Buddhist morality in the on-going social conditions, political situations, the environment, and so on.
To thrive and strive to be more successful, it is important that the Temple must have a strong institutional presence, with career lay practitioners, to root itself in the society and counteract the prevailing destructive culture. To this day, Theravada Buddhism retains the emphasis on equality and inclusion. To be sure, this ideal is not always practiced very well. As it is well known, women were and still are not included as equals with men in Asian Buddhism. However, the renunciation of the world and leaving society to be a Buddhist volunteer in the temple of these college-educated female Dhammakaya devotees is admiring and gives an inspiring impact. As it is witnessed that there are new graduates joining this ‘selected club’ each year. These ‘fresh faces’ have seen their joining as a bold move into not only seeking genuine spiritual training but also forging an alternative life path for themselves that go beyond the social scripts society had allotted them.
So far, the ‘Upasika’s Asaram’ has made up a diverse group of people in terms of age, educational background and practice experience; helping to decide on the direction that they go as a community.
In the sociological impact, at the basic level, society was changed by these females absence from it, even though they did not deliberately seek to make it so. And Thai Theravada Buddhism outlook was also changed in having their presence in it; these women are remembered today as pioneers of Thai Theravada permanent monastic voluntary member. What I am very curious to see is, within the next 50 years, what is the forms of the four Buddhist Communities: Monk, Novice, Upasaka, Upasika going to look like?
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Related article(s):
Female Buddhists Working in the Temple: Life and Roles
Posted on: 15th August 2019
Keywords: #female, #force, #temple, #workingwoman, #community
Length: 1203 words
https://aloosechitchatblogg.blogspot.com/2019/10/female-buddhists-working-in-temple-life.html