WUNRN
THAILAND - YOUNG GIRL BUDDHIST NUNS
CHALLENGE SOCIAL CONVENTIONS
Novice
Thai nuns are seen before they receive food from people during the Songkran
festival at the Sathira-Dhammasathan Buddhist meditation centre in Bangkok.
REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang)
Reuters Staff - April 24, 2012
Beam Atchimapon is already three
days late for the new school term in her native city, the Thai capital of
Bangkok – but for a good cause.
The nine-year-old is part of a small
but growing group of Thai girls who choose to spend part of the school holiday
as Buddhist nuns, down to having their heads shaven.
The temporary ordination of young
men has long been part of Thai culture, with men spending a few days as monks
and returning to their normal professions after time at a monastery.
But the ordination of “mae ji” or
“nuns” is less common, and the idea that women should not play an active role
in monastic life still prevails among more conservative Thais.
Fully ordained Buddhist nuns are not
legally recognized, as they are in Myanmar and Sri Lanka – one sign of the
inequality women still face in certain fields in Thailand.
“Thailand does not fully recognize
the role of Buddhist nuns,” said Sansanee Sthuratsuta, a nun and founder of the
Sathira Dammasathan center, a learning centre on the outskirts of Bangkok that
is something of a green oasis.
Sansanee used to be a celebrated
television personality in Thailand but gave up her fame for life as a nun 35
years ago. Her centre allows men and women to come and practice meditation,
learn yoga and take part in retreats, part of its mission to make Buddhism an
integral part of peoples’ lives.
She started the ordination of young
nuns 3 years ago to raise awareness of nuns in the nation, where their role as
spiritual leaders takes a backseat to their male counterparts.
“Nuns need to be educated. This is
more important than a law that elevates the status of nuns in Thailand. If
society can rely on nuns then they can be spiritual leaders,” she said.