[Buddha-l] RE: Why can't a woman be more like a man?

[John Whalen-Bridge]

Sawadee krab from a soi of Sukhumvit Road...

	In reference to the hermaphrodite thread, I was quite curious as to why a friend of mine had to swear she was not a hermaphrodite before she could become a nun in a Tibetan lineage (Karma Kagyu; Lama Lodro's KDK in San Francisco).  The Myanmar story perhaps offers some clue.  In the Tibetan lineage a nun is certainly lower in status than a monk, and in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, so a hermaphrodite, a partial woman, could adulterate the male sangha (from the point of view of Tibetan monastic authority).   I've now been in Thailand for two weeks and haven't seen a full nun yet. I hear they exist, but one meets the cropped ladies in white who take far fewer vows and, I'm told by a monk, mainly serve the monks. There are some but not many images of female divinity adorning temples, but much more often there will be a memorial to a queen or consort (of RamaV, say) than anything like a Tara or Kwan Yin image. Angelic background figures (Devi, I think) are often seen.   I see KwanYinish images around town eg  in coffee shops, but whenever I've had a chance to ask, those shops have invariably been run by Thais of Chinese ancestry.  My Thai phd student tells me that there are female Buddha images, but I don't think I've seen one in a Thai temple yet.  
	

	Another question pops up:  why did my friend who became a Karma Kagyu nun also have to swear that she wasn't a god?  I wouldn't have mistaken her for one, but she had to make several such affirmations as part of her ordination ceremony.  Do gender anxieties play a role , here?  Tthe switch from Avalokiteshvara to Tara suggests heavenly sex reassignments.  Or can the anxiety better be explained in some other way? 

	I do beseech a better buddhologist to brief me.

	cheok dee krab!     JWB



	>Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:16:37 -0600
	>From: "jkirk" <jkirk at spro.net>
	>Subject: [Buddha-l] Why can't a woman be more like a man?
	>To: "Buddha-L" <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
	>Message-ID: <007a01c5898a$dea5ff00$2930cece at charlie>
	>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	>        reply-type=original
	>At least, her transformation will bring support to the monastary coffers.
	>But what it says about women in this Buddhist country is daunting.
	>Joanna ==================================================
	>> Mystery 'sex change' has curious flocking to Myanmar monk-to-be
	>> /Tue Jul 12,10:53 PM ET/  >> HLAING THAR YAR, Myanmar (AFP) - Thin Sandar, a chicken seller in
	>> Myanmar, had always dreamed of being a man. When she inexplicably grew  a penis last month, the 21-year-old treated it as an awe-inspiring omen
	[snip]