[Buddha-l] Why Ajahn Brahmavamso was excluded from the Wat Pa Phong Sangha

[Weng-Fai Wong]

The other side of the story...


  *Why Ajahn Brahmavamso was excluded from the Wat Pa Phong Sangha*


      *The Buddhist Channel, Nov 5, 2009*

**The following is a statement from Wat Pa Nanachat, explaining their 
reasons for the expulsion of Ajahn Brahmavamso from the Wat Pa Phong 
Sangha**

**Kuala Lumpur****, Malaysia** -- Receiving ordination as a bhikkhu  in 
Thailand, entails acceptance of the authority not only of the Vinaya, 
but also that of the Mahatherasamakom, (the Thai Sangha's governing 
body) and the laws of the land.

The Wat Pa Phong Sangha  considers as a matter of course, that all of 
its members are ethically bound to respect their commitments to the 
Mahatherasamakom and to the Thai State.

Ajahn Brahmavamso deliberately and unilaterally performed a ceremony 
knowing it to be considered illegal by the Thai state, illegitimate by 
the Mahatherasamakom and thus unacceptable to the Wat Pa Phong Sangha. 
There could be little doubt that by doing so he was, in effect, turning 
his back on continued membership of the Wat Pa Phong Sangha

Wat Pa Phong and its branch monasteries constitute an informal grouping 
within the Thai Sangha. Membership of this group is voluntary and 
dependent on a willingness to conform to certain broad standards, most 
of which were established by Ajahn Cha.

They include //dhutanga //practices such as daily almsround and eating 
one meal a day from the almsbowl. Special allowances are granted for 
overseas monasteries and generally speaking, abbots are almost 
completely autonomous in the running of their own monasteries.

However, in the case that a monastery develops practices that 
significantly deviate from the Wat Pa Phong template, the matter is 
raised at the annual general meeting in June. The abbot in question is 
interviewed and asked to choose between the unacceptable practice or 
exclusion from the group. This procedure was followed in the case of 
Ajahn Brahmavamso with a meeting held on 1st November.

Exclusion from the Wat Pa Phong Sangha is primarily intended to maintain 
the harmony and integrity of the group. It is not a punitive measure, 
although  in Thailand at least, exclusion may lead to a certain loss of 
prestige and material gains.

Ajahn Brahmavamso is unlikely to be adversely affected by the exclusion. 
His reputation and fund- raising activities may well be enhanced. His 
social ties with Wat Pa Phong were already weak. He has neglected 
relations with his Thai colleagues for some time now.

Over the last few years several of his trips to Thailand have been 
devoted to teaching laypeople without including visits to Ubon (most 
notably the one that coincided with the Wat Pa Phong annual general 
meeting of June 2009 in which the bhikkhuni issue was discussed). 

The most common view of the Western //theras// (elders) is that Ajahn 
Brahmavamso had agreed to host a 'World Abbots Meeting (WAM) in December 
in which discussion of the bhikkhuni question was on the agenda. If he 
had waited until that meeting, and after talking things through, 
announced his decision to leave the WPP Sangha in order to follow a path 
he felt deeply  to be correct and noble, his actions would have been 
considered regrettable but honourable.

In planning a bhikkhuni ordination for a couple of months before the WAM 
was to take place, in concealing his plans until a week before the 
ordination, and in carrying out the ceremony without speaking to either 
his preceptor, Somdet Buddhajahn, or the leader of the WPP Sangha, Luang 
Por Leeam beforehand at all, he acted in a way that suggested deceit and 
disrespect.

For most of the Wat Pa Phong theras, the intellectual argument over the 
validity of bhikkhuni ordination is not the point. Their lack of 
knowledge of the latest studies on the subject is, in their eyes, 
irrelevant.

To them the issue is that Ajahn Brahmavamso reneged on commitments 
implicit in his ownership of a Thai monastic passport, his role as abbot 
of a Wat Pa Phong branch monastery, his position as an officially 
sanctioned preceptor, and his acceptance of the Jow Khun title 
(formalizing his membership in the elite strata of the Thai monastic 
order).

In the meeting of the 1st November it was the perception that Ajahn 
Brahmavamso had acted disrespectfully to his teachers and lineage that 
aroused emotions, not his wish to elevate the status of women.

Time only will tell if the bhikkhuni ordination at Bodhinyana monastery 
in October 2009 will be seen as a key breakthrough in the acceptance of 
a Theravada bhikkhuni order, or as an overly hasty and confrontational 
move that alienated many of those it was intended to persuade.

Wat Pa Nanachat

 




__,_._,___