[Buddha-l] Meanwhile Down Under

[Karma Tsomo]

According to Kulavir Prapapornpipat of Chiangmai University, the Sangha Act of 1928 prohibits Thai monks from ordaining Thai women:

“ANNOUNCEMENT
No Monks or Novice can Ordain Women as Pabbajita*

According to the Buddha’s dispensation, women who want to be samaneri must be ordained by bhikkhunis. The Buddha allowed bhikkhunis who have been ordained for more than 12 years to be a pavattini, which is an upajjhaya (a spiritual teacher). He did not allow bhikkhus to be upajjhaya [for bhikkhunis]. Since the bhikkhuni lineage was extinguished long ago and there is no bhikkhuni to preserve samaneri ordination, therefore there is no samaneri to continue the lineage. All of them are extinct. A person who gives samaneri ordination is establishing that which the Buddha did not establish and removing what the Buddha established. He is an enemy of the religion and a bad model.

For this reason, monks and novices of any sect are prohibited from ordaining women as bhikkhuni, sikkhamana, or samaneri from now on.

Announced on June 18, 1928
Krom Luang Shinnavorn Siriwat

*As it is used here, the term pabbajita is intended to include bhikkhuni, sikkhamana, and samaneri.

This announcement appeared in the Statement of the Sangha, vol.16, p. 157.”

Kulavir Prapapornpipat, “Visible and Invisible Obstacles Facing the BhikkhuniMovement in Thailand,” Buddhist Women in a Global Multicultural Community, ed. Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Kuala Lumpur: Sukhi Hotu Press, 2009), p. 201. 

Apologies for omitting the diacritics.

Karma Lekshe Tsomo
Theology and Religious Studies
University of San Diego