[Buddha-l] Meanwhile Down Under

[Piya Tan]

Dear Lance & Dharma friends,


Here is anopen letter from Ajahn Brahm himself:


OPEN LETTER TO ALL FROM AJAHN BRAHM ON THE EXCOMMUNICATION BY WAT PAH PONG

Please refer to the Buddhist Channel posting,:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,8667,0,0,1,0



On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 6:14 PM, L.S. Cousins <selwyn at ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Yes. That is my understanding too. I suspect that the confusion here is
> because of a belief that this law could now be challenged as
> incompatible with more recent legislation. That may be so. But it would
> clearly be unwise for any Thai  monastery to ignore it, especially at
> the present time.
>
>
> Lance Cousins
>
>
> Karma Tsomo wrote:
> > 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
> >
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