Gentle feminism...learning and living with my thai nun sisters

Occassionally something small happens,
which reminds me,
just how different my life is and what a unique journey I am having
I woke this morning to a voice message from my thai buddhist friend who is a nun, senior and ordained.

She sent me a recording of her chanting the morning prayers
I cannot begin to explain what an honour it is to call her friend and her to call me family.
Nuns (maechi or bhikkuni) are extremely rare in thailand. There are easily over one and a half million male monks here and around 15,000 bhikkuni.

These women face daily prejudice from both within the religion and from thai communities. However within communities, once established local people comment upon the authenticity and much more noticable sincerity of the nuns than that of the habitualised normalised monk.

To me, these women are gentle feminists and I am proud to call them my friends and to have the chance to live with them, beg with them, eat cook, laugh, joke and practice with them.

My maechi knows that men fear the power of women, she knows that the extra rules nuns adhere to are to exert control upon them. But she and the other women remain undetered.

With love and compassion these women truely live the buddhist life.
You won't see them much around, not only because of their small numbers but because they are out in communities, in forests as buddha advised, living the simplest of lives, winning over hearts and minds and leading the way for other women to devote themselves to spreading buddhas word.

My maechi has opened over 7 meditation centres across thailand bringing life back to temples long ago abandoned.

I have lived with these women in mountain forests and been part of their life and they mine.

Ive had alot to do in chiang mai and every few days i receive a message "where are you, when are you coming, we miss you".
One of the things im doing is writing up the experiences and lessons i learnt from living with them previously.....which i hope to post...eventually
Oh the pressure on my karma...lol

I guess in next few weeks I'll go to had yai in the south. She wants me to help her with english and to design and co-teach a meditation course which is a real honour