On Tuesday, we were discussing in class the reasons and social implications behind

becoming a maechi. I was surprised (or at least confronted with an idea I had not considered
yet) to learn that becoming a maechi was not just motivated by the religion alone. I was
reminded of the constant saying in class of how religion needs to be put into a social
context. This book focuses some on the role of maechi in Thai society: "Meditation ground
maechi in being alone, an aloneness often denied women who choose the standard
householder path: there are a huge number of social, familial demands on Thai women to
interact with and nurture others"(68). I was comparing Maechi Wabi’s decision to a decision
that someone in my position might make where much different financial or social
responsibilities would shape my choice. It seems like either in a Western context or a Thai
context, the religious order allows a different life path that is not immediately governed by
societal norms for a woman.

I was also struck by Maechi Wabi's meditation experience when she recalled her past
lives. She remembered being in Hell and watching someone being beaten, beating someone,
and being beaten. This was my favorite sentence from the passage: "She encompassed all
of these realities" (65). This reminds me of the Inner Soul in Hinduism where there is some
ultimate reality that pervades all beings. The main difference that I found between that and
Maechi Wabi is that it was Maechi Wabi that made up the different realities, not some
ambiguous higher power. Buddhism has the ‘ connectedness’ element with universal
suffering and samsara but the road to nirvana seems to be much more on a
human/individual basis.

Another aspect that struck me was Maechi Wabi’s encounters with her previous lives and more importantly hell that
she finds through meditation. She sees herself suffering and making others suffer and begins to truly understand the
Buddhist karmic truth “that you karmically reap what you sow” (63). However, she is not completely disheartened
by these visions and also comes to the realization that “the fruit of karma ripens inevitably” and that one “does not
need to wait lives before the repening” (63). I find these insights very truth-bearing. They give me a greater insight
into why Maechi Wabi puts herself through so much to become a maechi. All the suffering she is experiencing is for
the greater good – it is leading her to a better place in this world. In this one life of Maechi Wabi. She is not
concerned with raking up “Karma Coins” for her next life; she is interested in working to improve her current life
through doing good works and meditating. This seems to be a truth that many other Thai religious figures have
overlooked.

This section painted a much clearer picture of the difficulties of being a Maechi in modern Thai
society. First, purely from a cultural standpoint, the sexism attributed to women's roles is pretty
eye-opening. While I may have my personal issues with someone deciding that they hate taking
care of their immediate family, and then starting one of their own, I believe outwardly forcing
them to do so is fundamentally wrong. On one hand I understood from the first chapter of the
challenges stacked up against the Maechi from the religious community, I had no idea of the
extent of the problem. Astoundingly, an interviewed female social professor accusatorially said
that "they [Maechi] are lazy, they are ignorant, and they have no energy for work" (Brown 29).
When pressed further, the teacher admitted to not having a great deal of understanding about the
roles of Buddhist nuns. In order for the damage to extend this deep, with self proclaimed
feminists attacking the lifestyle of the Maechi, the cultural hate towards nuns delves much
deeper than I could have possibly anticipated.
And to make matters worse, the prejudice does not stop at the gates of the samnak. The conflict
between Mina and Wabi was astounding, a relationship based entirely around competition for the
affections of their teacher. Following the episode when Wabi nearly dies from an allergic
reaction to a series of bee stings, Mina sits idly and "simply and clearly said 'serves you right,'"
Wabi goes as far as to give up on her renunciation (Brown 47). Even as a minority group
striving for religious and legal rights against the pressures of the rest of Thai society, there are
still obstacles within the ranks. I probably would have quit right there, and only speaks to Wabi's
perseverance and love of Buddhism to maintain her course.

I was struck by the passage on page 29, in chapter 2, in which various people make the claim
that, for very different reasons, “going forth” is a wasteful and/or cowardly choice of action for
females. On one side, there’s the belief that a woman’s main religious outlet is to give birth to
and nurture men who will become monks. One monk, going along these lines, said: “a woman’s
power is in birth, and maechi are not exercising their power… they’ve failed at it.” This
reminded me of one of the messages of the Bhagavad Gita—that it’s important to do your duty,
fulfill your dharma. Just as warriors should fight, women should give birth. I thought this was
another interesting example of religions enforcing or embodying social roles, similar to the caste
system. On the other side, there was the Bangkok feminist woman who argued against women’s
“going forth,” saying that it was cowardly—an act of running away. Of a famous feminist who
became a maechi, she said “Well, she just gave up, gave up! She was defeated!” (39) This also
evokes the spirit of the Gita in a way as well—by simply renouncing her place in society to
become a maechi, a woman who wants to live a different life is running away from a
confrontation with her family, and running away from breaking social rules (in Arjuna’s case,
breaking social order by fighting his family) instead of remaining a part of society, but fighting
to change it to something she believes is better.

This is a difficult question: is renouncing always an act of running away? Does it empower
women? I feel that in the story of Maechi Wabi, going forth was the best option. It seems as
though it would have been impossible to really start any kind of movement to make things better
for women at home, or to continue living at home without simply being forced to marry and have
children, or take care of others’ children. In addition to filling a religious purpose, becoming a
maechi seems to allow her to meet with other women who also didn’t want to simply fill their
societal roles. These women, through organizations like the Institute of Thai Maechi, are
working to better the image of maechi, (as detailed on page 32) and allow them the chance to
really get involved with the community. And perhaps by doing this, they are demonstrating that
women are not really “more attached to the world” (27). Maybe that will lead societies to view
women in a different light, and perhaps improve their lives.

I’d be interested to hear if others think that the parallels to the Gita make sense, and also to hear
if you think that going forth is a kind of giving up—does it further the cause of women’s rights,
or detract from it?

Group 4 Discussion Questions

1) How much of a Hindu legacy did we see in the teachings of Buddhism as

portrayed through the first 6 chapters of the book? More specifically, what
are some similarities, differences and extensions of these concepts (dhamma,
abhidhamma, “heartmind”, nibbana etc.) prevalent in the form of Buddhism
practiced by Maechi Wabi and those around her?

2) Often through the text, women are portrayed as inferior to men and not
looked favorably when they choose the path of renunciation. “Buddhism has
deeply ingrained patterns of sexism that daily affect the religious lives of
both men and women” (24). “Most women (were) and are expected to marry”
(20). Even Gotama “refused to allow the women to go forth [on the path as
bhikkuni, until Ananda interceded]” (18). “All women samnaks are rare in
Thailand” (4). “Thai society does not accept maechi” (22). (Other examples
on pages 11, 26, 27 etc) What does this say about the gender disparity
inherent in Buddhism, and is this something specific to Thailand only or do
we expect (or know at this stage) to be present in other places where
Buddhism is practiced?

3) How do we compare the feelings of great friendship and care that Maechi
Wabi had for Maechi Seni to the animosity (or at least “dissatisfaction” (47))
that Maechi Mina felt towards Maechi Wabi as evidenced in the bee sting
incident? What does this say about underlying tensions within a samnak
(temple)? More importantly, what does Maechi Wabi’s success in coming out
of this “crisis of faith” (as portrayed in Chapter 4) say about her character
and the grace that we expect from a Buddhist nun?

4) What do we make of the seeming worldliness of the kind of renunciation

practiced by the nuns in the samnak? How does the dynanamic of
detachment and renunciation play with the seemingly opposing force of
 involvement in the material world as witnessed in the life of Maechi Wabi and
other nun’s through the first six chapters?

5) What do we make of the Buddhist attitude towards learning through

meditation in an environment of solitude and isolation? (“Meditation can
enforce and give meaning to solitude, deepening one’s understanding of
Buddhism and one’s place in the world” (68)). How does this compare to the
Western (or currently predominant) model of learning we see in schools,
colleges and universities around the world where learning is considered a
social process, where going to school with other peers is supposed to deepen
one’s knowledge and learning and accelerate growth?