Seeger, M orcid.org/0000-0002-9202-9622 (2022) The Fragmentary History of Female Monasticism in Thailand: Community Formation and Development of Monastic Rules by Thai Mae Chis. Religions, 13 (11). 1042. p. 1042. ISSN 2077-1444
Abstract
A major challenge in the historical study of female monasticism in Thailand is the paucity of texts written by or about Thai Buddhist female practitioners prior to 1950. Biographical and autobiographical texts and other substantial Buddhist texts authored by Thai female practitioners emerged arguably only in the 20th century and are generally relatively rare, with only few notable exceptions. In this paper, I will utilize some of the earliest available Thai texts that allow more detailed insights into female monasticism and soteriological teaching and practice, the creation of female monastic spaces and the interrelationships between male and female monastics. Thus, I will examine sets of monastic training rules that, even though based on Pali canonical precepts and teachings, were created in the early 20th century. In addition to monastic code texts and the narratives of foundation stories, other important sources for my study include the biographies of monastic and female lay practitioners, important benefactors of female monastic communities and prominent male monastic supporters of female monastic and spiritual practice. I will also draw on sermon texts by female and male monastics. Here, I will focus only on the lives of those individuals and histories of female monastic communities that I regard as representative of larger issues, trends and challenges in the history of female monasticism in 20th century Thai Buddhism. Given the scarcity of sources, the present study cannot aspire to provide comprehensive accounts of the history of female monastic communities in Thailand and their interrelationships. Nor will I be able to reconstruct exhaustively the history of their monastic codes of rules. However, based on the sources that are available I will trace the history of attempts to create a blueprint for the organisation of Thai Buddhist female coenobitic monasticism.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | mae chis; Thai female monasticism; Vinaya; Thai Theravada Buddhism; Thai Buddhist nunneries; history of Thai Buddhism; cremation volumes; monastic code texts |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) > East Asian Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Nov 2022 16:59 |
Last Modified: | 08 Nov 2022 16:59 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/rel13111042 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:192967 |