Daniel Murphree Page 1 of 38

Daniel Murphree, MA SEA Studies Candidate, University of Washington

dpmurp@gmail.com

From Doctrinal Androcentrism to Functional Egalitarianism: Exploring Myanmar’s Religious-

Gender Identity.
Paper topic or keywords: Gender, Religion, Theravada, Egalitarianism, Myanmar, Applied
Buddhism, Mahāpajāpatī.

Southeast Asian scholar Anthony Reid has made enduring contributions to the field of

Southeast Asian studies. A maritime specialist, his work and insights continue to make an

impact on the study of the region today. Part of his legacy includes a presupposition that women

in Southeast Asian societies enjoyed a more prominent position in society than their surrounding

neighbors (especially Vedic India or Confucian China) and their foreign colonizers (especially

Muslim Persia and Christian Europe). The reasons for this are multifaceted, but the fact that

Southeast Asia did serve a notable exception in gender roles is in contrast to regional (Asia),

Persian, and Colonial social structures. The evidence for this position are the notations found in

surviving documents from those regions. Assuming that journals are prone to mention notable

phenomena, that women featured in accounts written from disparate geographical, religious, and

political persuasions indicate that a woman’s place in Southeast Asian social circles was unlike

anything those authors had encountered before. They were remarkable. Women were

authoritative in spheres of society reserved for men from the foreigner’s perspective. These

sources expressly mention the remarkable role of women in negotiating trade deals, navigating

upriver trade relationships, and serving as brokers to their respective cultures by utilizing serial

monogyny as a means of enforcing contract (Reid, 1988A, 146–72, 212–24).

Reid’s sources deserve mention. In his article, “Urban Respectability and the Maleness

of (Southeast) Asian Modernity” (2014), he suggests that the archeological markers of

androgyny feature as a regional characteristic in both maritime and mainland Southeast Asia
Daniel Murphree Page 2 of 38

(148). This is seen as a marked regional distinction. These symbols of androgyny -

conservatively, gender inclusion - can be seen from the phallic ablution relics in Angkor, along

with the accompanying vaginal trough (image 1a and 1b) to the androgynous Buddha images of

the Pyu era (image 2). These examples markedly contrast European notions of the idealized self

preserved in art, especially art inspired by the Renaissance glorification of male masculinity

informing the worldview of colonial conquerers (image 3).

These examples serve just a portion of Reid’s career-long salvo in arguing that Southeast

Asia should be understood normatively as a place with a robust female presence and societal

role. Additional arguments include female control of the market and social networks. For Reid,

that traders and colonists would remark on the role of women in negotiating prices, exchanging

currencies, and brokering upriver deals indicate a unique role of prominence for women. Of

Vietnam he quotes a Chinese trader as saying, “The women were very good at trade, so the

traders who came here all tended to marry a local woman to help them with their trading” (Da

Shan 1699/1993, 58; quoted in Reid, 2015, 25). He later mentions a patronizing European, Jacob

de Bondt as saying, “…every Malayan woman is her own physician and an able obstetrician and

(this is my firm conviction) I should prefer her skill above that of a learned doctor or arrogant

surgeon” (Sargent, 2013, 149; cited in Reid, 2015, 129).1 Additional markers of female

prominence include the muting of male distinctiveness (over female imaging) and codified

marriage and divorce ‘understandings,’2 giving women a relative freedom of societal movement

(Reid 1988B, 629-635).

1
I would not normally cite an inner citation of another source unless the author is doing translation of primary texts
that are inaccessible to me, but since this paper is specifically looking at Anthony Reid’s articulation of gender roles
in Southeast Asia and applying it to Myanmar, this text serves the dual purpose of looking at Reid’s use of citation
and also how he does so as an anthropological/rhetorical consideration.
2
Not laws. Arguably, the legal system was a direct import of colonial modernization schemes. For example see,
Tamara Loos, Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 2006).
Daniel Murphree Page 3 of 38

These considerations beg two questions that likewise feature in Reid’s work: what, then,

were the spheres between men and women in Southeast Asia? And, who is to blame for the

current androcentric hierarchy of Southeast Asia? It is in the answer of these two questions that

this paper concerns itself through the evaluation of Reid’s paradigm for Buddhist Myanmar. In

ways that will be explored here, historical realities, textual realities, and contemporary realities

serve to further Reid’s narrative: that pre-colonialism, men and women in Southeast Asia

enjoyed complementarian relationships, if not egalitarian ones. However, the method is unusual,

as these arguments serve the rhetorical effect of contradicting Reid’s assignment of universal

textual religions as the reason for increased androcentric trends; in our case, Theravāda

Buddhism in Myanmar as transmitted by Pali texts. By looking at examples from the

aforementioned categories, this paper argues that Myanmar Buddhism is not to blame for

Myanmar’s androcentrism3 thus, rejecting one of Reid’s thesis while furthering another. By

examining ways in which textual and lived Buddhism further prompts a functional

egalitarianism, it has the effect of leaving high-colonialism and its accompanying 20th century

modernism to blame for muting the historic inclusiveness of women in Myanmar’s civil society.

The arguments evaluate Reid’s categories for describing male and female roles in society.

Again, through the unusual method of deconstructing of Reid’s categories for Myanmar, these

examples show, instead, that women regularly participated in traditionally male spheres of

religious observance and governance, thus rendering pre-colonial Myanmar Buddhism an

innocent bystander in colonialism’s refashioning of gender roles in Myanmar society. It thereby

modifies his paradigm from sphere complementarianism to my preferred category of functional

egalitarianism. Functional egalitarianism suggests that men and women, indifferent to the

3
Or, in some cases, outright chauvinism/misogyny.
Daniel Murphree Page 4 of 38

scripted attitudes and opinions they are ‘supposed to’ have of one another, express mutual

deference in practical ways. The term functional egalitarianism represents the notion that a man

or woman can exchange jobs and roles in society without any demotion in status, honor, prestige,

wealth, or any other category by which one gender might express dominance or ontological

superiority over the other.

Reid’s category of sphere complementarianism is not new to Myanmar, but it does take

preexisting categories further. Furnivall is a leading contributor in formulating scholastic

impressions of the country of Myanmar for the last fifty years,4 and was the first to posit

Myanmar as a plural society. He found Myanmar as a country that maintained the ability for

multiple ethnic groups to live side by side, not integrating, but not in contention or hierarchy

either. The same theory of sphere plurality was posited for women and their relationships with

men. Women and men were seen as forms with separate spheres, and mostly contented in the

boundaries of those spheres (Pham, 2005, 322; Ikeya, 2011, 5).

The idea was simple enough. Women performed duties of buying and selling,

maintained the family’s wealth, organized all pwe (ceremonies and festivities), and smoothed

over sensitive situations created by their husbands in order to maintain his honor. Men were

involved in affairs that required more physical labor. While women were largely involved in rice

cultivation, the men would plow the ground, though not always. Though conquest was rare due

to the relatively low population density, when civilizations went to war, that was a man’s sphere,

though women did take up arms occasionally—an evidence of rare role shifting (Reid, 1988B,

639-642). This is not to suggest that men and women enjoyed equality. Ironically, Reid rarely

4
While he spent his life there (more than 40 years) and formulated much to the outside world’s knowledge of
Myanmar, he was a product of his time and influenced by it. Furnivall was an outspoken Fabian Socialist and these
views were often incorporated in his writings and observations.
Daniel Murphree Page 5 of 38

discusses what equality would have looked like for Southeast Asia. However, he summarizes his

sphere complementarianism thus,

“It could not be said that women were equal to men, since there were very few
areas in which they competed directly. Women had different functions from men,
but these included transplanting and harvesting rice, weaving, and marketing.
Their reproductive role gave them magical and ritual powers which it was difficult
for men to match.” —Reid, 1988B, 629

So if Southeast Asia was marked by female dominance in social, economic, and religious

spheres (explored below), what led to the androcentrism that characterizes the post-colonial

Southeast Asian country seen today? Reid’s primary answer is Colonialism, and especially

Colonial Modernity. This is not the scope of this paper, though the ethnographic data compiled

in the third section (Contemporary Realities) requires situation in a post-junta Burmese

government, arguably a fifty year effect of colonialism. In all of Reid’s works read for this

paper, he extensively attributes this post-colonial modernity for the current androcentric

hierarchy of Southeast Asia. In addition to colonial constructions of gender, he also includes the

categories of textual, universalizing religions as proto-colonial forces that suppressed female

participation, especially in religious rites. Of these religions, Reid suggests,

“We can speak of a “Southeast Asian” pattern of relatively balanced roles and
economic autonomy for women and men, even if Confucianism, Islam, Buddhism,
and Christianity carried external models of male dominance into the region.
Southeast Asian ritual and belief systems (except where altered by those scriptural
religions) typically emphasize the complementarity of male and female principles,
part of the dualism that imbues much ritual life.” —Reid, 2015, 24.

Historical Realities

In order to evaluate Ried’s category of sphere complementarianism and the religious

suppression of female roles in Myanmar, one should expect to see very few instances of religious

egalitarianism—situations where men and women ‘compete’ for shared space. Moreover, one

would expect to find decreasing examples of women involved in ritual and rite. One should also
Daniel Murphree Page 6 of 38

see a movement away from spiritualism towards canonical Buddhism and that canonical

Buddhism should concretely reveal a textual tradition that is abruptly fatalistic towards women.

In the practice of that Buddhism, we should expect to find additional elements of that male

preference. In the case of Buddhist Myanmar, very few of these expectations are met. In fact,

historical practice, the textual heritage, and ethnographic surveys all seem to indicate that a

functional egalitarianism—that men and women interchangeably exert authority in the same

sphere, often driven by pragmatism—has characterized Myanmar’s Buddhist observance.5

Arguably one of the greatest frustrations of Reid’s hypothesis is Myanmar’s sine qua non

with Buddhism. The same can be said of Thailand and Cambodia; that it is historically

impossible to discern a time in those countries that was pristine of Buddhist ideology. Already,

Reid’s categorical insistence on universalizing textual religions as a main contributor to

femininity’s demise is problematic for mainland Southeast Asia. Buddhism in Myanmar is

ancient. Native scholars that write on Myanmar’s Buddhism often push the date as far back as

archeological evidence will allow them, revealing an native pride in being the purest Buddhists,

maintaining the most ancient of traditions (The Thathanawin, for example). Due to the lack of

data on what constituted religious and civil life pre-Buddhism, research must include the textual

and historical integration of Buddhism in Myanmar Society.

It is unclear exactly when the Tipiṭaka came to Myanmar. Manuscript evidence is scant

due to the nature of textual copying on palm leaves. However, there are corroborating stories

that indicate King Asoka made a concerted effort to send out missionary envoys from India or

Sri Lanka to what is now, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and probably southern Vietnam.6 The

5
Because of the limitations of the paper, “Myanmar” refers principally to the Buddhist low-land region and does not
include other minority groups, usually delineated as ‘hill tribes.’
6
See, Taylor, 2014, The Khmer Lands of Vietnam, p. 37.
Daniel Murphree Page 7 of 38

Sri Lankan Pali chronicle Mahāvamsa records several missionary expeditions from Ceylon to

convert other nations concluding by the end of the 4th century, CE.7 These are accessible

stories, relayed to me by several monks when I asked them if they knew when Buddhism came to

Myanmar. If not by name of the text, they would recite at length the heritage of King Aśoka and

King Anawratha, often in the same breath, while some insisted that the Buddha himself ventured

into Myanmar. The evidence for this is the ancient pagodas supposedly built during the

Buddha’s life. This is the fabled cause for the construction of Sule Pagoda (Image 4), making it

over 2,500 years old. Its location makes sense, given that Arab geographer Ibn Khordadbeh

mentions Pegu as early as 850 CE, belying the portrayal of Yangon as a sleepy fishing village by

the British (Coédes, 1968, 106 ff.). Bhikkhus from Ceylon would likely have sailed the Bay of

Bengal to Bago before continuing upriver as that was a common trade route in those and

subsequent days. Sule Pagoda’s age is indeterminate. It is possible it is old as 2500 years, but

was likely a mandala center of nat reverence first, later to be upgraded to a pagoda when Bago

encountered Buddhism through trade or missionary endeavors.

The Thathanawin, or Sāsana Vaṃsa, is another indigenous history that traces Buddhist

lineage to the life of the Buddha. Its content shows the place of women alongside men in pursuit

of holy life. The document was compiled by a Buddhist monk and historian in the mid 19th

century, likely as a response to colonial histories as authoritative narratives in knowledge

production. One plausible explanation for the lack of a historical record is that for Burmese

Buddhists, history was rooted in Sangha lineage and authority was derived from the conferral of

7
Mahavamsa, Chapter 12, for example says, “…(then) in the month Kattika' he sent forth theras, one here and one
there. The thera Majjhantika he sent to Kasmira and Gandhara, the thera, MaMdeva he sent to Mahisamandala. To
Vanaväsa be sent the thera named Rakkhita, and to Aparantaka the Yona named Dhainmarakkhjta; to Maharattha
(he sent) the thera named Mamdhammarakkhita, but the thera Maharakkhita he sent into the cuntry of the Yona. He
sent the thera Majjhima to the Himalaya country, and to Suvambhürni he sent the two theras Sona and Uttara.” —
Geiger, 1958, 82-86.
Daniel Murphree Page 8 of 38

Sangha authority, not a state centered dynastic heritage. Dynasties were irregular in Southeast

Asia, and Myanmar was no exception, obviating the need to meticulously record the lineage and

annuls of former kings. In fact, if the temples at Angkor are any indication, new kings often

exerted great effort to consolidate the empire after the religious preference of the king, not the

image or patrilineal heritage of the king.8 The importance of the Thathanawin for a first

indigenous history of Myanmar Buddhism cannot be underestimated even though the

historiographical method Bhikkhu Paññāsāmi used is lost to us. In this work, painstaking efforts

to trace ordination lineages—critical for legitimacy as a Sangha order—are made revealing

ordination traditions that weave through Ceylon and back to the original orders in India. This

established the authority of the various Buddhist Sangha.9 Additionally, rather than elide the

place of women in that history, an entire section discusses women’s roles working in competing

spheres of authority, religion (ostensibly as Bhikkhunis), and complementarian the sphere of a

homemakers. The text carefully locates women in the normal function of the idealized life of

Pagan, as opposed to an exceptional intercalation. Exceptional women filled the same roles as

men (Lieberman, 1976).

Tracing the textual record is challenging, mostly because there are no ‘independent’

sources of the historical record that did not involve the monastic order. However, whether

through oral tradition or long periods of textual diffusion, there was ample study and

memorization of the Pali text in Myanmar. This was not a job of only the men, and this fact is

recorded in the aforementioned texts as well as others (below). Women had the opportunity and

8
One striking observation of the temples at Angkor is that between the reigns of Jayavarman VII and his successor,
great pains were taken to remove any images of the Buddha engraved on the stone, while the images of Jayavarman
VII himself remain largely unscathed—especially on Angkor Thom. That Jayavarman VII seemed intent on
codifying his image on temples for religious rites seems the anomaly.
9
Monarchs then derived their right to reign, or moral authority, from the monastic orders. Military consolidation
helped as well.
Daniel Murphree Page 9 of 38

expectation to engage with the texts, and were given high positions in court-life. In fact, the

‘remarkableness’ of these fetes seem to be articulated by outsiders, rather than insiders. The tone

in these documents is nothing other than factual. Women, along with men, shared in the

memorization of the Dhamma and took necessary, functional roles in society. Khaing speaks of

the story of woman tending a cotton field engaging in a catechism duel in Pali with a passing

monk (Khaing, 1984, 5). These textual histories indicate that women were not merely involved

in the same spheres of life as men, but they achieved relatively high status in those spheres as

well. Societally, the presence of strong Burmese Queens and their ability to make merit is a

notable Buddhist phenomena as well.10

An additional hortatory point to this historiography must include, for Westerners, the

absolute fusion between religion and the public square. The two were not differentiate-able and,

arguably, only with the colonial encounter did the sacred-secular divide come into existence,

hence the felt ‘need’ to generate a written history anchoring the Barman nation and Barman

Buddhism to the Buddha himself through the document of the Thathanawin. This fusion

requires a rereading of events of the court and social square as not independent of Buddhist

thought, but dependent upon it. Before the British mandate to secularize education in the early

20th century, general education of boys and girls was performed at the monastery’s hpongyi-

caun. These boys and girls grew up to become stakeholders in Burmese society. Sometimes this

education was connected with learning Pali and the Dhamma, but it mostly involved classes

relevant to life in prehistoric Myanmar; reading, writing, cosmology, family life, etc. Luce notes

a Chinese source from the 9th century commenting on the social life as he observed it:

“When they come to the age of seven, both boys and girls drop their hair and stop
in a monastery where they take refuge in the Sangha. On reaching the age of

10
See Than Tun (1964) for ample examples of strong Buddhist female figures during the Pagan period (849–1297
CE).
Daniel Murphree Page 10 of 38

twenty, if they have not awaked to the principles of the Buddha, they let their hair
grow again and become ordinary townsfolk.” —Luce, p. 319, quoted in Mi Mi
Khiang, 1984, p. 1

This reveals something about the commonplace of monastery life in the pedagogy of

young Pyu. It also reveals an aspect of life that was notable to these Chinese observers. Mi Mi

Khiang considers an additional question related to this - whether the hpongyi-cauns these

students went to were taught by monks or nuns. While she says the evidence is inconclusive, her

interlocutor (Luce) seems to think that they were, in fact, fully ordained nuns:

“…for to go to a monastery and take refuge in the Sangha (Order of Monks) is

one of the greatest privileges given to human beings in the Buddhist world. It is
exciting to find girls of that time given it with boys. (Did they go to monasteries of
ordained nuns, or was it to monks they went for teaching? The records to not
say.) —Khaing, 1984, 1

Luce, writing on the Pyu, whose kingdom ended in the late 9th century, believed that the

line of the Bhikkhuni had not yet died out in the region, and that there are records indicating one

of these nuns became a “bishop” (Luce, 95-96). The presence of woman in the merit making act

of pagoda construction at Pagan in the 11th and 12th centuries further indicate a presence of

Bhikkhunis, attenuating the dāna of other highly positioned women (Kyi Mah, p. 20, trans. by Mi

Mi Khiang, p. 5). A presence of nuns in the Pagan region certainly make it plausible for such an

order to exist as and overlapping tradition in the Pyu region, potentially indicating less parochial

confinement for Buddhists, consistent with a ‘wanderer’s’ religion. King Anawratha’s forced

import of Buddhist texts and monks from Mon, and the continuing tradition of Bhikkhuni

practice past his reign would suggest that these ‘foreign’ monks saw no aberration in Pagan.

Liberally, one might suggest that the nun lineage was brought to Pagan, or at least codified at

Pagan, after King Anawratha’s supposed conversion to Buddhism and consolidation of it. A nun

lineage in Myanmar in the 12th century would make the country one of the last to lose the
Daniel Murphree Page 11 of 38

ordination lineage of the Bhikkhunis, revealing a strong patronage system with accompanying

community support by, presumably, lay-men, lay-women, peasants, and governors.

One odd point of tension for Reid’s hypothesis is that he rightly notes the role of Nat

veneration in Myanmar and the unique prominence of women as spirit mediums. The Nats

themselves, roughly half of which are male and half are female, would indicate a shared space

between male-form and female-form spirits. However, Reid fails to attribute this to Buddhism.

Contemporary Myanmar practitioners see only a technical difference separating Nat veneration

and veneration of the Buddha. According to nationalist narrative, the Nats were officially

syncretized with Buddhism under King Anawratha. Sometime during his reign he constructed

Shwezigon Pagoda (image 4) and in it codified the 36 Nats. Interestingly, there is also the image

of Indra, who Reid attributes to a Hindu syncretization (Reid, 2015, 42), yet the earliest complete

Buddhist biographical account includes Indra as a major part of convincing the Buddha to preach

the dhamma. Indra rightly belongs to the Buddhist tradition.11 Oddly, Reid does not attribute

these actions to a religious state vying for legitimacy in the dhamma sphere of governance. That

is, rather than see King Anawratha as operating as a Buddhist agent, potentially standardizing a

preexisting relationship between Nat veneration and Buddhism, Anawratha is seen as a rational

actor. If, instead, we consider the role of political positionality as something that properly

belongs in the Rājadhamma, or, the dhamma sphere of political rule, the historian is left with

several examples of a Buddhist practice of female inclusion, not only from the codification of

female deities and their spirit mediums, but other governesses must also be seen as Buddhist

agents, ruling, not as a result of expediency, but exerting moral authority.

11
See: Edward Conze, trans., “Buddhacarita” in Buddhist Scriptures, 1959, 52.
Daniel Murphree Page 12 of 38

A Bhikkhuni line would also underline a strong female Sangha organization and a textual

tradition that supports both, the ecclesiastical structure of nuns and the dāna economy required to

support them. Indeed the two are so interwoven throughout Buddhist tradition that a presence of

Bhikkhunisaṇgha or Bhikkhusaṇgha should always indicate for the anthropologist, religious

praxis and state patronage. These texts were, presumably (again, due to the lack of physical

copies), the Pali text preserved in Burmese, signifying the indigenization of Pali from a foreign

text to a localized one.12 Since the history of lived Buddhism does not clearly indicate a

suppression of women’s involvement in societal, religious, or economic affairs, it is in the

textual tradition that Reid’s hypothesis gains the most traction. While the textual tradition is a

helpful aid in determining the theoretical commitments of a community, more helpful is

determining which texts were emphasized in the history of interpretation. The mere presence of

a text does not indicate a community’s commitment to the entirety of it. Moreover, the presence

of Bhikkhuni and women rulers (explored below), reveal a textual emphasis that, in the least,

allowed for women to take these positions, if not more.

Even though textual documents are non-existent, early Buddhist chronicles, Chinese trade

sources, pagoda construction, lithographic records, more recent Buddhist histories, and colonial

sources all indicate, therefore, three things for the purposes of our paper. That Buddhism in

Myanmar arrived very early is indicated by Ceylon texts finalized by the 4th century C.E.,

Pagoda construction that can be attributed to a very early age (possibly as far back as 300-400

BCE), and Pagoda inscriptions. That Buddhism in Myanmar was highly syncretic and functional

is indicated by the long tradition of Kings and Queens making patronage and recording their acts,

as well as the official fusion between Buddhism and Nat worship by King Anawratha in the 11th

12
Evidence for this conclusion is the Pali Text Society’s use of a Burmanized Pali text as their most complete source
for the Tipitaka canon.
Daniel Murphree Page 13 of 38

century. All three considerations involve spheres in which men and women ‘competed,’ often (if

not always) invoking the Buddhist worldview. From a historical practice perspective, women

filled a functional egalitarianism, serving in similar positions as men without any recorded

tension related to female presence.

Textual realities

There are a few points to be made about the textual tradition. If it is true that fully

ordained Bhikkhunis were in existence or even thriving as late as the 12th century, they would

have been very familiar with the origin narrative of the Bhikkhuni order. Given the importance

of lineage for male Sangha, it stands to reason that textual and oral traditions would have been

carefully preserved. This implies a great care in preserving the lineage and story of

Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the first nun, and the stepmother of the Buddha. As a literary piece, the

story of Gotamī is riveting. However, it is the curating of her story that provides more evidence

for considering egalitarian preferences within the Pali tradition. Both her ordination and

parinibbāna narratives provide challenges for those wishing to see an overt egalitarian bias in the

texts. However, by applying textual criticism to the ordination narrative and literary criticism to

the parinibbāna narrative, one can reconstruct a portrayal of women that is honorific, belying the

perceived misogyny of textual Buddhism.

Gotamī’s ordination and the rite right for nuns:

It is almost certain that Gotamī was not, in fact, the first nun (von Hinüber, 2008, 26-27).

However, the attribution of her story to the start of the nun’s order is indication of how an early

Buddhist audience sought to codify and standardize a fable.13 The presence of nuns in early

13
In no way am I implying that Mahāpajāpatī was not a historical figure. However, given the lack of textual
integrity, it is almost certain that her story was a later addition in order to justify the ability of women to become
nuns, and subsequently, attain nibbāna. See von Hinüber, 2008: "The Foundation of the Bhikkhunisagha – A
Daniel Murphree Page 14 of 38

Buddhism would have been a provocative reform of Brahmanism, although it certainly would

not have been an anomaly. The Jains, of which her initial ‘rebellion’ might have indicated, were

also a reform movement that created a shared space for men and women. Both Buddhism and

Jainism could be seen as radical departures in both philosophy and ecclesiology from the

androcentric Brahman traditions in which they were located. Thus, a shaving of the head and

donning robes might have indicated to the Buddha a threat to join a competing movement. Her

ordination is recorded in several locations, however, the most developed version is in Chapter 10

of the Cullavagga.14 Sponberg considers the textual variations between the Sanskritic text and

the Pali texts to reveal a refined redaction in the Pali, one that is favorable towards women and

preserves the motive of Mahāpajāpatī. This, again, indicates a desire on the part of editors to

“clean up” the text in an effort to standardize Buddhism through the textual transmission in a

way that legitimized the faith for all, including women (Sponberg, 18-21).

When Mahāpajāpatī goes to the Buddha on three separate occasions to request female

ordination, he denies her requests. She insists, and the Buddha’s response is not a rejection

based on her gender, but a categorical concern for the lifestyle for women everywhere, “Be

careful,15 Gotamī, of the going forth of women into homelessness…” He then tells her to go

Contribution to the Earliest History of Buddhism”, 3-29; Williams, 2000: "A Whisper in the Silence: Nuns before
Mahapajapati?”, 167-173; Nattier, 1991: Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline.
14
AN 1.5.1ff.; and the commentaries AA 1.5.1ff. are examples of other locations (PTS)
AN 1.5.1:
Etad-aggaṁ bhikkhave mama sāvikānaṁ bhikkhunīnaṁ
rattaññūnaṁ, yad-idaṁ Mahāpajāpatigotamī.
This is the foremost of my nun disciples, monastics, amongst those
who are senior, that is to say, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī…
AA 1.5.1:
The Commentarial Story:
In the first of the texts concerning the Elder Nuns, “That is to say, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī,” it shows how the Elder
Nun Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, amongst those who were senior, was said to be the foremost…
15
The battles in interpretation hinge on the emphatic particle alaṃ; from which the interpreter can massage the text
to their own interpretive bias. Does the emphatic particle make the sentence read: “Enough!” as von Hinüber takes
it to mean (2008, 5)? It is unlikely. According to the Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary, alaṃ, if taken
Daniel Murphree Page 15 of 38

back to the home she is staying in, and still tells her no. He then departs to Vēsali. Undeterred,

Mahāpajāpatī did not return quietly to her dwelling. Instead, she shaved her head and donned the

yellow robes of a monk anyways and went up to Vēsali, forcing the Buddha’s hand by

potentially indicating she might join an order of Jains instead (Walters, 1995, p. 116; Bhikkhu

Analayo, 2008; Walters, 1994). This action alone indicates capable agency. Why keep this in

the text if the goal was to exemplify weak and docile women? Interpretively, one reads a defiant

woman, challenging the Thus Gone One, Conquerer of Worlds, and there is no retort. In fact,

she ‘wins’ the argument.

Ānanda, one of the Buddha’s main disciples comes to the Buddha crying, and begs him

to change his mind. Ānanda finally asks whether or not it is possible for women to achieve

liberation, to which the Buddha answers that it is possible, as evidenced by the many arhats

(women) that have lived in the past. The Buddha decides to relent and institute a nuns order, but

he is quick to point out it was not because of his mother’s reasoning, but it was due to the

weakness and crying of Ananda. Reiko Ohnuma points out that in the deliberation between

Ananda and the Buddha, it was not superiority of logic or the soteriologically inclusive nature of

nibbāna through arhatship.16

It is in the Buddha’s concession that the additional rules for the nun’s order are codified.

As the story goes, in his concession the Buddha required for nuns to follow Eight Garudhammas,

from the Vedic tradition means, “suitable;” “fitly”, or, it can be taken as simply an emphatic particle. In affirmative
sentances, it can be construed as providing assurances and emphasis, as in, “for sure, very much, indeed, truly.”
Taken as a negative here, it does not have the forceful rendering desired by von Hinüber and other translators who
render this text, “Stop it, Gotamī!” It exceeds the semantic range of this particle. See Pali Text Society, Pali-
English Dictionary, 78. Available at: (http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-
bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.0.pali.938464)
16
The text does not indicate a change of mind, but rather an appeal that the Buddha was indebted to his mother
because of her care for him after his biological mother passed away (Ohnuma, 2006). This is a theme that will be
picked up in Mahāpajāpatī’s parinibbāna. However, this tradition seems, instead, to be a collation from MN 142, the
Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga-sutta, rather than originating from this narrative in the Cullavaga (Krey, 2010, 59).
Daniel Murphree Page 16 of 38

seen by some as a concession to ensure the social order.17 The heavy handed rules required nuns

to be completely subjugated to the monks and hierarchically subservient to them. For example,

the first one says, “A nun who has been ordained even for a hundred years must greet

respectfully, rise up from her seat, salute with joined palms, do proper homage to a monk

ordained but that day.” This would certainly indicate a chauvinist gender hierarchy in terms of

Sangha life. It is not clear whether these rules occurred within the lived tradition of early Indian

Buddhism or that they were even present originally. While they are certainly present in the Pali

text, they are not emphasized and do not occur in the Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga section on nuns. They

are unavoidable in the last chapter (10) of the Cullavagga, which recounts the story of Gotamī’s

ordination. This presents an interesting phenomena for the reader: if one were to inquire or want

to read about rules for nuns, or how to become a nun, they would not read these Garudhammas.

But, if one were to read the story of Gotamī’s ordination in its most complete version, these rules

are abruptly attached to the narrative.

It is their abruptness that makes their inclusion in this story questionable. Seven of the

eight rules have striking parallels within the Vinaya, leading some to conclude that due to this

similarity, their presence in one or the other is an editorial. Due to the abrupt nature of the

Garudhammas in the narrative of Gotamī achieving ordination rights, it disrupts the narrative

flow; their inclusion seems interpolated by a scribe less enthusiastic about a Bhikkhunisaṇgha.

Interestingly, in the narratives about Mahāpajāpatī there is nothing indicated about an extra

Vinaya that would come to regulate the nun order. This would seem the most logical place to

include these rules, and indeed they are there in redacted form, but not the additional 80 or so

17
Sponberg additionally notes that the Sanskrit version of the story takes care to mention that the Buddha indicates
that a renunciant’s life would be appropriate for Mahāpajāpatī alone, again, a potential concern for upsetting the
social conditions (Sponberg, 1992, 17-20). This suggests that the Pali version does not pick up on this nuance.
Thus, in order to make ‘going forth’ possible for all women, the Pali text sees fit to include these ‘heavy’ dhammas.
Daniel Murphree Page 17 of 38

rules codified in the Vinaya. Of the additional rules that apply to nuns, Alice Collett (2014)

points out that many of the 311 rules that apply to nuns are considered misogynistic simply by

virtue of being more in number than men (227 rules). This constitutes neither misogyny nor

androcentrism necessarily. She points out they should not be understood without their male

counterparts and that both sets, when broken down in categories, are strict towards both sexes in

their culturally contrived understandings of sexual appetite, which should be demystified from its

puritanic interpretation by those in the West (Collett, 2014, 62-79).

Another textual concern is rooted in textual criticism related to this story coming from

different traditions, with some scholars suggesting that the particularly misogynistic elements are

collations or blatant fabrications from later schools in China—desirous of a textual tradition that

more comports with androcentric or Confucian values.18 Supporters of this theory point out the

relative unwillingness to implement any of the additional rules for women who do become nuns

(not-fully ordained ones). From a contemporary point of view, these rules are not included in

popular literature available in Myanmar bookstores for nuns. The account of Gotamī appears in

redacted form, but these Eight Garudhammas are absent.19 Also, other popular literature in the

Theravāda tradition involving the ordination of Gotamī and her parinibbāna do not recount the

rules or the harsh words of the Buddha, promoting only the fact of her being the primogenitor of

the nuns order and her glorious death (Spongberg, p. 26-34 ). Currently, thila-shins in Myanmar

follow the Ten precepts and, while the Eight Garudhammas are known about, they are not known

and not read, considered unnecessary, or even extra-canonical.

18
See, for example: Ann Heirman, “Chinese Nuns and their Ordination in Fifth Century China” In Journal of the
International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol 24, No. 2, 2001, 275-304.
19
Two of these pamphlets were given to me by book store owners in Yangon when I asked. I saw that nuns had
come up to these stores, offered a prayer of blessing and they were given some money. These nuns seemed to know
this shop was a sure bet since they skipped over several other stores in the strip.
Daniel Murphree Page 18 of 38

Gotamī’s ordination account outlines some of the difficulties in navigating the Pali text,

however, to say that the overarching arch of the Pali text is anti-women would be far from

accurate. In fact, taking into account textual critical issues seems to yield a text that is favorably

dispositioned towards women, especially when the male audience is taken into consideration.

The inclusion of women in the possibility of attaining arhatship indicates, for the Theravāda

practitioner, soteriological inclusiveness of the highest order. To be sure, the Buddha says that

women cannot become Buddhas, but this is an unrealistic attainment by all Theravādans, and the

text does not indicate that the Buddha meant this as a slight.

In terms of textual comparisons, the comparative story between the Buddha’s parinibbāna

and Gotamī’s is further reason to consider an exaltation of women ‘competing’ in the same

textual sphere. Simply, Gotamī’s parinibbāna is spectacular, while in comparison, the Buddha’s

is mundane. Gotamī’s story is recorded in the Khuddaka-nikāya section of the canon and is an

Apadāna - a later extension of two earlier established sections of verses for Monks and Nuns.

This section is extended from the previously established, Therīgāthā, a complementary section of

verses for Nuns to accompany the Monks’ Therāgāthā. These Apadānas contain forty

autobiographies of nuns and Gotamī’s story is among them. It is a unique contribution to the

genre in that while the others focus on life together as a nun or moralistic observance, Gotamī’s

narrative includes irrefutable proof of a nun’s ability to attain the status of arhat, and when

contrasted with the Buddha’s own parinibbāna, the reader is left with a striking contrast.

Gotamī’s parinibbāna is nothing short of glorious (Walters, 1995, 113-118).

Gotamī’s Parinibbāna

In Walters’s (1995) translation, Gotamī pontificates about ‘going forth’ (parinibbāna)

because of the unbearableness of potentially having to witness the death of the Buddha, Ānanda,
Daniel Murphree Page 19 of 38

Nanda, and the Buddha’s son, Rāhula. While she was deliberating, 500 nuns were in

simultaneous deliberation (meditation?). In an instant, they all came to the same realization to

release their constituent parts and enter final release. The ground quakes. The sky is filled with

the gods’ thunder. So heartbreaking was the decision that the resident goddess weeps. The nuns,

witnessing this sight, come to Gotamī (ostensibly their leader) and ask,

“What does it all mean?”

Gotamī explains what she had reasoned out, that she should depart this life, and the nuns

exclaim, “We thought so, too!”

So Gotamī seeks out the wailing goddess, explains her resolve and after apologizing, sets

forth. This ensues a small discourse about how the goddesses were so distraught, they wailed

and wept for Gotamī going forth.20 After an extended discourse of Gotamī explaining core truths

of the dhamma, she tells them all to stop their weeping and shout for joy at this marvelous time!

This pericope concludes with Mahāpajāpatī commenting,

“The great Buddha made women nuns

only at my beseeching.
So if you love me, be like me,
and follow after him (29)”

She then proceeds to the Buddha, venerating him and then reminding him of all she has

done for him, but reassuring him, “…You do not owe a debt to me, because I received my honor

by being the one to care for someone like you.” She then goes on to say that she desires to “go

out totally,” and ask the Buddha’s permission to do so.

The narrator then picks up the account and effusively recounts the opulence of the

Buddha’s body (it is as solid gold, bright, reflecting the sun…). It remarks that Gotamī places

20
Weeping at somebody’s final release is an indication of attachment and is rarely a good thing, so the goddesses,
and later, Ānanda’s weeping sets a contrast for the strength and resolve of Gotamī.
Daniel Murphree Page 20 of 38

her head on her son’s feet, and she restates that she is going to die, but before she does, she

clarifies her actions in asking for the nuns’ ordination, and asks for forgiveness for any possible

offense. The Buddha assures her that there could be no offense (that it was right all along). On

like this it goes - exchanges of core dhamma,21 Gotamī expressing her frustration with the body

and all things conditioned.

The story eventually settles on Ānanda, who the narrator informs us is, “…still in

training,” for he is weeping and wailing. To mollify him, it is Gotamī that lectures him,

reminding him of the goal of the dhamma and that it was he, Ānanda, who secured the ordination

of the nuns for them.22 When the final permission is given, the text reads,

“Gotamī bowed to the lord then leaped into the sky. Permitted by the Buddha,
she displayed her special powers. She was alone, then she was cloned; cloned,
and then alone. She would appear, then disappear; she walked through walls and
through the sky. She went about unstuck on earth and also sank down in it; she
walked on water as on land, without breaking the surface…”

It goes on like this for several stanzas. Once the fireworks subside, she goes on to

account how she came to be liberated and recounted her past lives. At the end of this, she

gathers with the nuns again, gives a small homily by recounting impermanence, chastises a

saddened laywoman and finally gathers to herself. She enters into a state of meditation and in a

blaze of light, fire, earthquakes, thunder, and lightning…she finally passes away. Ānanda then

gathers all the monks from the surrounding region, who all come because they heard the

commotion, and this begins a very protracted eulogy from the celestial bodies, gods, demons,

Brahmā, and even the Buddha and his disciples. The text says, just before the final narration,

21
IE - impermanence, the power of meditation, reaffirming the noble path, etc.
22
One gets the sense that she is lecturing him—again, not really a place of a ‘submissive’ woman—and that she is
justified to do so.
Daniel Murphree Page 21 of 38

“The Buddha’s great nirvāna, good, but not as good as this one: Gotamī’s great going out was

positively stellar” (Walters, 1995, 118-138).23

In terms of textual analysis, there are a few things worth noting. The first is that Gotamī

is accredited with starting the nun’s order on two separate occasions in this account, the

repetition a rhetorical device (perlocution) signaling to the, likely male, reader that both the

Buddha and Ānanda wanted a nuns order. Second, even though Gotamī goes to ask the Buddha

for permission, the text does not ‘lean’ in the direction of her needing his permission. When she

encounters him she recounts their relationship, tells him what she’s going to do, settles any

potential grievances and then gazes upon him as a mother would. Interestingly, the Buddha has

relatively little dialogue in this passage and all of his actions affirm Gotamī. The final points that

are important from a literary standpoint is the length of this whole narrative. It is long and it is

not rushed. While the Buddha’s is longer, it is only longer because of the verbatim inclusion and

repetition of his teachings, probably interpolations. The Buddha’s narrative around his actual

death is brief. The narrator here is inviting the reader to pontificate on these things and to be in

absolute awe of the splendor and majesty of Mahāpajāpatī’s death (and her 500 attendants).

Finally, while not shared here in the same fashion, the Buddha’s dying process is homily upon

homily, concluding with the Buddha passing the four meditative states, and then finally dying.

After his death, there are four choruses sung by Brahmāns, deities, and his two disciples before

recounting the weak bhikkhus who wept for his death (DN 16: 5-6).24 The contrast is striking.

Given these considerations of two separate stories of Gotamī, textual critical studies of

the founding of the order of the nuns reveal a less clear picture of male dominance, even yielding

a textual tradition of female empowerment, once the locution of the texts and their adjustments

23
This is a recounting of Jonathan Walter’s 1995, “Gotami’s Story” as translated in:
24
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans, “Maha-parinibbana Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Total Unbinding,” DN 16.
Daniel Murphree Page 22 of 38

are taken into consideration. From a comparative literary perspective, the contrast between

Mahāpajāpatī’s parinibbāna and the Buddha’s yields a competing narrative where the woman’s

experience is far more aspiring than the man’s. Both of these textual studies yield the result that

within the textual tradition, women were not merely tolerated, but exonerated before their male

readership, thus contesting Reid’s argument that textual traditions relegated a hierarchy that

colonialism exacerbated.

Contemporary Realities for Nuns

How do the historical realities and textual realities impact life today for female religious

practice in Myanmar? In the summer of 2016 I went to Yangon to study Burmese. As part of

this trip I interviewed thirty different Burmese for part of my initial research question for my

master’s thesis. I wanted to investigate what ‘populist’ notions of Buddhist identity meant for

common folks living in Yangon. What was their self-identity? What was their practice? Did

they ever take temporary ordination? Did they practice dāna? Who did they elect to give

to?Fresh from a class on the ordination of nuns in Buddhism, I was also curious about my

interviewees perspective regarding their own religious practice and their thoughts on female

practitioners of Buddhism. I worked those questions into my field research. Most of my

research was conducted weaving between English and Burmese, and especially relied on

Burmese for clarification and Pali when the interviewee was trained in it.25

25
Unfortunately, it is not known why or when the nuns order died out, and none of my interviewees had any
theories. Contemporary Myanmar has, of all the Theravādan countries, the most female practitioners, though most
are guesses due to the revolving nature of temporary ordination. They are not called Bhikkhunis, but are called
Thila-shins, or “keepers of the precepts.” This is a direct import from Pali, and stands in a linguistic contrast to
Burmese monks: hpon-gyis. That modern day nuns, and that women in general, have lost whatever historic standing
they had with men is not debatable. However, there are examples of functional egalitarian preferences rising to
contest the andro-centricity of a culture recovering from a 60 year male-exclusive military government.
Additionally, there are cases that support Reid’s notion of autonomous complementarianism.
Daniel Murphree Page 23 of 38

At one point I went to visit the Botataung Pagoda in downtown Yangon in order to

meditate. It is purportedly around 2,500 years old and entirely clad in gold leaf. It is one of the

few pagodas you can enter due to a recent rebuilding. When you do, you are immediately

confronted with opulence: everything except the floor is covered in gold leaf (Image 5). As was

relayed to me by a monk (Monk A) meditating there, during World War Two the Pagoda was

completely destroyed, but in the rebuilding process they found a reliquary which contained the

Buddha’s hair. This monk was sitting under the bodhi tree located within the monastery

compound and was a very talkative 73 year old. I told him about my interest in Buddhism and

asked him if I could interview him, letting him know that this was part of my research as well as

personal interest. In a way that has not happened with any of the other monks I have

interviewed, his generosity was impressive. We went outside of the monastery compound and

looked at all the shrines for the different Nats; offerings of fruit and cigarettes scattered on the

alters. It was quite a sight to see worshipers go to a specific Nat, light a candle and incense, and

make a reverent gesture before scampering off to the pagoda…the ‘real’ reason they were there.

As we departed that area, I asked about whether he venerated the Nats. He replied quickly,

“Houq” (yes, of course), but then quickly informed me that they are not a part of real Buddhism.

He called it, “Folk religion, for people who have not yet given up attachment.” In his answer,

there was something of an embarrassment. I could not tell if it was because I had approached

him as a student of Buddhism and he viewed the Nat veneration as a sullying aspect of

Buddhism, or whether he was disappointed with the visible action of everyone making a stop at

the Nat alter before heading into the Pagoda. It seemed an undeniable association - the Nats
Daniel Murphree Page 24 of 38

must be placated before the real veneration begins. It was further striking because this Nat, the

protector of the Barman race, was a woman (Image 6).26

The monk then walked with me out to the bus stop as he wanted to take me to visit his

monastery near the Reclining Buddha. He was rather insistent, and I secretly wondered if he was

trying to ‘sell’ me on a certain meditation center that I had shown some interest in. I asked him

about the nuns and their role in Buddhism, if they were as respected as the Monks. He said that

they, “…are respected, of course, but that they had a difficult life and a difficult time as nuns.”

“People do not give to them.” “People do not respect them.” “They live in tough conditions.”

were his responses. One response in particular was of interest to me in which he said they were

not “real.” At the time, I thought “real” as opposed to “fake.” However, after some reflection I

wonder if he was not referring to the lack of a viable ordination lineage for thila-shins to become

fully ordained.

We eventually made it to his monastery and, sure enough, we stopped in a local

meditation center that was well appointed. There were fans in the meditation room, water

coolers to get cool water from, and dormitories with bunk beds. We happened to arrive just as an

afternoon session was beginning and when we walked past the hall, all of the women had

gathered there. When I inquired about this he explained to me that men and women should not

meditate together because they will distract each other. I immediately recalled the eight heavy

laws and the teachings about women’s sexuality. He said that lay men do not meditate as often

and had obligations to the monks. In the room I noticed there were thila-shins and lay women

gathered and practicing together.

26
Mye Nan Nwe.
Daniel Murphree Page 25 of 38

Initially, I thought that Burmese monks must have a rather low view of women, but

another interview with a different monk (Monk B) revealed a rather disparaging view of

Burmese men: while situated in a very busy part of downtown Yangon for tea, I asked why there

were so many tea shops and why they all were busy from sunup to sundown. Sometimes, I told

him, I see the same people at the same tea shop at any given point in the day. His response was,

“Burmese men. That’s why they are busy. They (the Burmese men) are lazy, they don’t work,

so they sit around drinking tea all day, gossiping and talking politics.” I then asked about all the

shops and who it was that was conducting the business in the shops, that, “…surely this amount

of business means that Burmese aren’t lazy…”. As if a formulaic answer, his response was

immediate, “There are three kinds of people that work in Myanmar: Chinese, Muslim, and

Women. The rest either sit around and drink tea all day or pray (monks).”27 It is notable that his

answer spanned traditionally separate categories of race, religion, and gender and that the broad

category of government service (civil and military) was neglected entirely in a country with as

many soldiers as monks.

In an interview with a Burmese teacher in Yangon, I asked her about this quote and what

she thought about it. We had just finished discussing some of my initial research about gender

roles in Burmese society. When she heard this quote, in a rare display of excitement, she hit the

table with her hand and said, “See! There’s your proof! Burmese men think it’s below them (to

handle money or to work). They’d rather spend their money gambling and drinking while we

women run the country!”

Even though Monk B had relayed the story to me in a rather condemnatory fashion, this

S’yama interpreted it not as laziness, but as proof that men take a pejorative view towards work.

27
Unpublished field notes, June 6, 2016.
Daniel Murphree Page 26 of 38

She also indicated the difficult conditions for the thila-shins. When I asked what had changed,

she gave, what had at that point become, a scripted answer, “The order died out…” But

accompanied it with something else, “…and the British came. They changed everything. We

(minorities) had a working relationship (with the Barmans) before they came. Now all we hear

for the last sixty years is fighting, fighting, fighting. Where was this fighting before the British?”

Her answer had evolved from a discussion about women, gender, and nuns to identity

politics exacerbated by the colonial opposition. Ikeya (2011) and Schober (2011) adroitly point

out the changes brought about in the educational structures introduced by the British, especially

during the high modernity of the early 1900’s. While female religious and societal subjugation

with men had ostensibly begun in the initial stages of colonization in the 19th century,28 with the

introduction of a modern, secular education system in the early 1900’s, changes picked up

drastically (Schober, 48-61). It is further interesting that, even though there is more freedom of

speech than before the government transition of 2009, the assigned blame on the military regime

as a by product of the colonial enterprise remains low. With the military takeover in 1962, a

vertical integration of education, colleges, and job placement began. This military regime was

strikingly androcentric, and, as Mi Mi Kiang (1984) points out,29 women simply did not have a

place in the locus of governmental organizations. She also points out that comparatively,

Myanmar still had more female participation in the National Assembly than the United States did

in their bi-cameral legislature (150). In her conclusion, she notes that in spite of these

sociological dynamics, women in Myanmar still have a prominent position and that men are

28
This can be seen through the aforementioned Thathanawin, and Jim Scott’s The Burman: His Life and Notions
(1963) Both make observations about women’s roles in society before the 1900’s and, especially in The Burman,
women still retain a rather prominent place in religious affairs, especially in the conduct of coming of age rituals for
young novices and the ear boring rituals of debutants.
29
Writing at the height of New Win’s rule.
Daniel Murphree Page 27 of 38

relatively proud of their achievements, suggesting a ‘bubbling’ up of egalitarian values in the

context of a male-dominated governmental bureaucracy.

“The generosity of Burmese men towards their women’s achievements is something

that has struck me often during my long life. They are always proud of something
successfully done by a Burmese rather than it is a Burmese woman or man.”
—Khiang, 176.

In addition to these interviews (and others), I also made it a point to interview several taxi

drivers in Yangon. I wanted to have some sort of a basis on a shared demographic.30 Most of

my interviewees identified as Buddhist, though several identified as Muslim and one identified

as Christian. I only included those that identified as Buddhist in my questions related to

Buddhist practice, especially regarding practicing dāna.

When monks go around to receive offerings in Theravāda countries, no higher merit-

making task exists outside of donating, other than becoming a monk oneself (Ingrid Jordt, 2008).

One can donate to the monks directly by giving food, tobacco, and money, or indirectly through

temple donations. This has been labeled the dāna economy in Theravāda circles - that acts of

generosity towards monks, especially during their daily alms giving, and especially during lent,

contribute to one’s own merit in a way that makes up for bad karma one has accrued. It is not a

one to one relationship, in that giving to the Sangha, one more than makes up for one’s bad

actions. This is why monks are considered fields from which merit (good karma) can be

harvested (Falk, 2007).

That men are venerated more than women in Myanmar, is without question. However,

there are still points of discontinuity between the formal beliefs and practice. For example, one

30
Taxi drivers are an interesting group for that reason—it seems like the only thing shared in common amongst Taxi
drivers is the job. Some have been driving for years, and others just a short time. Some are college educated, and
others did not pass their 10th standard exam. Several were Bama, others identified as Muslim (as a racial, Lu-myo,
category), Karen, Rohingya, and Buddhist (again, as a racial category).
Daniel Murphree Page 28 of 38

of the recent interpretations of the presence of the nun’s order is the implication that when people

give to nuns, they are to give more to them in order to accumulate the same amount of merit as

giving to a male monk. The Kyat does not extend as far for the donor giving to women as it does

to men. Simply, it is better to give one’s donations to monks. While monks articulated this to me

(a convenient position to take), I did not find this true in all cases.31

For the twenty taxi drivers that said they were Buddhist, in addition to questions about

how they practiced and which mantras or suttas they knew, I asked them about dāna. 75% (16

out of 20) of them noted that they made no distinction between donating to men (hpon-gyi) and

women (thila-shin). After they gave their answer, I would ply harder and ask, “Why?” All

simply did not see the difference, or that giving to one over another would work out better for

them. A few (three) of them actually gave more to women, not because they were trying to earn

more karma for themselves or, ‘make-up’ for the money not given to monks, but because they

felt bad for them. This might belie a patronizing attitude, but it also reveals a contested space

with the fields of merit. There is no difference in giving to the nuns, even though there are

several accounts of dāna discrimination in Myanmar. Was there something they were not

admitting to me? Were taxi drivers more liberal in their outlook?

I then would ask about the thila-shins, and if they were fully ordained or not, and all

except one said that they were.32 That one exception was a college educated man and traveled

extensively. Even then, he only corrected his position after we had spent considerable time

talking about all sorts of other Buddhist doctrines, including the debates on women’s ordination

31
Ei Cherry Aung, (5/8/2015), “BLOG:- Why are Myanmar nuns not granted the same respect as monks?” in
Myanmar Now, accessed February 27, 2017. (http://www.myanmar-now.org/news/i/?id=c514a892-b4b1-4f9a-b255-
3f906b885fe9).
32
In all of these interactions I tried my best to be as clear as possible: “Bhikkhuni’s? Bhikksuni’s? Fully ordained?
Same as monks? etc.”
Daniel Murphree Page 29 of 38

happening in Thailand, some ten or fifteen minutes later.33 Of the 25% (4 out of 20) that gave

only to monks, it was because they only gave to a specific Sayadaw, or to a specific monastery in

which they had once been a novice, and they offered this answer directly in response to my

primary question of, “Do you give alms? How often? Who do you give to?” To this third

question they would offer their answer of their specific Sayadaw or monastery. I would then ask,

“Is it better to give to hpon-gyi, or thila-shin?” One person out of the twenty—an outlier in

several regards—insisted he would give to whoever needed donations even though he had a

favorite monastery.34

These interviews reveal a complex place for women in the contemporary Buddhist world

of Myanmar. If women cannot be ‘real’ nuns, the twenty taxi drivers I interviewed certainly did

not know this, even though several of them had been go-yins and listened to dhamma talks

regularly. Instead, what this seems to reveal is a place in Myanmar’s culture where the

androcentrism of the military and colonial regimes pressed in on, what is otherwise, a remarkable

place of contested space between men and women. With the monks, their reservation on starting

a new lineage of Bhikkhuni seemed entirely related to pragmatics of ordination heritage. As

already mentioned, Myanmar prides itself on its long tradition of Buddhism, rooting ordination

lineages back to the Buddha. The non-existence of a Bhikkhuni lineage would force the creation

of a new heritage, one that is not rooted in the ancient traditions. This is something of an

anathema to Myanmar conceptualization of Buddhist legitimacy. Practically speaking, taxi

drivers and a few others are perfectly content to verbally confer onto nuns a seat at the table,

though it does seem to coincide with a patronizing attitude of sympathy for their condition. This,

33
Similarly a separate hotel owner male knew that nuns were not fully ordained, and he commented that they should
be.
34
He identified as a Buddhist, Muslim, and a Christian
Daniel Murphree Page 30 of 38

in my opinion, reveals an underlying knowledge about the difference between monks and nuns:

monks, aspire for arhatship. Nuns, aspire for a better rebirth.

In conclusion, this paper examined historical examples of functional egalitarianism of

women in religious spheres of Bhikkhunisaṇgha, tracing a heritage back to Mahāpajāpatī. It has

also contested the exclusion of Nat veneration and the accompanying spirit wives from

observation as a Buddhist practice. The role of monarchs and queens also are to be considered

Buddhist phenomena, revealing a historical tradition that seems very comfortable with female

rulers. The textual tradition of Buddhism, likewise, should be considered as a document that

codifies women’s special place in the Buddhist tradition. Utilizing textual analysis and

comparative studies, the figure of Mahāpajāpatī serves as a ‘competing’ figure in the textual

‘sphere’ of canonical Buddhism. She is portrayed as an exemplary woman, even a comparison

to her counterpart, Gotamā. These historical and textual considerations absolve Buddhism of

Reid’s categorical assignment of textual, universalizing religions as an initial culprit in the

subjugation of women, though there remains room for nuance. In addition to it being impossible

to construct a pre-Buddhist Myanmar, historical examples prove otherwise. However, with the

advent of colonial modernity in the early 1900’s and the resultant male-dominated military

government after 1962, women’s roles changed considerably. Even with these changes, in terms

of Buddhist practice, attitudes and opinions towards women and their capabilities remain

functionally egalitarian, suggesting that as the government continues to recover from

androcentrism, there will likely be a resurgent participation of women in all spheres of life in

Myanmar. This should apply to the reinstitution of the Bhikkhunisaṇgha, except the absence of a

legitimate ordination lineage might be too high an obstacle for conservative Myanmar to

overcome, though efforts elsewhere are well underway. Instead, when one considers the rich
Daniel Murphree Page 31 of 38

Buddhist heritage of Myanmar, the textual documents cherished, and the bubbling deference to

women in places of authority (be they Nats, Nuns, or Matriarchs), Myanmar has more

expressions of egalitarian commitments than sequestering men and women off to certain

spheres, rarely to overlap.

Daniel Murphree Page 32 of 38

Images:

Image 1a: Ablution ritual, Shaivite

Daniel Murphree Page 33 of 38

Image 1b: Phallic Ablution relic, Angkor

Daniel Murphree Page 34 of 38

Image 3: Michelangelo’s David, c.

1501-1504.

Image 2: ‘Androgynous’ Buddha relic from Pyu

era in Myanmar
Daniel Murphree Page 35 of 38

Image 4: Shwezigon Pagoda built during the reign of King Anawratha (1044-77), enshrining
the 36 (today, 37) Nats that descended upon Mount Popa.

Image 5: Inside Botataung Pagoday,

Yangon.
Daniel Murphree Page 36 of 38

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All textual citations use the Pale Text Society’s guidelines