Santi Monastery, NSW

Recently I filmed some interviews with Bhante Sujato at Santi monastery in Bundanoon, NSW, Australia, as well as with Ayya Sudhamma who was visiting on her travels from South Carolina. I felt privileged to stay in a bush kuti’ (or hut) that fit one in perfect solitude, nestled between tree ferns overlooking a great canyon.

Each morning I had a 20 minute walk up along a remote and rugged foot trail, with stepping stones over a running creek. The songs of the lyre birds were distinct from the other bird calls as I caught the sunrise of the morning on my trek up to the main house.

The interviews were rich with what has been happening on the Bhikkhuni front lately – in America and world wide. I picked out a short video grab of what seemed to be a poignant message: that Bhikkhuni ordination is no longer a question. It’s already happening. Now it’s just a matter of how.

I leave for Thailand now to get the last of the interviews from Ajahn Jayasaro, Bhikkhuni Dhammananda and others for the documentary: “Bhikkhuni: Revival of the Women’s Order”.

If there is a way this film can raise awareness about Bhikkhunis, so that their existence is normalised and their path is made more readily by supporters world wide, then let’s try to make it happen.

This is a film that many have contributed to and want to see completed. We rely solely on the generosity of people’s hearts to donate in ways they feel they can. Thank you to those who have helped us on this journey so far.

With love and kindness to all sentient beings from infinite realms.

Ajahn Brahm is pushing Buddhism forward in Australia

Some things are very simple, and can be put very simply. While Ajahn Brahm said many things in his interview for our film, it’s summed up beautifully here in one line.

He further explains this point in relation to the ordinations that were conducted at his monastery in 2009 here.

Ajahn Bram holds this position on all aspects of Buddhism, knowing that in Australian society, in fact across most western culture, we value equality, so for any religion to have a future in Australia, it needs to embrace, not discriminate against gender or sexual orientations or ethnic groups. This includes the different sects of Buddhism. So he and others have begun a group called the Australian Sangha Association, bringing together monks and nuns from all the various sects, without taking on any of the cultural traditions surrounding Buddhism, especially opposing all archaic and unjust forms of discrimination, which actually have nothing to do with Buddhist principles, in effect, finding our own voice for Buddhism in Australia. Ajahn Brahm says it’s very inspiring to see monks and nuns from all Buddhist traditions, even interfaith religious monastics, work together in harmony, that this has been so far, very successful. I look forward to their next conference in June.

Dual ordination for Theravada Bhikkhunis in North America a momentous event

Photograph by Philip Rathle

I have just received the video material from the recent ordination of four new bhikkhunis – the first Theravada Bhikkhuni ordination to be held in he US that is performed entirely by the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha together with the Theravada Bhikkhu Sangha. Ajahn Thanasanti Bhikkhuni was among them, as she recounts in her blog, she had gone along to attend this ordination as a spectator and to her surprise, found she had been invited to ordain herself.

Two other senior nuns who practiced in the U.K. Theravada monastery for 18 years, now residing in Aloka Vihara monastery in the U.S.A. have also made their decision to take the bhikkhuni ordination now that it has full participation form the tradition in North America. Sister Ananadabodhi and Sister Santacitta have written a letter discussing the predicament of the Siladhara nuns (a training model especially developed at the U.K. monasteries Amaravati and Cittaviveka) who’s ordination is only recognised in the Ajahn Cha tradition, and their intentions to take the higher ordination they now seek which ommits the ‘Five Point’ rules which were imposed on women, maintaining their subordinance to monks.

So the documentary now has a resolution as new platforms are being established for women in buddhism, which are more congruent with the path towards awakening.

These are exciting times in the history of Buddhism and while the 8 Garudhammas or ‘heavy rules’ have been a factor in taking on the Bhikkhuni ordination, it seems that these are not being passed on in the new ordinations for Bhikkhunis.

We hope to bring this story to the wider community and help contribute to the wave of changes in Buddhism that are addressing these gender inequalities and discrimination.

While much of the footage toward making this documentary has been shot, to finish the film we are still seeking interviews with and footage of various monks and recently ordained bhikkhunis involved, and then of course we need to raise money to film, edit and finish it.  We are asking for donations and approaching philanthropic grant givers. If you can contribute to this film in any way, please do.

Who I am and why I am making this film

A lot has happened with this story since I first conceived of the idea. It’s like a revolution has happened for women in Buddhism across the globe, yet if you’re not connected with the Buddhist community you probably wouldn’t know about it.  First I’ll introduce myself and how/why I began making this film, and then I will bring you up to speed with the current situation as it rolls out.

So I’ll start the way most conversations start when I meet people for the first time. It usually goes a little like this: Wiriya, that’s an interesting name, where is it from? What does it mean? How did you end up with a name like that?

Viriya means right energy in Pali, the ancient language created for the purpose of dispensing the Buddha’s teachings. My mother chose a name from the Buddhist texts with the intention of its meaning being an aspiration for my life: to have the mental energy for ‘right effort’ from the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path. Pali is a simplified and more accessible version of the ancient Indian language Sanskrit, which was used only by the educated Brahman class. But the Buddha wanted the teachings available to all people, so they got around this by providing the teachings in a separate language, Pali.

The Buddha treated all people as equal, no matter their class, gender or any other mark of identity. He was very radical for his time. It is ironic that women were ordained by the Buddha, lead spiritual lives and attained enlightenment 2500 years ago, but today are not afforded these same rights in many traditions, including those of Tibet and Thailand. Ever since the last fully ordained Theravada nuns died out in Sri Lanka 900 years ago, full ordination has not been available to many Buddhist women around the world, that is until very recently where changes in the West have begun to happen. It is this story which I am attempting to uncover with this film.

When I met Sister Thanasanti as she was known back then – an American nun teaching a meditation retreat – I found her teachings so valuable, I was inspired to know more about Buddhist nuns. This experience seeded the idea to make a film all those years ago and the journey that has unfolded, for me, for Thanasanti, and for the ordination of women in the global Buddhist community has been immense.

The film began as a personal, self funded project, then attracted some funds so I was able to film within the monastery where Venerable Thanasanti resided, while I practiced on retreat there with the sisters for a month. Shortly after I left, the political situation for the nuns surrounding women’s ordination became so heated I was asked not to go ahead with the film. It stayed in incubation until the issues started to become more public: by one monk’s blogging (read Bhante Sujato’s Blog); a ‘controversial’ ordination of four senior nuns of the 10 precept form to the full Bhikkhuni ordination took place at Bodhinyana monastery in Perth, Australia; and 5 former nuns leaving the monastery in the U.K. Also the publication of the article “Thte Time has come” which is written by several former nuns of the U.K. monasteries telling their story.

Now, politics left aside to focus on the important things in life – spiritual practice – they are finding other ways and places to practice the dhamma. While some  have disrobed, Thanasanti has taken her own path of bhikkhunis in the Theravada tradition, as other nuns in the US are also making their decision to ordain as Bhikkhunis.

How this project began

Filmmaker Wiriya Sati was brought up with a reverence for the Buddhist teachings throughout her life, given to her by the monk her parents knew. These teachings – of non-self, impermanence, non-attachment nor belief in any fixed views – were, at the time of the Buddha, extremely radical.

Of course since then major social changes have occurred across the world. Buddhism has merged with the cultural values in the countries it has taken root, and the male hierarchies of those cultures now overlay much of the religious practice, forcing women into a subservient role to monks.

The question now is: can the monastic form keep pace enough to survive in the West? And can Buddhism remain relevant to women and young people if this current contradiction remains?

Four years ago after meeting an American Buddhist nun, Wiriya was inspired to take her camera across the world in an effort to answer these questions, and along the way undertaking her own spiritual journey.

Travelling to Thailand, the USA, Germany and the UK, Wiriya discovered deep tensions between traditional and contemporary ideals within the religion. She witnessed the surprisingly vehement opposition faced by those who question the male order, and met the nuns and female Buddhists who are now choosing to forge their own paths away from traditional structures.

In 2010 Wiriya teamed up with Filmmakers Katrina Lucas and Mark Andersson of Budaya Productions, and together we are trying to raise enough funds to complete this documentary.  We will keep posting updates on this site as the project develops.