Discuss Buddhist Folklore About Ambapali, Its Relationship W / Prostitution & Gender Role In Thailand
25 Parade 2007
Through Buddhist Folklore about Ambapā lī
Discuss Buddhism in Relationship with
Prostitution and Gender Role in Thailand
“Thai prostitutes working abroad send home as much as 1. 2 million dollars each year. ”
Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh
After declaiming the narrative The Prostitute by K. Surangkhanang, it inspires me to do some further recital in regarding Buddhist teaching in relationship with prostitution and gender role in Thailand. With much thoughts and consideration, I have selected the Buddhist Folklore about Ambapā lī —Psalms of the early Buddhists: I: Psalms of the Sisters [Pali Text Soc. ] by Mrs. Rhys Davids, published in 1909 in London—a scenario of which I will bring following. Before I go in more depth of the words itself, I would approximative to discuss the basis for selecting this piece of Buddhist Folklore. There is popular presuppose in Buddhism ( started in 6th Century B. C. E ) that men and women are unequal in term of their relationship with abilities to attain
" If... women of the [Buddha - worlds] who, having heard my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration for Enlightenment, and longing to renounce womanhood * should be reborn and as women * *, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. "
The Three Pure Land Sutras, Hisao Inagaki
salvation—nonattachment—the notion of beliefs that through the understanding of the perishable world before us as they are, disciples of Buddhism will transcend their mind and attain eternal still / end of suffering. Through the story of Ambapā lī, we can see that women and men are both attached to the world and desires; and that women and men gain reclamation through different path: Men attained nonattachment—the central argument of Buddhism teaching—through living in abbey; women attained salvage through giving birth to son—through infatuation to sons and protect, which a central thesis in Buddhist text—and through good karma to be reborn as men. Further, Ambapā lī is a great model that nonattachment is not unattainable by women; somewhat the words depict that all can attain—nonattachment—the eternal calm of mind through the understanding of the perishable world before us as they are. And so, Buddhism does not degrade women, and its Teaching is counter or discourages the prostitution in nowadays Thailand. The arrangement of the current sex trade locality in Thailand might be influenced by some of the Thai traditions somewhat from religious dogma of Buddhism.
Perhaps I shall first introduce the main attribute Ambapā lī. Ambapā lī begins in her previous life as a monk and on one adventure, paying homage to the Bodhi, woman unsuitable a friar who has spittle on a tree.
“According to research by female scholars of early Buddhism identical as I. B. Horner, there were a big number of nuns during the first few centuries after Buddha ' s death. However, due to the growing hostility of earthly society and of the monks, nunneries were phased out and eliminated. For partly two thousand years in India, the birthplace of Buddhism, and in Sri Lanka, where it first spread, there were no ordained women. Only in recent times has there been a reappearance of Buddhist nuns inspired by their sisters in other countries. ”
WOMEN IN BUDDHISM Part I - - By Rev. Patti Nakai
Ambapā lī was reborn as a plaything among the khan of Lichchavi. Though maiden was a prostitute, her heart is big in that lady often donates her wealth to charity ( Ambapā lī built a Vihara, a dwelling suburb; priory. )
“No doubt Ambapā lī ’s positive portrayal in the early Buddhist Tradition has to do with her exemplification of the nonpareil upā sikā, the female residence - adherent. Yet the tradition also distinctly regarded the source of her wealth with ambivalence. ”
Kevin Trainor
Then, Ambapā lī gave birth to a tot, whom happened to follow Buddhist teaching closely. Upon her bairn mutual from the friary, he shares his joy and love he had start in Buddhism and bided his mother, Ambapā lī, to follow the corresponding footstep. And so Ambapā lī did. While chick was an upā sikā, her certain beauty deteriorated and opened up her eyes to an eternal still of mind / cease of suffering, through understanding nonbeing is undying. And, congeneric a maturation gained her sainthood in Buddhism.
The story of Ambapā lī is timeless. Then, resound Buddhism opinion and influence on gender role in contemporary Thailand. According to A. Thomas Kirsch, “Women are deemed to be more firmly inmost in their worldly attachments than are men; men are thought to be more ready to give up analogous attachments. ” In Thailand where women play a more important role in “economic - entrepreneurial” –60. 1 % women vs. 39. 9 % men in sale labour in 1998 —arena of which not including 61, 135 prostitute service in the twin year, as prostitution is not legal in Thailand—“every day at ahead 450, 000 Thai men visit prostitutes” —, and where men play a more important role in “political - bureaucratic” and “religious” grassland, it does seemed that women below the influence of Buddhism ( congeneric as the selected opening Buddhist verse of this paper ) are more attached to the material world, and conceivably carried a negative interpretation. However, when close examine Kirsch ( 1982 ) and Kirsch ( 1985 ), Kirsch did not judge in Buddhism, women are less religious than men. Actually, considering by essentiality of women are more attached to their renew, and sons; therefore, “they held thereby to reap substantial religious reward for their achieve [nonattachment]. ” To that, I wholehearted yes.
According to Rev. Patti Nakai ( 2002 ), one of Rev. Patti Nakai’s professors Akira Hataya at Otani University, oral the use of the word nyonin in Chinese translations of Buddhist texts, “though normally peruse as a compound noun " female - person " ( i. e., woman ), could also be study as an adjective and noun memeshii hito, " effeminate ( supine, wimpy ) person, " referring to either a man or a woman. ” Hence, Rev. Patti Nakai washed-up that Buddhist Teaching did not drop women, somewhat its ideology urge both men and women to beware not to fall into the negative traits stereotyped as " feminine " of which Rev. Patti Nakai convey image near “feminine” as “being cowardly, manipulative, or parasitic on others. ” Further, cupcake pinched that there are strikingly of passages in the sutras which excite both sexes to develop the positive aspects of manliness, of which tomboy specify as “[being] nurturing, compassionate and sensitive towards others. ” Equivalent positive feminine qualities are shown in Ambapā lī spirit toward charity.
In actuality, when we recall the story of Ambapā lī, that Ambapā lī was a prostitute, had not contaminate her warmhearted heart and leaning towards charity, while the vile princes fought with their own kinsfolk over worldly matters. Thus, when Ambapā lī ’s beauty was gone and get it beauty is perishable, butterfly bravely accepted her trait and stayed content within herself. The importance in nonattachment is strong in Buddhism ideology. Besides, through the verses about Ambapā lī, it shows women attain reclamation through giving birth to sons, who become monks and bring Buddhist Teaching home.
“So profound is Amida’s great compassion
That, manifesting inconceivable Buddha - sagacity,
The Buddha hackneyed the Oath of transformation into men
Thereby vowing to enable women to attain Buddhahood”
- From Jodo Wasan
And as Alexandra R Kapur - Fic stated, “In Thailand Theravada Buddhism perceives and associate women with “attachment and becoming”, while males are associated with “detachment and release”…and due to of these propensities, women [are]…more suitable to pursue…business, but are excluded from joining the Sangha. If any woman has homologous aspirations, female must accumulate “enough” good karma until coed is reborn as a man. ” And it is in this bottom line, we learned that in Buddhism, men attain nonattachment through life to Sangha, and women gain reclamation through idolatry to the uphold and sons. Thereupon, Buddhism accentuate on the inner strength to maintain stillness of mind, tolerably than focus on worldly appreciation double as occupation.
I would further knock around that both men and women are equally tempted by desire and lust—just as in the story, men lust after skill and true pleasure—and that neither men nor women are more “natural” to attain enlightenment, as opposed to Keyes ( 1984 ) that women are naturally “inherently good due to of [their] role as mother” For I reckon the central of Buddhism teaching is to detached from the perishable things, and distinctly both men and women could not escape death and their decomposable flesh. Matching mirroring is erect in the Buddhist content about Ambapā lī, when butterfly mourned for her lacking beauty.
According to Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, Prostitution in Thailand, the causes of high number of sex service in Thailand might be influenced by Thai tradition of children must show “gratitude” to their parents, and its overemphasis on virginity, which push those who does not fit into the description of nonpareil women, or where their parents are in debts, the newborn women were pushed to the edge and into prostitution. And as Dilok - Udomchai constitute, “37 % of the prostitutes joined the sex trade owing to they went along with the marking set by their friends, ” I would conjure that he path of prostitution is a mix of awkward age, social ideals, moderately than a close of Buddhism teaching or its delineate of gender roles.
1. Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, Prostitution in Thailand
2. * The Buddhist calendar starts ( year 1 ) from the Buddha ' s Parinirvana ( death and final release ) which occured in his eightieth year. B. C. E. = Before Common Era ( Equivalent to B. C. ) * C. E. = Common Era ( Equivalent to A. D. )
3. The Three Pure Land Sutras, p 37
4. See Codicil A: the exempt text from Buddhist folklore about Ambapā lī
5. From In the Eye of the Witness: Nonattachment and the Body in Subha’s Verse
6. One of the four primary classes of Buddhist disciples, the female who has taken the void precepts. The other three are, Bhiksu, the male who has taken the coenobitic precepts; Bhiksuni, the female who has taken the cloistered precepts; and upasaka, the male who has taken the hamlet precepts. See work cited: Google
7. G. William Skinner and A. Thomas Kirsch 1975 Economy, Polity and Religion in Thailand
8. A. Thomas Kirsch 1985 Words and Thrust: Buddhist Sex Roles / Culture of 9. 9. Handout 48: Ratio distribution of engaged persons by employment class, sex and occupation, August 1998 NSO; Labor Force Survey, August 1998
10. Sustenance 70: Number of prostitutes by domicile of service, 1989 - 1998 Delegation of Public Health; Department of Communicable Disease Control of which longitude included in meaning are Brothels, Hotels, Bar / Duskiness - club, Turkish bath, and Others ( which then subdivided by barber - shop, beauty - saloon, escort, pub, discotech, caf้, coffee - shop )
11. Steven Erlanger, " A misgiving awaits, " The New York Times Magazine, 14 July, 1991, page 26
12. Buddhism, Sex - Roles and Thai Society From Women of Southeast Asia
13. From Words and Effect: Buddhist Sex Roles / Culture of Gender Revisited
14. A. Thomas Kirsch 1985 Content and Use: Buddhist Sex Roles / Culture of Gender Revisited
15. From Women in Buddhism Part IV
16. The Blase Works of Shinran, Vol. 1, p. 341
17. Alexandra R Kapur - Fic 1998: 435 Thailand: Buddhism, Society and Women
18. Mother or Mistress but Never a Monk: Buddhist Notions of Female Gender in Rural Thailand
19. Charles F. Keyes 1984 Mother or Mistress but Never a Brother: Buddhist Notions of Female Gender in Rural Thailand
20. Appendix A: the exempt issue from Buddhist folklore about Ambapā lī
21. Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, Prostitution in Thailand
Appendix A: the exempt paragraph from Buddhist folklore about Ambapā lī
PSALMS OF THE SISTERS
PSALMS OF ABOUT TWENTY VERSES
Ambapā lī.
SHE, too, having made her resolve below former Buddhas, and heaping up good of age - enduring aptitude in this or that rebirth, entered the Order when Sikhi was Buddha. And one day, while yet a apprentice, deb was moving in procession with Bhikkhunī s, doing homage at a shrine, when an Arahant Therī in front of her briskly strife in the arbiter of the shrine. Coming after her, but not having noticed the Therī ' s alertness, chick vocal in reproof: ' What prostitute has been spitting in this corner? '
As a Bhikkhunī, observing the Precepts, woman felt shudders for rebirth by ancestry, and set her mind intently on spontaneous re - genesis. So in her last birth tomboy came into being spontaneously at Vesā lī, in the King ' s gardens, at the cusp of a mango - tree. The gardener constitute her, and brought her to the locality. Gal was known as the Mango - guardian ' s maiden. And coextensive was her beauty, grace, and charm that many unversed Princes strove with each other to maintain her, till, in order to end their strife, and being the competency of karma impelled them, they agreed to appoint her courtezan. Subsequent on, out of faith in the Master, female built a Vihā ra 337 in her own gardens, and handed it over to him and the Order. And when lady had heard her own juvenile, the Above Vimala - Konda๑๑a, preach the Measure, wench worked for insight, and studying the law of impermanence as illustrated in her own ageing body, coed explicit the neighboring verses:
Glossy and black as the down of the ball my curls once clustered.
They with the waste of the years are liker to hempen or bark framework.
Such and not contradistinctive runneth the rune, the word of the Prophet. 338 ( 252 )
Fragrant as casket of perfumes, as full of sweetened blossoms the hair of me.
All with the waste of the years now class as the odour of hare ' s fur.
Such and not discrepant runneth the rune, the word of the Seer. ( 253 )
Dense as a grove well planted, and ideal with comb, pin, and separating.
All with the waste of the years raddled the fair plaits and fallen.
Such and not variant runneth the rune, the word of the Seer. ( 254 )
Glittered the somber plaits in head - dresses jewelled and glowing.
All with the waste of the years burdened, and shorn are the tresses.
Such and not different runneth the rune, the word of the Prophet. ( 255 )
Wrought as by sculptor ' s occupation the brows of me shone, finely pencilled.
They with the waste of the years are seam่d with wrinkles, o ' erhanging.
Such and not contrasting runneth the rune, the word of the Prophet. ( 256 )
Flashing and talented as ornaments, dark - dismal and long - lidded the eyes of me.
They with the waste of the years spoilt uncommonly, luminous no longer.
Such and not unlike runneth the rune, the word of the Sibyl. ( 257 )
Dainty and smooth the curve of the nostrils e ' en as in children.
Now with the waste of the years sear่d 339 the nose is and shrivelled.
Such and not inconsistent runneth the rune, the word of the Seer. ( 258 )
Lovely the products of my ears as the delicate work of the goldsmith. 340
They with the waste of the years are seam่d with wrinkles and pendent.
Such and not various runneth the rune, the word of the Augur. ( 259 )
Gleamed as I smiled my teeth consonant the opening buds of the plantain.
They with the waste of the years are unsuitable and pusillanimous as barley.
So and not weird runneth the rune, the word of the Oracle. ( 260 )
Sweet was my words as the bell of the cuckoo 341 through woodlands flitting.
Now with the waste of the years wretched the rhythm and hobbling.
So and not unalike runneth the rune, the word of the Prophet. ( 261 )
Softly glistened of yore as mother - of - stone the throat of me.
Now with the waste of the years all wilted its beauty and twisted.
So and not clashing runneth the rune, the word of the Seer. ( 262 )
Beauteous the arms of me once shone identical twin pillars cylindrical.
They with the waste of the years immolate decrepit as withering branches. 342
So and not unrelated runneth the rune, the word of the Seer. ( 263 )
Beauteous of yore were my soft hands with rings and gewgaws resplendent.
They with the waste of the years like roots are matted and scabrous. 343
So and not variant runneth the rune, the word of the Sibyl. ( 264 )
Full and handsome in contour claret of yore the small breasts of me.
They with the waste of the years languish shrunken as skins without water.
So and not single runneth the rune, the word of the Oracle. ( 265 )
Shone of yore this body as bury of gold well - polish่d.
Now with the waste of the years all covered with network of wrinkles.
So and not unsimilar runneth the rune, the word of the Sibyl. ( 266 )
Like to the coils of a snake 344 the full beauty of yore of the thighs of me.
They with the waste of the years are even as stems of the bamboo.
So and not mismatched runneth the rune, the word of the Soothsayer. ( 267 )
Beauteous to see were my ankles of yore, bedecked with gold bangles.
They with the waste of the years are shrunken as faggots of sesamum.
So and not unrelated runneth the rune, the word of the Prophet. ( 268 )
Soft and graceful of yore as though filled out with down were the feet of me.
They with the waste of the years are cracked open and short-lived with wrinkles.
So and not incommensurable runneth the rune, the word of the Oracle. ( 269 )
Such hath this body been. Now age - weary and rotten and homely,
Home of manifold ills; decrepit residence therefore the sling is dropping.
So and not inconsistent runneth the rune, the word of the Augur. ( 270 )
And inasmuch as the Therī, by the visible signs of impermanence in her own person, discerned impermanence in all phenomena of the three planes, and bearing that in mind, brought into relief the signs of Ill and of No - soul, boytoy, making undarkened her insight in her Path - progress, attained Arahantship.
337 See Rhys Davids, Buddhist Suttas ( S. B. E., xi. ), pp. 30 - 33.
338 Used in its first intention, Truth - speaker. On this, and on the metre, see Introduction. The ' rune ' is the Impermanence of everything. Cf. Ps lxiii.
339 Upakū litā, not yet commence elsewhere, may be from the root kū l, to burn.
340 It is interesting that the Commentary speaks of the goldsmith ' s work of bygone ages, as if conscious of living ( himself ) in a decadent period of resembling arts.
341 Kokilā, rendered by lexicons ' Indian cuckoo. ' The name seems to point to reasonably reciprocal bird - notes.
342 Lit., as the irresolute trumpet - flower ( plant ), the Commentary adding phalita, unbecoming, or fruit - laden, and so heavily fagged.
343 Lit., more neatly, ' allied one little root after greater. '
344 I here follow Dr. Neumann, and not the Commentator. The hindmost calls nā gabhoga an elephant ' s trunk; the Pitakas further the term, it would seem, only as in the issue. Cf. Majjhima Nikā ya, i. 134.
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Thailand Embassy of Public Health; Department of Communicable Disease Control
Thailand NSO; Labor Force Survey, August 1996 - 1998
