[Buddha-l] Meanwhile Down Under

[Weng-Fai Wong]

OPEN LETTER TO ALL FROM AJAHN BRAHM ON THE EXCOMMUNICATION BY WAT PAH PONG

A Theravada Bhikkhuni Ordination was held in Perth on Thursday 22nd 
October. The decision to proceed with the Bhikkhuni Ordination was 
finalised only on 20^th September 2009, when the Committee of The 
Buddhist Society of Western Australia unanimously gave their support. We 
did realise this was a sensitive matter and resolved to keep it in-house 
for the next month as we finalised the preparations. On Wednesday 13^th 
October, 24 days after the decision was finalised, I informed Ajahn 
Sumedho in Amaravati, as a matter of courtesy, during my brief visit to 
the UK to see my mother (who has severe dementia).

The matter of Bhikkhuni Ordination had been discussed in Wat Pah Pong 
about two years ago and, as I recall, they resolved to follow the lead 
of the Mahatherasamakom (the supreme Monks’ Council of Thailand). I was 
and remain under the impression that the ordination of Bhikkhunis 
outside of Thailand was not contravening the rulings of the 
Mahatherasamakom. This is because I had consulted with the acting 
Sangharaja, Somdej Phra Pootajarn, well beforehand to ask him precisely 
his opinion on the ordination of Bhikkhunis outside of Thailand. His 
response, which I have circulated amongst the Western Sangha for a long 
time now, was "Thai Sangha law does not extend outside of Thailand". He 
repeated this another two times to make his intention clear.


Even though my ordination as a monk was in Thailand, I understood that 
my obligations were to the Dhamma and Vinaya, not to the Thai state. Nor 
was allegiance to Thailand part of the advice given to me by the Acting 
Sangharaja who presented me with the Thai ecclesiastical honour of Tan 
Chao Khun. The certificate that I received at the ceremony merely states 
that “Phra Brahmavamso of Bodhinyana Monastery in Australia is a monk of 
/Royal Grade/ with the title of Phra Visuddhisamvarathera. May he accept 
the duty in the Buddha’s dispensation of teaching, settling Sangha 
business and looking after the monks and novices in his monastery in an 
appropriate manner. And to develop happiness and well being in the 
Buddha’s Dispensation.”


At the meeting in Wat Pah Pong on Sunday 1st November 2009, to which I 
was summoned at very short notice, it was apparent that the senior Thai 
monks had a poor understanding of the Vinaya rules concerning 
sanghakamma (formal acts of Sangha governance). For example, it took a 
long time to convince them that a Bhikkhuni Ordination is a double 
sanghakamma.The first part being performed by a gathering of Bhikkhunis 
presided over by the Preceptor (“Upajjhaya” or “Pavattini” -Ayya 
Tathaaloka from the USA) and the second part where the new Bhikkhunis 
approach the Bhikkhu Sangha to have their ordination confirmed by a 
ñatticatutthakamma (a formal motion followed by 3 announcements). I was 
one of the two Bhikkhus who chanted the ñatticatutthakamma in the 
Bhikkhu Sangha.

Once the senior Thai monks understood that I was not the Upajjhaya, they 
were willing to let the matter drop, provided I would promise in the 
midst of the Sangha not to participate in the ordination of any more 
Bhikkhunis. Remembering the example of Venerable Ananda at the First 
Council, I made that promise to the assembled Sangha three times. It 
looked as if harmony would be restored.


However, some senior monks raised the question of the status of the four 
women who had received Bhikkhuni Ordination. I accepted that they would 
not be regarded as Bhikkhunis in Thailand under the present climate, but 
the ordination was legitimate and they were Bhikkhunis. A senior monk 
then claimed that the ordination was invalid because of "ditthi 
vipatti", which he explained as meaning without the approval of the 
Sangha of Wat Pah Pong. As anyone with a basic knowledge of sanghakamma 
knows, this is nonsense. However, that unfounded view held sway and the 
meeting came down to a single clear choice: If Ajahn Brahm would state 
in the midst of the Sangha that the four women were not Bhikkhunis then 
there would be no penalty, otherwise Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery would 
be removed from the list of branch monasteries of Wat Pah Pong. I paused 
for a minute to reflect and, considering that I could not go against the 
Vinaya and state the Bhikkhunis were not properly ordained, nor could I 
go against the wishes of the Sangha of Bodhinyana and the thousands of 
lay Buddhists that support the Bhikkhuni Ordination, I refused to recant.


As a result, Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery was removed as a branch 
monastery of Wat Pah Pong. I emphasise that this decision had nothing to 
do with the process, secretive or otherwise, through which the 
ordination took place. The decision to excommunicate Bodhinyana Buddhist 
Monastery rested solely on my refusal to state that the Bhikkhuni 
Ordination was invalid.


After the meeting formally concluded I paid my respects to many of the 
senior monks who reminded me of their continued friendship. For example, 
one old friend said to me "meuan derm" (meaning "just as before"). I 
hope that a similar attitude will prevail among all my friends in the 
Western Sangha.


With mega metta,

Ajahn Brahm