Nuns in Bagan
Buddhist nuns in Myanmar face many disadvantages in comparison to their male counterparts, the monks. First and foremost, they are not allowed to ordain, and must instead remain laywomen. This means they are often relegated to second-class status. Because of this, they are not afforded the same level of respect and support from the wider community as monks, and can sometimes be seen as little more than servants. Since the coup, life has been hard on everyone still living in Myanmar, but these dwindling resources have made it even more challenging for nuns. For that reason, we made it a priority to invite a large number of nuns to our Bagan donation ceremony. The following story comes from our team leader. Please consider a recurring donation so that we may be able to support monastics, and especially nuns, during this difficult time.
“In the ceremony, our local volunteer team leader had a conversation with an aged nun who has wrinkles on her face. She informed him that she and her fellow nuns came from the rural area in the south of New Bagan to our donation event, so happy were they to learn of this offering. They walked for about 6 kilometers to come to the gathering point and they were offered a ride by a local tuk-tuk taxi on the way back. But this walk, they said, was nothing compared to their usual struggles. They highlighted how far they had to walk and travel every Pre-Full Moon Day (i.e. every 15 days) to collect alms-raw-rice for their food. Another nun added that they only got about 4 Pyis (equivalent to 8.5 kg) to walk alms-round across the whole town from home to home in different urban quarters of Nyaung-U, which took all of their resources to acquire. Additionally, they must find a way to take care of their fellow aged, sick nuns left in the nunnery. To me, they all mentioned that this contribution will feed them for some weeks. They were happy that they can stay and meditate in their nunnery on the coming Pre-Sabbath Day, instead of searching for food as they usually must do, and they happily left for their nunnery, carrying the rice sacks on their back.”
