Penn State U. Students studied Buddhism at Wat Thai,D.C.

Welcomed to Wat Thai,D.C. by Ven. Dr. Thanat






Greeting Dr. Stephanie and her friends


The representative student gave the certificate

• Buddhism Fairly Accepts Women: The Lord Buddha was the first to allow fair treatment of women in Buddhism which at his time was not done in any other religion. Then he made his standpoint very clear to announce that men and women are equal in their potentiality to achieve spiritual enlightenment. A woman's spiritual achievement came from her own action, not through devotion to her husband. Buddhism both Indian social reform in an attempt to uplift women to share the responsibility as one of the four groups of Buddhists equally responsible for the growth or decline of Buddhism.
  

• Buddhism Accepts Nuns into the Sangka: Ven. Ananda was the monk who persuaded the Buddha to admit women into the order of the Sangka. Ordained Nuns were held with high esteem. The first Buddhist Nun was the Lord Buddha’s aunt and foster mother Maha Pajapati Gotami, the second was the Buddha’s former wife Rahula-Mata

Penn State U. Students studied Buddhism

Greeting by Ven.Dr. Thanat Inthisan


Introduction to Buddhism

1. Cautioning Monks and Nuns Against Having Sensual Feelings: The Lord Buddha warned his monks of the dangers in the arising of sensual feeling between a monk and nun or laywoman. He warned that the opposite sex captures the minds of a person, whether walking, standing, lying down, laughing, talking, singing, crying, sick or even dying. He mentioned that desires for the opposite sex enter the mind in eight ways, physical appearance, smile, talk, singing, cries, behavior, delicious meals, and through caress. To maintain the order of the Sangka the Lord Buddha advised his monks and nun to refrain from activities that would lead to sensual desire, because if they were to engage in sexual intercourse it would mean that they would be defeated
2. Rules of Buddhist Nuns: Nuns have 311 rules they must follow which is 84 more than a Monks 227. This is because Nun must, in addition, do the follow: greet every monk with respect regardless of stature, must not spend a rains retreat in a place without a monk present, meet with the monks every 2 weeks to ask the date of the Uposatha (special meeting day for the Sangka to recite the rules [วันพระ]) and listen to their teachings, must annual receive feedback from the Sangka regarding her service as a nun after the rains retreat, a nun that has misbehaved must the punished with a probation by both the monk and nun orders, nun ordination is conducted by both monks and nuns and only after she has followed the Buddhist rules for 2 year prior, nuns cannot scold monks.
3. Famous Buddhist Laywomen: Visakha Migara-Mata - was one of the chief female lay disciples of the Buddha; she erected a monastery for the Buddha known as "Migāramātupāsāda" (Pali for "Migara's mother's palace"), near Savatthi Sujata - a maiden who, offered the Buddha a bowl of milk porridge after he had given up the path of asceticism following six years of extreme self-mortification. Bandula Mallika – offered her ornamental items to remains of the Lord Buddha during his funeral procession

The status of women in Buddhism

Group picture in the Buddha Hall


Ven. Dr. Thanat explained about the ceremony


The Abbot(Luangta chee) gave the gift.


Listen to the lectures



Lord Buddha’ Advice to Women on Being a Wife: An honorable husband should: honor his wife, not disparage her, not commit adultery, control household concerns, give occasional gifts. An honorable wife should: keep the household tidy, help relationships with friends on both sides, not commit adultery, safeguard the families wealth, be diligent at work. The Buddha once taught woman that there are seven kinds of wife:
1. Murderous wife: who wants to destroy her husband
2. Thieving wife: who squanders her husbands wealth
3. Domineering wife: who is lazy, foul mouthed, and likes to dominate her husband
4. Motherly wife: who looks after her husbands well-being, and takes care of the money that is acquired
5. Sisterly wife: who respects and loves her husband as a younger sister loves her big brother, with gentleness and little disagreement
6. Comradely wife: who is like a friend, loyal, mannerly, like discussions, and happily greets her husband
7. Servile wife: who passively endures his abuse and his temper