Making fields of merit by Monica Lindberg Falk

MONICA LINDBERG FALK

Making fields of merit: Buddhist female ascetics and gendered orders in Thailand

Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2007

283 pp. ISBN: 978-87-79114-65-6, hb £45; 978-87-7694-019-5, pb £16.99

Reviewed by Hiroko Kawanami, Lancaster University

Lindberg Falk’s book, simultaneously published by the University of Washington Press, is a welcome addition to a growing number of ethnographic monographs on Buddhist nuns. It provides descriptive information on the mae chii; a vernacular term used for the largest category of female Buddhist ascetics in Thailand, presently about 20,000. Despite recent interest in nuns and female ascetics, however, the author states, ‘Very little is known about the background of the mae chii, their lives, under what circumstances they live, the places they live in, and the processes of change that are going on in the maechii communities’ (pp.2-3), and sets out to answer these questions. The book comprises ten chapters including the introduction and summarising conclusion, and its strength lies in the detailed ethnography as a result of 17 months’ fieldwork during 1997-98 and several follow-ups since then.

Although it is accepted that the construction of gender has to be understood in relation to systems of power that govern it, many of the discussions that took place in the 1980s and early 1990s, under the influence of structuralism and western feminist paradigms, have served to reinforce an essentialist viewpoint regarding Buddhist women and nuns, viewing them as a monolithic entity in their lay category as opposed to the ordained other-worldly monks. In this study, the author describes the great diversity of Thai Buddhist women’s religious standing and explores the wide spectrum of their experiences ranging from that of a lay to an initiated monastic. In fact, Buddhist nuns are not a ‘homogeneous’ group and this study shows that their social backgrounds, education, aspirations and motives vary significantly. The only experience they share is that they all have had to reconcile the tension between social duty and individual aspiration; the expectations placed on Thai women to be married and have children, and the religious ideals of becoming a female ascetic. And even though their religious status will not provide them with the kind of ‘maturity’ it would for a monk, there are an increasing number of women who opt for such renunciant lifestyle.

I found Chapter 5 to be most insightful as it deals with the issue of how a ‘non-laity’ identity of mae chii is formed as personal development takes place. Here, the author states that there is a critical distinction between maechii who live in temples and those who live in Samnak chii; in the former, they are dependent on monks and live catering for their domestic needs, whilst in the latter, they are self-governing and follow their own rules. We are informed that ‘it is only in the last decades that Samnak chii’s independent of temples have increased in number’ (p.114), nonetheless, they provide a unique religious space for women to create a new religious identity. It is also noteworthy that social perceptions appear to be changing towards these ‘independent’ nuns who are becoming increasingly accepted as ‘legitimate recipients in the field of merit’ (p.145).

In providing a background to the establishment of Sathaaban Mae Chii Thai (mae chii national organisation) and its central role in providing them education, the author attempts to address relevant themes in Thai Buddhism: the development of modern Thai state; the history of centralisation of the Sangha; the role of Buddhadasa and new Buddhist movements of Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke, the role of media and the decline of institutional Sangha, and so on. Such overview, however, may benefit general readers who are not familiar with the field, but can be frustrating for more advanced readers as it distracts from the main discussion. Perhaps the discussion should have kept its focus on the new direction of nuns’ monastic education, the rules of regulations stipulated by the Institute, and its national network, enriching a directly relevant context in which to understand the mae chii quest for education, legal recognition, and more respectability.  

Finally, it deals with the controversial issue regarding the introduction of bhikkhuni in Thailand. Most mae jii the author interviewed did not aspire to become ordained, and ‘adopted the general opinion that the bhikkhuni order was broken and could not be restored’. What they were intent on was to have a legal recognition ‘in their capacity as mae chiis’ (p. 227). Their position was in stark contrast to that of some of the distinguished Thai bhikkunis who asserted their ‘right’ to be part of the Sangha. In examining the bhikkhuni issue, perhaps the author could have drawn our attention to the divergent views amongst Buddhist female ascetics; between those from Bangkok with a middle class upbringing and a western neo-liberal outlook, and the majority of mae chii from rural areas of central Thailand or Isaan, the deprived Northeastern region known for its autonomous traits. This again takes us back to the fact that religious experiences of Thai Buddhist women are not homogenous, and thus when we speak of ‘oppression’, we have to be cautious in paying enough attention to the local contexts in which women encounter their daily challenges and seek meaning in their religious lives.

Overall, the book is an excellent introduction for students and those who are interested in gaining further insight into the religious experiences of Buddhist women and nuns in Thailand. It is also sympathetically written reflecting the deep affection the author has for her informants whose life as Buddhist female renunicants is by no means easy, as we analyse and objectify their daily struggle from comfortable chairs.