-
South East Asia Research, 18, 3, pp 555595 doi:
10.5367/sear.2010.0006
Against the Stream: the Thai femaleBuddhist saint Mae Chi
Kaew
Sianglam (19011991)1
Martin Seeger
Abstract: Both Thai and Western academia have recently
paidincreasing attention to the changing roles of Thai Buddhist
women.Still conspicuously missing, however, are more in-depth
studiesof female Buddhist saints in Thailand and the attendant
symbol-ism, which would provide a more adequate depiction of
thecontemporary Thai Buddhist landscape. Similar to the
prominentrole of the mae chi in monastic education, the emergence
ofhagiographies and the veneration of female Buddhist saints has
not,to date, been given sufficient attention in academic studies.
To helpremedy this situation, this paper provides a life account of
one ofthe most outstanding female practitioners of modern Thai
Buddhism:Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam (19011991). A summary of an
increasingnumber of available biographical materials on Mae Chi
Kaews lifeis followed by a thematic analysis in which the author
examinesvarious aspects of her life accounts and her veneration.
The purpose isto study the enormous significance of Mae Chi Kaews
biographies
1 This research was financially supported by the ASEASUK
Research Committee onSouth East Asian Studies. I wish to thank the
National Research Council in Thailandfor permission to conduct
fieldwork in Thailand. I would like to thank Mr
NarisCharaschanyawong, who accompanied me to temples of the Thai
forest tradition andmade significant contributions to many of the
interviews I conducted with monks,mae chis and lay people. I would
also like to thank Ven. Gavesako Bhikkhu, DonaldSwearer, Justin
McDaniel, Mudagamuwe Maithrimurthi, Catherine Newell and
NarisCharaschanyawong for their comments on this paper. I thank
Phra-khru-palatSuvathanavachirakhun Sawai Chotika
(MahachulalongkornrajavidyalayaUniversity), Khru-ba Jaew Sianglam
(Dhammadharo, Wat Pa Wiwekwathanaram)and Phra Ajan Inthawai
Santussako (abbot of Wat Pa Nakhamnoi) for their support.Finally, I
thank the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed reading of an
earlierversion of this paper and for their valuable comments and
suggestions. A standard-ized system for the romanization of Thai
script is adopted here except in caseswhere proper names have an
established transliteration of their own. Throughoutthis paper,
Thai words are differentiated from Pali words by underlining (Pali
wordsare italicized; Thai words are italicized and underlined). All
the translations fromthe Thai and from Pali are my own, unless
stated otherwise.
-
556 South East Asia Research
and attendant symbolic representations in the context of
thereligious landscape of Thai Buddhism. The author shows that
manyhagiographical elements in the sacred biographies of Mae Chi
Kaewapproximate the hagiographical paradigms not only of the
Buddhaand other Pali canonical figures, but also of modern saints
of theThai forest tradition. At the same time, however,
significanthagiographical and venerational particularities can be
observed.
Keywords: Theravada Buddhism; mae chi; religious
symbolism;amulets; superhuman powers; hagiography
Author details: Martin Seeger is a Lecturer in Thai Language
andCulture in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of
Leeds,Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. E-mail: [email protected].
Significant gender imbalances appear to exist in Thai
TheravadaBuddhism. While Thailand has more than 250,000 Theravada
monks[bhikkhu]2 and some 70,000 male novices [s ama
nera], there are no
officially recognized nuns [bhikkhun] or female novices [s
amaner] of
the Theravada ordination lineage.3 Thai women who wish to be
ordainedcan do so by either becoming a mae chi (mae chis are women
whoshave their hair, keep either eight or ten Buddhist precepts and
wearwhite-coloured robes) or by seeking novice or higher ordination
abroad,either in Theravada Buddhism or in Buddhist schools subsumed
underMah ayana Buddhism. While there are probably no more than
20,000mae chis4 in Thailand, only a relatively small number of
women have
2 Many Pali and Sanskrit canonical terms have been incorporated
into the Thailanguage. As a consequence of this process, their
spelling and pronunciation oftensignificantly deviate from the
original Pali/Sanskrit form. In this paper, I use theoriginal Pali
term instead of the Thai or Sanskrit form when I or my
sourcesundoubtedly refer to Pali canonical terms or concepts, even
in cases when the sourcesuse these technical terms in the Thai
form/pronunciation. When the original Pali/Sanskrit word has
developed a new meaning in the Thai language that
significantlydeviates from its original meaning in Pali, I maintain
the Thai form. Admittedly,very often this differentiation is rather
difficult to make.
3 See Seeger, 2006.4 It is difficult to ascertain the exact
number since, unlike monks and novices, they do
not appear in official monastic records (see Lindberg-Falk,
2007, p 2; see also statis-tics given by the National Office of
Buddhism Website:
http://www.onab.go.th/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=912&Itemid=300,
accessed 14August 2009). Wirachat Nim-anong reports that the
Department of Religious Affairsconducted a survey in 1997, which
established that there were 14,690 Thai mae chis(Wirachat
Nim-anong, 2002, p 29). According to Manop Nakkanrian (2002, p
94),however, there are approximately 45,000 mae chis in Thailand,
although this figureseems rather high.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 557
the necessary means to become ordained outside Thailand.5 During
thelast 90 years, various attempts have been made to establish a
Theravadanuns order in Thailand, most recently by the Buddhist
studies scholarChatsumarn Kabilsingh, who was herself ordained as a
bhikkhunin Sri Lanka in 2003. The Thai Sa ngha Supreme
Council[Mahatherasamakhom], the governing body of the Thai
monkhood, hasrepeatedly made it clear that the revival of the
Theravada femaleorder, which is believed to have vanished some
1,000 years ago, isimpossible due to technical reasons. As a
consequence of this stance,there is a monastic regulation (first
promulgated in the 1920s) thatforbids Thai monks from ordaining
women as female novices or nuns.Ongoing (and sometimes fervent)
debates on the possibility of therevival of Theravada nuns have
been triggered by a variety ofarguments from scholars who believe
that a Theravada bhikkhun ordercan and should be established in
Thailand and that the present Thaisa ngha authorities are
perpetuating an androcentrism that was intro-duced to Indian
Buddhism by early tradition, but which is alien to
originalBuddhism. Another argument put forward in these debates is
thatestablishing a bhikkhun-sa ngha would help to countervail a
number ofgendered inequalities that exist in Thai society. Others
have contendedthat allowing ordination for women in Theravada
Buddhism would bein conformity with human rights and with Thai
constitutional law.6
Some suggest that Thai mae chis, whose presence in Thai society
forat least 300 years can be attested to, may potentially be a
satisfactoryalternative to the missing bhikkhun order. A number of
Thai scholarsare, however, sceptical about this suggestion and many
view [the maechi institution] as a poor substitute for the
bhikkhuni [sic] ideal.7 It hasbeen observed that the status of the
mae chi is rather unclear and thatthey are, in many respects,
clearly disadvantaged when compared withThai monks.8 Generally,
they do not receive the same level of respectand support that Thai
monks do, and have a lower religious and socialstanding. Even their
ordained status is not universally acknowledged.9In this regard,
Buddhist studies scholar Somphan Phromta maintainsthat if we [in
Thai society] would [fully] acknowledge the ordained5 There are,
however, some reports that ordinations of female novices have taken
place
in northern Thailand, and in the provinces of Rayong and Nakhon
Pathom, but theseordinations are still not officially
acknowledged.
6 See Seeger, 2010.7 Tomalin, 2006, p 386.8 See Seeger, 2009.9
See Seeger, 2009.
-
558 South East Asia Research
status of mae chis, the demands for space for the bhikkhun-sa
nghawould not exist or would at least not be as intense as they
[currently]are.10 Religious studies academic Suwanna Satha-anand
further arguesthat I suspect that it might be possible that [the
reason that] somesupport mae chis is an attempt to inhibit
discussions [about the revival]of bhikkhuns.11 At the same time, a
number of Thai scholars haveargued that the non-existence of a
Theravada bhikkhun order does notnecessarily mean that women are
denied the opportunities for Bud-dhist practice similar to those
available to Thai men. Some would goeven further and say that
potentially the mae chi institution offers bet-ter opportunities
than the bhikkhun order, since bhikkhuns wouldnecessarily have to
be institutionally subordinated to the male sa ngha(as required by
the normative canonical monastic regulations)12 andwould
consequently not be able to enjoy the flexibility and the
manyliberties that the mae chis currently possess or could
develop.13
According to Pali canonical texts, during the time of the
Buddhanumerous women left lay life in order to pursue their
practice towardsultimate liberation [nibb ana]. Many of these women
were highly praisedby the Buddha, while receiving enormous respect
from the laycommunity. Despite these examples, the ordination of
women isnormally not encouraged in contemporary Thai Buddhism. As
Lindberg-Falk notes, The ideal Thai woman is a dutiful daughter who
is expectedto marry and become a caring wife and a self-sacrificing
mother . . . mensordination is highly prized, whereas women who
leave the lay lifedeviate from Thai cultural values. . ..14 This
points to the complexitiesof gender relations in present Thai
society, on which scholars haveadvanced a range of divergent
arguments to explain, particularly withreference to the influence
of Buddhism. Discussions have explored thequestion of whether the
status of women and men is relatively equal(although different), or
whether women are more or less attached tothe world than men.
Swearer notes, Students of Thai Buddhismdebate whether or not
Buddhism constrains the development of women,
10 Somphan Promta, cited in Deuan Khamdi, 2008, p 76.11 Suwanna
Satha-anand, cited in Montri Seupduang, 2008, p 328.12 I refer here
to the eight garudhammas [important/heavy rules/rules of
hierarchy]
that the Buddha imposed on women as a condition for their
ordination (Vin.II.253255). See Juo-Hseh Shih, 2000, pp 463464.
13 See, for example, Seeger, 2009; Collins and McDaniel, 2010.14
Lindberg-Falk, 2007, p 53.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 559
devalues them as persons, or is silent when violence is waged
againstthem. . ..15
Be that as it may, in addition to and often apparently as a
conse-quence of, the absence of an officially acknowledged bhikkhun
order,there are a number of other obvious indications of the male
dominationof Thai Buddhism. Kulavir Prapapornpipat observes, for
example, thefollowing statement made by the abbot of a famous
monastery in thenorth of Bangkok as the articulation of a gender
bias that is oftenperceived in Thai Buddhism:
Women are the gender with little merit: they cannot be ordained
andare not able to attain awakening. For these reasons, they have
to create alot of merit and make a vow so that they can be reborn
as a man intheir next life. Then they will be able to become
ordained and achieveawakening and be free from suffering
[dukkha].16
Kulavir admits, however, that these kinds of teachings seem to
bedisappearing from Thai Buddhism.17 At the same time, Van
Esterik,writing in 2000 comments that the idea of rebirth as a
woman as aresult of misdeeds in past lives is widespread in
Thailand. . ..18
In temple murals, women are often depicted as obstacles for
andseducers of men who try to pursue the path to nibbana [the
soteriologicalgoal in Theravada Buddhism]. Murals showing Maras
[the BuddhistEvil One] three daughters dancing in front of the
meditating Buddha,in a personification of the temptations of lust,
desire and aversion, can,for example, be found in many of the over
32,000 temples in Thailand.A mural in the famous southern monastery
Suan Moke, entitled Lust:the enemy of peace [rakha sattru haeng
santi], depicts a bare-breastedwoman with a giant snake tail trying
to infatuate men. This seems toreinforce the Thai saying that women
are the enemy of the saffronrobes [phuying pen sattru khorng pha
leuang]. In a number of temples,most notably in the north of
Thailand, women are barred from specific
15 Swearer, 2009, p 192; see also Tannenbaum, 1999, pp 244248.16
Cited in Kulavir Prapapornpipat, 2005, pp 3738.17 Ibid.18 Van
Esterik, 2000, p 74.
-
560 South East Asia Research
areas such as wells or cetiyas [bell-shaped shrine/st upa]19 in
whichpowerful Buddha relics are believed to have been enshrined,
due to thebelief that menstrual blood could magically pollute or
disturb the whole-some powers of relics or holy water. In some
monasteries, Thai womenare not permitted to enter the uposatha
[here: ordination hall] duringmenstruation. In the Pali canon, the
most authoritative scriptures of ThaiTheravada Buddhism, women are
said to be the stain of the Holy Life(itth mala
m brahmacariyassa; SN.I.43).20 It should, however, be noted
here that, as already indicated above, the Pali canonical texts
alsoincorporate numerous passages in which women are depicted in
afavourable light and many specific outstanding women, both lay
andmonastic, are highly praised and reported to have attained high
levelsof spiritual attainment and superhuman powers. Buddhist
studies scholarshave attempted to explain this multivocality of
often seeminglyconflicting canonical views on women by means of a
multitude oftheories in connection with the history of the
emergence of the Palicanonical texts.21
It is clear that religious symbolism in Thai Buddhism is
dominatedby the representation of the male, and Thai Buddhist
hagiographyalso seems to have been concerned only with the lives of
its malepractitioners. The observer of Thai Buddhism not only
encountersinnumerable Buddha images, but also the ubiquitous
amulets of deceased
19 Collins notes that [t]he concept cetiya is wider than that of
the st upa. Any Buddha-shrine is a cetiya, whereas a st upa must
contain a relic; and relics can also be kept inother containers.
Both th upa (st upa) and cetiya (caitya) are from verbs meaning
topile up, and seem originally to have referred to burial grounds.
(Collins, 1998, p278) In this article, I use st upa/th upa or
cetiya respectively in the way they arereferred to in the original
sources used or when I wish to refer to a relic-containingshrine. I
use the Sanskrit st upa instead of the Pali th upa because it is
more widelyused and understood.
20 There are other passages in the Pali canon in which women are
depicted in anunfavourable light; see, for example, Pa
thamaka
nhasappasutta and Dutiyaka
nhas-
appasutta (AN.III.260261) where women are compared to a black
snake[ka
nhasappa]: here women are said to be amongst other things impure
[asuci], ill
smelling [duggandho], dangerous [sappatibhayo] and
double-tongued [dujjivho].
This passage also says that women bear ill-will [upan ah] and
have terrible poi-son [ghoraviso]; see also Ther.216, where it is
said that being a woman is suffering[dukkha] [dukkho itthibh avo].
(I thank Dr Maithrimurthi for making me aware ofthese
passages.)
21 See Sponberg, 1992.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 561
and living Thai saints, seemingly all male.22 Admittedly, many
of theBuddha images would appear (at least from a Western
perspective) topossess some feminine elements, particularly those
of the Sukhothaiera (thirteenth to fifteenth century), though they
nevertheless depict amale: Buddha Gotama. Moreover, posters of the
most famousaccomplished practitioners of Thai Buddhism all of whom
are male are ubiquitous on the walls of restaurants, libraries,
private homes,offices and so on.23 Even taxis and cars throughout
the country havepictures, amulets and small statues of these male
saints attached to theirconsoles or hanging down from their
rear-view mirrors. The insertionof auspicious magical powers into
amulets has been described as anexclusively male domain, while
women are, in contrast, believed to bethe source of magically
polluting powers due to their menstrual blood.24Recently, a number
of large images of charismatic monks have beenerected in Thailand,
all again depicting only male saints.25 Numerousst upas and museums
have been built for saints of the forest tradition,depicting their
life and their spiritual achievements as paradigms forthe Buddhist
community.26
22 Amulets depicting images of female Thai Buddhist
practitioners are extremely rare.Saint in this paper is used to
refer to an individual whom Thai Buddhists believe tohave achieved
transcendental [lokuttara] states of mind. I do not confine the
wordsaint to persons who are believed to have attained full
awakening [arahant]. Per-sons who are believed to be ariyapuggala
[noble persons] or ariyasong [noble(member of the) sa ngha) are
also designated as saints, unless specified otherwise.Very often,
it is also believed that a saint has developed supernatural
abilities, suchas mind-reading powers, the capability to levitate
or to charge objects with magi-cally effective powers, but Thai
Buddhists might not necessarily expect a saint topossess one or
more of these supernatural powers. Furthermore, even though
theymight be regarded as holy men, in this paper I understand saint
not to include aperson who is believed to be a bodhisatta
[Buddha-to-be], although some mightbelieve bodhisattas to have
achieved transcendental states of mind.
23 They depict, in particular, the highly revered Somdet Phra
Phutthajan ToPhrommarangsi (17881872); the spiritual father of the
Dhammak aya movementsLuang Pho Sot Wat Pak Nam (18841959); the
southern monk Luang Pu Thuat (six-teenth to seventeenth century);
or the saints of the Thai forest tradition, starting withAjan Man
Bh uridatto (18711949) and Ajan Sao Kantaslo (18591941).
24 Lindberg-Falk, 2007, pp 106109.25 They include the huge image
of Luang Pu Thuat in Prachuap Khirikhan province,
showing him in meditation posture; the monumental, 18-metre-high
image of SomdetPhra Phutthajan To Phrommarangsi, also located in
Prachuap Khirikhan; and the101-metre-high st upa built by Luang Phu
Sri Mah avro in Roi-et province, in whichvisitors can find a
collection of bronze statues of the most important figures of
theThai forest tradition, all monastic and male. At the time of my
visit (August 2008),there were still a number of vacant niches in
the statue gallery, and it is possible thatstatues of female saints
have now been or will be placed there.
26 See Gabaude, 2003a and b.
-
562 South East Asia Research
What seem to be absent, however, are images and symbols of
ac-complished female practitioners of Thai Buddhism. The
sameobservation applies to Thai bookstores, with their numerous
books onmale Thai Buddhist saints (often displayed in the windows
or promotedas bestsellers), yet the conspicuous omission of books
on femalepractitioners, in particular of those who are believed to
have attainedarahant-ship.27 While bookstores offer titles such as
Arahants . . .exist indeed: Siam is not devoid of Arahants [phra
arahan . . . mi jing:Sayam prathet mai wang jak phra arahan], all
focus solely on malemonks.28 The same is true of the numerous VCDs
with documentarieson the lives of Buddhist saints [ariyasong] that
are widely available forsale in big supermarkets or
monasteries.29
Nevertheless, despite the ubiquity of religious symbols
expressingveneration for accomplished male practitioners, symbols
and sites ofveneration for accomplished female practitioners also
exist, albeit onlysporadically and to a far lesser extent. Examples
include the murals inthe vih ara [shrine-hall] with the reclining
Buddha of Bangkoks WatChetuphon (more widely known as Wat Pho)
depicting the 13accomplished and foremost [etadagga] bhikkhun and
the 10 fore-most female lay followers [up asik a] of the time of
the Buddha. Tilemosaics at the Phra Mahathat Napphaphonphumsiri St
upa on DoiInthanon also portray a number of outstanding nuns and
lay followersfrom the time of the Buddha; while Wat Thepthidaram,
in Bangkok,houses 52 bhikkhun statues. Moreover, the veneration of
the popularChinese Mah ay ana female Bodhisattva Jao Mae Kuan Im
(Guan Yin)should also be noted in this context. As Pattana
observes, Worshippedat altars in private houses or businesses and
through spirit-medium cults,she is among the most popular deities
and draws a large number of
27 One may find books by or about the two enormously popular mae
chis, Mae ChiSansanee Sthirasuta (leader of the
Sathira-Dhammasathan) and Mae Chi Thotsaphonin many bookstores. The
former is highly respected for her social engagement andher
pedagogical skills; the latter is believed to be able to look into
former lives.Neither is widely revered as ariyapuggala,
however.
28 Phanthakan Kimthong (nd); the book describes the lives of 16
male monks, all stillalive apart from the paradigm of the forest
saint, Ajan Man. Another book, in twovolumes, the first of which
has gone through seven printings in only two years, isThe Moment of
Attainment: Arahants Do Exist [winathi banlu tham phra arahan
mijing] by Thiaranan, 2007. Again, this book, which has since been
extended to threevolumes, gives an account of numerous
twentieth-century male monks who arebelieved to have attained
arahant-ship, the highest stage of Buddhist sainthood.
29 Despite collecting these VCDs for more than four years, I
have not to date found anythat contain the biography of a female
Thai Buddhist saint.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 563
mediums around the country, predominantly women of
SinoThaiorigin.30 In the north of Thailand, Queen C amadevs statue
in the townof Lamphun is highly revered and is even believed to
possessmiraculous powers, as noted by Swearer: Day and night dozens
of devo-tees Lamphun citizenry, visitors, and tourists present
offerings offlowers, candles, and incense and respectfully kneel
before C amadevsheroic, standing image much as devotees venerate
the image of theBuddha.31 A statue of the heroine Thao Suranari a
noblewomanbelieved to have been instrumental in quelling a
rebellion during thetime of Rama III in the city centre of Khorat,
is also highly venerated;and pictures of Princess Suphankanlaya,
the older sister of the heroicAyutthayan king Naresuan (r
15901605), form part of a recent nation-wide devotional cult.32
Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that all these symbols
representheroines or accomplished female practitioners during the
time of theBuddha or from a period prior to the emergence of the
modern Thaistate. Can this be taken to mean that no Thai women are
regarded andrevered as partly or fully awakened ones
[ariyapuggala/arahant] inmodern Thai Buddhism? As I show in this
paper, these apparentabsences by no means imply that contemporary
female Buddhist saintsdo not exist in Thailand. Indeed, the
objective of this paper is todemonstrate that they do exist, but
that they have been largely over-looked by both Thai and Western
scholarship. This seeming oversightmight be explained in part by
the fact that the number of (known)female saints, when compared
with their male counterparts, wouldappear to be extremely small at
present. As Lindberg-Falk commentsmore generally, [T]he nuns do not
have many ascetic role models andare often inspired instead by
famous Thai monks.33 Furthermore, itseems that the translocal
veneration of female saints in Thailand is arather recent
phenomenon.34
Highly revered female practitioners have been little discussed
ineither Western or Thai scholarship on Thai Buddhism (see,
however,Cook, 2009; Thanissaro, 1995; Van Esterik, 1996) and
scholarly worksthat do examine the life of highly venerated
individuals refer largely tomale monastics (see, for example,
Tambiah, 1984; Gabaude, 1988;30 Pattana Kitiarsa, 2005, p 480. See
also Jackson, 1999b.31 Swearer and Sommai Premchit, 1998, p 26.32
See Taylor, 2008, pp 47.33 Lindberg-Falk, 2000a, p 47.34 See
Seeger, 2009; see also below.
-
564 South East Asia Research
Jackson, 1999a; Kamala, 1997; Taylor, 1993, 1994). As Cook
observes,The hagiography of males who have attained this position
[of theaccomplished and charismatic teacher] is a long-standing
academic andanthropological concern.35 In this sense, existing
scholarship reflectsand reinforces the imbalances within Thai
Buddhism with reference tothe veneration and symbolic depictions of
outstanding female Buddhistpractitioners.
Recent attempts to introduce Theravada nuns to Thailand
havereceived broad attention from Buddhist studies scholars,
anthropolo-gists and activists and have triggered extensive debates
more generallyon the religious roles of women in Thai Buddhism, at
both the nationaland international level.36 While earlier
scholarship largely focused onthe hardships and inequalities women
are facing in Thai Buddhism,scholars have more recently noted
positive experiences of ThaiBuddhist women: Lindberg-Falk, for
example, defines an approxima-tion of roles between monks and mae
chis,37 whilst Collins and McDanielobserve that there is a large
and increasing number of highly respectedmae chi Pali scholars.38
In another article, I have reported on a series ofcase studies that
demonstrate that because of their spiritual practice,social
engagement or teaching skills, individual mae chis and laywomenhave
become highly revered in Thai Buddhism.39
While both Thai and Western academia have recently paid
increasingattention to the changing roles of Thai Buddhist women,
in-depthstudies of female Buddhist saints in Thailand and their
attendantsymbolic representation continue to be overlooked, so
undermining anadequate depiction of the present Thai Buddhist
landscape. As with themae chis prominent role in monastic
education, the emergence ofhagiographies and the veneration of
female Buddhist saints has so faralso been largely disregarded (but
see Cook, 2009).
To remedy this imbalance, I provide in this paper a life account
ofone of the most outstanding female practitioners and venerated
femalesaints of contemporary Thai Buddhism: Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam
(19011991). The brief summary below of a growing body of
biographical
35 Cook, 2009, p 349.36 See, for example, Seeger, 2006; Website:
http://www.congress-on-buddhist-
women.org/index.php?id=21 (accessed 24 July 2009); see also
Mrozik, 2009.37 Lindberg-Falk, 2000a, pp 5152; Lindberg-Falk,
2000b, pp 6970; Lindberg-Falk,
2002, pp 2425; Lindberg-Falk, 2007, pp 8182, 146151.38 Collins
and McDaniel, 2010.39 Seeger, 2009.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 565
materials on Mae Chi Kaew is followed by a thematic analysis in
whichI examine in greater detail various aspects of her life
accounts and ofher veneration, thereby challenging widespread
perceptions of contem-porary Thai Buddhism as exclusively concerned
with the spiritualachievements of ordained men.
The biographical details of the life of Mae Chi Kaew
presentedbelow derive from a variety of sources, most notably from
anincreasing number of published biographies and from sermons and
talksgiven by the famous and extraordinarily influential forest
monk PhraMahabua, who played a significant role in the life of Mae
Chi Kaew.40
40 Group of Followers of Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam, 2008; Faith and
Follower Group,no date; Group of Followers, 2007; Phensi Makaranon,
2006; Mahabua a
nasampanno, no date; Group of Followers, 2009. The sermons and
talks given by
Luang Ta Phra Mahabua can be found online at:
http://www.luangta.com/ (accessed24 July 2009). I would like to
thank Bhikkhu Slaratano who provided me with acollection of Phra
Mahabua sermon texts that refer to Mae Chi Kaew. During theprocess
of writing this paper, in April 2009, a biography of Mae Chi Kaew
inEnglish written by the American Therav ada monk Bhikkhu Slaratano
was published(Slaratano, 2009). It contains some information not
mentioned in the Thai sourcesthat I had used, and consequently
provides an additional valuable source for thispaper. Suniwan
Tangphaithunsakuns comprehensive and detailed MA thesis in Thaion
the life of Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam (Suniwan, 2006) collates a wide
range ofsources, such as printed biographies of Mae Chi Kaew,
pictures, teachings and inter-views with key informants. Her thesis
has therefore been a valuable source for thispaper. Suniwan also
quotes extensively from various hagiographical
accounts.Unfortunately, the thesis has so far not been published in
its complete form and israther difficult to access, though some
sections have been published in ahagiography (Group of Followers,
2007). I became aware of Suniwans thesisduring my first period of
fieldwork in 2008 and accessed a copy only after havingcompleted
much of my own research. There appears to be only one copy in
thepublic domain, namely in the library of the Mahidol University
College of ReligiousStudies. Given that both Suniwans thesis and
this article examine the life of MaeChi Kaew from an academic
perspective, necessarily much information in thisarticle can also
be found in Suniwans thesis in particular, though not solely, in
thesummary of a number of Mae Chi Kaew hagiographical accounts.
However, thisarticle goes beyond Suniwans work in several
significant respects, in particular interms of providing the reader
with more analysis from a Buddhist Studies perspec-tive, of
contextualization in academic literature and of more up-to-date
information.Similarly, even though Bhikkhu Slaratano makes Mae Chi
Kaews biography avail-able in English in a comprehensive form, the
current article differs from his book inthat it engages the
biographical material from a much wider academic
perspective.Furthermore, this article pursues very different
objectives, as evidenced by the factthat Bhikkhu Slaratano writes
of Mae Chi Kaew: . . . I have also resorted to myimagination to
fill out the picture of her life and her practice, adding graphic
detailsto fashion a vibrant and clear mental image of the woman and
her extraordinaryachievements. This is not a work of scholarship so
much as a narrative biographythat is intended to provide a course
of inspiration to those who are devoted toBuddhist practice. With
that purpose in mind, it is hoped that this book will be viewed
-
566 South East Asia Research
Extensive information on the life of Mae Chi Kaew and the
construc-tion of her st upa is also taken from the bilingual tables
(English andThai) that are attached to the walls in the museum on
the ground floorof her st upa in Ban Huai Sai. I have further
relied upon the MP3 CD-ROMs that include talks in the Thai and
Phuthai languages by PhraAjan Inthawai (who had a long and close
relationship with Mae ChiKaew and has been centrally involved in
various projects to spread andpromote her reputation). My own
interviews with a number of keyinformants have also been an
important source. I interviewed mae chiswho had lived with or been
inspired by Mae Chi Kaew; monks who hadknown her particularly well
and/or were involved in the publication ofher biographies or the
construction of her st upa; and laypeople whoseunderstanding of
Thai Buddhism has been influenced by Mae Chi Kaewslife story.41 In
addition, I visited various places that are important inMae Chi
Kaews biographies and/or have become places of venerationfor her
notably Ban Huai Sai village, where she lived, and wherememorials
to her have been erected. During these visits, I studied
thereligious symbolism that has developed as an expression of
herveneration and the venerational practices towards Mae Chi
Kaewsremains and the sites where she lived. The accounts of Mae Chi
Kaewslife employed for this paper sometimes contain conflicting
informa-tion, in particular (but not only) with regard to numbers
and dates.Although I have attempted to identify the most reliable
information andaccounts, I want to emphasize that my purpose here
is not toreconstruct Mae Chi Kaews life as it was, but rather to
describe howher life and work has been understood, depicted and
disseminated. Thus,my main concern is not to investigate the
historical authenticity of thehagiographical texts, but to examine
their socio-religious significance
mainly as an invitation to contemplate the depths and subtleties
of mind that areexperienced on the Buddhas path to total
liberation. (Slaratano, 2009, p 20) Mysecond period of fieldwork in
October 2009 allowed me to probe many of my find-ings and the
arguments suggested in both Suniwans thesis and Bhikkhu
Slaratanosbook.
41 For my in-depth interviews with Khru-ba Jaew Sianglam (Wat Pa
Wiwekwatthanaram),who has been involved in the writing and
dissemination of many (hagiographical)texts on Mae Chi Kaew, and
with Khru-ba Ajan who is an expert on Mae ChiKaew, I used a
semi-structured questionnaire. (Khru-ba Ajan is a respectful way
ofaddressing a monk who is revered for his knowledge. This
particular monk asked meto use this appellation in order to not
reveal his real identity. As I wish to respect hisrequest, in this
paper I will use Khru-ba Ajan when I refer to information
derivedfrom this interview.) Some of my informants requested to
remain anonymous, as aresult of which, some of the sources used in
this paper are not further specified.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 567
in and for Thai Buddhism. My intention is to study the
significance ofMae Chi Kaews biographies and their attendant
religious symbolismin the context of the religious landscape of
Thai Buddhism. It becomesapparent that many hagiographical elements
in the sacred biographiesof Mae Chi Kaew approximate the
hagiographical paradigms not onlyof the Buddha and other Pali
canonical figures, but also of modern saintsof the Thai forest
tradition. At the same time, however, significanthagiographical and
venerational particularities can be observed.
The life of Mae Chi Kaew SianglamMae Chi Kaew Sianglam was born
on 8 November 1901 in the villageBan Huai Sai, amphoe (district)
Kham Cha-i, in the north-easternprovince of Mukdahan.42 She was the
youngest of six children and wasgiven the name Tapai (literally
meaning eye-catching). When Tapaiwas four years old, her mother
died and several years later her father, alocal magistrate,
remarried. In common with people in her village, Tapaibelonged to
the Phuthai ethnic group.43 It is reported that the first of
themany supernatural occurrences in her life took place when she
was onlyone year old: she perceived the mental image [nimitta] of a
divine horsethat visited her in order to convince her to accompany
it to a heavenlycity. When she was between five and six years old,
she was able torecollect past lives and she therefore became
renowned for her abilityto enter highly concentrative states of
mind [jh ana] from a very earlyage. In one of the most famous of
her nimitta, she recalled a former lifeas a chicken with many
chicks. As a chicken mother, she had to faceextreme hardship in the
constant search for food, not only for herself,but also for her
many chicks. Once, whilst listening to the sound of theDhamma
[here: Buddhas teaching] during a sermon, however, her mindbecame
joyful. This incident allowed her to make a [successful]resolution
[athitthan] to escape the realm of animals [tiracch ana] andto be
reborn as a human being.44
42 Mukdahan only became a province in 1982, and the village was
previously locatedin Nakhon Phanom.
43 See Kirsch, 1967. After the Phuthai entered Siam from Laos
during the reign ofRama III (18241851), they were first an isolated
and semi-autonomous ethnicenclave, only later becoming assimilated
within the national Thai framework (Kirsch,1966, p 371).
44 Compare with Langer, 2007, pp 4547.
-
568 South East Asia Research
As a child, Tapais father warned her not to mention her
supernaturalexperiences due to concerns that others might regard
her as insane [siasati]. Later in life, Mae Chi Kaew recounted that
as a girl she could goto the monastery only in the company of her
parents, and that she had tosit as far away as possible from the
monks. In contrast to this, however,as Terwiel notes, boys are not
kept away from monks. On the con-trary, parents often like to
present their small sons to a monk when theymeet and note with
approval how their children are touched andblessed.45
In 1917, the village of Kham Cha-i was visited by two
meditationmasters of the Thai forest tradition, Ajan Sao Kantaslo
and Ajan ManBh uridatto, together with some 70 of their disciples
[luk-sit], many ofwhom themselves later became famous and
influential meditationmasters. Tapais encounter with Ajan Sao and
Ajan Man is described asthe catalyst that led to her strong
interest in Buddhist teaching andpractice, and she donated a plot
of land to Ajan Man shortly after theirfirst encounter. One night,
following his instructions on meditation andhaving developed deep
concentration, Tapai had another nimitta in whichshe watched her
own body getting older and decaying until eventuallyshe died. Her
corpse was then consumed by maggots and only herskeleton remained.
While being convinced of her own death during thisnimitta, she
worried that she would not be able to donate food to AjanMan the
next morning. The nimitta continued, however: after villagershad
taken her corpse to the graveyard, Ajan Man arrived and
touchedparts of her body with a stick, making it rot, until only
her heartremained. Ajan Man picked up her heart, saying that it was
indestruct-ible. Regaining consciousness the next morning, Tapai
was disappointed,as she believed she had had a dream instead of
having practised propermeditation. After having reported to Ajan
Man the content of her dream,however, he told her that it was a
nimitta and that she had actually madeextraordinary progress in her
meditation practice. During the rainyseason of that year, Ajan Man
paid special attention to Tapaismeditational progress and her
nimittas. When asked why she was able
45 Terwiel, 1994, p 45. In Thai society, a number of behavioural
patterns have developed toensure that physical contact between
monks and women is avoided: for example, theprovision of special
seating for monks on public transport and the use of a cloth
[phaprakhen] when a woman presents an object to a monk (so that the
monk does noteven touch the object that is touched by a woman).
Thai women also avoid beingclose to monks in crowded places (such
as at a market or on the bus) in order tominimize the risk of their
touching.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 569
to achieve such rapid progress in meditation, Ajan Man
explained: Thisyoung girl had been practising meditation in many
former lives whichis the reason why the principle of impermanence
of all conditioned things[anicc a vata sa nkh ar a] had so deeply
and completely been ingrainedin her mind. When Ajan Man and the
cohort of his disciples were aboutto leave Ban Huai Sai in order to
pursue the dhuta nga practices [the(13) austere practices]46
elsewhere, he addressed Tapai. There are atleast two different
accounts of what followed, which may not necessar-ily be seen as
contradictory. One has it that Ajan Man said to Tapai: Ifyou were a
boy, I would have ordained you as a novice so that youcould have
come with me. But since you are a girl, accompanying mewould be
difficult with regard to the dhammavinaya [the teaching(Dhamma) and
monastic regulations (vinaya) of the Buddha]. . . Stoppractising
meditation! Ajan Man, so some accounts explain, wantedher first to
use up her kamma (Sanskrit: karma) as a layperson beforeeventually
meeting a suitable teacher in the future, when she would beable to
continue with her meditation practice. According to anotheraccount,
however, before leaving Ban Huai Sai, Ajan Man asked Tapaiwhether
she wanted to join him as an ordained one [buat]. Tapais
oldersibling did not give her permission to be ordained, arguing
that if Tapaiwere not able to remain ordained, it would be
difficult for her to find ahusband once she returned to lay life.
Ajan Man then prophesied thatshe would be a layperson for another
20 years, before eventually beingordained. He forbade her to
continue with her meditation practice as, soit is explained, her
mind was too venturesome [lote phone] and with-out Ajan Mans
instructions and guidance she might go insane.
As there was no local school, Tapai did not learn how to
write,although she was able to acquire reading skills. In all the
available lifeaccounts, Tapai is consistently described as having
been humble, frugaland hardworking. At the age of 17, following the
wish of her parents,Tapai married Bunma Sianglam, despite having no
interest in marriedlife. She did not become pregnant, but in the
tenth year of theirmarriage adopted a daughter, whom they named
Kaew (the villagersthen began to call Tapai Mae Kaew, which
translates as Mother ofKaew). Bunma forbade his wife from
practising meditation at the localtemple and only permitted her to
participate in Buddhist chanting [suatmon] and to donate alms food
for the monks in the morning. At the ageof 34, when her adopted
daughter was able to take care of herself, Tapai
46 Buddhaghosa, 1976, pp 5983.
-
570 South East Asia Research
asked Bunma for permission to be ordained [buat]. Two years
later,after repeated requests and the supportive mediation of a
widelyrespected uncle, her husband eventually allowed her to be
ordained as amae chi on condition that after one rainy season she
would return to laylife. Eventually, in 1937, at the age of 36, Mae
Kaew was ordained asa mae chi at the local temple. After 20 years
of refraining frommeditation practice, she was now able to devote
her energy to prolongedsessions of walking and sitting meditation.
Even though ordained, sheoccasionally went to her former home to
undertake household chores.At the end of the rainy season, Mae Chi
Kaew did not want to disrobe,as she saw that her husband was,
despite their earlier agreement,flirting with women, gambling and
smoking opium. Instead she decidednever to disrobe and to terminate
her relationship with Bunma.
Mae Chi Kaew spent the years between 1938 and 1945 on amountain
some 30 kilometres away from Ban Huai Sai, practisingmeditation
intensively in a physically demanding environment that testedher
resolution. During this time, she had numerous
supernaturalexperiences, such as teaching the Dhamma to n agas
[mythical snakes],encountering ghosts [phi] and conversing with the
spirits of deadanimals. In 1945, Mae Chi Kaew returned to Ban Huai
Sai and built anindependent nunnery there. Apart from being
materially underresourced,the other major obstacle for this small
community of eight mae chisheaded by Mae Chi Kaew was the absence
of a teacher. For this reason,Mae Chi Kaew had to seek out
disciples of Ajan Man, and in theprocess stayed for a two-year
period with the renowned meditationteachers Ajan Fan and Ajan
Kongma. Visiting Ajan Man himselfentailed much hardship, as the mae
chis had to undertake a difficultjourney for up to 12 days in order
to receive meditation instructionfrom the master. Furthermore, it
seems that her visits to Ajan Man wereperceived by his lay
followers as disruptive.
All the life accounts stress the extremely close relationship
betweenMae Chi Kaew and Ajan Man. It is reported that when Ajan
Manbecame seriously ill he visited her in nimittas, flying through
the skyand hovering in the air, in order to let her know that his
death [nipphan]was imminent. Even during the night that he passed
away in 1949, AjanMan flew to Mae Chi Kaew to tell her that she had
missed theopportunity to see him alive again, despite his previous
visits duringwhich he had invited her to do so. In 1950, with the
arrival of one of themajor disciples of Ajan Man, Luang Ta Phra
Mahabua (b 1913) in BanHuai Sai, the above-mentioned prophecy of
Ajan Man seemed to come
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 571
true: from a nimitta, Mae Chi Kaew had learned that a great
teacherwas to arrive. Phra Mahabua, who is widely believed to have
achievedarahant-ship in 1950, realized that Mae Chi Kaew was too
captivatedby her meditative abilities and therefore unable to make
furthersubstantial progress toward nibb ana. Phra Mahabua
recounts:
[I told Mae Chi Kaew] to by no means go outside [in her
meditation]! Ihad to take these measures so that she would develop
knowledgeabout the inside. These things [being able to have
nimittas, perceiveghosts and visit heavens and hells] are knowledge
about the outsideand not the inside. It is not understanding
defilements [kilesa]. Shehad to study the inside in order to be
able to get rid of her mentaldefilements. But she did not comply.
She argued with me, her teacher[Ajan]. When this happened, I chased
her away saying: Go. . . Goaway. . . There are no philosophers
here. . . Crying, she departed.47
This harsh method of instruction eventually succeeded, however.
MaeChi Kaew was able to overcome her stubbornness and to
understandthat her supernatural abilities were not conducive to her
spiritual progress.Following Phra Mahabuas instructions, Mae Chi
Kaew changed hermeditation technique, by now observing the inner
aspects of her mindand body, without letting herself be distracted
by the kinds of nimittas shehad experienced before. Not long
afterwards, at dawn on 1 September1952, whilst resting from
practising walking meditation [doen jong-krom], Mae Chi Kaew was
able to attain full awakening [banlu thamkhan sung-sut]:
She felt tired from having done walking meditation for the
wholenight and therefore sat down on a bamboo platform under a
Phayomtree to get some rest. While inclining in order to lie down
andthinking: I will rest for a moment and then boil rice, she
perceiveda rumbling noise as if lightning was hitting the platform
on whichshe was resting. At the same time, there was a noise saying
Therebirths have come to an end! Her tears were flowing copiously
injoy.48
47 Faith and Follower Group, no date, pp 5456.48 Ibid, p 57.
-
572 South East Asia Research
After her awakening, Mae Chi Kaew followed Phra Mahabua
tovarious provinces in Thailand, took care of his mother and helped
himbuild his famous monastery, Wat Pa Ban Tat in Udon Thani
province.In 1967, Mae Chi Kaew returned to Ban Huai Sai, and spent
most of thelast 24 years of her life in her nunnery. Between 1973
and 1977, in thecompany of other mae chis and villagers from Ban
Huai Sai, she paidnumerous visits to famous meditation masters in
the north-east in orderto exchange knowledge. These travels also
allowed her to build up anetwork of practising mae chis of the
forest tradition. In 1977, Mae ChiKaew was diagnosed with
tuberculosis, diabetes and lung cancer.Despite her severe medical
problems, she continued with her disciplinedmeditation practice and
strict adherence to monastic rules for the next14 years. Her
personal physician, Dr Phensi Makaranon, recounted:All those who
had the opportunity to know and experience the realMae Chi Kaew,
were deeply overwhelmed and impressed by herenormous humbleness and
gentleness. She even held every tablet[respectfully] above her head
before taking it.49
Throughout her ordained life, Mae Chi Kaew pursued the
practiceof the Theravadas so-called austere practices [dhuta nga;
see Vism.5983], such as eating only once a day or wearing robes
made of clothused to cover dead bodies, referred to by Tambiah as
the hallmark ofthe wandering forest monk.50 She also consistently
practised the eightslas and the 10 kusala-kammapatha (wholesome
course of action; see,for example, M.I.287).
Before her death, Phra Mahabua visited Mae Chi Kaew for the
lasttime and instructed those taking care of her not to try to
prolong herlife artificially. Her last words [pacchim a v ac a] are
reported to havebeen:
Do not doubt in [the value] of [Buddhist] practice and do not
becareless with it. Having practised only a little is already a
gain, for itis a reality to be understood by each individual
him/herself. Be yourown refuge. Reflect about yourself: who is
being born, getting older,suffering and dying. R upa [form] and n
ama [name/mind], life doesnot belong to us. Do not defile yourself
with dukkha [suffering]!51
49 Phensi Makaranon, 2006, pp 910.50 Tambiah, 1987, p 114.51
Cited in Suniwan, 2006, p 20.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 573
According to the biographical accounts, Mae Chi Kaew passed
awaypeacefully on 18 June 1991. The cremation, which was held in
hernunnery five days later, was attended by some 200 monks, many
maechis and hundreds of laypeople. Phra Mahabua forbade the
usualfuneral chanting (suat matika bangsakun; reciting texts from
the sevenAbhidhamma scriptures: sattappakara
nabhidhamma), explaining that:
[Mae Chi Kaew] has done enough for herself. In the Thai
Buddhistreligious system, it is believed that the chanting of these
Abhidhammatexts generates merit [bun; pua] for the deceased. For
this reason,Phra Mahabuas prohibition seems to imply that the
generation of meritwould not be required for Mae Chi Kaew, as she
had already beenawakened and therefore was not to be reborn any
more: a receiver ofwell intentioned transfer of merit is not
existent any longer, but utterlyextinguished [nibb ana]. When Mae
Chi Kaews body had beencompletely burned, a heavy rain started and
extinguished the funeralpyre, even though there had been a clear
sky for the whole morning.52Some two to three years after her
cremation, parts of her remains werebelieved to have crystallized.
In April 2006, a group of Mae Chi Kaewsdisciples, with the support
of the well known north-eastern monk PhraAjan Inthawai Santussako
(abbot of Wat Pa Nakhamnoi), was able tocomplete a cetiya/st upa
some 24 metres high next to Mae Chi Kaewsnunnery, and named by the
current Thai sa ngha Supreme PatriarchSomdet Phra Nyanasamvara as
the Mae Chi Kaew Cetiya inCommemoration of the Triple Gem. The
biographical accountsemphasize that it was built to commemorate the
victory of the fullyawakened female follower of the Buddha. On 21
May 2006, the cetiyawas officially opened in a ceremony in which
Phra Mahabua enshrinedparts of the crystallized remains of Mae Chi
Kaew. On Sunday of thelast week in March each year, her disciples
hold a ceremony torecollect Mae Chi Kaews work and
achievements.
Female arahant-ship in Thai BuddhismThe most significant
hagiographical element in Mae Chi Kaewsbiographies is undoubtedly
the account of her arahant-ship. Many sourcescelebrate her
achievement of this, the highest Buddhist spiritual level
52Uplifting crown of the cetiya (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra
Ajan Inthawai;distributed on CD-ROM). These happenings are
reminiscent of the account ofBuddhas passing away (cf D.II.64; see
below).
-
574 South East Asia Research
possible. As I demonstrate below, in the context of the
Theravada, butalso of Thai religious history, Mae Chi Kaews
arahant-ship is remark-able in a variety of ways. It is widely
believed that after the Buddhasdeath, arahant-ship was increasingly
difficult to achieve and perhapsno longer possible in modern times.
In his magnum opus theinfluential Visuddhimagga the fifth century
Theravada scholarBuddhaghosa described the attainment of
arahant-ship as an extremelyremote goal.53 Moreover, based on her
fieldwork in central Thailand inthe 1960s, Jane Bunnag writes
that,
None of the Thai monks to whom I spoke appeared to
considerNirvana [that is, attainment of arahant-ship] a relevant
goal for whichto strive; those who considered that Salvation was
attainable inmodern times, believed that only after billions of
years of tirelesseffort could they or their contemporaries achieve
this state.54
Tambiah observes that [c]ertain orthodox Buddhist circles
believethe arahants are exclusively heroes of the past; they
maintain that presenttimes are incapable of producing arahants.55
Even one of Ajan Mansforemost disciples, Luang Pu Thet, had doubts
as to whether therealization of arahant-ship was still possible.56
Furthermore, asTaylor notes, [a]t the time of the ordination of the
forest saint AjanKhao An alayo (18881983) [another of Ajan Mans
prominentdisciples] in 1919, he was discouraged from taking to the
forestascetics way of life. He was told that the arahant way was no
longerpossible and that the practice of meditation makes people go
mad.57Ajan Man and Luang Pu Sao certainly belong to the first
generation ofmodern saints, who are widely believed to have
achieved arahant-shipand are, as a consequence of these beliefs,
revered on a significant,translocal scale, expressed in written
biographies, amulets and thebuilding of museums and memorials. As I
discuss below, this does not,however, necessarily imply that there
were no Thai saints prior to this.There may always have been saints
in Thai Buddhism who wererevered on a local level, but we simply
lack the evidence to confirmthis.
53 Bond, 1988, p 164.54 Bunnag, 1973, pp 1920.55 Tambiah, 1987,
p 112.56 Thiaranan, 2007, p 60.57 Taylor, 2008, p 142.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 575
Mae Chi Kaews awakening has a number of significant
implicationsconcerning aspects of traditional Thai Buddhist
understanding. It isreported that some Buddhists, even monastics,
harbour doubts [kangkha]as to why, to quote from Phra Ajan
Inthawais summary of their view,Mae Chi Kaew had such a long life
after her awakening, as accord-ing to the principles of the Pali
canon, [one would have expected that]a layperson would die after
seven days of his/her attaining arahant-ship.58 Yet Mae Chi Kaew
continued to live after her awakening fornearly 40 years, and was
not ordained as a bhikkhun. Such doubts seemto relate to two well
known Buddhist stories: both the Buddhas fatherSuddhodana and one
of his most outstanding disciples [etadagga], B ahiya, died as lay
arahants shortly after having reached full awakening.At the same
time, while there are a number of Pali canonical stories
oflong-term lay ariyapuggalas who have attained one of the first
threelevels of awakening, it is not reported in the Pali canon that
lay arahantslived longer than seven days beyond their attainment of
full awaken-ing. How, then, is this apparent contradiction dealt
with in the case ofMae Chi Kaew? This important question points to
apparent tensionsbetween the possibility of women attaining
arahant-ship in present timesand the refusal of the Thai sa ngha to
recognize full (Theravada) ordina-tion for women. In the case of
Mae Chi Kaew, it is believed that herbeing a mae chi is equivalent
to having being ordained: through keep-ing the eight precepts, she
left the lower life form [hina phet/phettam; literally the low
gender!]. The decisive characteristic of havingbeing ordained is
not therefore perceived in this context as the personhaving been
formally accepted as a member of the conventional Bud-dhist sa ngha
[sammutisa ngha] during the act of ordination. Rather,the level of
Buddhist practice and spiritual attainment is crucial. In thisway,
one can become internally ordained [buat khang nai] or ordainedin
ones heart/mind [buat jai] and leave the camp of the lay women[khai
ubasika] by, amongst other things, avoiding unchaste
conduct[abrahmacariy a verama
n).59 In connection with this point, in one of
his sermons, Phra Mahabua said that:
Having attained arahant-ship and not undergone
[formal]ordination, does this mean you have to die within seven
days? Does
58At Wat Rangsi (Dhamma talk in Phuthai language by Phra Ajan
Inthawai;distributed on CD-ROM); interview with Khru-ba Ajan on 7
November 2009.
59 Interview with Khru-ba Jaew on 3 November 2009; interview
with Khru-ba Ajan on7 November 2009.
-
576 South East Asia Research
this mean that the pure dhamma [wisutthi tham] or pure mind
[wisutthijit] act as executioner [phetchakhat] of the Five
khandhas60 [that is,of a living individual]? This is certainly not
the case! An arahantknows what s/he is supposed to do and what
not.61
Moral or righteous behaviour [sla] is practised as a matter of
courseby saints.62 With specific reference to Mae Chi Kaew, Phra
Mahabuaexplains in another sermon that, had she lived during the
time of theBuddha, she would have been called bhikkhun .63
In this context, the awakened status ascribed to Mae Chi Kaew
notonly points to the possibility that contemporary Thai women have
thespiritual potential to attain nibb ana, but also shows that it
is notnecessary to undergo the bhikkhun ordination procedure, as
prescribedin Pali canonical texts, in order to attain arahant-ship;
or to stayalive longer than seven days after the awakening event.
In the words ofKhru-ba Jaew: Mae Chis are a form of ordained
practitioners that didnot exist during the time of the Buddha. . .
[But] being a mae chienables ones mind to bear the [exalted] mind
[thamma] of a saint[ariyapuggala].64 Thus, Mae Chi Kaews life
accounts have not onlychallenged the sharp dichotomy between fully
or properly ordainedand lay, but have also made a powerful
statement with regard towomens spiritual potential in present Thai
Buddhism, in which femalesaints had hitherto been unreported with
such assertiveness and on sucha scale.
The belief that Mae Chi Kaew achieved full awakening has
beenexpressed without any uncertainty in a variety of ways, as
repeatedlypublicly declared by Phra Mahabua.65 The fact that Phra
Mahabuarecognizes Mae Chi Kaew as an arahant lends particular
weight: notonly may he well be the most famous and influential Thai
monk alive,66
60 According to Buddhist teaching, the Five Aggregates [khandha]
constitute theindividual human being.
61 Available on Website:
http://www.luangta.com/thamma/thamma_talk_text.php?ID=1022&CatID=3
(accessed 1 January 2010).
62 Interview with Khru-ba Ajan on 7 November 2009.63 Available
on Website:
http://www.luangta.com/thamma/thamma_talk_text.php?ID
=4312&CatID=2 (accessed 1 January 2010).64 Interview with
Khru-ba Jaew, 3 November 2009.65
Uplifting crown of the cetiya (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra Ajan
Inthawai, distrib-uted on CD-ROM); Luang Ta Mahabua, 2006. On a
table in the cetiya museum ofMae Chi Kaew, Phra Mahabua is cited:
Mae Chee Kaew has attained the samepurity of heart that I have
(translation as given on the table).
66 See, for example, Taylor, 2008, pp 110168.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 577
but many Thais also believe that he himself has been an arahant
formore than five decades (and only a noble one can absolutely
identifyanother). The respect Phra Mahabua receives from the Thai
Royal Familyadds to the enormous personal charisma that he has
built up over thelast 40 years or so. Yet there are still other
indications that areinterpreted by many Thais as unmistakable
manifestations of Mae ChiKaews exalted spiritual status, the
alleged crystallization of herremains having been taken as a kind
of scientific proof or ultimatecertificate of [her] Arahantship.67
It is believed that the longer a personhas been an arahant in life,
the sooner the remains of that person turninto crystals.68 After
the cremation of her body, Mae Chi Kaewsremains were collected from
the funeral site and divided amongst manypeople so that they could
venerate [kep wai sakkara bucha] them. Thelargest part, however,
was placed in a jar and stored in Wat Pa KaewChumphon, and later in
a safe in Wat Pa Nakhamnoi, before eventuallybeing enshrined in the
Mae Chi Kaew St upa in Ban Huai Sai. It hasbeen reported that many
people who were in possession of her relicshad reliably and
independently confirmed that their part of theremains had become
crystallized (albeit not into perfectly clear, roundcrystals).69 It
is believed that the religious practice and faith [sattha] ofthose
who keep the remains of an arahant can have an impact on thepace at
which they transform into relics.70
Two st upas were also erected to venerate Mae Chi Kaew through
hercrystallized remains that are displayed there, one at Wat Pa
KaewChumphon, and the other in her nunnery at Kham Cha-i.71
According to67 Gabaude, 2003a, pp 116, 118; see also Luang Ta
Mahabua, 2006; Uplifting crown
of the cetiya (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra Ajan Inthawai,
distributed on CD-ROM).68 Here it is explained that the mind had
been longer able to purify/cleanse [fork] and
refine the body (the remains of an arahant might not necessarily
turn into crystals,though, as, so it is believed, an arahant is
able to make a resolution [atthithan] toprevent this from
happening). See also Taylor, 1993, pp 175180.
69Uplifting crown of the cetiya (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra
Ajan Inthawai; distrib-uted on CD-ROM); interview with Khru-ba
Ajan, 7 November 2009.
70 Interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3 November 2009; interview with
Khru-ba Ajan, 7November 2009.
71 The first of these memorials was erected in the monastery Wat
Pa Kaew Chumphon(in Sakon Nakhon province) beside the st upa of the
late Phra Ajan SingthorngDhammavaro, who was a close disciple of
Phra Mahabua and is also widely believed tohave attained
arahant-ship. This st upa was completed in 1996 and cost some
twomillion baht to construct. The second st upa is the
aforementioned cetiya in Mae ChiKaews nunnery in Kham Cha-i that
was completed in 2006. The costs for thisconstruction were nearly
20 million baht, while the whole site in which the st upa islocated
cost some 30 million baht, including all the buildings, the
landscaping andparking places (Group of Followers, 2009, p 24).
-
578 South East Asia Research
early Buddhism, st upas are in most cases signifiers of
sainthood.Descriptions and designations of Mae Chi Kaew as a thup
arahapuggala[literally: a person who is worthy of a st upa] can be
found frequentlyin her life accounts. Hence, the st upa in Kham
Cha-i has been builtto celebrate Mae Chi Kaew as an example for a
female lay-follower[s avik a: literally (female) hearer] in the
present era and to demonstratethat in current times the realization
of nibb ana is still achievable for laywomen, and is not restricted
to the male monastic community.72Another objective of this st upa
is to encourage women to pursue thepath towards nibb ana.73 In
addition, the Mae Chi Kaew St upa in BanHuai Sai has been described
as a contribution to the material culturallandscape of
north-eastern Thai Buddhism as it augments the religiousmap of
highly venerated pilgrimage sites.74
Another remarkable and powerful signifier of Mae Chi Kaews
highlyadvanced spiritual attainment can be seen at Wat
Yanasangworn, themonastery of the current Supreme Patriarch in
Chonburi province. Thismonastery is a royal monastery of the
highest level [phra aramluangchan-ek] under the patronage of the
King. At its centre, the visitor findsa building with the name
ariyakhan [the building of/for ariyas] inwhich the fibreglass
figures of 10 prominent late Thai monks of thetwentieth century are
placed on each flank of a Buddha imagepositioned in the centre of
the room. In the right corner are two white-robed figures in
sitting posture: those of the female Upasik a Ki Nanayon(190178),
who has become one of the best-known Dhamma teachers,male or
female, in Thailand75 and Mae Chi Kaew.76 The presence ofthese two
female practitioners in the room amongst some of the mosthighly
revered saints of modern Thai Buddhism arguably suggests thatthey
are perceived to have attained, at the very least, the first level
ofBuddhist sainthood [sot apanna].
72Commencing Cetiya construction (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra
Ajan Inthawai;distributed on CD-ROM).
73Points to Ponder 3 (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra Ajan Inthawai;
distributed onCD-ROM).
74Points to Ponder 3 (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra Ajan Inthawai;
distributed onCD-ROM). The st upa in Ban Huai Sai was designed by a
Thai aristocrat imitatingthe style of the famous and highly revered
Phra That Phanom cetiya, and a table atthe st upa informs the
visitor that in a previous life Mae Chi Kaew was herselfinvolved in
the construction of the Phra That Phanom cetiya.
75 Thanissaro Bhikkhu, 1995.76 Suniwan also briefly discusses
this figure of Mae Chi Kaew (Suniwan, 2006, pp 96
97).
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 579
Mae Chi Kaews st upa and relicsWhile st upa museums built for
the veneration and commemoration ofmale practitioners and their
relics are ubiquitous in Thailand, there are in line with my
observations on the religious symbolism expressingveneration for
Thai women in general few Thai st upas for theveneration of
women.77 Some notable exceptions nevertheless exist. Thelargest of
the three st upas in the monastery of Wat Kukut (also knownas Wat
Camadev) in Lamphun provides an example here, said to havebeen
erected by one of the two sons of the eighth century QueenCamadev
to enshrine the remaining bones [a
t
thi] of his mother.78
Another famous cetiya built for a Thai woman is to be found in
theAyutthaya monastery of Wat Suan Luang Sopsawan, believed
tocontain the ashes of the legendary Queen Suriyothai (sixteenth
century).Third, the Phra Ariya Sawika Phiksuni Sangkhamaha Cetiya
was builtin the grounds of the Royal Palace in Bangkok by Rama III
in order tocommemorate noble lay followers and bhikkhuns. Here
again,however, in line with the above observations, all these
cetiyas/st upashave been built for the veneration of heroic women
or of bhikkhunsand women from the time of the Buddha. It is not
widely believed, if atall, that Queen Camadev and Queen Suriyothai
attained arahant-ship.In the temple compound of the controversial
Wat Phra Thammakaimovement in Pathum Thani, however, a huge,
golden, hexagonalpyramidal construction has recently been built for
one of the foundingfigures of this movement: Mae Chi Jan Khon
Nokyung (19092000).Similar to the architectural style of many of
the forest-tradition st upas,this construction is surrounded by
water and has two floors: while thefirst floor houses a museum
displaying personal items and informationabout the life and
achievements of Mae Chi Jan Khon Nokyung, on thesecond floor, the
visitor finds her statue in meditation posture, soasserting her
veneration as a highly accomplished practitioner.79
77 In Thailand, there is also the tradition of building small st
upas for common people.These st upas, however, differ significantly
not only in size, but also in their symbol-ism, from the st upas
mentioned and discussed in this article.
78 Nowadays, this cetiya is the object of veneration for many
Thai Buddhists. This iseasily visible by the elephant statues,
flowers and incense that are offered in front ofthe cetiya, in
particular during the anniversary of Queen Camadevs
birthday,believed to be in August.
79 See Website:
http://www.dhammakaya.net/visitorzone/detail_page_05_en.php(accessed
7 July 2009). See also Scott, 2009, pp 7076.
-
580 South East Asia Research
To sum up, it seems fair to state that there is no evidence to
suggestthat in Thai history until quite recently a st upa has ever
been builtfor Thai women who are widely believed to have achieved
the highestlevel of spiritual perfection. Mae Chi Kaews two st upas
clearly belongto the first Thai cetiyas ever built for this
purpose, and that built for herin 1996 in Wat Kaew Chumphon may
well be the very first.80 Gabaudeobserves that the building of
museums for saints is a rather recentphenomenon, having first
appeared only around 1990.81 Mae Chi Kaewsst upa museum would
therefore appear to be one of the first ever to havebeen built for
a female Thai Buddhist saint.
As with some of the other st upas erected for saints of the Thai
foresttradition, the first floor of the Mae Chi Kaew st upa in Ban
Huai Saihouses a museum in which personal items of Mae Chi Kaew
aredisplayed. In the middle of the museum, there is a solid, white,
life-sizestatue of Mae Chi Kaew, showing her practising walking
meditation.On the walls of the museum, bilingual tables invite the
visitor to studyin English and Thai her life, work and spiritual
achievements. Relicsand a fibreglass figure of Mae Chi Kaew in
sitting meditation position,with open eyes that seem to look more
to the inside than at theonlooker, are to be found on the first
floor. Parts of her relics aredisplayed in two glass urns placed in
such a way as to invite the visitorto lean over them in order to
study the relics very closely, the glassappearing to have a
magnifying effect. Unlike in many or perhapseven all traditional
Thai st upas where the relics are buried deep withina st upa and
are never seen,82 in most of the recently built st upas formonks of
the Thai forest tradition, the relics are made easily visibleto the
visitor. A remarkable and particular feature of the Mae Chi
KaewStupa is that the current Thai Supreme Patriarch not only, as
mentionedabove, named this cetiya, but also provided relics of the
Buddha[s arrika-dh atu] for their enshrinement in it. Together with
relics ofawakened disciples of the Buddha and of some Thai Buddhist
saints(such as Ajan Man, Luang Pu Sao, Luang Pu Khao), the Buddha
relicswere enshrined in the spire of the Mae Chi Kaew Stupa.83
Initially, therewere plans to place crystallized remains of Mae Chi
Kaew in the spireof the st upa too. These plans were later
abandoned, however, as it was
80 See footnote 71.81 Gabaude, 2003a, p 108.82 Veidlinger, 2006,
p 174.83 Interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3 November 2009; interview
with Khru-ba Ajan, 7
November 2009.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 581
felt that it would not be appropriate/correct to do so. Phra
Ajan Inthawai,one of the main initiators of the construction of the
st upa, explains thatthe reason for this decision was that we are
still living in a world ofconventions and Mae Chi Kaew was a
woman.84 For this reason, theMae Chi Kaew relics were eventually
enshrined on the st upas secondfloor underneath her figure.85
Another reason why Mae Chi Kaewsrelics are not enshrined in the
spire with the other relics is that this is areflection of one
aspect of her own spiritual practice: she consistentlypaid high
respect to the saffron robes [pha leuang] and placed herselfon a
lower level in the presence of monks, displaying modesty
andhumility.86 This gender hierarchy expressed in the st upa
design, it isfurther explained, conforms to the first rule of the
Eight garudhammas(Vin.II.253255), which stipulate that a bhikkhun
must show deference tomonks, regardless of their seniority.87
The architectural structure of the Mae Chi Kaew Stupa, together
withthese accounts, points to the fundamental Buddhist concept of
the twotruths: that is, conventional truth [sammuti-sacca] and
ultimate truth[paramattha-sacca]. This concept, which can be traced
back to Palicanonical texts,88 is often invoked in debates and
discussions about therole of women in Thai Buddhism.89 Here it has
been used as an inter-pretative strategy to explain the apparent
contradiction between Buddhistsoteriological inclusiveness and
androcentric tendencies that havebeen observed in Pali canonical
scriptures.90 In this way, on the level ofparamattha-sacca, from a
soteriological point of view, gender isirrelevant and to be
overcome. This concept is nicely expressed in aspeech given by Phra
Mahabua on 20 May 2006 during the openingceremony of the Mae Chi
Kaew Stupa: being an arahant means to
84Uplifting crown of the cetiya (Dhamma talk in Thai by Phra
Ajan Inthawai;distributed on CD-ROM); The Lords Relics at Udorn
(Dhamma talk in Thai byPhra Ajan Inthawai; distributed on
CD-ROM).
85 In this context, it is worthwhile mentioning that when a lay
person took pictures ofher, Mae Chi Kaew ordered the pictures to be
burnt, explaining: Pictures of womenfor veneration cannot be put on
the same level as pictures of monks. This would be ademeritorious
thing [p apa] of the one who does this. (Suniwan, 2006, p 113)
86 Interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3 November 2009.87 Interview
with Khru-ba Ajan, 7 November 2009.88 The concept
sammuti-sacca/paramattha-sacca seems to have first been made
ex-
plicit in a relatively late canonical text, the AbhidhammaText
Kath avatthu. Here,the terms sammutisacca in Kv.311 and saccika
t
thaparamattha and paramattha
in Kv.169 appear (see also, for example, Collins, 1990, pp
147156).89 See, for example, Seeger, 2005, pp 200202; Seeger, 2006,
pp 165166.90 See Seeger, 2005, pp 206211; compare also with
Sponberg, 1992.
-
582 South East Asia Research
have transcended the gender differentiation in female and male
[khamwa arahan mai niyom wa pen ying pen chai].91 The
sammuti-sacca,however, represents social convention and reflects
specific socio-cultural contexts and values. In the context of the
Mae Chi KaewSt upa, it indicates the widespread worldly convention
[lokasammuti]of the socio-religious subordinate status of women.
Whilst being soterio-logically irrelevant, socio-culturally
speaking, Mae Chi Kaews gendertherefore remains relevant, even
after her death and even in her relicsthat appear to be
simultaneously both gendered and genderless.
With regard to Indian Buddhist saints, Ray remarks that . .
.while theywere alive, the saints have often been relatively
inaccessible: they spentmuch of their time in remote places. . .
But when the saints had passed onand their relics were enshrined in
stupas, they finally became available toall and could become the
objects of an ongoing cult.92 A similar phenom-enon applies in the
case of the veneration of Mae Chi Kaew. During herlifetime, due to
the remoteness of her nunnery and several other factors(discussed
in the following section), the veneration of Mae Chi Kaewappears to
have operated on a small scale and largely in her local area.After
her death, however, this changed dramatically, her bones, and
laterher crystallized relics, having been disseminated to many
parts of Thailand.I was able to locate her crystallized relics not
only in the two above-mentioned st upas, but also in three other
key locations: (1) in the influentialDhammayuttika-nikaya monastery
of Wat Chedi Luang in Chiangmai,where her relics are on display in
a large, beautifully ornamented glasscase in which the crystallized
remains of a large number of other saints ofthe modern Thai era are
venerated in small glass st upas; (2) in PhraMahabuas monastery of
Wat Pa Ban Tat in Udon Thani province, one ofthe most important
pilgrimage centres of present-day Thailand, whereher remains are on
display, again in small glass st upas93 and (3)91 Luang Ta Mahabua,
2006.92 Ray, 1994, p 324.93 In the main building of this monastery,
in a large and systematically arranged
collection of display cases, relics are arranged largely in
chronological order. The(mostly clearly crystallized) relics of
individual saints are kept in miniature glass st upas,which are
placed in vertical glass cabinets. Centring on numerous relics of
theBuddha himself (for example, of his blood, hair, bones), which
are themselves placedaround the major Buddha figure in the
building, the visitor can venerate and closelyobserve relics of
Buddhas direct disciples. In several glass cabinets, relics
ofcontemporary Thai saints are displayed. A huge table in front of
the collectionexplains that the relics of the Indian Buddhist
saints have manifested themselves[sadet ma duai amnat itthirit].
Some of the mini-st upas are still empty as the saintsto whom they
are dedicated are still alive.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 583
another portion of Mae Chi Kaews relics is kept in the
Dhammayuttika-nikaya monastery of Wat Santitham in Chiangmai, where
a relic museumis currently being built.94 It is also likely that
further portions of MaeChi Kaews relics are venerated and stored in
private houses and othermonasteries throughout Thailand, beyond the
actual sites where shelived and worked.95 Moreover, pictures and
accounts of the crystalliza-tion of her relics have also been
electronically disseminated via theInternet, on numerous Thai
Buddhist blogs and Websites.96
Mae Chi Kaews legacyWhile alive, Mae Chi Kaew seemed to have had
only a limited impacton the Thai Buddhist landscape and appears to
have been little knownoutside her local area. On the translocal
level, only monks belonging tothe forest tradition might have known
about her. From her ordinationonwards, Mae Chi Kaew was able to
build up personal charisma withinher local community, thanks to her
convincingly authentic Buddhistpractice and her inspiring teaching.
When Phra Mahabua publicly con-firmed her arahant-ship, the local
community became electrified [taekteun].97 However, only some time
after her death, and with the beliefthat her remains have
crystallized, has her reputation and venerationbegun to spread
beyond her local community.98 Although she is bestknown in the
north-east of Thailand (Isan), her reputation has continued togrow,
particularly over the last decade.99 There are several reasons
forthis rather late, albeit rapid growth in reputation. In contrast
to otherfamous religious figures of modern Thai Buddhism, Mae Chi
Kaew didnot attain fame and recognition through homiletic skills.
She left a rathersmall textual corpus of her teachings and is also
reported to have beena quiet person who gave few sermons.100 In
this respect too, she seems94 See also Website:
http://www.santidham.com/tatu1st/tatu/present/m-keaw/m-
keaw.html (accessed 1 July 2009).95 During fieldwork in Thailand
in summer/autumn 2009, I was able to identify further
locations of and narratives on the relics of Mae Chi Kaew, to be
discussed in asubsequent paper.
96 See, for example, www.watpa.com, www.santidham.com and
www.dhammasavana.or.th.
97 Suniwan, 2006, pp 143144; interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3
November 2009.98 See Group of Followers, 2009, p 64.99 This
statement is based on my own observations and my many interviews
with
Buddhist studies scholars and Buddhists in numerous provinces in
the northern, north-eastern and central parts of Thailand.
100 Suniwan, 2006, p 106; interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3
November 2009; Slaratano,2009, p 206.
-
584 South East Asia Research
to have shared a characteristic with many forest monks who are
mainlyinterested in mental and ascetic practices transmitted by
word of mouth.They were not naturally inclined to publish their
teachings.101 Also, asalready noted above, due to her lack of
formal education, Mae Chi Kaewwas unable to write. In addition to
this, she spoke only her nativelanguage of Phuthai, and not the
national language of Central Thai.102Furthermore, her teachings
have largely been transmitted orally by herclose disciples. There
are no audio recordings or notes of her teachings,which would have
helped to preserve them more systematically,completely and
efficiently. The teachings of Mae Chi Kaew were infact only
systematically compiled in 2003, more than 10 years after
herdeath.103
A further reason why Mae Chi Kaew was not translocally well
knownduring her lifetime is that she did not establish a movement
ororganization, as many other charismatic figures in Thai Buddhism
havedone. Instead she preferred to use her remote nunnery to
practisemeditation.104 Nor did she encourage reporters on the
supernatural fromnational magazines to write more about her,
despite the interest theyheld in her biography. In contrast to many
other persons believed topossess supernatural powers, Mae Chi Kaew
consistently refused touse her superhuman abilities to attract more
followers105 or to produceor consecrate [pluk sek] amulets.106
Instead she preferred a humble andsecluded lifestyle and relied
only upon the material support of her teachersor the donations of
her supporters in her village.107
The resources available in her local community would not
haveallowed Mae Chi Kaew to support a huge number of followers.108
Whilstshe was alive, the nunnery was able to support itself through
donations
101 Gabaude, 2003b, p 181.102 Suniwan, 2006, p 114; Slaratano,
2009, p 206. Despite its linguistic closeness to
standard Thai, the Phuthai language is rather difficult to
understand for most non-Phuthai Thai people.
103 Suniwan, 2006, pp 112, 114.104 Interview with Khru-ba Ajan,
7 November 2009.105 Suniwan, 2006, pp 85, 107; interview with
Khru-ba Jaew, 3 November 2009;
Slaratano, 2009, p 205.106 Interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3
November 2009.107 Suniwan, 2006, p 137. As a consequence of the
charisma they obtain through their
ordination, monks may quite easily gain free shelter, food and
financial support inmost places in Thailand, even if they are
strangers. In contrast, for mae chis, it canbe relatively difficult
to find places to stay or to receive support from lay people
inplaces other than those where they are already known.
108 Ibid, p 142.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 585
from followers and believers, but following her death it has
becomeincreasingly dependent on the support of monks.109 Mae Chi
Kaew hasbecome increasingly recognized, venerated and celebrated at
a nationallevel, thanks to an increasing number of biographies110
that are morewidely circulated in printed form and are partly
published online; to thepatronage of one of Thailands most famous
and influential monks, PhraMahabua, and of the current Supreme
Patriarch; and due also to thedistribution of her relics across the
whole country. This has extended tothe international level through
a hagiography published in English in2009 and distributed not only
in Thailand, but also in Europe andAmerica.111 Her reputation has
further spread via the metal amuletsthat show her image, some
10,000 of which were produced tocommemorate the opening of the Mae
Chi Kaew Stupa in KhamCha-i.112
Mae Chi Kaews popularity is certified by the fact, for example,
thatspecific sites at the Mae Chi Kaew nunnery are regarded as
havingbecome sanctified as a result of important events in her life
having takenplace there: the pathway where she practised walking
meditation shortlybefore her awakening has been fenced off with
barbed wire so that noone else can use it; her cell [ku
t] can be visited for paying respect, but
is no longer occupied; and the spot on which her body was
crematedhas been encircled by stones too heavy to be moved by hand.
As such,the layout of the nunnery spatially reflects key events
from Mae ChiKaews biography with the aim of inspiring faith in its
visitors,thousands of whom attend for an annual pilgrimage.113 The
Mae ChiKaew st upa in Kham Cha-i has also become one of the major
sightsee-ing points in the province of Mukdahan, and on the last
Sunday inMarch every year since the st upas completion, an annual
commemora-tion day is held there.114 The enormous charisma that Mae
Chi Kaew109 Suniwan, 2006, p 144.110 According to Khru-ba Jaew,
more than 5,000 copies were printed of each biography
of Mae Chi Kaew (interview with Khru-ba Jaew, 3 November
2009).111 Slaratano, 2009. A total of 30,000 copies of this book
have been produced at a cost
of one million baht (interview, 7 November 2009 with Bhikkhu
Slaratano; e-mailfrom Bhikkhu Slaratano, 24 December 2009).
112 For the opening of the st upa, some 200 small figures were
produced and were givento people who were actively involved in the
construction process of the st upa (inter-view with Khru-ba Ajan, 7
November 2009).
113 The two donations books at the museum on the ground floor of
the st upa and myinterviews with locals show that there are up to
100 visitors each weekend.
114 See, for example,
http://www.hellomukdahan.com/thailand-mukdahan-travel.php(accessed
1 January 2010). Also, there are numerous road signs and posters
through-out Mukdahan province that make the visitors aware of the
Mae Chi Kaew st upa.
-
586 South East Asia Research
accumulated, together with her raised reputation, poses a
challenge forthe community that she has left behind, both
economically and in termsof preserving the authenticity of secluded
Buddhist practice that sheexemplified through her life.
ConclusionsMae Chi Kaew is by no means the only woman in Thai
Buddhism whois believed to have achieved sainthood and who is, as a
consequence,highly venerated. In a further article,115 I have
referred to other womenwho are highly revered in modern Thai
Buddhism because it is believedthat they were/are ariyapuggalas
[noble persons: that is, they haveachieved one of the four levels
of Buddhist sainthood].116 Recentresearch has shown that in
indisputably male-dominated Thai Buddhismthere are increasing
numbers of outstanding female Buddhist teachersand practitioners,
mae chis or lay women, who have made a significantimpact on the
religious landscape of Thailand.117 Parallel to the seem-ingly ever
increasing number of [male] saints,118 there is also a
growingnumber of female practitioners who are widely revered for
theirtranscendental achievements. Increasingly, biographies are
produced andwidely distributed, and amulets with the images of
these women areproduced, circulated and have become sought-after
objects of venera-tion. Thus the suggestion that womens spiritual
potential is equal tothat of men is more widely explicitly
acknowledged and celebrated.The increasing number of memorial sites
built in Thailand for modernspiritually highly accomplished
practitioners is also suggestive of thefact that mae chis and lay
women hold roles of growing importance incontemporary Thai
Buddhism, even in the absence of an officiallyrecognized Theravada
order of nuns. Such an increase in religious spacefor women has
occurred independently of the more general feministmovements and
pan-Theravada campaigns for the revival of full[bhikkhun]
ordination in the Theravada tradition. In fact, it is seen bymany
as a continuation and natural consequence of Thai social
andcultural norms and approaches. As a result, these new
phenomena
115 Seeger, 2009.116 I note, for example, the lay teacher of
meditation, Khun Mae Siri Krinchai, who has
a huge number of followers, many of them celebrities, along with
Mae BunreuanTongbuntoem.
117 See Seeger, 2009.118 Gabaude, 2003a, p 114.
-
The Thai female saint Mae Chi Kaew Sianglam 587
which, though not part of any single organized movement, still
repre-sent an important trend in contemporary Thai Buddhism do not
facemuch, if any, resistance in Thailand. Rather, they are actively
and gen-erously supported by a huge number of laypeople and many
seniormonks and are perceived as confirmation that women are able
to prac-tise in Buddhism successfully without having to challenge
what arepopularly held to be traditional Thai religio-cultural
practices and values.
Historically, this raises the question of whether the attainment
ofsainthood by a growing number of mae chis and laywomen is,
indeed,a recent phenomenon in Thai Buddhism. Due to the scarcity of
sources,it is difficult or perhaps impossible to answer this
question. Accountsof forest monks, however, seem to suggest that we
cannot concludefrom the absence of the respective relics and
hagiographies of femalesaints that they did not exist before Mae
Chi Kaews awakening. Onereason why more Thai Buddhist saints, both
male and female, seem tohave appeared since the beginning of the
twentieth century may belinked to the historical absence of written
biographies, as noted by Keyes:
it has only been quite recently that the lives of Buddhist
saints or ofother well-known monks have become the subject of
biographicalaccounts in Thailand . . . the first saints and
distinguished monks inThailand for whom significant biographical
accounts have beenconstructed are men who lived in the nineteenth
century. Moreover,insofar as I am aware, none of the accounts of
their lives was writtenuntil after the beginning of the twentieth
century, . . .119
Also, for some reason, according to representatives of the
foresttradition, followers did not pay much attention to the bones
andpossibly relics of reputed accomplished practitioners until
quiterecently.120 The wide interest in the relics and biographies
of femalesaints probably began only relatively recently with the
veneration ofMae Bunreuan and Mae Chi Kaew. However, there are
still livingmemories and minor biographical sketches (mostly
mentioned in thehagiographies of male saints) of women who are
believed to have beenoutstanding pra