Santini, pioneer of Theravada order of nuns

In conjunction with the national holiday of Waisak, The Jakarta Post's Ida Indawati Khouw profiles Buddhist nun Santini, a pioneer of the Theravada Bhikkuni order in Indonesia.

MARIBAYA, West Java (JP): Santini is typical of a Buddhist nun: tender, patient and wise.

Ayya (honorific for a Buddhist nun) Santini, as congregation members call her, is a pioneer of the Theravada Bhikkuni order in Indonesia.

Santini, whose given name is Khoe Kang Moy, has a wide range of interests, notably philosophy and psychology.

"I once studied at an economics academy because my younger sister was going to the school, but then I dropped out because I could not refuse this divine call," said Santini, who was born on March 13, 1965, in Rengas Dengklok, West Java. She is the fourth of six children.

She adores the popular comic book Kho Ping Ho and claims to have never received a formal education in Buddhism. She studied the religion from the late monk Girirakkhita Mahathera.

She spoke to The Jakarta Post in her Kijang van last week during a trip from a vihara (Buddhist temple) in Bekasi, about 40 kilometers east of Jakarta, to the Kusalayani monastery for Theravada Buddhist nuns in Maribaya, 19 kilometers north of Bandung.

The following is except of the discussion.

Though I was born in a Buddhist family, none of us had ever expected that anyone in the family would become nun. Indeed, the call came uninvited. I became a reborn Buddhist when a monk visited our temple when I was in elementary school.

(Temples located in remote areas like Rengas Dengklok were rarely visited by monks, whose numbers were inadequate for regular visits across the province.)

On meeting the monk, something told me it was the kind of life I should live.

From that day I was interested in any kind of religious activity, including reading religious books. Many books were not intended for children but, miraculously, I could comprehend their meanings.

This experience cannot be explained logically. I believe it was because of my karma.

A woman of any age could become nun but I decided to wait until I was mature enough. So I finished my formal education first, worked for several companies, went to an academy and dropped out to become an anagarini (novice) in 1990.

My family was and still is strongly opposed to my decision. Every time I visit my family, my mother tries to persuade me to quit.

There was no institution like a monastery for (Theravada Buddhist) nuns in 1990 and I thought I should undergo the novitiate myself. Actually, there were already some anagarini before I became one myself, but they always "disappeared" because there was no institution for them.

But the lack of an order for the nuns should not have been a problem because Buddha himself blesses bhikkhuni (Buddhist nuns). I started my life as a novice by living at some temples, especially in Palmerah, Central Jakarta (already demolished) and Lembang, close to Maribaya.

I found it easy to live the life of the order, such having my hair shaved, wearing a robe, living a poor life and remaining sexually abstinent. Maybe because being a nun is my true vocation.

Of course my appearance always attracts attention. People look at me like I am from a different planet. I remember I was mocked by people in the street. They called me amithaba.

(Amithaba is how monks are addressed on Chinese martial art movies aired on television here).

I was the lone novice for about two years until my aid, now Bhikkhuni Silavati, followed my path in 1992, then another two women followed suit in 1996.

Lack of a family tree

I used to think that we could not become bhikkhuni because it was understood that the Sangha Bhikkhuni Theravada (the assembly of Theravada nuns in Tamil, Sri Lanka) died out in 1017 due to an attack from South India. Many thought it was impossible to reestablish the institution because of the lack of a "family tree".

But in the 1970s we learned that the sangha was revived in several places, while in the 1990s some Theravada women were ordained as bhikkhuni.

This development led us to see the possibility of the four of us being ordained. After a complicated process, we were ordained on April 15 last year in Taiwan with 600 other nuns from all over the world. Then we became the first Theravada nuns in Indonesia.

But our existence has not yet been recognized by Sangha Theravada Indonesia (the assembly of monks), because they maintain the belief that the order of nuns cannot be revived.

The assembly issued circulars stating that vihara were prohibited from inviting bhikkhuni (to deliver religious sermons), but many vihara still invite us.

(The monastery in Maribaya was very cold at night for a newcomer. When we arrived at the 4,000-square-meter complex, we were greeted by the other three nuns. The interview continued the next morning -- Ed.)

We nuns only have one set of clothes each. We only have one extra set of clothes for the four of us. A nun's costume consists of a shirt, sarong, outer robe and shawl. We cannot wash everything at once or we wouldn't have anything to wear.

We have the tradition of sewing the clothes in the motif of paddy fields, as suggested by Buddha. He suggests Buddhist monks should wear robes that are different from those of mendicants or almsmen.

In the past, monks and nuns wore clothes made of shreds collected from rubbish heaps or clothes that had been used to wrap corpses. Now congregations give us clothes.

We should make two sets of clothes last our entire life. There are monks or nuns who wear old clothes full of stitches, but there are others who want to dump their old clothes even if they are still wearable.

The only things we may possess in life are the clothes, a girdle, a bowl, a razor, needle and thread, a water strainer used to filter insects from the drinking water (so as not to kill or swallow them).

We don't keep money for ourselves but it's okay to buy things like books. Actually we don't need money because the congregation takes care of our basic needs in the monastery.

Even though we live on donations from the laity, we would refuse any benevolence that we knew was ill-gotten.

People may see our life as monotonous. Yes, we do the same activities every day, starting at 4:30 a.m. meditating, praying and chanting for eight hours, with a couple of breaks, but I don't feel bored.

I understand that people will wonder if it is a happy life. I will always say we are happy. We find true happiness within ourselves through meditation.

We know that there are people who pity us but we see it the other way, that they are bound by worldly possessions.