Santini, pioneer of Theravada order of nuns

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.