Special Visits in Class

I forgot to mention in my last post that on Thursday, we were fortunate enough to have guests in both Buddhism and Gender classes.

In Buddhism, Ajan Alan brought in 5 monks who teaches at another university. They were each from a different country -- one from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, and Vietnam. It was very cool to see how Buddhism is represented similarly in five vastly different countries.

We split into groups and had two monks sit down and chat casually with each group. I was with the monk from Laos and the monk from Thailand. They are both 22 years old and have been in the Sangha for 10 years. We asked how long they plan to be in the monkhood, and they both couldn't give us an answer. The Laotian monk told us that his parents wanted him to leave, that they believe he has paid his time -- but he wants to stay. He also has a twin brother who is a monk, but practices in a Mahayanan Buddhist tradition (a great deal different than the Theravadan tradition here in Thailand). The other monk, thinks that he could probably be a monk forever.

Our conversation focused mainly on how Buddhism has been mainstreamed and has been adapted to modern society. For example, the Buddha recommended that monks never handle money. In our world today, that is nearly impossible. Monks buy food and have to pay for taxi rides and other things. They receive a lot of their necessities from laypeoples' donations, but are allowed to carry and use money. According to tradition, monks are lot allowed to touch women. This is still very much true, but there are exceptions as more and more women become doctors, for example. If a monk needs to be tended to by a female doctor, it is not a problem. Our monks explained that this particular principle is about intention -- an accidental or unavoidable touch by or to a woman is no problem.

We chatted about daily life in the Sangha, and we also got a taste of some Buddhist philosophy. This was a nice lesson because it put into context and reality so much of what I'm studying in a text book.

Later that day, in Gender, we had a visit from our professor's Kathoey friend named Remi. Remi is Thai and spoke to us about her experiences growing up and realizing she was Kathoey.
"Kathoey" translates to "third gender," and is a 'category' of people who straddle the traditional categories of male/female and masculine/feminine. "Kathoey" is most commonly understood by Westerners as a male to female transgendered person, and sometimes as a transsexual person if they elect to have reconstructive genitalia surgery. They are also called "ladyboys."  But Kathoey are not what we understand to be transgendered; they are a third gender and it is very accepted in Thai culture. For example, Kathoey beauty pageants are very popular, especially further south.

In 2006, Remi agreed to be in a documentary produced by her friend -- an American named Rachel Clift -- about living as Kathoey in Thailand. The film, "Remi's Secret" focuses on her "secret" of if she ever has or ever will elect to have surgery. I tried to find the 8 minute film on the internet, but no luck so far. We watched the film with her in class and then she answered all of our questions. She spoke to how being Kathoey has complicated her life, but has definitely enriched her sense of identity and self-development. Remi also spoke to the phenomenon of Kathoey finding their niche in the sex industry. There are many Kathoey who are performers and/or sex workers, and it is common for them to find their way into such professions because they are discriminated against in most lines of work. There is a sense of contradiction in the reception of Kathoey in Thai society -- they are generally accepted and understood as 'normal', but only in certain roles (for example, as sex workers or in other 'feminine' lines of work), and yet they face discrimination and sometimes violence. Remi advocates for Kathoey to get out of the sex industry in order to be taken more seriously in Thai society.

 Another unique and enlightening experience -- I am so happy to be squeezing literally every drop out of my time here! I'm starting to get nervous that I won't fit in everything because I leave for Cambodia in three weeks!!