杏MAP导航

杏MAP导航 Francis meets on Wednesday afternoon with Myanmar鈥檚 Supreme Council of Buddhist monks, as well as with the country鈥檚 Minister for Religious Affairs.

There are about half a million monks in the country today, plus over 60.000 Buddhist nuns, often seen with shaved heads and pink robes, collecting money or uncooked rice in metal alms bowls.

Philippa Hitchen is in Yangon to cover this papal visit and has been finding out more about the female face of Buddhism in the country today鈥�.

 [ Audio Embed Philippa Hitchen on Buddhist women]

Even the briefest visit to any city, town or village in Myanmar leaves you in no doubt that this is an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation. Golden gates and pointed domes, rise up out of the landscape and monks, in their simple maroon or brown robes, are everywhere to be seen.

Deeply religious nation

According to the statistics, almost 90 percent of people belong to this faith, with monks, collectively known as the Sangha, revered as highly respected members of society. Outwardly, it鈥檚 a deeply religious country, yet according to Ketu Mala, a well-known Burmese nun I met, there鈥檚 an urgent need for reform within this very traditional, patriarchal society.

Educational reforms

In 2012 she started an education project known as the Dhamma School Foundation, teaching Buddhism to young people, less as an ancient religious belief system and more as a contemporary way of applying values of love and compassion in their daily lives. By all accounts, she鈥檚 had remarkable success in bringing Buddhist teachings into mainstream education, with over 20.000 training centres in schools across the nation. Beforehand, she told me, at a meditation centre on the outskirts of Yangon, there was no real equivalent of catechism or Sunday school for young Burmese girls and boys. It was a 鈥渢op down system鈥� where the 鈥渕onks did all the talking and praying鈥�, with no interest in the children鈥檚 views.

Active participation

Her method, on the other hand, she describes as an 鈥渁ctive learning system鈥� which encourages participation, designing specific curricula for the different school years. The idea is to make children and adults alike take their faith more seriously, focusing less on superficial religious rituals and more on a profoundly personal way of relating to one other. Or as 杏MAP导航 Francis might put it, less 鈥渃omfortably tepid, lukewarm鈥� believers and more genuine 鈥渏oyful proclamation鈥� of the faith.

Interfaith dialogue with women

Ketu Mala鈥檚 other passion is promoting equality for women, within her faith and within Burmese society as a whole. She recently won an award for a documentary film called 鈥楽he鈥�, produced together with a female Muslim leader and with Catholic Sister Elizabeth Chit Pom, who works for an NGO under the auspices of Myanmar鈥檚 bishops鈥� conference. Interfaith dialogue is increasingly difficult here with the exploitation of religion by ultra-nationalistic politicians.

Struggle for equality

Though she refutes the label 鈥榝eminist鈥�, Ketu Mala is doing a PhD on the role of Buddhist nuns in Myanmar, adding that it鈥檚 still 鈥渘ot easy to talk about gender equality鈥� in the country today. When I mention Burmese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ketu smiles and says 鈥楾he Lady鈥� faces many of the same struggles too. There鈥檚 a long way to go before women enjoy the same respect and rights as their male counterparts here, but this is a battle that both these ladies are clearly committed to.