Analysis of The Journey of One Buddhist Nun: Even Against The Wind - Book Report/Review Example

Case Study of Even Against the Wind The book "The Journey of One Buddhist Nun: Even Against The Wind," by Sid Brown, explores in quite a lot of detail the life of a Buddhist Nun or Maechi known as Wabi. Although it seems like this would be a fairly straightforward description of life for Buddhist women in Thailand who want to become nuns, the fact of the matter is that the book is far from that. It focuses on some of the many injustices felt regularly by women who wish to be ascetic nuns, as this role is poorly misunderstood even in Thailand. Maechi Wabi's journey as she struggles to become accepted as a nun and to find her own inner peace that can lead her to Samsara is compelling reading and the details which are shared along the way really help in gaining an understanding of how Buddhism is practiced in Thailand today. Wabi was not born into life as a nun, although she was always interested in meditation. The first chapter of the book describes how she learned a technique of saying "Buddho" silently to herself, which was a way of bringing peace, and that this had a big influence on her and probably played a part in her decision to become a nun (Brown, page 7). Her family situation was also a big part of the decision, as they were incredibly poor and could barely even afford rice to eat (Brown, page 8). This first chapter of the book shows Wabi as a layperson, and shows how even then she was concerne with religious matters like meditation. Another matter was the act of "making merit," which Thai laypeople engage in as an act of religious practice (Brown, Page 8). Wabi engaged in this by giving some of her family's meager food to a neighboring family (Brown, Page 14). Wabi's reason for desiring to become a nun, though, was tied up with her father. Brown describes how her father had abandoned his family for several years to go off with another woman, but then came back after five years as though nothing had happened (Brown, page 10). She describes how his second departure, this time as a Buddhist monk, only made her more angry, and that she wanted to know why he had abandoned them and "What feelings did he have living this way?" (Brown, Page 18). It was with this in mind, and becoming more and more frustrated with her family life, about which she says that she "never had happiness," (Brown, Page 21) that Wabi left home to become a nun. Once Wabi has made her decision and in a samnak, she meets Maechi Seni, who provides for her by "giving her food and a place to live and providing her with acceptable work and the opportunity to meditate in a peaceful environment" (Brown, Page 38). As can be imagined, the importance of Maechi Seni in Maechi Wabi's life was far-reaching and it is not inconceivable that if she had not met the older woman she would not have been able to pursue being a nun at all. As Brown points out, it would have been more normal in Thailand for Wabi to be looking for a husband at this time, but the older woman's support enabled her t o"develop her role as an enunciant" instead (Brown, Page 40). Maechi Wabi's study pattern in this time is interesting. The book tells us that she spends the rainy season studying "anywhere she wanted" and the rest of the year caring for Maechi Seni's family (Brown, Page 39). This support of women for women is a theme that runs throughout Brown's book and Maechi Wabi's life. One gets the sense that nuns in Thailand almost view themselves as entirely separate from Monks, even though both are working towards the same basic goal of living spiritual, holy lives. Although she lived this way for a long time, it did not last forever. Later in her journey, Maechi Wabi became jealous of another Maechi who was living with her teacher and ended up switching to a different kind of samnak. This kind, known as "Dhammacarini," is more focused on an education than it is on just meditation (Brown, Page 107). In this different school, Maechi Wabi is able to learn things that she can then use to help others more directly than just by living an aescetic life. She feels she has learned that "power without empathy is dangerous," and that teachers stand best to avoid that danger, since their education gives them the ability to empathize more readily (Brown, page 107). With the education of a teacher, Maechi Wabi becomes more than just a nun. She becomes a figure who can teach others to avoid the mistakes she had in her past, even while she herself learns more about her path. Brown explicitly compares the life of Maechi Wabi to the life of Siddharha Gotama early on in the book, and says that both reflected "a disgust with the world and an attraction to the holy life," (Brown, page 6). As well, both are teachers of a sort. Of course, as can be seen from the summary of the book above, Maechi Wabi's life was also very different from the Buddha's, both in terms of her gender and her class. The Buddha was originally a "rich prince" (Brown, page 6) but Maechi Wabi was always poor. And of course Maechi Wabi was a woman, which is why she suffered from so much prejudce. The book discussing Maechi Wabi was really insightful especially because it shows that Buddhism is not a single, monolithic religion. Much like any other, it has its different schools and within those schools there is always opposition to something new or different. Wabi's life and her journey to become a nun was not easy, but is precisely because of that difficulty that the book is so inspiring and informative. In any case, it is hard to say whether Maechi Wabi or Siddhartha Gautama suffered more as they followed their path. Surely The Buddha suffered a lot, and it must have been incredibly difficult for him to create the beginnings of a new religion. On the other hand, as Brown mentions, he was a prince (Brown, page 6), and Maechi Wabi's journey began in extreme poverty. She did not have the resources he must have had at his disposal, and while on the one hand that seems like it would make her decision to become a nun fairly easy, on the other hand she had to feel guilty for a long time because she was abandoning her mother when she could have helped more around the house. Ultimately, it does not seem terribly useful to compare amounts of suffering. Suffering in Buddhism is not a contest, and each individual is supposed to suffer for their own karma. This means that the struggle against karma endured in by Siddhartha Gautama and Maechi Wabi was equal in the sense that each was engaged in their own struggle against themselves. Both suffered, but both seem to have come to a measure of inner happiness and compassion. Maechi Wabi would surely not claim to suffer more than Siddhartha Gautama, but it seems like she would be happy to consider herself as on a similar path to him. Both lives are very inspiring, and the stories of both help teach what it means to be Buddhist. Read More