Buddhist deconstruction.

Feminists often speak of deconstructing the feminine mystique in order to strengthen and help our present society grow in a more positive and healthy way.

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During the time when India was occupied by the Muslims in the 11th century A.D. Islamic culture did not have statues of any kind. Therefore they looked at Buddha images as purely idol worship which was against the practice of the Muslims. This caused a great destruction to Buddhist monuments and statues. The most recent ones were the two standing Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan which were blown to dust in 2001.

In Bodh Gaya, the most popular Buddhist pilgrimage site in India behind the sacred Bodhi tree under which the Buddha became enlightened, there sat a beautiful Buddha statue inside a shrine.

There is an interesting story about this Buddha image. During the Muslim occupation of the area, the Muslim soldier who came to inspect the area ordered the statue destroyed. The monk who was the care-taker of the shrine came up with a brilliant idea, he plastered a wall immediately in front of the statue. From afar it would seem that the Buddha statue was removed. After two days the soldier came to inspect and went away satisfied believing that the order was carried out.

Hence the Buddha statue was saved from the destruction.

Hundreds of years went by, much later it was discovered that there was a beautiful Buddha statue behind that innocent looking wall. The wall was slowly removed, brick by brick. Lo! What a beautiful Buddha image it was.

The Buddha statue remained the center of worship since then and the people called him "Buddha Metta" (the Buddha with loving kindness)

When Buddhism spread to different countries, it has been shrouded by myth, social values, local beliefs, etc. of each locality. So we have Thai Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, etc. Particularly Thai Buddhism, with a close look we find that there are three major strands intertwined into what is called Thai Buddhism, which is yet another popular Buddhism. Within Thai Buddhism there is animistic beliefs and practices, as we commonly see the worship of spirit house, spirit of the land, spirit of the trees, etc. There is also a set of Brahmanistic beliefs and practices adopted by the Royal families and handed down to the local people. The teaching of the Buddha, the third strand is only minor part of the larger set of beliefs and practices and that also is limited only to basic teaching like the theory of kamma, merit making, the belief in hell and heaven, etc. The unique teaching of the Buddha regarding no-self, Nirvana, Emptiness is hardly known to the public.

Many social values taken from Popular Buddhism have obstructed and obscure the true essence and the beauty of Buddhism. By freeing Buddhism from the wall of prejudice and patriarchy, indirectly women will have a better place to practice and to serve Buddhism the way the Buddha had intended.

In order to apply Buddhist deconstruction to practice, taken an example from the story how the Buddha Metta was saved in India, we need to help remove the wall of ignorance, prejudice, patriarchy and the wall of attachment to the glory of "self".

One technique is to identify each negative social value, identifying its root cause and finally being able to remove it from the wall which had obscured the Buddha, or the true essence of Buddhism.

One myth which we have been able to identify is a myth circulated in our society that "women are unclean". We have been able to identify this myth that it is neither rooted in the spirit nor in the essence of Buddhism. Therefore it is one brick to be removed from this wall of ignorance.

One myth is "Women cannot be ordained" is rooted in self protected male-only sphere which needed to be cracked down. The true message of Buddhism was that the Buddha trusted men and women equally to propagate Buddhism. The four columns of Buddhists are bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, laymen and laywomen. We share equal responsibility to bring about the growth of Buddhism for its relevance to society now and in the future.

Join us in trying to identify these myths so that we can again rediscover Buddhism to strengthen and to enhance our lives.

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