The practice of Buddhism in Northeast India.

There are several different communities practising Buddhism in the Northeastern parts of India. In the state of Arunachal Pradesh, for example, there are tribes who practise Buddhism according to Tibetan traditions. In the state of Assam, there is a community of people whose forebears came from Burma into what is now Bangladesh, and more recently moved to Assam. They are called Baruahs.

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There are also small communities of people of Tai ethnicity who practise Buddhism following the Theravada tradition. These are the Tai Khamti, Tai Aiton, Tai Phake, Tai Turung and Tai Khamyang, who are closely related to the Shans of Burma and migrated into India sometime between the 16th- and 18th centuries.

Over the past 6 years I have been researching the language of the Tais in Northeast India. After meeting with the Venerable Dhammananda some years ago, I was inspired to ask some of the women in the Tai villages about their practice of Buddhism. I interviewed a Tai Aiton Nun, and two Tai Phake lay women, one aged in her 80s and the other in her 30s.

Sister Umachanta has been a nun (yaa sii) for the last fifteen years. She lives in the Tai village of Baan Hin (Stone village) in Karbi Anglong district of Assam State. Prior to becoming a nun, she was married and raised several children. When she was married, like most of the Tai people, she worked planting and growing rice as well as preparing food for her family.

Sister Umachanta lives by the Eight Buddhist precepts and dresses in yellow robes. She explained to me that unlike monks, the village people do not generally prepare meals for nuns, so she often has to do her own cooking. This is why she is only able to live by eight precepts. In the Tai Khamti lands in Arunachal Pradesh, where there are more Buddhist villages, and as a result some women are able to take 10 precepts and have their food cooked for them.

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At present there are only three or four few nuns among the Tai community in Assam. Sister Umachanta explained that it is usually only older women who take the precepts and become nuns and that younger women are not becoming nuns any more.

Her daily practice consists of rising at about 4 a.m., and practising several types of meditation. One is to sit and concentrate on the breath (Anapana). Another is to count beads while repeating in her mind the words anicca, dukkha and anatta. After the beads have been counted three times, she says a prayer. After completing these prayers, she will take tea.

As mentioned above, she does prepare food for herself, and she can prepare food for the monks. Although the village people do not generally bring her cooked meals, they do present her with husked rice and other ingredients so that she can prepare her meals. She eats twice daily, at 6am and 11am. In the evening she can take black tea, as the monks do.

Nuns, such as Sister Umachanta can either live at temples, or can stay in people's houses. I met her in February 2002 at a house in the Turung village of Rengmai where I was also staying. We were both there to attend the festival of ritual tug-of-war, held after the death of a monk.

Generally, however, she lives alone in the nun's quarter at the temple in Baan Hin.

I asked her what she felt about the relationship between nuns and monks, and she explained that monks have a higher status than nuns, and that as a consequence she has to show respect to the monks.

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I also interviewed Nang Pe, an elderly lady of the Tai Phake, asking her about Buddhist practice in her life. She explained to me that it is the role of women to take food to the monks every day, if there are any monks in residence. In her village there is only one monk but many Tai villages have no resident monks at all.

The food for the monks is generally prepared by the daughter-in-law in each house, the same person who is responsible for cooking for the family. Older women do not go to the temple in the early morning and bring food for the monk and for any novices or other guests who might be there.

However, everyone is involved in village festivals. For example, in the eighth month when the rains retreat begins, all the older women and older men will dress in white clothing and take the 8 precepts. They dress in their best clothing and, taking flowers, candles and incense, will go to the temple at about 7am.

Those who have taken the 8 precepts--and any honoured guests--will sit at the front of the temple. The men sit in front and the women behind. Behind them, sit all the villagers not taking the 8 precepts.

At the temple, the people first offer foods to the monks. They then ask pardon of the Lord Buddha, and begin the prayers. All the villagers take the five precepts, and the older ones, or any nuns present, take the eight precepts. For these older people, the eight precepts are just for that one day. Then the monk will give a sermon and read some prayers, both in Tai language and Pali language.

After the ceremony everyone goes to the River Dihing, to throw the candles and flowers into the river. They then return home and take their meal.

I asked Nang Pe what she thought about the fact that men sit in front of women in the temple. She explained that this was because the monks would be at the front, and that the monks were men. But she added that it was great merit for anybody to be present in the temple, wherever they sat.

There are a number of other festivals such as the Beginning of the Rains Retreat. These include other Buddhist festivals such as the End of the Rains Retreat, the Presentation of New Robes and the Buddha's birthday.

In her home, Nang Pe presents foods to the Buddha image every morning and evening, and says prayers. These prayers, which are also undertaken by older men, consist of the salutation to the Buddha (Namo Tassa ...), the threefold refuge and the five precepts.

Nang Pe is one of a few women who can read and write the Tai language. She is very knowledgeable about Buddhist practice.

Lastly, I interviewed Yenow Than, a single woman in her mid thirties. She explained to me that her daily practice of Buddhism consisted of following the five precepts. She doesn't say daily prayers at the shrine in the house, because both her parents are alive to do so.

On the full moon and new moon days, she will usually go to the temple at around 7a.m. for a small prayer service. On those days she will bathe and dress well, taking care to wear a fine white shawl over her shoulder. The order of service is much as was described above for the festival of the Beginning of the Rains Retreat.

I asked Yenow Than what she felt about the respective position of men and women in the Tai villages and the fact that women who become nuns are not respected in the same way as men who become monks. She answered that this was 'Just a tradition, going on from generation to generation'. In any case she said that younger women are not interested in being nuns. After the tape was switched off, her younger sister, still in her teens, exclaimed that women ought to be able to do what men can do, and Yenow Than agreed.

The Tai Buddhists in Northeast India number perhaps no more than 20,000. Many of them no longer speak the Tai language, communicating instead in Assamese. Nevertheless, in every village there is a temple library containing manuscripts of the Tripitaka and other Buddhist texts. Tai people in Northeast India are very fond of Jataka stories, particularly the story of Mahosatha (Mahaummaggajataka). This story is much more popular among the Tai in India than the Vessantara Jataka. Older people, both male and female, tell Mahosatha stories and can read the old manuscripts of the Mahosatha which are kept in the temple libraries.

Dr. Stephen Morey