Outstanding women buddhist awards

OUTLOOK
Outstanding Women in Buddhism awards; Twenty women from around the world will be recognised on Thursday for their achievements
1446 words
4 March 2008
Bangkok Post
O3
English
(c) 2008

Celebrity forensic expert Khunying Dr Porntip Rojanasunan, human rights activist Tuenjai Deetes and writer Orasom Sutisakorn are among eight Thai women to be honoured with Outstanding Women in Buddhism Awards.

The other Thai awardees are Bhikkhuni Silananda, Sikkhamat Phussadi, Maechee Pimjai Maneerat, Maechee Waree Chuethasanaprasit and nurse Angoon Wongcharoen.

They are among 20 awardees from various countries who will be honoured at the award presentation ceremony on Thursday.

Among them are: Bhikkhuni Mudita and Sylvia Wetzel from Germany; Nobuko Ono from Japan; Bhikkhuni Dr Myung Sung Sunim from Korea; Bhikkhuni Sik Jian Yin, Bhikkhuni Sik Wei Chun and Dr Li Hua Yang from Taiwan; Bhiksuni Pema Chodron, Jacqueline Kramer, Reverend Beth Kanji Goldring and Reverend Patricia Dai-En Bennage from the US; and Ajahn Anandabodhi from the UK.

Organised by the Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award Committee, the ceremony will take place at the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women in Don Muang, from 8am to 4pm.

Here is the full list of awardees:

- Ajahn Anandabodhi, from the UK

Born in Wales, in 1968, she worked in environmental conservation before taking a Siladhara ordination in 1995 at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hemel Hempstead. Ajahn Anandabodhi is establishing a women's monastic centre in California.

- Angoon Wongcharoen, from Thailand

Inspired by the Bhodhisattva ethics as a Thai-Chinese, nurse Angoon Wongcharoen of the Thai Red Cross has dedicated herself for 16 years in disaster management and in assisting victims of natural disasters, including the Thai Red Cross response to the tsunami disaster of 2004. Her compassion has touched many hearts.

- Bhikkhuni Mudita, from Germany

Bhikkhuni Mudita worked as a school teacher for blind and deaf children and as a counsellor for troubled boys and sexually abused girls before being ordained. She has co-founded an interfaith community of social engagement. Focusing on spiritual healing, she has led three meditation retreats at the memorial of the World War Two Women's Concentration Camp Ravenbruck in Germany. She founded the Anenja Vihara Monastery for women in 2006.

- Bhikkhuni Silananda, from Thailand

Born in Bangkok, in 1972, she had many years of spiritual practice with various meditation teachers. Despite the strong resistance of the Thai clergy to female ordination, she decided to ordain as Bhikkhuni in 2006. She is currently studying for a master's degree at the International Buddhist College in Songkla.

- Venerable Dr Myung Sung, from Korea

Dedicated to the education of women, Ven Dr Myung Sung is Dean of Unmun Sangha College and Unmun Sangha Graduate School Cheongdo, South Korea. As an inspiration to Korean nuns and lay women Buddhists, she is currently president of the National Bhikkhuni Association of Korean Buddhism Jogye Order. She also contributed to the succession of the Bhikkhuni lineage by serving as a preceptor at ordination ceremonies in Korea.

- Bhikkhuni Pema Chodron, from the US

Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York, in 1936, she became a novice nun in Tibetan Buddhism in 1974. She received the full Bhikkhuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

She was director of Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado, before serving as director of Gampo Abbey. Currently teaching in the US and Canada, her books include The Wisdom of No Escape; Start Where You Are; When Things Fall Apart; The Places That Scare You; No Time to Lose; and Practicing Peace in Times of War.

- Bhikkhuni Sik Jian Yin, from Taiwan

Born in 1960, she holds the post of abbess at the Zhi Cheng Monastery in Ping Tung. She offers dharma outreach, various social services while supporting cultural activities and the arts. Her dharma teachings and services have won her many awards in Taiwan.

- Bhiksuni Sik Wei Chun, from Taiwan

She founded the Daksinavana Bhiksuni Sangha Ashram (Yuchih), the Dakinava Temple (Kuoshing), the Dakinava Buddhist Cultural Society (Canada) and the the Daksinavana Institute of Buddhist Studies (1993) to provide places for nuns and upasikas to learn, practice and to be ordained. She is also active in social welfare, education and disaster relief.

- Dr Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, from Thailand

Dr Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan is the acting director of the Ministry of Justice's Department of Forensic Science. She is highly respected for her courage in pursuing truth and justice in the face of a corrupt police system. She was also among the key figures in Thailand's relief efforts during the 2004 tsunami disaster.

- Dr Li Hua Yang, from Taiwan

As a dharma teacher, psychiatrist and acupuncturist Dr Li Hua Yang's dedication to community service has earned her the title Humanistic Bodhisattva. In addition to focusing on children, youth and people deeply locked in suffering such as prisoners, she is also active in palliative care.

- Jacqueline Kramer, from the US

Jacqueline Kramer has been studying and practicing Theravada Buddhism for 30 years. She is the author of Buddha Mum: The Path of Mindful Mothering and 10 Spiritual Practices for Busy Parents.

She has also developed online lay Buddhist practice classes on subjects ranging from relationships, illnesses, death and dying. The Hearth Foundation was created to house these classes and to create a spiritual community for mothers interested in developing a Buddhist family lifestyle in the West.

- Maechee Pimjai Maneerat, from Thailand

She is director of a residential educational project that assists poor ethnic children in Kanchanaburi province. Many of them are stateless. Despite obstacles and a lack of resources, she is determined to give the children dharma and proper education.

- Maechee Waree Chuethasanaprasit, from Thailand

As a leader of the nuns' movement in Thailand, Maechee Waree Chuethasanaprasit has empowered countless women to become dharma teachers, social workers, and to stand on their own financially through self-initiated projects. She has established a national network of laywomen, and began empowering ordained women leaders one-by-one. Her personal dharma teachings have met the needs of women, at-risk youths, young people in prison, people living with HIV/Aids and drug addicts.

- Nobuko Ono, from Japan

As head of the Amagase Community Centre, she has been active in deep-listening counselling and other community services. She is a living example of a life of service a lay person can live through deep-listening counselling.

- Orasom Sutisakorn, from Thailand

Orason Sutisakorn has written more than 30 books on social issues related to children, women and family violence. Her writing bears witness to suffering, gives a voice to those silenced, and offers a reflection in hope for a better tomorrow. Her books include Rust Flowers: The True Lives of Women in the Dark Corners of Thai Society, Child Criminal? and Youth of the X Generation.

- Reverend Beth Kanji Goldring, from the US

She founded the Brahmavihara/Cambodia Aids Project in 2000 to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of destitute Aids patients in Cambodia. Since then the project has grown to include not only spiritual and emotional support, but also social services and some material needs. The staff of nine, including her, work with some 200 patients in their homes, in hospices and in hospitals. Its web site is http://www.brahmavihara . cambodiaaidsproject.org/.

- Reverend Patricia Dai-En Bennage, from the US

Trained in Zen Buddhism, she is Abbess of Mt Equity Zendo, Jihoji in Pennsdale, Pennsylvania. Apart from teaching meditation to women in prisons and colleges, Rev Patricia also translated female meditation master Roshi Aoyama's book Zen Seeds into English.

- Senator Tuenjai Kunchon na Ayutthaya Deetes, from Thailand

A former teacher of hill-tribe children, Tuenjai is a strong advocate of environmental conservation, human rights and the community's right to manage its own natural resources. As a senator, she has had a hand in many laws benefiting women and the needy. She draws inner strength in the face of obstacles from meditation.

- Sikkhamat Phussadi, from Thailand

Highly respected as a meditation master, she is the first 10 precept nun of the Santi Asoke community. At the age of 83, she still teaches dharma and gives counselling three days a week. She has written three books, The Principles of Practicing Oneself for Purity, The Path for Life, and Blessings and Errors That Can Be Seen in This Life.

- Sylvia Wetzel, from Germany

Sylvia Wetzel is at the forefront of Buddhism in Europe and offers reflections on gender issues and cultural conditioning. She is also one of the key figures in setting up the Women Dharma Teacher's Peer Group, the network of Buddhist centres in Berlin and Brandenburg and the Buddhist Academy in Berlin. She has also contributed to the introduction of Buddhism to the curriculums of schools in Berlin.