Dhammananda Bhikkhuni - Early Life, Education, and Ordination

Early Life, Education, and Ordination

Chatsumarn Kabilsingh was born in 1944 to Voramai Kabilsingh and Kokiat Shatsena. Her mother, Voramai, was the first Thai woman to be fully ordained as a bhikkhuni. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh relates how her mother became a nun when she (Chatsumarn) was ten years old, but rather than leaving the home as most women do, Voramai turned her home into her temple. Chatsumarn received Buddhist instruction and training along with the nuns. She says that her father, Kokiat, was "the first Thai man I knew who strongly supported the revival of the Bhikkhuni Sangha in Thailand." Unusual for Thai women, Chatsumarn received a higher education. After high school, she received her B.A. in Philosophy from Visva Bharati University, her M.A. in Religion from McMaster University in Canada, and her Ph.D. in Buddhism from Magadh University in India. She married, has three sons and three grandchildren. She taught for over thirty years at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh is a well-known author of many books on contemporary issues in Asian Buddhism, including Buddhism and Ecology and Women in Buddhism.

She has often said that she knew she would become a monastic in the Buddhist tradition at some point in her life; she was just waiting for the right time. That time came in 2000 when she took early retirement from Thammasat University and received the bodhisattva's precept from Fo Guang Shan in Taiwan. In 2001, she took her lower ordination in Sri Lanka from Ven. Bhikkhuni R.Saddha Sumana and Ven. T. Dhammaloka (bhikkhu). In 2003, she was ordained a full bhikkhuni, also in Sri Lanka, the first Thai woman to be ordained in a Theravada monastic lineage. Her bhikkhuni name is Dhammananda. Her ordination lineage is Syamopali from Dambulla chapter. She current resides at the Songdhammakalyani Monastery in the Muang District, Nakhonpathom province, Thailand. Since her ordination, the Ven. Bhikkhuni Dhammananda has written several books, designed to educate the public about various issues related to Thai Buddhism, including the place of women.

The Temple complex which was founded by Venerable Dhammananda's mother is called Wat Songdhammakalyani, or the “temple where women uphold the Dharma.” The temple is located in the town of Nakhon Pathom, near Bangkok, Thailand.