Equality of Access? Chinese Women Practicing Chan and Transnational Meditation in Contemporary China

Abstract

This paper examines how the Buddhist revival, the Chan revival, and recent popularity of transnational meditation practices have facilitated Chinese women practicing Buddhist meditation in contemporary China. With the influence of the opening of China and growing transnational networks, there has been an increasing number of Han Chinese monastics and lay people practicing transnational meditation, such as samādhi, vipassanā and mindfulness, in the past two decades. Despite the restriction of accessing Chan halls at monasteries, some Chinese nuns and laywomen have traveled to learn meditation in different parts of China, and international meditation centers in Southeast Asia to study with yogis from all over the world. Surprisingly some returned female travelers have taken significant roles in organizing meditation retreats, and establishing meditation centers and meditation halls. Through examining some ethnographic cases of Chinese nuns and laywomen, this paper argues that the transnational meditation movement has an impact not only on gender equality, especially concerning Chinese women practicing meditation, but also on the development of contemporary Chinese Buddhism. The significant role of Chinese female meditators in promoting Buddhist meditation can reflect a trend of re-positioning the Chan School in contemporary China.

When Mahāyāna Meets Theravāda: The Position of Chinese Bhikṣuṇīs in Contemporary Myanmar

“…More and more Chinese monks and nuns visit, study, and attend short-term or intensive meditation retreats of Theravāda monasteries in Thailand and Myanmar, as that tradition is deemed to be closer to "original Buddhism" and, as such, capable of bringing greater rigorousness to monasticism. For an overview, see Bianchi (2001, forthcoming) and Lau (2022). 55 Shih Chao-hwei 釋昭慧 was born in Myanmar in 1957 and later moved to Taiwan in 1965.…”