The Buddha's blessing : gender and Buddhist practice in Hanoi
Date
1999
Authors
Soucy, Alexander Duncan
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Abstract
On the fourteenth day of the lunar month, a few minutes before eight
o'clock, Quán Sử Pagoda - the most important pagoda in Hanoi - is
crowded. Middle-aged and old women are everywhere, wearing the
brown robes and the Buddhist rosaries that mark them as dệ tử- laydevotees
of the Buddha. In the large, main hall there are nearly two
hundred devotees, sitting on grass mats that flow out the doors and
onto the balcony that surrounds the pagoda. They are waiting for the
sutra recital to begin, and some of them have been waiting for as long
as an hour in order to get a good place, close to the altar. Gently
waving their purple fans, they chat to their neighbours, or quietly
count on their prayer beads: Nam-mô A-Di-Dà Phật... Nam-mô A-DiDà
Phật... Nam-mo A-Di-Dà Phật. Women make up the vast
majority of people who consider themselves devout Buddhists in
Hanoi.
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