The Buddha's blessing : gender and Buddhist practice in Hanoi

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. Show more