Pictures speak a thousand words: Was the International Sangha Forum event in Bodh Gaya another “old boy’s club” event?

A few months ago, I wrote an opinion piece titled, “Where Are the Women At the Global Buddhist Summit” concerning said summit in New Delhi. One week ago, the press and social media reported  that the 14^th Dalai Lama was inaugurating a three-day International Sangha Forum  on “Bridging Traditions, Embracing Modernity-A Dialogue on the Buddha’s Teaching in Today’s World” in Bodh Gaya.

It was disappointing to see yet again an all-male panel on the main stage, bar one: Gopa Maharathi, member of the Bodhgaya Temple management committee. As he is 88, it is possible that the Dalai Lama did not have much say in the people who would be on the main stage with him: his advisors and those around him would have had such authority though. Thus, it is strange indeed that an international sangha event had an all-male presence on the main stage and could not find any Buddhist women or nuns to include.

For the rest of my brief opinion piece on this, please visit Teahouse Buddhist Door Global: Pictures speak a thousand words: Was the International Sangha Forum event in Bodh Gaya another “old boy’s club” event?

I conclude that:

“The Buddhist sangha, as originally founded by Shakayamuni Buddha, is a fourfold one, supposedly equal between laymen, laywomen, monks, and nuns. Yet judging by the photo of the conference, one would think that the Buddhist sangha is made of monks only. Perhaps that was the unspoken message and symbol of it all? On seeing that photo, most women might understandably not see it as a sangha for and including women. Seeing, after all, is believing.”