Adonchee (Khmer:ដូនជី) is a piousEight- orTen Precepts-holdinganagārikā laywoman residing in a pagoda inBuddhism in Cambodia, wherebhikkhuni (nun's) lineage is not officially recognized.
Female renunciants have been present since the origin of Buddhism.
In Sri Lanka andMyanmar, they have established monasteries for anagārikās. Similar orders exist inThailand.
In Thailand, where it is illegal for a woman to take a bhikkhuni ordination, they are calledmaechi. In Burma, an eight precept nun is addressed asthilashin or sayalay, whereas a fully ordained woman is called arahan-ma ("female monk").
In Cambodia, they are called donchees. According to Guthrie,dunchees are the "heirs of an ancient form of female asceticism that was once accorded high status in Cambodia".[1]
During the tyranny of theKhmer Rouges regime, public practise of Buddhism was forbidden, monks were defrocked and pagodas destroyed or used as granaries, prisons or execution sites. After the regime was overthrown, women who had lost their husbands and sons began the revival of Buddhism by cleaning the temples. After large number of widows were left derelict by the massacres of the Khmer population between 1975 and 1979, newdonchee communities were formed as shelters.[2]
After the fall of the Communist regime in 1991, thedunchee played an important role in thereconciliation of Cambodia, as thevoat became a place where thedunchee could help heal the wounds and traumas of the younger generations[3] and a conference was organized inPhnom Penh in 1997 to discuss this emerging role of thedonchee.[4]
However, the role and status ofdonchee and of women in general in Cambodian Buddhism is questioned. The fact that the monastic opportunities that exist for young men are largely absent for young women is one consequence of the fact that fullfemale ordination is no longer available in Theravada Buddhism. Other see this inequality between thebikkhu and thedunchee as a form of complementarity where one can find refuge.[5]
Donchees, literally "granny" in Khmer, are usually elderly widows who find refuge in the hermitages around the Khmer pagoda in a form ofbéguinage. They shave their heads and wear a white or yellow robe. Most pagodas have special quarters to house nuns, though many choose to reside at home, supported by their children.[6]
In total, there were approximately ten thousanddunchees all around Cambodia in the year 2000.[7]
Dunchee have an "ambiguous position in Cambodian Buddhism".[8]The status ofdunchee is in between an ordinaryupāsikā (laywoman) and a fully ordained bhikkhuni. They are usually expected to work inviharas, essentially as maids to ordainedbhikkhus, rather than receiving training and the opportunity to practice.
One of the largest centers wheredunches receive formation is at Vipassana Dhura Meditation Center. This center, at the foot ofOudong mountain fifty kilometers North of Phnom Penh, houses roughly 200 nuns. However, even there, gender disparity in roles performed by monks and donchee in Cambodian Buddhism have been criticized.[9]
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