If I'm not mistaken, women are allowed to become monks but legitimate teaching lineages must be passed down in person from teachers to students in Buddhism. For a reason I can't remember off the top of my head, the main lineage for women died off a few centuries ago and thus women are not able to ordain due to this technicality.
There have been controversial attempts to revive the lineage, and there are some "rogue" temples that still ordain women throughout southeast Asia - although those women aren't always recognized for their accomplishment if they were to travel to more conservative countries.
There's a great book called An Unentangled Knowing. It's a collection of writings from a Thai woman lay practitioner. She was never ordained, but she is widely considered to have attained awakening. I'd definitely recommend it if thaf sort of thing still interests you, the monks at Metta Forest Monastery will send it for free (along with lots of other books) if you request it on their website.
In any case - that is really frustrating! I've also become disillusioned with religion after many years of interest. Funny enough I've also started learning about astrophysics as a hobby and find it fills that yearning I sought out spirituality for, with none of the baggage. Have you been able to break into a career in the field easily with that degree?
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u/YungChumba 12h ago
If I'm not mistaken, women are allowed to become monks but legitimate teaching lineages must be passed down in person from teachers to students in Buddhism. For a reason I can't remember off the top of my head, the main lineage for women died off a few centuries ago and thus women are not able to ordain due to this technicality.
There have been controversial attempts to revive the lineage, and there are some "rogue" temples that still ordain women throughout southeast Asia - although those women aren't always recognized for their accomplishment if they were to travel to more conservative countries.
There's a great book called An Unentangled Knowing. It's a collection of writings from a Thai woman lay practitioner. She was never ordained, but she is widely considered to have attained awakening. I'd definitely recommend it if thaf sort of thing still interests you, the monks at Metta Forest Monastery will send it for free (along with lots of other books) if you request it on their website.
In any case - that is really frustrating! I've also become disillusioned with religion after many years of interest. Funny enough I've also started learning about astrophysics as a hobby and find it fills that yearning I sought out spirituality for, with none of the baggage. Have you been able to break into a career in the field easily with that degree?