gender question

[Andrea Collisson]

If you were all eating together, monks, nuns, lay men and women. What is the order of taking food? Would you ever all eat together or is there segregation.

This is aside from the fact that you have separate monasteries.

I'm probably not going to come over to the monasteries here in the near future as its very far but i want to understand how dhammaloka monastery has modernised from its gender practices from its thai origins. Can you give me explicit examples. I've only asked in generalities before.

I don't want to phone anyone.

[Ajahn Brahmali]

Dear Andrea,

The monastics take their food first, according to seniority and independent of gender. The food is brought to the monastery for the resident monastics, so this is only natural.

At Bodhinyana Monastery the monks eat separately, either in the dining hall or alone in their huts. Visiting nuns would normally eat in their rooms. The lay people staying at the monastery can also eat alone in their room if they so desire. We provide tables and chairs for visitors, whereas the monastics eat while sitting on the floor.

At the Dhammaloka city centre everyone eats together, monastics and lay people. Dhammaloka is not a monastery; it's a teaching centre. There are two monasteries associated with the Dhammaloka centre: Bodhinyana Monastery for monks and Dhammasara Monastery for nuns.

With metta.