“We badly need feminist Buddhist scholars and meditation teachers that empower women and many marginalized people,” says Ouyporn Khuankaew.

As the founder and lead trainer for the International Women’​s Partnership for Peace and Justice (IWP), based in Chiang Dao, Thailand, Ouyporn has thought a lot about feminism and its relationship to Buddhism and Thai culture. As a domestic violence survivor herself, she focuses her teaching on trauma, gender, and sexuality, topics that are often taboo in Thai society. Formerly a director of Women and Gender programs for the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Khuankaew now leads anti-oppression workshops and retreats for activists suffering from burnout. For her, the work of transforming Thai society and empowering women means braiding spiritual practice with activist work.

Buddhistdoor Global: How do you see feminism in relationship to Buddhism, especially in Thailand?

Ouyporn Khuankaew: Feminist views and practices are most needed in transforming Thai Buddhism because, as a result of male domination in Thai Theravadha Buddhism, the Buddha's teachings have been altered or replaced by the teachings of patriarchy. When I first conducted a workshop with the Buddhist women from this region many years ago, what we found was that most teachings we have socialized from the Buddhist monks were anti-women. For example, we have all learned that, as women, we cannot gain enlightenment. Thus, patriarchal Buddhist institutions and teachings have become one of the main root causes of oppression, particularly against women, transgendered people, the disabled, and other marginalized groups. We badly need feminist Buddhist scholars and meditation teachers who empower women and marginalized people.

BDG: Violence is the background for a lot of the people who you might work with, whether domestic violence survivors or refugees. What is important to know about working with trauma survivors?

OK: Trauma knowledge is most lacking in our society. I did not have this awareness until I started doing healing for myself and my mother many years ago. When I began to teach trauma healing to Thai nurses and psychologists seven years ago, I realized that they had learned very little about trauma and the trauma knowledge they had learned was mainly of the trauma caused by natural disasters or accidents. So when trauma is caused by sexual violence and other forms of oppression, such as women living with HIV, transgendered people, or those suffering from domestic abuse, the health officers had no knowledge or skills to support these patients.

In addition, since most hospitals are led by male doctors who never learn about this kind of trauma, they either are against or are not supportive of feminist counseling knowledge for nurses and psychologists. The emphasis is to give these patients pills. Our organization, IWP, is the only one in Thailand that has been giving seven-day mindfulness-based feminist counseling for survivors of gender-based and other forms of oppression.

BDG: You wrote in a paper that sometimes people “simply only need a witness to their own existence.” Can you explain this a bit more?

OK: Deep listening is an amazing practice to offer to people who have experienced violence of any form. There are many social stigmas and labels placed on women, children, transgendered people, and people living with HIV who have experienced domestic or sexual abuse. Often these groups of trauma survivors are told that it is their fault (or karma from their previous), so guilt, shame, suppression, and isolation make their suffering worse. When they have a chance to tell their truth with a witness that is present and compassionate, they are breaking their silence, which is the beginning of healing.

BDG: Tell me a little bit about founding IWP—how did the organization come about, and how did you get started?

OK: I left the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) in 1998 but continued to do grassroots work with women in Asia. Working with INEB and living at the Wongsanit Ashram [a Buddhist activist community in central Thailand] for six months made me realize that I needed spiritual practice to deal with my anger and burnout from activism.