No women allowed in protector chapel?

[Namdrol]

I have heard of some protector chapels in Tibet which forbid women from entering, some reasons I heard is that it is not to discriminate against women, not that they are unclean or anything (unlike other religions), but it is more to protect the women, because some protectors have very strong and fierce energy which may hurt women who are usually more delicate and weak, and also such strong energy sometimes may affect the health of certain women.

Anyone heard of anything like that?

But one thing for sure is that I have not heard of such issues with Dorje Shugden.

[DSFriend]

I have not heard of any protector chapel of such. Do share if anyone knows.

To me, it's not logical because it shows the protector harms and is not able to control his energy. Also, frailness or being delicate and weak is not restricted to gender. How about children? How about men who are smaller in frame than women?

[VS]

I agree with DSFriend.

Protectors are here to protect, not to harm. Hence, why would they harm women who are thought to be more delicate and weak? Isn't Protectors will be fierce towards beings who are harmful regardless of their gender?

Women are stronger than they seem to be. They have more strength compared to most people. They have the strength to bear pain that no one can imagine. I doubt they'll be harmed by the very strong and fierce energy of protectors.

I believe there are female form of protectors as well, are their energy 'harmful' towards the weaker gender?

[Galen]

I have not heard of any prohibition of women entering a protector chapel. So far of all the monasteries in india I have been to i.e. Shar Gaden, Gaden Lachi, Serpom, women are allowed to go in. Women of all sizes are there. Protectors are compassionate too, so I don't think they will harm anyone, including women and children.
It is illogical.

Also, the holy chapels of Tara, VY, Chenrezig in Nepal also allow people of different race, gender, size and age into the chapels.

[Positive Change]

I have never heard of such a thing either.... No disrespect but a protector chapel that is "conditional" and potentially harmful does not strike me as having a protector that I would trust. A protector is meant to protect no? Perhaps the difference between non enlightened and enlightened protectors I guess... Interesting though as I wonder where and who this protector is?

[tsangpakarpo]

hmm this is something new to me. I have been to a couple of monasteries in India and Nepal but there wasnt any rules stating that women are not allowed in the protector chapel. In fact, I saw with my very own eyes many faithful women going in to the chapels to make offerings and do prostrations.

My thinking is perhaps in the past women are not allowed in the monasteries as to not distract the monks from practicing.

[Vajraprotector]

I have read in the Lonely Planet's Tibet guidebook that in Drepung Gomang, there is a single protector chapel on the upper floor and women are not allowed into the chapel.

It is said that in some Tibetan monasteries, women are not allowed to enter the chapel out of fear that spirits may be offended. I think this is "old Tibetan thinking" of women inferiority, or for the sake of keeping the monastery "clean" of accusation, I am not sure. Some monasteries forbid women altogether, for example Rabgya Monastery in Golog.

A few sites/ blogs online also mentioned the same thing, but no reasons given:

- Gomang College in Drepung
        Gomang is the second largest of Drepung's colleges and follows the same layout as Loseling. The main hall has a whole row of images, including Jampa, Tsepame and the seventh Dalai Lama. Again, there are three deities of lonevity, but more important is the central chapel, chock-a-block with images. As at Loseling, there is a single protector chapel on the upper floor. Women are not allowed into this chapel.

Source: http://www.chinayak.com/travelguide091013/f351028.asp


- 10. Do Steer Clear of Protector Deity Chapels if You Are a Woman
 Many Tibetan monasteries have a small temple room devoted to a protector deity, and women are not allowed in these rooms

Source: http://evdecleyre.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/when-visiting-a-tibetan-monastery/

Anyway, in Medieval Rome, women are not allowed to visit certain chapels in the basicilicas of St John Latheran and St Peter.

Mount Athos (Hagion Oros), or "Holy Mountain", is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are 20 Orthodox monasteries there and they stand on the eastern peninsula of Halkidiki. Women are still not allowed to enter Mount Athos.

[Aurore]

I have heard before that women are forbidden in certain holy areas/temples in Tibet. However, not particularly protector chapels. I can't exactly remember why.

Anyways, I have an experience to share. After starting to do protector practice, sometimes when I have negative thoughts, I feel a wrathful energy which is similar to a hot sensation behind my neck. Perhaps this matches the strong energy thing Namdrol speaks of.

Or perhaps it has some similar reasons as why women are also not allowed to perform the dakini dance. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[kris]

@Vajraprotector, I am not sure how accurate of the information. Yes, I know it is Lonely Planet, but I still quite doubt if it is accurate...

I have seen many photos of women going into the protector chapel in Serpom, Gaden Shartze, Shar Gaden, etc. Lay people, man and women all go into the Dorje Shugden chapel, Setrap chapel...

[Vajraprotector]

May be it's only in Old Tibet? I have heard about the monasteries in Tibet, but not in India. Hmm... 

[diamond girl]

It is possible that in some religions women are not allowed to enter places of worship. When I was very young, I remembered that I was not allowed to enter the temple if the main monk was in the temple. I had accidentally gone in once and received blessing because on that day I looked like a boy, and it was not deliberate. I looked tomboy when I was a kid. When my grandmother saw this she alarmed and the poor monk was astonished, but he smiled and I just gently and respectfully walked away. I did feel really bad I had put the poor monk through that.

Anyway, I do believe that such "rules" may be from way back times when there was inequality between men and women. And perhaps it is to prevent distraction to monks. However, from my personal experience to monasteries in India, I have not been forbidden to enter any temples nor protector chapels.

However, I do know that some mosques do forbid entrance to women to some places/sections of the mosque. They are only permitted to general areas. Personally to me, these are all human-made rules and not that of the Gods.

[thor]

The idea of the Protector's energy hurting women is ridiculous. How can a Buddha's energy harm? Likewise, if it is to avoid angering spirits, spirits are everywhere not just in the protector chapel.

I do not know the reason why women are not allowed in protector chapels but I could guess. In many world religions, women are considered unclean when they are menstruating. Many temples especially in Hinduism forbid menstruating women from entering. Perhaps these traditions have rubbed off onto Tibetan Buddhism, when it was brought from India to Tibet. However from monastery to monastery, the rules regarding women differ, which leads me to think that such rules are made by men, and not according to scripture. Some monasteries allow women, everywhere, some forbid women to enter protector chapels, and other monasteries forbid women entirely, not even in the monastery courtyard.

What's odd is that in Tibet, women were the landowners and conducted business affairs on a footing on par with men. Property was passed down generations in the hands of women not men. Women also could have many husbands while men could only take one wife. So with women playing a major role in tibetan society, its odd that they take a backseat when it comes to the spiritual arena.

[beggar]

in tantric practices, women are regarded as highly important. In fact, one of the tantric vows is NOT to disparage women; and putting women down in any way will constitute breaking one of the tantric vows. Women are to be held very highly and regarded to be very strong in their own right, so this reason for not allowing them into a chapel would not make much sense and cannot have been based on Dharma teachings. 

Perhaps it is something specific to people of that region. Sometimes, certain rules arise from cultural sensitivities specific to that area and time. Some of the Vinaya vows were formed in this way also, but are not to be taken nor applied literally in this time and age. 

[Big Uncle]

This sounds old and ridiculous. I don't think they have a valid reason for this restriction. It could be just another archaic rule made up by the uneducated working monks because they were afraid that the women would disturb the monks while they performed their puja.

They are uneducated so they wouldn't know much of the veneration of women in Tantra and only saw them as fetters. Whatever it is, it wouldn't apply in out time and age. But I do know that women are not allowed in the monastery after dark and that is reasonable to me but not this restriction in Protector Chapels. 

[Lawrence L]

I have read in the Lonely Planet's Tibet guidebook that in Drepung Gomang, there is a single protector chapel on the upper floor and women are not allowed into the chapel.

It is said that in some Tibetan monasteries, women are not allowed to enter the chapel out of fear that spirits may be offended. I think this is "old Tibetan thinking" of women inferiority, or for the sake of keeping the monastery "clean" of accusation, I am not sure. Some monasteries forbid women altogether, for example Rabgya Monastery in Golog.

A few sites/ blogs online also mentioned the same thing, but no reasons given:

- Gomang College in Drepung
        Gomang is the second largest of Drepung's colleges and follows the same layout as Loseling. The main hall has a whole row of images, including Jampa, Tsepame and the seventh Dalai Lama. Again, there are three deities of lonevity, but more important is the central chapel, chock-a-block with images. As at Loseling, there is a single protector chapel on the upper floor. Women are not allowed into this chapel.

Source: http://www.chinayak.com/travelguide091013/f351028.asp


- 10. Do Steer Clear of Protector Deity Chapels if You Are a Woman
 Many Tibetan monasteries have a small temple room devoted to a protector deity, and women are not allowed in these rooms

Source: http://evdecleyre.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/when-visiting-a-tibetan-monastery/

Anyway, in Medieval Rome, women are not allowed to visit certain chapels in the basicilicas of St John Latheran and St Peter.

Mount Athos (Hagion Oros), or "Holy Mountain", is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are 20 Orthodox monasteries there and they stand on the eastern peninsula of Halkidiki. Women are still not allowed to enter Mount Athos.

For both of the articles on the 2 blogs, too bad the author couldn't show us the reason.
'Do Steer Clear of Protector Deity Chapels if You Are a Woman' this article is refer to Gomang College and Loseling. As I know Gomang College and Loseling are the 4 colleges in Drepung Monastery where the monks do learning.

I don't really get it why would a place for learning has such a prohibition. Maybe i should be there one day to figure it out.

Buddhism doesn't really stressed on the gender. Every sentient beings has equal right and chances to get enlightenment. So why women are not allowed to see the chapel or the statue or whatever to get the blessings or inprint from the compassion Buddha? Where is the equality?

I guess this kind of prohibition is just the old-folk-story maybe?