Editing Nepal (section)

=== Caste, Women, and Reform within the Sangha ===

Bechert and Hartmann identify modernist features in the Nepalese Theravada movement: translation of texts, lay access, mass meditation, rationalism and demythologization, and a social philosophy that included the emancipation of women and a critical examination of the inherited social and political order.<ref>Bechert and Hartmann (1988), "Observations on the Reform of Buddhism in Nepal", pp. 18, 30.</ref> Caste was a practical problem. A monk who accepts food from a lower-caste donor may be refused by higher-caste lay supporters, so that many monasteries replaced alms rounds with invitations to lunch.<ref>Kloppenborg (1977), "Theravada Buddhism in Nepal", p. 312.</ref> Bechert and Hartmann report that Theravada monks call caste a secular matter, that laypeople threatened to withdraw their support if certain bounds were crossed, and that, although alms from untouchables are accepted and several untouchables have entered the community, the Sangha had not yet conferred full ordination on a monk of untouchable caste, who remained a novice.<ref>Bechert and Hartmann (1988), "Observations on the Reform of Buddhism in Nepal", pp. 22–23.</ref> LeVine and Gellner record that the monks Ashwaghosh and Buddhaghosh insisted from the start on taking alms rice from low-caste households, and that Theravada reached middle and lower Newar castes, notably the Maharjans, who became a main source of recruits.<ref>LeVine and Gellner (2005), ''Rebuilding Buddhism'', pp. 63, 281.</ref> Vipassana courses opened meditation, formerly restricted to Vajracharyas, Shakyas, and Udays, to a wider public.<ref>LeVine and Gellner (2005), ''Rebuilding Buddhism'', pp. 228–229.</ref>

Nepal did not develop a [[Dalit Buddhism|Dalit Buddhist]] movement like the one that followed Ambedkar in India. Letizia, citing Hangen, notes that the Dharmodaya Sabha has not promoted Dalit conversion, that the Newars who control the public representation of Buddhism accept Janajati (ethnic) Buddhists but seem uncomfortable with Dalit Buddhists, and that the Janajati category, which excludes Hindu caste groups, impedes coalitions between Janajatis and Dalits.<ref>Letizia (2014), "Buddhist Activism, New Sanghas, and the Politics of Belonging", n. 34, citing Hangen (2007), pp. 20, 51; LeVine and Gellner (2005), ''Rebuilding Buddhism'', pp. 262, 266–267. Torri (2019) deliberately excludes Dalits from his study (para. [3]).</ref> The movement was nevertheless linked to the Indian one: according to the ''Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism'', the Triratna movement founded by Sangharakshita, which supports Ambedkarite converts, had centers in India and Nepal by the 1970s.<ref>Geary, David, & Sraman Mukherjee (2017). "Buddhism in Contemporary India". In: Jerryson, Michael (Ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism'': 36–57. Oxford University Press, pp. 49–50. See [[Dalit Buddhism]].</ref>