The Ordinatiion of Theravada Nuns (CA)

Sylvia Boorstein, founding teacher, Spirit Rock Meditation Center (Huffington Post)

It is 6:15 pm on Aug. 29, 2010. The place is a secluded mountaintop hermitage overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Sonoma County, California.

Four women, all long-time dedicated Buddhist practitioners, were declared fully ordained as nuns (bhikkhunis) in the Thai Theravada tradition.

It was the first such ordination ever in the Western hemisphere. And it was epochal because their preceptors were nuns within the same tradition.

Although the Buddha ordained both monks and nuns, the order of nuns disappeared a thousand years later when there were no longer enough nuns available to ordain new nuns. Keeping strictly with tradition (and in keeping with patriarchal pressures) the rule that nuns needed to be ordained by nuns brought the order of nuns to an end.

Women were able to join a community and practice but only at an inferior status. The pressure brought by women with a burning desire practice and have roles and recognition comparable to men has enabled some women, trained in the Theravada Thai tradition, to be ordained by nuns with Sri Lankan ordination.

The nuns ordained in 2009 join the now small group of recognized Theravada Buddhist nuns in the Thai Forest tradition that can now continue to grow. More

Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Marin County, California

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Ordaining nuns in Theravada Buddhism?

Nun Thong Nghi at Van Hanh Temple leads a procession during a celebration of the Buddha's birthday which drew hundreds to the Vietnamese nunnery, the only one in Washington, according to chief nun Giac Huong Le (Erika Schultz/The Seattle Times).

The topic of full ordination for Buddhist women in the oldest living Buddhist tradition (Theravada) remains controversial. Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) never had such a tradition, although the Dalai Lama supports it. Chinese Buddhism (Mahayana) has nuns who have been able to offer ordination to Theravada and Vajrayana women. On one side is the Sangha's traditional view that it can no longer be allowed. On the other side, Buddhist women and Western monks look more deeply at the issue. Many traditional monks, including foreign elders, now support it. But they do so quietly. Background and Buddhist Nuns

(Harvard Divinity School/Rebecca Esterson)

Interpreting monastic discipline (Vinaya)

American Thai Vinaya expert Ven. Ajahn Thanissaro (Geoffry DeGraff, a prolific Internet writer and Abbot of Wat Metta near San Diego, California) opines on the ordination of nuns (Nov. 13, 2009):

He was sent a copy of the transaction statements used at the recent nuns' ordination ceremony in Australia and asked for his opinion as to their validity.

"After looking them over and rereading the relevant passages in the Canon and commentaries, I would like to focus on one aspect of the statements: the use of a form in which two candidates are mentioned in a single proclamation. This is a detailed technical point, and the discussion will have to be long, so please bear with me.

"First, to establish context: A striking feature of the Canon’s rules for the bhikkhunīs [nuns], when compared with its rules for the bhikkhus [monks], is how sketchy they are. Many procedures are mentioned without a detailed explanation of how they should be done; the Vibhaṅgas, or explanations of the Bhikkhunī Pāṭimokkha rules, omit many discussions that would be par for the course in the Vibhaṅgas for the Bhikkhu Pāṭimokkha rules; the Pāṭimokkha rules that the bhikkhunīs have in common with the bhikkhus are not listed in the Canon; and the narratives surrounding the stage-by- stage development of specific procedures contain large gaps. Thus the traditional approach in filling in these blanks has been to apply the Great Standards (mahāpadesa) given in Mahāvagga VI:

“Bhikkhus, whatever I have not objected to, saying, ‘This is not allowable,’ if it conforms with what is not allowable, if it goes against what is allowable, that is not allowable for you.

“Whatever I have not objected to, saying, ‘This is not allowable,’ if it conforms with what is allowable, if it goes against what is not allowable, that is allowable for you.

“And whatever I have not permitted, saying, ‘This is allowable,’ if it conforms with what is not allowable, if it goes against what is allowable, that is not allowable for you.

“And whatever I have not permitted, saying, ‘This is allowable,’ if it conforms with what is allowable, if it goes against what is not allowable, that is allowable for you.” — Mv.VI.40.1 More

Ten-precept Buddhist novices live as monastics but are not allowed full ordination in Burma and other Theravada Buddhist countries (Roulette404)

Nuns, Invisibility, and the Question of Buddhist Activism
Natalie Wendt (Tikkun.org)
Bhikshuni [full Buddhist nun] ordination is practiced frequently in Taiwan and some other parts of East Asia, but is unavailable in the Tibetan tradition and to most Theravada women.

Though the Tibetan tradition has novice nuns, bhikshuni ordination never reached Tibet, and a movement to introduce it has met with strong resistance from some Tibetan teachers.

[The 14th] Dalai Lama and some other prominent teachers support bhikshuni ordination, but they are a minority. Nuns who want to fully ordain are forced to go outside of the tradition, sometimes without support of their teachers. More

Nuns (center) at Santi Forest Monastery, Buddhist Meditation in Bundanoon, Australia

The nuns of Australia
Santi Forest Monastery is a Buddhist education and meditation residence for monks, nuns, and laypeople. Established by Bhante Sujato in 2003, it is set in the rugged bush ravines of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Santi offers accommodation, teaching, and support for study and practice in the Forest Tradition, with a special emphasis on the earliest teachings of the Buddha that are shared by all Buddhist traditions. Since 2005, the Sangha of Santi has performed ordinations each year and has become internationally recognized for its advocacy of full ordination for Buddhist nuns (bhikkhunis). Information

Where does Bhikkhu Bodhi stand?

The American monk (Sri Lankan-Theravada tradition), super scholar, author, and abbot of Bodhi Monastery (named prior to his arrival) also weighs in. Bhikkhu Bodhi is now in residence at BAUS in Upstate New York.

Letters on the ordination of nuns
The Buddhist Channel, Nov 11, 2009

He wrote to Ajahn Sujato regarding the full ordination of Buddhist "nuns" in Perth, Australia in September 2009. The first letter dated Nov. 3 was a letter of support, but on Nov. 6, Bhikkhu Bodhi issued a retraction. First published at sujato.wordpress.com

(Nov. 3 2009) Dear Ven. Sujato, Thank you for informing me of this event, a report of which I had already stumbled upon quite by accident on the internet last week... Please convey my congratulations to Ajahn Brahm for his courageous decision, and also accept for yourself my appreciation for spearheading this development. Also, if you can do so, please convey my congratulations to the new bhikkhunis, especially Ajahn Vayama, an old Dhamma friend from my Sri Lankan days. More

The Revival of Bhikkhuni Ordination in the Theravada Tradition (Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2007)

Full Buddhist nuns in California
Wisdom Quarterly 2010
Fortunately, through the bravery of elder Theravada Buddhist monks living in America (such as Bhante Gunaratana of West Virginia and Ven. Piyananda of Los Angeles, and Bhikkhu Bodhi of New York), it is possible for a woman to gain full admission into the Buddhist Monastic Order as a bhikkhuni (Theravada nun), not simply a novice.

• Women in Buddhism (Buddhanet.net)
• American, European nuns ordained in Taiwan
• Tibetan nun's ordination at Tushita Meditation Centre
  
• Thubten Chodron: Nuns in Tibetan Buddhism
  
• Thai monks oppose Western Australia nun ordination
  Back in October 2009 the Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA) had sent a letter of support to the recently ordained nuns of Dhammasara Monastery. On Dec. 22nd an article about the controversy around this matter appeared in The West and on Dec. 30th 2009 a sector of the Thai clergy in Bangkok made an audacious claim on the sovereignty, property, and affairs of the BSWA.
• Ajahn Brahm expelled for ordaining nuns in Australia
• [Ajahn Chah's] Wat Pah Pong Temple official expulsion
• First bhikkhuni ordination in Australia (Facebook)
• Sakyadhita 2011 Int'l Conference on Women (Ven. Sujato)

Tibetan nuns and monks surrounding the 14th Dalai Lama (tushita.info)

The Buddha was enlightened, not sexist

Ven. Anālayo Bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) in a letter to the nun Ayya Tathāloka

(Isharak) In the fifth year after his enlightenment, the Buddha spent the rainy season in Kutagarasala. It is the abbey where he most frequently stayed while visiting the great city of Vaishali. It was here that his stepmother, Mahapajapati Gotami, was ordained as the first Buddhist nun, creating the Bhikkhuni Sangha. (To visit: 1upindia.com)

Gender Discrimination and the Pali Canon

...In the case of the attitude towards women, we find contradictory positions and thus a lack of consistency in the Pāli canon [the oldest extant redaction of the Buddha's teachings].

One example is the account of the founding of the Order of Nuns.⁴ According to the "Great Final Nirvana Discourse" (Mahāparinibbāna Sutta), soon after his awakening the Buddha proclaimed that he would not pass away until he had nun disciples who are wise and learned.⁵

From this it would follow that right from the outset he wanted and intended to have an Order of Nuns. This impression is further supported by a closer perusal of the Pāli canon, which shows recurrent references to the importance of having four assemblies of disciples (monks and nuns and male and female lay followers) and to the significant contribution made by nuns to the prosperity and success of the Buddha's dispensation.

These passages stand in contrast to the impression created by the account of the foundation of the Order of Nuns, which reads as if the Buddha did not want to allow women to go forth.⁶

A comparative study of this account in the different collections of Disciplinary Rules (Vinayas), mainly extant in Chinese, shows clear signs of later additions and thus makes it probable that it does not accurately reflect the Buddha's attitude.

Another example would be a pair of discourses in the Collection of Numerical Discourses (Aṅguttara-nikāya) that compare women to black snakes -- as both are dirty, smelly, and betray friends, and so on.⁷

Would it be reasonable and coherent for an awakened teacher to make such derogatory remarks about women?

That enlightened teacher, according to other discourses, had nun-disciples that had reached full awakening and thus total freedom from any defilement,⁸ who according to the same discourse collection proclaimed various nuns and lay women as outstanding in qualities like deep concentration and profound wisdom,⁹ and who apparently placed such trust in women that he (in a twin monastic regulation found in all Vinayas) sanctioned acting on a trustworthy laywoman's report about a monk's breach of the rules?¹⁰

The comparison of women to snakes recurs in two parallel versions -- one in the Tibetan Vinaya, where a similar remark is headed by the qualification "some" (i.e., "some women are..."¹¹) and another in a late text in Uighur [a language in China], where this remark is not made by the Buddha, but rather by some Sakyan youths.¹² More plus footnotes

• The first all Sri Lankan nun's great almsgiving
• Buddhist nuns of Burma (allmyanmar.com)

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