A guest post by Wisdom editor David Kittelstrom.
The first Theravada bhikkhuni (nun) ordination in Australia, and the first in the Thai Forest Tradition anywhere in the world, was performed in Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia on October 22nd. Four nuns from the nearby Dhammasara Nuns Monastery took ordination: Vayama, Nirodha, Seri, and Hassapañña. The second half of the ordination ceremony was performed by Ajahn Brahm—the abbot of Bodhinyana—along with other monks from the monastery.
Many feel reestablishing the full ordination of nuns, which was first established by the Buddha himself is vital for ensuring the respect and vitality of the Buddhist Sangha in the modern world and accords with the essential message of the Buddha. As with monks, well-trained and observant nuns are a wonderful field of merit, wonderful exemplars, and a wonderful source of teachings for all who seek to live life according to the Dharma, and seeds of peace for the world as a whole.
While the Chinese tradition has preserved female ordination, the lineage died out in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. In recent years, women within these traditions have been taking full ordination nonetheless, but the practice has not yet been endorsed by a consensus of senior lineage holders, the resistance coming primarily from older monks in Asia. The Dalai Lama has been vocal in his support and an important international conference to advance the issue was held in Hamburg, Germany in 2007. Proceedings from this conference will appear soon in Wisdom’s forthcoming book Dignity and Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns.
The ordination drew a severe reaction from conservative lineage holders in Thailand. The monks of the Ajahn Chah tradition headed at Wat Pa Pong complained that they had not been consulted and called Ajahn Brahm to a meeting in Northeast Thailand this past Sunday, November 1st, where they voted to expel him from the Wat Pa Pong community.
Ajahn Sujato, another central figure in the ceremony, has been posting regular updates on his blog as events unfold. Ajahn Brahm’s comments from the time of the ordination can be heard here. There is also apparently a group on Facebook with lively discussion of the event and its ramifications.
Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a Buddhist nun and a professor of Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, says in Dignity and Discipline, “Just as countries who refuse women the right to vote are considered backward today, Buddhists will certainly go down on the wrong side of history if they deny fundamental rights and freedoms to women…Recognizing full ordination for women is not only a matter of social justice, it is also simply a matter of common sense.”
Dignity and Discipline goes into these issues in great detail. I would highly suggest reading it when it comes out. The analyses of scripture presented in that book would indicate that the means exist to pursue bhikkhuni ordination in keeping with the Vinaya, but that what is missing is the will to do so.
Hello,
From what I understand it is not possible to ordain a Bhikkhuni (fully ordained nun) without the presence of other Bhikkhunis according to the Vinaya (rules of discipline laid down by the Lord Buddha). Only the Buddha is capable of starting or re-starting the Bhikkhuni Order to the best of my knowledge. So it is not so much discrimination, but abiding by the Vinaya laid down by the Lord Buddha. I understand Ajahn Brahm’s and others compassion towards the plight of women completely and sympathize with them fully. But I also feel that it is important to uphold the Vinaya at all times.
May all beings be happy and well,
Rasika.
The Vinaya is not clearcut on the issue. There are many instances in the scriptures of women being ordained without the dual ceremony. The Mulasarvastivada Vinaya also says (in the Upaliparipriccha) that women CAN be ordained by the bhikshu sangha. It is not ideal, and the people who perform the ceremony get infractions, but the ordination is still valid.
One additional point–the ceremony in Australia WAS a dual ceremony. Bhikkhunis performed the first half.
Rasika’s point is not that the ceremony wasn’t valid, but that the negative response to it was not necessarily (though in some cases probably) motivated by discrimination… The resistance doesn’t come only from “older monks in Asia”, it comes from the Theravada orthodoxy, which holds (theoretically, and in fact sometimes selectively to the point of hypocrisy) strictly to the Theravada Vinaya. That the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya says something is okay is not really of interest to an orthodox Theravadin Buddhist.
My own feelings on the matter are that one doesn’t have to find loopholes to ordain women; all it would take is a sangha-kamma (act of the sangha) to the effect that a one-sided ordination of women be allowed once as a sort of emergency measure (since the female counterpart is not considered Theravada, it couldn’t count) as in the case of Mahapajapati Gotami, or else an official acceptance of certain female (Chinese, I understand) Bhikkhunis as properly ordained and qualified as upajjhaya, though this would likely require some training on their part in Pali and proper Theravada protocol. As David says, there is no will to do this, and that is probably due to discrimination, but that doesn’t mean the reaction to a renegade ordination performed without consulting the sangha on the matter is too.
I should hope that Ajaan Brahmavamso at least got the official consensus of his own Australian Sangha first; in that case what we have here is a schism in the sangha, a very grave thing… I think this case will be a good warning of the need for great care in these highly controversial matters… it took thousands of years for the Bhikkhuni Sangha to die out… surely we can move a bit more cautiously in our efforts to revive it?
Or perhaps, another way of addressing this issue is to ask, if the Theravada orthodoxy doesn’t want to accept the dual ordination of Bhikkhunis in co-operation with Mahayana Bhikkhuni upajjhaya, why take on a Theravada ordination in the first place? Why not do a one-sided or even dual ordination within the Chinese lineage?
Well said! Let me join you in the rejoicing! 🙂
Rasika, as I understand it, the ordination was performed in full accordance with the Vinaya and with utmost care in that regard. As David said, it was indeed a ‘dual platform’ ordination, with the bhikkhuni portion conducted by Theravada bhikkhunis who flew in from around the world to assist with the ordination. The validity of the ordination with regards to Vinaya is not in question. Ajahn Brahm himself is widely regarded as a Vinaya expert.
A lot of gratitude to Ajahn Brahm for his clear thinking and his courage!
History in making? It looks more like Public Relation or publicity in making. Some people Egos seem to be deflating, so they need something to boost it up. That was just a perfect occasion.
The question is not if Therevada Bikhunis or not. The question should be what is our reason to ordain? If I remember correctly the reason for ordination is not status but getting rid of self, or better getting rid of avijja that creates the illusion that we have a self. Seeing the ceremony in this light it was more to inflate self, than to deflate it.
Just let us remember, that within the Thai sangha there are the mechi’s, 10 precepts laywomon, who have monasteries and live like nuns. They follow the therevadin teaching and, even without being ordained as a bikkhuni, some of them, not only one, reached the highest goal of Arahantship. Once they were Arahants, one did not hear of them fighting for a bikkhuni ordination.
I hope this makes us think again if it really worthwhile to fight for status, that would surley lead to an inflating Self, or if one wants to fight the enemy, avija and its hord of kilesas to deflate Self and get rid of Self?
Everyone has to find his own answer. If one knows, living the live of a recluse as a mechi can lead to Arahantship, why this fight to become a bikkhuni ???
If the bhikkhuni ordination is a hindrance to practise rather than an aid then one could ask “What about monks?” Is there any need for them to follow more than the 10 precepts?
If the answer is that, with the proper motivation, men benefit from following the bhikkhu vows, then the same goes for women and full ordination.
Whether this ceremony is technically correct is beyond my knowledge but from what I have read, it seems as if the ordination is valid even if a minor infraction was made by the monks participating.
Was this the best way to approach this issue? That will be seen over the coming years I guess. However, I think that we should accept that both sides in this argument are sincere and not just acting for selfish reasons.
Congratulaions for he ordinations!!!
This discussion is very enlinghtening.