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Currently the Chinese Dharmaguptaka tradition is the only living Buddhist tradition in which women can undergo full ordination. Yet, within the two other two surviving monastic Buddhist traditions (Theravāda for South‐East Asia and Mūlasarvastivāda for Tibet) attempts are being made to (re‐)establish a nuns’ order. This chapter deals with the actual process in the Tibetan tradition. After several years of discussions between traditional Tibetan monks, the Buddhist women’s association “Sakyadhita”, proponents of the recent movement called “Engaged Buddhism”, and others, in July 2008 not only Buddhist practitioners but also scholars of diverse Buddhist traditions were invited to a conference in Hamburg, to formulate and publicly express their perspectives on the question of whether, and if so how, a tradition of Tibetan Buddhist nuns can be established. While the main question to be negotiated was the actual procedure of the ordination ceremonies, “behind the screen” there were many more issues at stake. The chapter describes and analyzes the process of public negotiations and negotiations behind the screen between the diverse individuals and interest groups, all with their own agenda, with respect to the roles attributed to “authority” and “authenticity”, and to ritual practice. One main focus of the chapter is the question of how interpreting Buddhist monastic rules either as “ritual” or as “law” affects the scope of interpretation of the procedures.

This book studies Buddhist monks and nuns and their continued familial relationships by drawing on monastic law codes, or vinaya. As an introduction, this chapter discusses the family as it relates to the study of Indian Buddhist monasticisms. It first considers what we know about the Buddha's family before turning to an important example from some of the earliest known strata of Buddhist literature: the Rhinoceros Horn Sūtra. It then examines V. Fausböll's claim that there are two Buddhisms: a pure or original form of Buddhism as exemplified by the Rhinoceros Horn ideal, and a later, presumably degenerate, monastic form. It also explores conflicting vsions of the ideal monk, Indian monastic law codes and concludes by providing a preview of the chapters contained in the book and explaining the scope of the study.

This book examines the spiritual lives of Buddhist nuns at the Incense Light community in contemporary Taiwan. Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated and greatly outnumber monks, characteristics unprecedented in the history of Chinese Buddhism. This book explores how and why a young woman becomes attracted to Buddhism and decides to become a nun; what kind of training she receives at a seminary once she joins the sangha; what kind of work she does upon graduation; and what sorts of problems and setbacks she experiences. By answering these questions, we can get a sense of the bigger picture of Buddhism in Taiwanese society. This introduction discusses the history of Buddhist nuns in China; the text The Lives of Nuns (Biqiuni zhuan), written by the monk Baochang, and its profiles of nuns; updates to The Lives of Nuns; and accounts of nuns in literature.

This chapter describes a number of early Indian inscriptions which mention Buddhist monks, nuns, and laymen in terms of familial relationships. These inscriptions could be explained away as records of children who were abandoned and forsaken by their parents when the latter “left home for the religious life.” Extant Buddhist monastic law codes, however, preserve stories about men “leaving home” to become monks with their young children, and children who, after joining the monastery, still call their monk-fathers “Daddy.” There are also narratives of mothers and daughters who leave home for the religious life together. Such narratives raise questions of interpretation with regard to the phrase “to go forth from home into homelessness,” which lies at the very heart of our understanding of the nature of Buddhist renunciation. This chapter argues that the phrase is best understood figuratively rather than literally.

This chapter examines the status of Buddhist monks' “former” lay wives by drawing on Buddhist narratives. In some stories, monks' former wives are presented as hostile to their husbands; in others they are depicted as still very much attached to them. There are also accounts of Buddhist monks and nuns acting as go-betweens in arranging marriages for their own children. This chapter begins by considering monastic education concerning sex with one's wife and goes on to discuss the status of married men and women upon entering Buddhist monastic orders, along with that of married monastics beyond India. It also explores marital dissolution and divorce in the Indian context and shows that monks could continue to visit and interact with their “former” wives in full compliance not only with the letter but also with the spirit of the vinaya texts. Finally, it tells the story of Mahākāśyapa, who embodies ascetic values in Indian Buddhist monasticisms.

This book has explored the familial and marital relationships of Buddhist monks and nuns in India, thus highlighting a scholarly misperception in the study of Indian Buddhism: that world renunciation means severing all ties with kith and kin. Drawing on early epigraphical evidence, it has shown that Indian Buddhist monks and nuns who had left home for the religious life continued to be identified with their family members; monks also continued to interact and associate with their former wives. Finally, the book has shown that the authors/redactors of the vinayas seem to have negotiated a place within their religious institutions for monastic mothers. This concluding chapter examines issues surrounding family matters both presupposed and legislated by the authors/redactors of the extant monastic law codes and argues that family-friendly forms of monasticism may have been more common in India than previously assumed. It also discusses the ramifications of the book's findings for how we study Buddhist monastic life in comparative light, along with the utility of vinaya texts for the study of Indian Buddhist monasticisms.

This chapter focuses on the entrance exam and curriculum of the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary. In less than two months after Wuyin was installed as the abbess of Incense Light Temple on January 5, 1980, the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary admitted its first class. All nuns must attend five years of seminary, whether they have prior knowledge of Buddhism or not. Although the Buddhist nuns engage in various activities, their chief mission is education. This chapter first considers the challenges facing the monastic order in the Republican period before discussing the early history of modern Buddhist seminaries in Taiwan. It also assesses the challenges to success at the seminary by focusing on the experieces of two contemporary monks, Shengyan and Zhenhua. Finally, it compares the curriculum of Incense Light with that of other seminaries and offers a more detailed description of its courses under four categories: understanding, practice, daily living, and Dharma propagation.

This chapter provides profiles of several Buddhist nuns of the Incense Light community, focusing on their family backgrounds, their motives for joining the sangha, their accomplishments and setbacks, hopes and frustrations. They include Xinzhi, Wuyin, and Mingjia as well as nuns who contributed to the formation and development of Incense Light as a distinctive female monastic community. One of the nuns did not have any specific religious upbringing and did not know the difference between popular religion and Buddhism. Looking back on the changes the community had undergone since 1985, she felt the introduction of the Institute of Cultural Affairs teaching method, termed “conscious conversation,” was probably the most important. This was because it was used in both the seminary and the Buddhist adult classes.

This book presents Kim Iryŏp's Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun, titled in Korean Ŏnŭ sudoin ŭi hoesang (Memoir of a practitioner, published in 1960) in English. Iryŏp was a writer, new woman, and Zen Buddhist nun whose life offers a glimpse of modern Korean society. Her life also reflects the encounter of two major religions: Christianity and Buddhism. This introduction provides a background on Iryŏp's life and thought. It first considers Iryŏp's role in the formation of the identity of the new women as a group in Korea before discussing her writings on women's issues, autobiographical essays, and religious essays. It then examines how Buddhism became one of the major themes of Iryŏp's writings. It also gives an overview of the chapters contained in Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun.

Men’s superior status within Burmese society places women, nuns, and trans women in positions of subordinate status. Debate about women’s “relatively high standing” in Burmese society is best resolved by considering the hierarchical understandings that make subordination appropriate rather than oppressive in the views of many Burmese women. Women’s subordination stems from and allows for their greater readiness to forge attachments. Nuns arouse ambivalent reactions because as religious their choosing autonomy makes sense but as women it does not. Trans women are disdained because they give up the greater prestige and autonomy their biological sex makes readily available to them. But they are tolerated because they respect gender categories and behave in accordance with their feminine, thus subordinate, status.

This chapter focuses on the establishment of the Incense Light community under Wuyin. Incense Light Temple was originally a local temple with no Buddhist history. In colonial Taiwan, nuns were derisively called zhaigu (vegetarian hall auntie) or caigu (vegetarian auntie) by the common people. Today, Buddhist nuns in Taiwan consider these names unacceptable and insist on being called biqiuni. The origin of the former appellations has to do with the situation in Taiwan prior to 1949 when the Nationalist government arrived with a large exodus of monks from the mainland. Aside from Buddhism, Daoism, and popular religion, sectarian religions were also practiced in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation. This chapter first looks at Wuyin's formative experiences before discussing how she was introduced to Buddhism, her years at Yuantong Academy, her brief time in Hawai'i, and how she was installed as the abbess of Incense Light Temple.

This chapter examines the descriptions and images of nuns found in the writings of seventeenth-century male monastics and Buddhist laymen. These representations reveal that nuns were far from constituting an invisible presence in Chan Buddhist circles during this period; rather, they traveled and studied with some of the most eminent of the male Chan masters of the time, received Dharma transmission, and often left collections of their recorded discourses as well as their poetry, letters, and other writings. However, even if they were able to escape the restrictions of traditional feminine rules and regulations, they were still not freed of the responsibility to serve as exemplary women. Indeed, some male Buddhist monks lamented the public nature of many of these women’s activities.

This chapter discusses the history of the Incense Light community and its headquarters, the Incense Light Temple (Xiangguang Si). Located in the village of Neipu in Zhuji County, Chiayi District, in central Taiwan, Incense Light Temple literally emerged from a location where the local cult of Guanyin had existed for more than a hundred years. The architectural proximity of its headquarters and the local temple represents the conjuncture of two different religious traditions and orientations. The coexistence of the local cult and the Incense Light Temple has presented the Buddhist nuns with both a welcome opportunity and a perpetual challenge. This chapter describes the physical setting of Incense Light Temple and the key figures involved in its founding, including Xinzhi, Wuyin, and Mingjia.

This chapter contains a letter of appreciation written by Yi Wŏlsong for Kim Iryŏp. Wŏlsong joined the monastery and became a disciple of Iryŏp. She remembers listening to Iryŏp's profound dharma talks as she tried to teach her and make her realize the vanity of girlish sentimentality, including the tears that fall on the robe of a nun who has practiced Buddhism for more than a decade. Each dharma talk delivered by Master Iryŏp was the very words of the Buddha. Wŏlsong helped Iryŏp prepare a clean copy of her master's manuscript of Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun for publication.

This chapter focuses on Nakanoin Nakako’s life as a Buddhist nun in the Hōji'in Imperial Convent during the seventeenth century. It begins by providing a few details about Nakako’s elder brother Nakanoin Michimura, who served as military liaison officer for the shogunate. It then considers Nakako’s decision to enter the Hōji'in, where she took vows and became a nun, adopting the religious name Rankei Shūhō, meaning “valley of orchids, all-pervading fragrance.” It also describes Nakako’s routine at the Hōji'in and concludes with an overview of the Hōji'in today.

This concluding chapter assesses the Incense Light community's present situation and offers projections about its future direction. Incense Light, like Taiwanese Buddhism in general, is undergoing constant changes. The community's rapid growth in the 1980s and early 1990s has slowed considerably in recent decades, as many more activities and clubs now compete for the attention of today's college students. Buddhist studies societies, which played such an important role in introducing college students to Buddhism, are having a much harder time attracting members. Incense Light's Buddhist nuns have not particularly focused on either the history or the unique characteristics of Chinese Buddhism, but have become open to learning from other Buddhist traditions, as evidenced by their interest in non-Chinese forms of meditation.