In the cases of Ven. Hạt and Ven. Thuần Tịnh, they certainly meet the criteria above. They have seemingly achieved [feminist scholar Rita] Gross’ agenda for androgynous Buddhism without openly adopting a feminist identity.

But, of course, women were not represented at the first council. So the texts of women were not collected…

Born in 1957, Rurui 如瑞, the abbess of Pushou Monastery 普寿寺 on Mount Wutai, in Shanxi province, belongs to the generation of Buddhists that became monastics after the opening up of China in the 1980s and came to leadership afterwards. She has been building Pushou Monastery, and the Mount Wutai Buddhist Institute for Nuns (中国五台山尼众佛学院) that it hosts, since 1991, as part of the institutionalised system, and negotiating with both the political authorities and the laity.

Scholars have observed that Korean Buddhist nuns have a relatively high social status compared to nuns of other Asian countries, much like their sisters in Taiwan. It is a source of great pride for many Korean bhikṣuṇīs that their community operates with a high degree of autonomy, bringing them to an almost equal standing with their male counterparts. However, this claim of equal status is challenged once the nuns step outside their own communities and into the hierarchical system of the Order, an institution dominated by male monastics.

This paper aims to report on the gender disparity between male monastics and Buddhist women, both nuns and laywomen alike. I will first explore Korean Buddhist nuns’ experiences of gender discrimination imposed by the current institutional and cultural practices of the Buddhist Order, and their battles to challenge the legitimacy of this power structure. Next, I will introduce various episodes, including the Buddhist administration’s conflict with progressive women’s groups, to showcase the gender dynamics and current status of women in Korean Buddhism.

The nunneries and monasteries are trying to respond to these critiques and to this question of identity but, as often times with religious institutions, the changes are slower than the changes in the societies around them.

A former Tibetan nun talks about the slowly expanding opportunities for education available to women in Tibetan monastic institutions and the challenges adapting tradition to the modern world.

female renunciation is a form of resistance to the norm which is household life, and a celibate jomo represents renunciation better than typically non-celibate Kinnauri male lamas do.

The present nuns in Burma had a great period of revival and prosperity during the sasana reforms sponsored by King Mindon, who built the royal city of Mandalay and held the Fifth Buddhist Council…

The historical and social context for the Theravāda nuns of Burma.

Neither Buddhism, a practice of transforming oneself with love, compassion, and wisdom, nor the Buddha, an ideal description of man enjoying life without harming oneself or others, helped me appeal to those monks who had the author- ity to imprison me. I came to know deeply that these monks did not truly understand that Buddhism is about the practice of love, compassion, and wisdom, even though they all said that they understood.

In this article, the author describes her experiences as a mendicant nun (both as thilashin and bhikkhuni), facing discrimination against women in the Burmese Buddhist community. While giving an insight into the everyday life of a monastic, she highlights the deeply entrenched gender biases and the struggle for equal rights within the monastic system.

the inscriptions of the past refer often to a corpus of women as “nuns”. What are we to make of this?

This paper introduces and critically discusses the earliest dated biography of an East Asian Buddhist nun that is known to us, and also provides a complete annotated translation of said biography. The text in question is the entombed biography and eulogy of Shi Sengzhi (釋僧芝 d. 516 CE).

One of the ironies of the bhikkhuni controversy in Sri Lanka is that both sides seem to believe that the very integrity of Theravāda Buddhism is at stake in the bhikkhuni revival.

Despite controversy over its legitimacy, the bhikkhuni order in Sri Lanka has grown with increasing support from laypeople and even some monks, though challenges remain including the lack of formal recognition and tensions with the traditional dasasil nuns.

Here are some points to consider about ordaining at Dambulla…

There is a contradiction between the spiritual worthiness felt by thilá-shin themselves and the mundane degradation to which they are subject.

social welfare activities conducted by nuns in Myanmar enhance their social and religious capital

I examine this change with the example of the Shwemyintzu nunnery founded in 1993 in the legacy of Daw Nyanacari.

This article will use the case study of nuns’ training programs to examine the revival of the sangha in Sri Lanka and the role of exchange among devotees of different traditions in Asia. By cross-tradition I am referring to different traditions such as, in this case, the Theravāda tradition in Sri Lanka and the Mahayana Chinese tradition in Taiwan.

This paper explores some of the reasons behind the general reticence concerning higher ordination felt by many of the silmātas interviewed, and focuses specifically on some of the socio-economic factors that may be affecting their decision-making

A major challenge in the historical study of female monasticism in Thailand is the paucity of texts written by or about Thai Buddhist female practitioners prior to 1950…

Mae chee, while debarred from the alms round, both receive alms from the laity and donate alms to monks.

On the ambiguous station of the mae chee in Thai Buddhism

These scholarly nuns elevate the standards of their Buddhist academies and use their original academic specializations to expand the educational curriculum of their school. The role of scholarly nuns in contemporary Taiwan exemplifies that Buddhism provides educational resources for women, as educational resources enhance women’s engagement in Buddhism.

220–581 C.E. … This so-called “Dark Age” was highly creative. Innovations in warfare, religion, print technology, artistry of all types set the stage for the China to come out of this period. What scholars haven’t pointed out yet is that this period also marked a high point in the diversification of social roles for women. Indeed, the collapse of the classical tradition is what made space for new understandings of gender performance. Women experienced greater freedom of movement and choice with the entrance of Buddhism to the Yellow River Valley.

How Central Asian Buddhism came to the Chinese court and brought with it new ideas of women’s agency which culminated in the ascension of Empress Dowager Ling (靈皇後) in 515.

… wearing only a saṃkakṣikā, because the latter appears not to cover the breasts completely, but only providing some support

A Gandharan stucco figurine of a female Buddhist monk in the Civico Museo Archeologico in Milan, likely from Hadda around the second century AD, providing rare evidence of female monastics in Gandhāra and their attire.

Oh so well was the goad
shown to me by my mother…

A monk celebrates the wise women in his life.

Having been the greatest worldly ruler, her final and enlightened form is of a female ascetic by choice

This article delves into the story of Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā and the growth and complexities her story took over the centuries in different Buddhist traditions, texts, and artworks.

Whilst it is possible, as I have done, to craft an historical outline of Buddhism that foregrounds the many women who have played a part, this is not usually how the history of women in Buddhist tradition is told. More often, the critical accounts of their role and presence are highlighted at the expense of the rest. The adverse part of the history has been much more in focus—both within Buddhist traditions themselves and in Buddhist studies scholarship—than the progressive. As a result, the lives and endeavours of the many women who have contributed to shaping the history and modern manifestations of Buddhism have been hidden from view.

You can also watch a post-film interview with the director here courtesy of the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies.

Notable cross-culturally conceived feminist critiques of this decade show no awareness of Therīgāthā and the characteristic preoccupations with womanhood and the feminine that come to the fore in this setting are also apt to be overlooked in conventional expositions of Buddhist thought.

This work takes a closer look at the Therīgāthā, songs of the elder nuns, found in the Pāli Canon giving an introductory analysis from both the feminist and Buddhist perspectives.

When we confront our rebellious minds as we try to follow [the Buddha’s] path, we can take heart from the tales of nuns who had to put forth years and years of intense, persistent effort before they eliminated all their defilements.

You can also listen to this book on Pariyatti’s YouTube Channel.

The reasons for banning the Asoke group and using legislation to outlaw it have more to do with Thai politics than with Buddhist concerns.

An ethnography of the controversial group of vegetarian monks and nuns founded by Bhikkhu Bodhiraksa in Thailand in 1975 along with a few words on the reasons behind their persecution in the late ‘80s.

Not to be confused with the 1988 Snow Lion book about Sakyadhītā nor the 2015 book about contemporary nuns which both share a similar title.

… the Buddhist tale of the impure, disgusting, and violent female body and the suffering of the fetus within the womb, so seemingly negative toward women, in fact operated discursively and affectively to support premodern female Buddhist monasticism by helping to generate a moral-social imaginary in which female fertility and sexuality cannot be the highest good of womanhood.

One thought arising, it is hell;
One thought reversed, it is heaven.

Inside the 2001–2002, 90-day, winter meditation retreat at Baek Hung Temple, Palgong, Korea.

This time spent in the company of nuns, listening to their guidance, was a seminal moment.

A journalist documents her time with Buddhist nuns around the world.

Thai Buddhist nuns (mae chis) and bhikkhunīs are excluded from the country’s saṅgha, directly affecting their religious standing and social possibilities

An introduction to the status of women in Thai Buddhism and why it matters.

Ranjani de Silva has been described as the “person most responsible for the Theravāda bhikkhunī revival,” and “the prime mover in the re-establishment of the bhikkhunī sangha in Sri Lanka.” Yet her full story—including her account of the revival—had never [before] been told.

These inscriptions not only resurrect the valuable contributions of the nuns in ancient India, but also allow us to glean much about the order of nuns in the formative centuries of Buddhism.

An overview of the epigraphical evidence for the ancient, Bhikkhunī Saṅgha.

… an overview of how bhikkhunis, or fully ordained nuns, came into being, disappeared and are now reappearing again

… it had to stand on its own feet.

On the formation of the Dhammasara nunnery in Australia.

… past-life accounts of women as disciples of former buddhas add a new dimension to the notion of female discipleship in early Buddhism. Gotama was not alone in having a fourfold community

One way to practice dana is by giving money, and another is by giving time.

Pomp and ceremony opened the conference and then the activities settled into a daily pattern…

Its conveners outlined an ambitious set of objectives, including improved opportunities for women to study dharma and the establishment of a full bhikshuni ordination in the Theravada and Tibetan traditions. Central to Sakyadhita’s mission has been a series of biannual international conferences that provide opportunities for Buddhist women across cultures to come together to share their experiences and learn from each other. The interactions and exchanges that occur at these conferences highlight the issues and concerns the Buddhist women bring to a transnational forum, while also offering insight into the feasibility of Sakyadhita’s purpose.

The Buddhist convent known as Hokkeji, founded in the eighth century in the old capitol of Nara, fell into decline and was all but forgotten for centuries before reemerging in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) as an important pilgrimage site and as the location of a reestablished monastic order for women.

In Vietnam, the decision for young women to ordain as Mahayana Buddhist nuns is navigated through careful interpretations of feeling. Nuns state their decisions to “go forth” (đi tu) in youth were precipitated by feelings of peace and comfort in monasteries even before they understood Buddhist teachings. Such feelings are interpreted as indicators of past-life karmic bonds, which create “predestined affinities” in this life (nhân duyên).

… a look at some of the puzzles or problems that bhikkhunīs are working on within the Theravāda tradition

… the Buddhist nuns’ revival movement fit into the broader women’s liberation discourse and the national modernization project

… mae chis are not, on the whole, eager to relinquish their present status

… female monastics lead agentive, creative, and sometimes rebellious female lives that in subtle and not so subtle ways resist the label ‘feminist’

For twenty-five years,
since I had gone forth,
I had not experienced serenity…

… the general Buddhist public even in Sri Lanka do not seem to know of what stuff the newly “resurrected” bhikkhunis are made.

A biography of the Venerable Badalgama Dhammanandani, Head Bhikkhuni of Visakharamaya Temple about seven kilometers into the hinterland of Veyangoda, Sri Lanka.

… the situation of the nuns who are neither strictly lay, nor monastic, allows for a variety of ways of learning and conveying Buddhisms - ways that are both molded by and in turn define contemporary religious changes

The general public, including Western Buddhists themselves, often assumes that Buddhist monastics are cared for by an order, as are Christian monastics, and are surprised to learn that newly-ordained Western nuns and monks may be left to deal with issues of sustenance completely on their own.

“A monastery is a place where equality is preached but not practiced; a gar is a place where equality is practiced but not preached.”

It is no wonder that today a common appellation found haloing Jigme Phuntsok on icons and shrines says his teachings are like “the blissful sun rising in the Snowland as the miserable period of darkness fades (dus ’khrug gi mun nag dbyings su yal/ bod gangs can la bde ba’i nyi ma shar).”

An inspiring overview of the first college in Tibet to offer the highest academic degrees to women, including a summary of the school’s curriculum, exams, and social impact.

I use Weberian definitions of authority, and the modern notion of privilege, to point to the dynamic connection between public persona, gender, and religious authority in the 18th century hagiography of a Buddhist nun.

I, too, am a bhikkhuni. The bhikkhuni sangha did not perish, but long ago spread from here to China

… based on what can be culled from the Madhyama-āgama discourse in comparison with the other versions, it seems possible to arrive at a coherent narrative of [the founding] of the order of nuns.

… slender citrine lip onto which I place, gently, this first handful of hair

In Theravāda monasteries, nuns, even those who have been ordained for decades, typically sit on a mat on the floor, while monks, even those who have just been ordained, sit on a raised platform above them. The seating arrangement of nuns below or behind the monks is symbolic of [their] subordinate position

… the Theravāda version of events in the Nandakovāda-sutta conveys an attitude towards nuns that is considerably less favorable than the attitude underlying the parallel versions

How the Theravāda elders managed to make the suttas sound misogynistic through small redactions.

Buddhist texts are, by and large, nice. There’s no draconian punishments, no irrational fervor, no ‘smiting with swords’. A serene air of reason, balance, and sanity pervades.

This niceness is a huge problem.

Bhikkhu Sujato reminds us that the Pali Canon is still an ancient mythological text which needs to be read with a careful eye towards symbolism and historical context.

One to whom it might occur,
‘I’m a woman’ or ‘I’m a man’
Or ‘I’m anything at all’–
Is fit for Māra to address.

There’s a huge amount of it that’s positive! I’m not so surprised that there are negative attitudes towards women depicted in early Buddhist literature, because this is an ancient civilization with traditional values. So, the negativity doesn’t surprise me. But all the positivity does.

A fascinating conversation about the lives of a few of the earliest Bhikkhunis and what their biographies can tell us about life in ancient India.

This case study of Dhammananda Bhikkhuni and her students at Watra Songdhammakalyani gives both a concise summary of the situation for female ordination in Thailand and a compelling case for ordination in general.

… the Bhikkhu Sangha alone can ordain women as bhikkhunis, based on the Buddha’s statement: “I allow you, bhikkhus, to ordain Bhikkhunis.” This allowance was never rescinded by the Buddha.

Discriminatory views and practices are the antithesis of Right View, and they undermine the Middle Path by perpetuating identification with concepts of independent, constant, inherently existing selves and others

A brief outline of the discrimination faced by women across the Buddhist world, and a thoroughly cited argument for rejecting sexist views, even those that can be found in the Buddhist Canon.