About this section:
The Buddhist community includes monastics and lay people. Both are necessary for the preservation of Buddhism. However, monastics choose a life of vowed simplicity, a life directly related to the preservation and dissemination of the Dharma to benefit others. They are the core of that lifestyle that all Buddhist practitioners are committed to. In the articles here, Venerable Chodron shares with us the joys and difficulties of being a nun and the special challenges of being a Western Buddhist nun. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama notes, all Buddhist nuns have a unique role to play in the evolution of Buddhism where the universal principle of the equality of all human beings takes precedence. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be a monastic, you'll find these articles intriguing and stimulating.

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In February, 1987, in Bodhgaya, India, for the first time in approximately 800 years, a bhikshuni sangha in India performed the Bhikshuni Posadha, the nuns' bimonthly purification and restoration of vows. The Buddha established that the bhikshuni sangha do this ceremony on the full moon and new moon days every month and required that a minimum of five fully ordained nuns be present. Because Buddhism had died out in India hundreds of years ago, the Bhikshuni Posadha had not been done in the land where the Buddha's teachings originated for many centuries. Fortunately, the lineage of fully ordination for women had been kept alive in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam.


(Click on photo for bigger picture.)

The first Sakyadhita -- "Daughters of Sakyamuni Buddha" -- conference was in Bodhgaya in February, 1987. This brought together more than ten bhikshunis -- most from Taiwand and the USA -- who could do the Bhikshuni Posadha, where this photo (above) was taken. In 1998, another historic event for the bhikshuni sangha occured in Bodhgaya. Under the auspicies of Fo Kwang Shan Temple, the bhikshuni ordination was once again given in India. (picture below)

The International Full Ordination Ceremony in Bodhgaya 1998

Ven. Chodron at her Bhikshuni Ordination in Taiwan, 1986.

The Growing Monastic Community at Sravasti Abbey Timeline (Click here)