Women Coursing Through Buddhism: From History to Belief

   


                                                                                         

Bhikkhu Sumanapal (Subhasis Barua)

In the Buddhist texts, called the Tripitaka or the three baskets, namely Vinaya, Sutta, and Abhidhamma there are a few places in which we can point and where we find more information on histories, namely: Therigatha, Bhikkhuni Khandhaka, (Cullavagga), Mahaparinirvana sutra, Bhikkhuni Vibhanga, Etadaggapali, Bhikkhuni Samyutta, Apadana etc.

It would provide a better understanding of what the Bhikkhuni Sangha can do to uplift Buddhist tradition by taking a glimpse of how they led their lives and what were their responsibilities during the Buddha’s time.

It is of significance to note that the Buddha accepted women to the order on the basis of his recognitions for their spiritual potentiality to be enlightened. It followed from this fundamental recognition that by allowing women to join the order, they should have equal space for their practice.

The teaching of the Buddha was being more and more accepted simply because it is practicable and truly answers to the spiritual need of the people. The Buddha was wading against the tide of traditional social values of that time. He denied the supremacy of the Vedas,  he denied the supremacy of the birth right by caste, and when he allowed women to join the order of female Sangha (order), he took Buddhism to yet another level of freedom through which he removed the gender barriers and stated very clearly when he accepted women to the order because women are capable of Enlightenment.

King Asoka the great (3rd C.B.C) of Maurya Kingdom helped spread Buddhism by sending out nine routes of Buddhist missionaries. One of them was led by his own son Ven. Mahinda. Ven. Mahinda successfully established Buddhism in Srilanka and when there was a request for ordination of women, his own sister, Ven Sanghamitta Theri was sent for. It was in that century that the lineage of Bhikkhunies was established for the first time outside its homeland in India.

Our information is mainly from the two Srilankan chronicles. Dipavamsa has written in the 4th century A. D. and Mahavamsa written in the 5th century A. D.

This proved to be a very important link to the rest of South East Asian Countries including Indonesia. Bhikkhuni sangha in Srilanka was well established and continuously being supported by the royal families. In 433 A.D. Ven Bhikkhuni Devasara was invited to China, from Srilanka, she went with a ship called Nandi with a group of Bhikkhuni Sangha. She gave ordination to 300 China women at the southern forest monastery in Nan king. (Edward conze, Buddhist texts through the Ages).

In 1017 A.D. Srilanka was invaded by Chola king from South India and lost its sovereignty for 50 years. This was the time when both the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni Sangha disappeared from the Island.

In the whole island he was reported that there was only one samanera left. He tried to revive the Sangha again but was successful only with the Bhikkhu Sangha from Burma and Thailand, as the Bhikkhuni were not in existence in those countries.

It was only in the recent 1988 that the first batch of the (dasasilmatas) from Srilanka went to receive full ordination as Bhikkhunies from Hsi Lai temple in Los Angeles, U.S.A. But they were not successful to continue as a sangha. In 1996 there was another ordination organized by the Korean Bhikkhu Sangha and ten women from Srilanka were fully ordained. But the success came in 1998 when Fo-guang Shan set up an organised international ordination for Bhikkhu and Bhikkhunies in Buddhagaya the place where the Buddha became Enlightened in India. There were some 148 women from different countries who received full ordination at that time. But for Srilanka, this is a historical revival of Bhikkhuni sangha.

In Thailand, Myanmar, Combodia, Laos, in the same historical situation, the Bhikkhuni Sangha never arrived. As late as 1920 there was the first attempt by Thai women to be ordained. This was led by Narin Klueng, a politician and social critique. He supported the Bhikkhuni Sangha and had his two daughters Sara and Chongdi ordained together with at least six other women.

Myanmar has a strongest tradition of contemporary nuns. in this country they are called Thilashins- the women wear pink with a brown robe folded on their left shoulder. They have better education and meditation training than in any other countries in south East Asia.

In Cambodia and Laos (Somdech Buakree of Dhammadut feet)? Supports Bhikkhuni Sangha. He is experimenting with a group of Bhikkhunis from Taiwan and this is called Mahayana Dhammadhut. In Laos the ordained lifestyle for women is still to be appreciated, even in the white robe Maeji is also only temporary.

In Indonesia Ven. Santini, the young Bhikkhuni who spear-headed the movement is regarded as best to introduce the Bhikkhuni Sangha according to the Dhamma Vinaya.

The strength of Buddhist women started to pick up and expressed itself to the world with their better understanding of the teachings of Buddhism and the depth of their commitment. Many of the committed Buddhist women came from academic background.

We can say that when women have better access to the Buddhist texts, they would be able to have a glimpse of that wonderful vision provided for them in the pages of the texts. We should recognise with respect the scholars of early period of this century.

Buddhist women came together for the first time in 1987 in Buddhagaya. India is the place where the Buddha was Enlightened and from that international conference on Buddhist nuns it has enlarged the base to convene all Buddhist women and has worked as an International Buddhist women Association.

The Vietnamese nuns' practice was primarily that of Mahayana and was a very scattered one. It is clearly in Vietnamese Buddhists that up until the early 20th century, the sangha of nuns had an organised structure. Now, there are 9.985 Mahayana nuns out of the total of 11.185 nuns in the Vietnamese Buddhist sangha. In Vietnam Theravada Bhikkhunies emerged in 2002 with the ordination of 4 nuns, the one who leads the group is Ven. Lieu Phap.

Korea received the lineage of ordination for women from China, even though the population in Korea is not all Buddhists, the Buddhist sangha prospers in that land.

 There are only samaneries in Tibetan tradition after 1959 with the invention of Chinese in Tibet, many Tibetans including H.H. the Dalai Lama came out and resided in India, Nepal and many other western countries. Many western women have followed this tradition but when they wanted higher ordination they had to go to Korea, Taiwan, or Hongkong.  These western women came into Buddhism through the Tibetan lineage, even after full ordination from other countries; they still keep their connection with their Tibetan teachers.

In the year of 2015 the chief Bhikkhuni of Sambodhi Sangha Bhikkhunies, Ven. Bhikkhuni Tissara, took the lead in establishing original Buddhist Bhikkhuni Sangha in Chinese Buddhist Society.

The International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages took place in Germany, in July 18–20, 2007. The first Bhikkhuni ordination in Germany, the ordination of German nun Samaneri Dhira, occurred on June 21, 2015 at Anenja Vihara.

In 2009 in Australia four women received Bhikkhuni ordination as Theravada nuns, for the first time such ordination had occurred in Australia. It was performed in Perth, Australia, on 22 October 2009 at Bodhinyana Monastery. Abbess Vayama together with Venerables Nirodha, Seri, and Hasapanna were ordained as Bhikkhunies by a dual Sangha act of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunies in full accordance with the Pali Vinaya.

In 2010 the first Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in North America was established in Vermont, called Vajra Dakini Nunnery, offering novice ordination. The abbot of this nunnery is an American woman named Khenmo Drolma who is the first "Bhikkhunni," a fully ordained Buddhist nun, in the Drikung Kagyu tradition of Buddhism, having been ordained in Taiwan in 2002. She is also the first westerner, male or female, to be installed as a Buddhist abbot, having been installed as abbot of Vajra Dakini Nunnery in 2004.

Also in 2010, in Northern California, four novice nuns were given the full Bhikkhuni ordination in the Thai Theravada tradition, which included the double ordination ceremony. Bhante Gunaratana and other monks and nuns were in attendance. It was the first such ordination ever in the Western hemisphere. The following month, more bhikkhuni ordinations were completed in Southern California, led by Walpola Piyananda and other monks and nuns. The Bhikkhunies ordained in Southern California were Lakshapathiye Samadhi (born in Sri Lanka), Cariyapanna, Susila, Sammasati (all three born in Vietnam), and Uttamanyana (born in Myanmar).

The term yogini has been in use in medieval times to refer to a woman who belongs to the Gorakshanath-founded Nath Yogi tradition. They usually belong to Shaiva tradition, but some Natha belong to the Vaishnava tradition. In both cases, states David Lorenzen, they practice Yoga and their principal God tends to be Nirguna, that is a God that is without form and semi-monistic, influenced in the medieval era by the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism, Madhyamaka school of Buddhism, as well as Tantra and Yogic practices. Female yoginis were a large part of this tradition, and many 2nd-millennium paintings depict them and their Yoga practices. David Lorenzen states that the Nath yogis have been very popular with the rural population in South Asia, with medieval era tales and stories about Nath Yogis continuing to be remembered in contemporary times, in the Deccan, western and northern states of India and in Nepal.

In medieval mythology such as Kathasaritsagara, Yogini is also the name of a class of females with magical powers, fairies who are sorceresses sometimes enumerated as 8, 60, 64 or 65. The Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika text mentions Yogini.

In real life, historical evidence on Yogini Kaulas suggests that yogini tradition in Hinduism, who practiced Yoga philosophy and Tantra, were well established by the 10th century. This development was not limited to Hinduism, and included Yogini in Buddhist tantra traditions.

Although ḍakini figures appear in Hinduism and Bon, ḍakinis occur most notably in Vajrayana Buddhism and especially Tibetan Buddhism. The khandroma, generally of volatile or wrathful temperament, acts somewhat as spiritual muse for spiritual practice. Dakinis are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates Sunyata, the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is, at the same time, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.

Judith Simmer-Brown, based on teachings she received from Tibetan Lamas, identifies four main classes of ḍakini. These follow the twilight language tradition of esoteric Buddhism in reference to secret, inner, outer and outer-outer classes of ḍakinis.

Although the ḍakini imagery appears to have come to Japan via Kukai's introduction of Tangmi in Shingon Buddhism in the early 9th century; her form appears more like the ḍakinis of Hindu iconography than those found in Tibetan Buddhism. During the decline of the Heian period, the ḍakini image was mixed together with images of foxes and half-naked women, acquiring the names Dakini-ten, (Dakini-deity), Shinkoo-bosatsu, (Star Fox Queen-Bodhisattva), and Kiko-tenno, (Noble Fox-Heavenly Queen). In the middle Ages, the Emperor of Japan would chant before an image of the fox Dakini-ten during his Enthronement, and both the shōgun and the emperor would venerate Dakini-ten whenever they saw it, as it was a common belief at the time that ceasing to pay respects to Dakini-ten would cause the immediate ruin of the regime.

Although Dakini-ten was said to be a powerful Buddhist deity, the images and stories surrounding it in Japan in both medieval and modern times are drawn from local kitsune mythology. The modern folk belief, often printed in Japanese books about religion, is that the fox image was a substitute for the Indian jackal, but the jackal is not associated with Dakini anywhere. As another example of the connection between Dakini-ten and the government of Japan can be found in the Genpei Josuiki where  it is claimed that Taira no Kiyomori met a kitsune on the road and that his subsequent performance of Dakini-ten rites caused him to rise from an unimportant clan leader to the ruler of the entire nation.

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