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by The Dalai Lama February 4, 2015 0

The Dalai Lama on fullordination for women

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From Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions by the Dalai

Lama and Thubten Chodron.

Over the years I have spoken many times about bhikṣuṇī

ordination and expressed my wish and hope that this

ordination will be given in our Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya

tradition. When Śāntarakṣita brought the bhikṣu ordination

lineage to Tibet in the eighth century, he unfortunately did

not bring bhikṣuṇīs too, and thus the bhikṣuṇī ordination

never took root in Tibet. However, our Teacher, the Buddha

himself, established the bhikṣuṇī order during his lifetime,

and at the same time he affirmed women’s ability to attain

both liberation and full awakening. He also expressed his

wish for the fourfold assembly to exist and said that these

four groups harmoniously practicing the Buddhadharma

will make his teachings last a long time in this world. For all

these reasons, it is important that bhikṣuṇīs exist in our

Tibetan community. This is especially true now, when the

quality of the nuns’ education has vastly improved. We now

see many nuns becoming good scholars; some nuns are

now receiving their geshema degrees, signifying their

mastery of Buddhist philosophy.

Wherever I go in the world, I see multitudes of women

devotees; in many places they outnumber the men.

Therefore it is only right that women have access to the

responsibilities and privileges that full ordination brings. As

one individual, I do not have the authority to institute

bhikṣuṇī ordination in the Tibetan community. This is an

issue that the saṅgha as a group must decide. For many

years now I have suggested there be an international

meeting of the saṅgha to decide this issue. In preparation

for that, it would be good if Tibetan bhikṣus could agree on

a way to give the Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikṣuṇī ordination. I

am pleased to see the support for this from many of heads

Lama

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of Tibetan lineages. I have also shared some vinaya

material with Laotian and Burmese Buddhist leaders. We

will have a serious discussion, and I am quite sure some

agreement will be achieved eventually.

We Tibetans were very fortunate that after persecution by

King Langdarma in the ninth century, we were able to

restore the bhikṣu lineage, which was on the verge of

extinction in Tibet. As a result, so many men have been

able to listen, reflect, and meditate on the Dharma as fully

ordained monks, and this has benefited Tibetan society as

well as the world. Therefore, let us do our best to research

this issue and find a way to establish the bhikṣuṇī saṅgha

as well. In countries that currently have bhikṣuṇī

ordination, such as Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam, bhikṣuṇīs

benefit the Dharma and society in many ways. Recently

Theravāda bhikkhunī ordination has been restored in Sri

Lanka—there were about one thousand bhikkhunīs as of

2012—and there are now even some bhikkhunīs in

Thailand.

Equal opportunity regarding ordination is important. Citing

passages in the vinaya, some Tibetan vinaya masters

suggest that under special circumstances, a bhikṣuṇī

ordination performed by the bhikṣu saṅgha alone is valid.

These special circumstances include a place where

bhikṣuṇīs are not available to give the ordination because

no bhikṣuṇīs reside in that area or because it is too

dangerous for bhikṣuṇīs to travel to that place. Previous

and contemporary vinaya masters in the Chinese

community agree with this.

In the meantime, several women who practice Tibetan

Buddhism have received bhikṣuṇī ordination in the

Dharmaguptaka vinaya from Chinese, Vietnamese, or

Korean saṅghas. We recognize them as bhikṣuṇīs. I

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encourage them to do the three main saṅgha activities

together.

In addition to introducing bhikṣuṇī ordination, bhikṣuṇīs

must also become objects of reverence. Therefore, we

must examine passages in Buddhist texts as well as

attitudes and practices in our communities that are biased

against women. The Buddha wanted his saṅgha to

conform with many of the cultural attitudes of the time. As

the saṅgha, we must do this in the twenty-first century as

well. Since modern societies, as well as the United Nations,

stress the importance of gender equality and respect for

women, we Buddhists must do so as well.

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