No abstract

According to tradition, when the Buddha's aunt and stepmother Mahaprajapati was allowed to join the Buddhist monastic community, she accepted eight 'fundamental rules' (gurudharmas) that made the nuns' order dependent upon the monks' order. This story has given rise to much debate, in the past as well as in the present, and this is no less the case in Mainland China, where nunneries have started to re-emerge in recent decades. This article first presents new insight into Mainland Chinese monastic practitioners' common perspectives and voices regarding the gurudharmas, which are rarely touched upon in scholarly work. Next, each of the rules is discussed in detail, allowing us to analyse various issues, until now understudied, regarding the applicability of the gurudharmas in Mainland Chinese contexts. This research thus provides a detailed overview of nuns' perceptions of how traditional vinaya rules and procedures can be applied in contemporary Mainland Chinese monastic communities based on a cross-regional empirical study

According to tradition, Mahāprajāpatī, the Buddha's aunt and stepmother, when allowed to join the Buddhist monastic community, accepted eight 'fundamental rules' (gurudharmas) that made the nuns' order dependent upon the monks' order. This story has given rise to much debate, in the past as well as in the present. This article first shows how the eight rules became an integrated part of the vinaya (disciplinary texts), and more particularly of the Dharmaguptakavinaya, that forms the basis of monastic ordinations in East Asia. Against the background of a much debated attack on these gurudharmas by the Taiwanese nun Shih Chao-hwei, we have then analysed the viewpoints of contemporary Taiwanese nuns, focusing on some less studied, yet very influential, Taiwanese monastic institutes. This research has brought to light a diversity of opinions on the applicability of the rules, relying in each case on a clear vision on Buddhism and vinaya.

No abstract

Mahāyāna and Theravāda are the two major traditions of Buddhism in contemporary Asia. Although they share many similar teachings, there are long-standing disputes between their respective sets of adherents, touching on doctrine, ritual, religious practices, and the ultimate goal, among other matters. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Yangon and Mandalay, this study explores gender’s role in the position of Sino-Burmese Mahāyāna bhikṣuṇīs in the sociocultural context of Theravāda-majority Myanmar, where the full bhikṣuṇī lineage of Theravāda Buddhism has died out. Its findings, firstly, shed light on how the local Theravāda ethos inevitably affects Sino-Burmese Mahāyāna nuns’ positions and experiences of religious- and ethnic-minority status. Secondly, they demonstrate the gender dynamics of Sino-Burmese nuns’ interactions both with indigenous Burmese monks and Myanmar’s ethnic-Chinese laity. As such, this research opens up a fresh perspective on these nuns’ monastic lives, to which scant scholarly attention has hitherto been paid. Specifically, it argues that while Sino-Burmese nuns are subjected to “double suffering” on both gender and ethnoreligious minority grounds, they play an important role in shaping the future of Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism by educating the next generation of monastics and serving the religious needs of the wider Sino-Burmese community in Myanmar.