The Gurudharmas in Taiwanese Buddhist Nunneries

Abstract

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.

When Mahāyāna Meets Theravāda: The Position of Chinese Bhikṣuṇīs in Contemporary Myanmar

“…unsurprising that other Buddhist nuns attending this event were seated among the Taiwanese and Sino-Burmese laity, i.e., in the front row, instead of at the centre of the meeting room with the male monastics. 34 As a scholar from Taiwan, where bhikṣuṇīs' status continues to rise inexorably amid a general atmosphere of gender equality (Heirman and Chiu 2012), these arrangements seemed to me to reflect rank-noble vs. base-through the differentiation of high/low positioning, and to reveal subtle power negotiations and competitions among the various participants (see Bourdieu 1996). Specifically, the Burmese monks' higher positions clearly reflected their greater sociocultural capital in Theravāda-majority Myanmar, relative to that of their female counterparts, regardless of Mahāyāna or Theravāda tradition.…”

“…īs because it "is a free and open space for Buddhist nuns' development" (DeVido 2010, p. 7). For the issue of gender and Buddhism in Taiwan, see for instance Cheng (2007); Schak (2008); Heirman and Chiu (2012); Hu (2016); and Lee and Han (2016).…”