Bhikkhuni ordination
Bhikkhunis (nuns) are one of the four-fold assembly of the Buddha's followers in early Buddhism and in what it later became known as, the Theravada. The other members of the four-fold assembly are bhikkhus (monks), upasakas (lay men), and upasikas (lay women).
Timeline of Bhikkhuni ordinations
- 528 BCE The Buddha attains enlightenment and begins teaching the Dhamma.
- 500s BCE Maha Pajapati Gotami with five hundred form the Bhikkhuni order, with permission from the Buddha; perhaps the first monastic order for women.
200s BCE Ven. bhikkhuni Sanghamitta, daughter of King Ashoka, goes to Sri Lanka with a sapling from the original Bodhi Tree and spreads Buddhism and the bhikkhuni order there. 100s BCE The Tipitaka is written down on palm leaves in Sri Lanka and includes several hundred pages of psalms and poems written by bhikkhunis, the only major religion with some of the scriptures written by women.
Common era
1017 The Orders of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis dies out in Sri Lanka due to the many invasions from foreign armies. The bhikkhu line is restored in Sri Lanka from some monks from Thailand and Burma, but there were no nuns in those countries to restore the bhikkhuni line.
The Buddha's initial reluctance
After Siddhattha became the Buddha, Maha Pajapati Gotami approached him and asked if he would allow her and other women to renounce the world, thus becoming nuns. The Buddha was very reluctant to do this but Ananda interceded on Gotami’s behalf. He asked if women had the same spiritual potential as men and the Buddha replied, “Having gone forth from home into homelessness in the Dhamma and discipline women are able to realise all the states leading to enlightenment and enlightenment itself.’
Then Ananda asked the Buddha to consider how kind and helpful his foster mother had been to him. ‘Lord, Mahà Pajàpatã Gotamã was of great help to you – she is your aunt, your foster mother, she gave you her milk and suckled you when your mother died.’ Moved by these words, the Buddha decided to allow women to become nuns.
Why was the Buddha so reluctant to take this step? At this time there were no monasteries as such, monks lived in the forest or in parks on the outskirts of towns and cities. Although the position of women in Indian society was much higher that it later became, a lone woman still stood a good chance of being thought of as loose and being open to harassment or worse. The Buddha probably thought that having women living in forests posed too many difficulties. As it is, this turned out not to be the case.