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Women In Buddhism: The Thai Nun Controversy

Mon, 2009-11-16 16:47 — ABN

In an unprecedented historical act, Ajahn Brahm (full name: Ajahn Brahmavamso), a senior monk in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravadin Buddhism, conducted a full ordination at his Australian monastery for a group of four nuns to make them Bhikkunis, the highest level of Buddhist monastics that women can attain. The ordination is undoubtedly a huge move towards re-establishing the extinguished lineage of full female monastics in the oldest of the Buddhist traditions, but at the same time the controversy that it has sparked has served to illuminate how much work remains to be done within the fight for gender equity in Theravadin monastic communities.

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