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A bhikkhu is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics are members of the Sangha.
Saṅghamittā was an Indian Buddhist nun and believed to be the eldest daughter of Emperor Ashoka and his first wife and Empress, Devi. Together with her brother Mahinda, she entered an order of Buddhist monks. The two siblings later went to Sri Lanka to spread the teachings of Buddha at the request of King Devanampiya Tissa who was a contemporary of Ashoka. Ashoka was initially reluctant to send his daughter on an overseas mission. However, because of the insistence of Sangamitta herself, he finally agreed. She was sent to Sri Lanka together with several other nuns to start the nun-lineage of Bhikkhunis at the request of King Tissa to ordain queen Anulā and other women of Tissa's court at Anuradhapura who desired to be ordained as nuns after Mahinda converted them to Buddhism.
Phra VisuddhisamvaratheraAM, known as Ajahn Brahmavaṃso, or simply Ajahn Brahm, is a British-born Buddhist monk. Ordained in 1974, he trained in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism under his teacher Ajahn Chah. Currently, Ajahn Brahm is the abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia, as well as an adviser or patron of various Buddhist organizations in Australia, Singapore, and the UK.
Theravada Buddhism is the largest and official religion of Sri Lanka, practiced by 70.2% of the population as of 2012. Practitioners of Sri Lankan Buddhism can be found amongst the majority Sinhalese population as well as among the minority ethnic groups. Sri Lankan Buddhists share many similarities with Southeast Asian Buddhists, specifically Myanmar Buddhists and Thai Buddhists due to traditional and cultural exchange. Sri Lanka is one of five nations with a Theravada Buddhist majority.
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by roughly 93.4 percent of the population. Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, with approximately 64 million Buddhists. Buddhism in Thailand has also become integrated with folk religion (Bon), Hinduism from millennia of Indian influence, and Chinese religions from the large Thai Chinese population. Buddhist temples in Thailand are characterized by tall golden stupas, and the Buddhist architecture of Thailand is similar to that in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Cambodia and Laos, with which Thailand shares cultural and historical heritages. Thai Buddhism also shares many similarities with Sri Lankan Buddhism. Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Laos are countries with Theravada Buddhist majorities.
Maechi or Mae chee, "respected mother", are female monastics in Thailand; Theravada Buddhist nuns. Ordained under The Eight or Ten Precepts, they formally occupy a position similar to sāmaṇerī and wear white robes, but are in practice resemblant of male Theravāda monastics - renunciants who have dedicated their life to Buddhist practice, meditation, vowing celibacy and ascetisicm.
Buddhist monasticism is one of the earliest surviving forms of organized monasticism and one of the fundamental institutions of Buddhism. Monks and nuns, called bhikkhu and bhikkhuni, are responsible for the preservation and dissemination of the Buddha's teaching and the guidance of Buddhist lay people. Three surviving traditions of monastic discipline (Vinaya), govern modern monastic life in different regional traditions: Theravada, Dharmaguptaka, and Mulasarvastivada.
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Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, born Chatsumarn Kabilsingh or Chatsumarn Kabilsingh Shatsena, is a Thai bhikkhuni. On 28 February 2003, Kabilsingh received full monastic ordination as a bhikkhuni of the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka. She is Abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery, the only temple in Thailand where there are bhikkhunis.
The controversial Eight Garudhammas were considered additional precepts required of bhikkhunis above and beyond the monastic rule that applied to monks. They are controversial because they attempt to proscribe an inferior role for nuns, and bhikkhunis have revealed scholarly evidence that the Eight Garudhammas are not found in the historical teachings of Gautama Buddha.
A thilashin is a female renunciant in Burmese Buddhism; a Burmese Theravada Buddhist nun. They are not fully ordained nuns (bhikkhuni), as the full ordination is not legal for women in Burma, but are closer to sāmaṇerīs, 'novice nuns'. According to 2016 statistics published by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, there were 60,390 thilashin in Myanmar (Burma).
A bhikkhunī or bhikṣuṇī is a Buddhist nun, fully ordained female in Buddhist monasticism. Bhikkhunis live by the Vinaya, a set of either 311 Theravada, 348 Dharmaguptaka, or 364 Mulasarvastivada school rules. Until recently, the lineages of female monastics only remained in Mahayana Buddhism and thus were prevalent in countries such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam, while a few women have taken the full monastic vows in the Theravada and Vajrayana schools. The official lineage of Tibetan Buddhist bhikkhunis recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns, most of them Butanese, were fully ordained.
Songdhammakalyani Monastery is a temple and monastery of Bhikkhuni in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. It was founded in 1960 by Ven. Ta Tao Fa Tzu, the first modern Thai woman to ordain as a bhikkhuni. The monastery was originally known as Wat Songdhammakalyani ."
Voramai Kabilsingh, also known by her monastic name Ta Tao Fa Tzu (Chinese: 大道法師; pinyin: Dàdào Fǎshī, was born Lamai Kabilsingh, was the first modern Thai bhikkhuni. She founded Songdhammakalyani Monastery, the first modern monastery in Thailand for bhikkhuni and was the mother of Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the current abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery.
Varangghana Vanavichayen is the first woman to be ordained a Theravada bhikkhuni in Thailand. She was ordained a novice bhikkhuni on 10 February 2002 in Songdhammakalyani Monastery. The ceremony was attended by eight female monks from Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. It was conducted in Sri Lankan tradition. Upon the ordination she adopted the name of Dhammarakhita Samaneri. The Abbess of the nunnery was Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, who is also the first Theravada bhikkhuni in Thailand.
This is a timeline of notable moments in the history of women's ordination in the world's religious traditions. It is not an exhaustive list of all historic or contemporary ordinations of women. See also: Timeline of women in religion
References
- 1 2 3 "Nation's First Female Buddhist Monk Ordained". LA Times. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ↑ Turner, Darrell. "Religion: Year In Review 2002". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- 1 2 3 Sivasomboon, Busaba. "First female monk ordained in Thailand, challenging country's all-male Buddhist clergy". The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. AP. Retrieved 3 November 2016.