Tag Archives: feminine

Dreams of Bhaddā

Bhaddā was a true ori­ginal. An ascetic, a philo­sopher, and a mur­derer, who became one of the best-loved of all the bhikkhunis. Here is a vivid re-imagining of her story: a Buddhist nun like you’ve never seen before.

White Bones Red Rot Black Snakes

Enchant­ing, power­ful, hor­rific, beau­ti­ful, wise, deadly, com­pas­sion­ate, seduct­ive. Women in Buddhist story and image are all these things and more. She takes the signs of the ancient god­dess – the lotus, the sac­red grove, the ser­pent, the sac­ri­fice – and uses them in aston­ish­ing new ways. Her story is one of suf­fer­ing and great tri­als, and through it all an unquench­able long­ing to be free. This beau­ti­fully illus­trated work is as layered and sub­vers­ive as myth­o­logy itself. Based dir­ectly on authen­tic Buddhist texts, and informed with insights from psy­cho­logy and com­par­at­ive myth­o­logy, it takes a fresh look at how Buddhist women have been depic­ted by men and how they have depic­ted themselves.

How to Grow a Nun

How mon­ast­ics, espe­cially nuns, are trained at Santi Forest Mon­as­tery, in accord­ance with the ori­ginal Vinaya, and incor­por­at­ing the best mod­ern practices.

Dark Matter

While dis­cus­sion on women’s role in the Sangha pro­ceeds, those who most need to take part in the dis­cus­sion — the monks — are con­spicu­ously absent. The issue is not so much a dia­logue as a call to the dark­ness, for a sym­path­etic hear­ing that is just not there.

Now is the Time

Paper presen­ted at the dis­cus­sion panel with HH Dalai Lama on the final day of the First Inter­na­tional Con­gress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha.

Bhikkhunis in Theravāda

In pre­par­a­tion for the 2007 Con­gress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha, the Com­mit­tee of West­ern Bhikkhunis asked for a his­tor­ical present­a­tion from a Theravāda point of view. I pre­pared the fol­low­ing to show that, while bhikkhunis are absent from the main­stream Theravādin insti­tu­tions, they are very much present in the texts and history.

Bhikkhuni FAQ

What is a bhikkhuni? Where did the bhikkhuni order come from? What do we know about bhikkhunis in ancient times? Why do we need bhikkhuni ordin­a­tion? All your ques­tions answered here…

How Nuns May Scold Monks

It is often held that a fully ordained Buddhist nun, or bhikkhuni, may not cri­ti­cize or admon­ish a monk. The tra­di­tional tales tell a dif­fer­ent story, one where nuns are cheeky and invent­ive in the ways they prick the pride of stub­born or fool­ish monks — all for the sake of teach­ing them Dhamma, of course.