Santipada

The Buddhist mon­astic codes (Vinayas) include a pro­vi­sion for a train­ing period of two years for can­did­ates for bhikkhuni ordin­a­tion. This is one of the few aspects of bhikkhuni ordin­a­tion that has no par­al­lel in the ordin­a­tion for monks. The sikkham­ana train­ing period is con­tro­ver­sial, and is often not fol­lowed in mod­ern prac­tice. San­ti­pada under­took a research pro­ject to bring together, trans­late, and ana­lyze the major pas­sages from all Vinayas that deal with the sikkham­ana. While incom­plete, this pro­ject still com­prises the largest resource avail­able on this topic.