Formation and development of Bhikkhuni Sangha part-3

By the end of the discourse, all the five hundred bhikkhus broke away from the three fetters and attained Sotāpattiphala. Back in the Mahāvana forest, the Buddha gave them meditation instructions and within a short period they all attained supreme liberation and became Arahantas. For the second time, their former spouses from the Sākyan and Koliyanclan sent messages requesting them to return and live the household life again. But the Arahanta Bhikkhus sent the reply: “We are no longer in the position to lead a worldly life, as we have understood the root cause of suffering and want to attain nibbana.” Having received the news, the five hundred deserted wives decided unanimously to go to Mahāpajāpati Gotami to appeal to her to obtain permission from the Buddha for admission to the sangha as bhikkhunis, as they also wanted to understand the Dhamma. All of them shaved their hair and had adorned yellow robes, dedicating their lives to the Brāhmacariyain the Buddha’s dispensation, while they were still in the royal palace. Then they made arrangements to set out together for Mahāvanaforest of Vesāli where the Buddha was residing. The distance between Kapilavastthu and Vesāli was fifty Yojanas(Five hundred miles). When the Sākyan and Koliyan royal families made arrangements for their journey and provided five hundred sedans, the five hundred ladies agreed amongst themselves that such a mode of travelling might tantamount to an act of disrespect to the Buddha and therefore, made the journey of fifty Yojanason foot. Royal families of both countries arranged for regular provision of food at every stop and sufficient number of escorts for their security en-route to Vesāli.

Ānanda decided to approach the Buddha on her behalf and asked her to remain at the gate until he returned with Buddha’s consent. In fact, the Buddha made it crystal clear that the difference of sex does not stand in anybody’s way for attaining of salvation. The supreme spiritual achievement is open to all alike. True religion never questions the potential divinity of human beings.

The sangha of bhikkhunis was found five years after the Buddha’s Supreme Enlightenment. The occasion being: when the Buddha stayed at Mahāvanaforest at Vesāli, Mahāpajāpati Gotami, who did not receive admission into the monastic sangha at Nigrodha’s Park at Kapilavatthu, asked permission again for receiving higher ordination as bhikkhunis together with five hundred Sākyanprincesses. Initially, the Buddha refused admission, but finally granted permission for women to receive Upasampadā(higher ordination) as bhikkhuni under the condition of the eight rules of respect, called Garudhammas, which Mahāpajāpati Gotami accepted. The bhikkhuni ordination had been carried out throughout the Buddha’s lifetime and had continued from the early period until the Buddhist age. “It was not a novel idea, but more women were ready to renounce worldly ties than there had ever been before.” Buddhism consisted of the Fourfold Assembly: bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, upāsakasand upāsikās in which the bhikkhunisplayed an important role that made the Buddhist personnel complete and perfect in Buddhism.

Three hundred years after the Buddha’s Parinibbāna, the bhikkhunis still had a role in the sangha Society making it evident in the Tipitaka. But after the third and fourth rehearsal of the scriptures in the Buddhist countries of Theravāda, such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, there has been no clear evidence that Mātugāmas (womenfolk) had shown an active role in the lineage of bhikkhunis ordination similarto men who had taken bhikkhu ordination. However, in the Buddhist countries of Mahāyāna, such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Mātugāmas regularly receive higher ordination as bhikkhunis.

Today, bhikkhunis and other Buddhist women are determined to find ways to help improve society and lighten the burden of oppressed people. Attuned to the Buddhist path in right livelihood, some have worked in secular positions such as that of psychologists, helping women and children who have been hurt or marginalised. Others have voiced the idea that bhikkhunis can improve the world by setting living examples of unpretentiousness and living in accordance to principles of non-hurting. Likewise, it has been suggested that bhikkhunis have helped with problems regarding abortion, prostitution, menopause and other issues that women prefer to discuss with other women. They have also helped unwed mothers. Buddhist women in Thailand recently opened a home for women with unwanted pregnancies.

References:

1. Chatsumarm Kabilsingh, A Comparative Study of Bhikkhuni Pātimokkha, Varanasi: Chaukhambha Orientalia, 1984.

2. I.B. Horner, Women Under Primitive Buddhism,: Laywomen and Almswomen, London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1930, reprinted, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999.

3. Rita M. Gross, Buddhism After Patriarchy, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

4. T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, London: 1903.

5. Anita Borrows article “The Light of Outrage: Women, Anger, and Buddhist Practice,”.

6. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, “The History of the Bhikkhuni Sangha” in Blossoms of the Dharma: Living as a Buddhist Nun, Thubten Chodron, ed., North Atlantic Books, Berkeley: 2000.

7. K.T.S. Sarao, “Double Tragedy: A Reappraisal of the Decline of Buddhism in India” International Journal of History of Buddhist Thought, Dongguk University, Vol. 1, No.1, February 2002: 91-101.

About the author:

Dr. Kavita Chauhan is a Lecturer of History with Savitri

Bai Phule Balika Inter College, Kasna,

Greater Noida.

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