Dignity & discipline : reviving full ordination for Buddhist nuns

Dignity & Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns. Edited by Thea Mohr and Jampa Tsedroen. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010, 352 pages, ISBN 0-86171-588-8 (paperback), $18.95.Reviewed by Mari JyvasjarviIn July 2007, an unprecedented event in history of Buddhism took place when Buddhist scholars, monastics, and representatives of various Buddhist organizations gathered in Hamburg for International Congress on Women's Role in Sangha. goal was to bring together leading experts on Buddhist monastic discipline and history to assess possibility of restoring full ordination lineage for Buddhist nuns. papers addressed history of women's monastic practice in Buddhism, ordination procedures in various Vinayas, legality of restoring bhiksuni ordination, and possible ways in which this could be carried out. congress concluded with a statement by His Holiness Dalai Lama. A selection of papers delivered at this momentous gathering have been compiled and edited by Thea Mohr and Jampa Tsedroen under title Dignity & Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns.While full ordination is available to women in East Asian Buddhist traditions, in Tibetan and Theravada Buddhist traditions lineage of fully ordained nuns (bhiksuni/bhikkhuni) has died out. Reviving it is not a simple matter, since ordination of new nuns requires a quorum of already existing fully ordained nuns performing rite alongside monks. Various initiatives have nevertheless been made in recent decades, both in Asia and in West, to achieve this goal. What made Hamburg conference so unique is that it constituted a public dialogue on a global scale: it brought together Buddhist scholars and practitioners, Asian and Western, across sectarian boundaries, to discuss a shared and pressing concern that has larger implications for how Buddhism adapt to changing socio-historical contexts. At same time, as papers collected in this volume attest, issue of restoring ordination lineage is an extremely complex one. Apart from question of legality, are diverse and often conflicting views and agendas at play. Contested topics include compatibility of feminism and Buddhism, validity of ordinations co-conducted by members of different Vinaya schools, and place of archaic rules such as notorious eight gurudharmas in twenty-first century Buddhist communities.In opening essay, Janet Gyatso frames debate in larger terms, reflecting on moral and political implications of this historic juncture for Buddhism. While matters of legality and precedent are obviously important, she states, the more germane question has to do with desire, consensus, and will (7). Throughout Buddhist history, Vinaya has been modified and changed in response to changing historical and cultural circumstances, through consensus and political will. case of women's full ordination, Gyatso proposes, is likely to be similar. In fact, if Buddhist communities do not address patriarchy, androcentrism, and misogyny within their tradition, there is little chance for Buddhism to take up role that it is poised to assume in modern world (17). This is a sentiment echoed by many of other contributors. Gyatso concludes by boldly envisioning what a future with a strong, vibrant order of fully ordained Buddhist nuns might look like, and how they might contribute to current global issues.In The Vinaya Between History and Modernity: Some General Reflections, Jens-Uwe Hartmann makes sobering observation that academic analysis may not be able to provide kind of conclusive proof needed to make case for women's full ordination. Historians and textual scholars view Vinaya rather differently than most Buddhist practitioners, so former may not be able to offer any legally applicable findings that latter would find binding. …