會議地點：越南胡志明市；時間：2009.12.18 - 2010.01.03；大會主題：傑出的女性修行者與典範=Eminent Buddhist Women
摘要
This paper describes the results of recent field reseach to document the circumstances of nuns in modern India, their roles in society, their practice of Buddhism, and prospects for the future development of the Bhikkhuni Sangha in India.
It is well documented that, during the Buddha’s time, bhikkhunis gained high recognition and many attained arhantship. Buddhist nuns survived and thrived in India for fifteen centuries until foreign invaders destroyed Buddhism there. During the 3rd century BCE, Sanghamitra, the daughter of Emperor Asoka, was invited to Sri Lanka and traveled from India to establish the Bhikkhuni Sangha there. After the 10th century CE, the bhikkhuni order totally disappeared.
Today, some traces of the existence of women renunciants with eight precepts (silamatas) have been found in the northern Nepal, eastern Arunachal Pradesh, and Chittogong. Also, after the great conversion to Buddhism by Dr. Ambedhker in December 1956, many women were inspired to follow the spiritual path and created new Buddhist communities in India. A number of women received eight and ten precepts from bhikkhus and formed small monastic communities, but had no opportunity to receive higher ordination as bhikkhunis.
In 1998, 28 Indian nuns received bhikkhuni ordination at an ordination ceremony organized by Fo Guang Shan in Bodhgaya, India. Ten years later, on January 15, 2009, 14 more Indian nuns were ordained at an ordination ceremony in Nagpur presided over by Bhiksuni Chuehmen of Fo Guang Shan, along with Sri Lankan bhiksunis and eight Indian bhikkhunis who were ordained in 1998. In February 2009, another 18 Indian nuns were ordained by Sri Lankan bhikkhus and bhikkhunis at the Burmese temple in Bodhgaya.
