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 the history of Buddhism took place when Buddhist scholars, monastics, and representatives of various Buddhist organizations gathered in Hamburg for the International Congress on Women's Role in the Sangha. The goal was to bring together the leading experts on Buddhist monastic discipline and history to assess the possibility of restoring the full ordination lineage for Buddhist nuns. The papers addressed the history of women's monastic practice in Buddhism, the ordination procedures in the various Vinayas, the legality of restoring the bhiksuni ordination, and the possible ways in which this could be carried out. The congress concluded with a statement by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. A selection of the papers delivered at this momentous gathering have been compiled and edited by Thea Mohr and Jampa Tsedroen under the title Dignity & Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns.While full ordination is available to women in East Asian Buddhist traditions, in the Tibetan and Theravada Buddhist traditions the 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 the rite alongside monks. Various initiatives have nevertheless been made in recent decades, both in Asia and in the West, to achieve this goal. What made the 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 will adapt to changing socio-historical contexts. At the same time, as the papers collected in this volume attest, the issue of restoring the ordination lineage is an extremely complex one. Apart from the question of legality, there are diverse and often conflicting views and agendas at play. Contested topics include the compatibility of feminism and Buddhism, the validity of ordinations co-conducted by members of different Vinaya schools, and the place of archaic rules such as the notorious eight gurudharmas in twenty-first century Buddhist communities.In the opening essay, Janet Gyatso frames the debate in larger terms, reflecting on the moral and political implications of this historic juncture for Buddhism. While the 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, the Vinaya has been modified and changed in response to changing historical and cultural circumstances, through consensus and political will. The case of women's full ordination, Gyatso proposes, is likely to be similar. In fact, if Buddhist communities do not address the patriarchy, androcentrism, and misogyny within their tradition, "there is little chance for Buddhism to take up the role that it is poised to assume in the modern world" (17). This is a sentiment echoed by many of the 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 the sobering observation that academic analysis may not be able to provide the kind of conclusive proof needed to make the case for women's full ordination. Historians and textual scholars view the Vinaya rather differently than most Buddhist practitioners, so the former may not be able to offer any legally applicable findings that the latter would find binding. …