The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-24
Ceylon Calls for Buddhist Nuns.

We are in receipt of a letter from
Colombo, Ceylon, asking for the as
sistance of The SUN in the revival of
the Ogder of Buddhist Nuns, which
the. writer assures us Is worldwide
movement" The Order Of Buddhist
Nuns, 1t may be stated at the begin
ming. has been extinct, so far as the
main line of succession Is concerned,
for a thousand or more years; but
this should not be considered an OBJ
stacle to its revivifcation or, more
properly, Its reincarnat1on, for a mere
matter OF ten or more centuries does
not mean much in Buddhism.
Accompanying the letter is an ap-
peal signed by MARIE MusAEus-HIG-
GINS, dlrectress Of the Musaeus Bud
dhist Girls College, Colombo; and in
order that The SUN readers may be
In possession of the same knowledge
which we have Of the Order Of Bud
dhist Nuns in offering "their sympathy
and support for its cause" we shall
give briefly the points Of this appeal.
The order was founded by Lord
BUDDHA, "born in his last life on earth
as Prince SIDDHARrHA," and at, the
solicitation of his foster mother, PA
JAPATI, and his wife, YAsoDHARA.
1t was, however, only at the price
Of great sacrifice that Lord BUDDHA's
consent was obtained. Time after
time he refused PAJAPAT1's>prayers,
then, finally:
'"The distressed mothers. wives
and sisters held a meeting with
Queen PAJApArI. and Princess YAsoD-
HARA, and decided to appeal once
more In a body to the Master for
! permission to live in the monasteries
and thus be near their dear ones.
So they cut Off their beautiful hair.
cast aside their costly garments and
donned the mean rag made yellow
robe OF the rnendicant, and marched
in a body to vesali. where the Lord
| BUppHA had gone. Walking from
place to place. at last they reached
this town. and PAJAPAT1, their leader.
stood weeping. with swollen. dust COW
cred feet. outside the entrance porch
OF the Vihara or dwelling of the Mas
ter. There they determined TO re-
main. even should they die of star
Walton and exhaustion. till they
should attain His permission and
their cherished aim"
Lord BUDpHA showed himself NOR
tai man by yielding. He imposed
EIGHT weighty regulations" which
became the foundation principles OF
the order. With the spread of Bud
dhism the movement extended far and
vide. and much of the success of
Buddha-Dhamma was due to the Or
der of Buddhist Nuns. With the trou-
bles that arose In the Buddhist world
the decay of the order set in. and
finally it became extinct. The thread
of the life of the order, the author
Of the appeal says, is not broken; II
Is there, II is not dead, and "as the
sun rises in the morning, so will the
:. life of this order wake up again with
the coming Of the Bodhlsattva."
! 1t might be stated, though, that
when 1t does wake up after its cen.
turtles of sleep the order will have
q new dress, something that will not
be incompatible with "the freer and
more progressive position of the wo'
man of our own days, when she Is
coming TO be regarded as equal to q
man, though in her own particular
line of evolution" So far as our OWL
knowledge goes, and we have given
the basis of II, we can see no reason
why the Order of Buddhist Nuns
should not be revived.