Issues of Lineage

This is a photo from a seminar at Mahachulalongkorn University held last week concerning the ordination of women. A Theravada monk and a Mahayana nun spoke on the subject. Both sides discussed the problems surrounding this issue and ways to resolve it, whether through full Theravada ordination or other means.


There was some discussion on one of my posts about nuns and why my tradition, Theravada, doesn't have many. It comes down to  the belief (by some) that the lineage of nuns was broken in the Theravada tradition approximately 1,000 years ago.This is an extraordinarily delicate subject, but I will give a very brief history as to what is going on.

There are two main sects of Buddhism in the modern world, Theravada and Mahayana. Mahayana is in actuality several hundreds of sects and many would say that Vajrayana (Tibetan) is not Mahayana. For the sake of clarity, we can say the orthodox sect, that being the Theravada tradition, and the non-orthodox sect, including all other schools of Buddhism.

The lineage of nuns in the non-orthodox sect, for the most part, is not in question. Women can shave their heads, adorn a robe and become a nun without controversy. The Theravada tradition is a little different.

According to some people's interpretation of the orthodox rules, a nun must be ordained by 5 monks and 5 nuns, so there would have to be orthodox nuns present at the ordination. Some explanations of the orthodox sect's history claim that the order of nuns vanished around 1,000 years ago. This means that it is impossible for any new nuns to be ordained, as there are no nuns to ordain them. The lineage of nuns and monks must reach all the way back to the Buddha in order for an ordination to proceed. Note that this applies for monks too, if there were not enough monks to ordain a new monk, the lineage would die.

Other people say that since the non-orthodox nuns have roots in the orthodox tradition, it should be perfectly acceptable to ordain nuns into the orthodox tradition. Now there are many orthodox nuns that have been ordained with the help of non-orthodox nuns. However, the legitimacy of the nuns ordination is in question by some.

This is a very delicate subject not just from a religious perspective, but from a cultural perspective. There are many social issues involved. I am in full agreement with the ordination of women. Some of the greatest warriors of the Buddha have been women, I certainly think the nuns are a necessary and important part of the Sangha. I am, however, reluctant to say what particular traditions in specific countries, having  their own cultural and social constructs, should do.