tibetfocus :: 19.11.2006:"EMERGING FROM THE SHADOWS: NUNS OF THE TIBETAN TRADITION"

von Ew. Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Die Übersetzung dieses Artikels können Sie im Tibet Aktuell 91 -Seite 8 - lesen.

Images of Tibetan monks are a familiar sight, but only recently have Tibetan nuns come to popular attention. Tibetan nuns wear the same robes and live the same lifestyle as monks, but were never as numerous or visible in Tibet. Today all of this is changing. As nuns gain new educational opportunities and confidence, they are entering monasteries in record numbers and taking their place in the world’s religious imagination.

In the Tibetan tradition, most nuns have take the 36 precepts of a novice (getsulma), just like novice monks, but there is currently no lineage of fully ordained nuns (bhikshuni) equivalent to the lineage of fully ordained monks (bhikshu) that flourished in Tibet since the eighth century and is still alive and well today. Perhaps for that reason, until recently nuns have stayed quietly in the background, doing retreats, reciting prayers, performing rituals, and sharing the Dharma with those who come to them for counsel. In recent years, however, Tibetan nuns have begun to take new roles and seek new opportunities that have occasionally put them in the spotlight.
After 1959, some nuns emerged as leaders of popular resistance to the Chinese communist occupation of their country, many were arrested, and others fled to India and Nepal in search of religious freedom. The video “Satya: Prayer for the Enemy” documents the hardships that Buddhist nuns have endured under communist rule. The feature film “Windhorse” is a dramatization of these tragic events. Because nuns have no families of their own to support and protect, they have courageously voiced their opposition to religious oppression and have frequently been jailed for their efforts. As a result of political and religious restrictions, many nuns have attempted the long treacherous journey from Tibet into exile. The heartbreaking stories they tell are a testament to their heroism and their devotion to their Buddhist beliefs. Many suffer lingering post-traumatic stress disorders as a result of rape, imprisonment, harassment, and surveillance.
Since 1976, despite dire poverty and dislocation, a few monasteries for women have been established in India and Nepal. The hardships of adjusting to a new climate and cultural environment have been offset by the opportunity to meet and receiving teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other renowned Buddhist teachers. In exile, nuns not only have the opportunity to practice their faith freely and without fear, but they have also gained access to educational opportunities that were previously rare. Since the 1980s, when Tibetan refugees took advantage of relaxed border restrictions and arrived on pilgrimage in India, they have sought out public teachings, such as the Kalachakra ceremonies bestowed by His Holiness and teachings from other lamas as well.
In addition to those who became nuns in Tibet, many young laywomen have also become nuns after arriving in exile and meeting H.H. Dalai Lama. For many of these young women, the search for a religious vocation is a natural response to their newfound freedom and the lessons learned through hardship. After seeing how fleeting human life can be, the Buddhist teachings represent a profoundly meaningful way of life. Other young women, growing up in India, come to the same realization through their encounters with modern secular life that promises happiness, but does not always lead to fulfillment.
For these women, the decision to enter the monastery is not the result of encouragement from their families or society. Instead, the choice to devote their lives to Dharma practice is an affirmative choice to make the best meaningful use of the human opportunity. The decision to seek ordination reflects a deeply felt dedication to sustaining Tibetan Buddhist culture, now facing the threat of extinction in its homeland. Their commitment is spurred by the sad reality that the precious Tibetan Buddhist cultural heritage may ultimately be preserved outside of occupied Tibet.
More than 1,290 Tibetan nuns now live in exile in India and Nepal. Some nuns who have escaped from Tibet still suffer from long-term psychological and physical effects of the sexual abuse, rape, torture, imprisonment and surveillance they were subjected to under the communist Chinese occupation. Since 1987, The Tibetan Nun’s Project has worked to provide rehabilitative medical services, housing and education for these nuns as well food, housing and education for other refugee nuns from Tibet. With international assistance, several nunneries have been established to house the influx of refugee nuns from Tibet.
In cultures and societies where monastics have primarily been monks, the road to ordination for Tibetan women has been arduous. Many fundamental disparities remain, including educational disparities, and efforts to equalize these disparities are ongoing. While Tibetan nuns born in Nepal and India have had the benefit of public education, many nuns born in Tibet have had little or no formal education prior to escaping from Tibet and have struggled to make up for lost time. In the past 15 years, Tibetan nuns have made significant strides academically, particularly in the area of philosophical studies, an area that was previously not open to nuns.
Several nunneries now offer intensive educational programs focused on philosophical studies.
Other nunneries offer Buddhist studies programs that integrate ritual practices and alternate with intensive retreats, in an effort to integrate philosophical studies and daily activities. Tibetan nuns now the opportunity to hone their intellectual reasoning skills by competing in intramural philosophical debate tournaments held annually since 1990. These tournaments were modeled after the famous Jang Kunchö monastic tradition, held every winter at Tibet’s most prestigious monastic universities.
Having access to philosophical studies is a key factor to be considered when assessing gender equality among nuns and monks in Tibetan culture. Nuns were traditionally excluded from Buddhist studies programs at the key monastic universities of Deprung, Ganden and Sera, which were reserved for male students. Since these were the institutions that granted the geshe degree, Tibet’s highest scholastic distinction, that distinction went only to men. Since 1987, the situation has radically changed. New opportunities for philosophical studies and debate may make the geshe degree available to women in the near future. When women achieve the educational opportunities necessary to receive the geshe degree, this will mark a major step in achieving gender parity in a Tibetan society. Women will have a chance to demonstrate that they are equally capable in higher religious studies in an environment that has rarely recognized women as lamas (religious teachers) and tulkus (recognized reincarnate lamas).
Tibetan nuns have made significant progress toward gender equity in the field of education, both secular and especially in Buddhist studies, but limitations remain for laywomen as well as nuns. As recently as the 1980s, the highly regarded Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies did not admit women students, and even now a quota is imposed on the number of female students to be admitted each year. The Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies is an accredited institution of higher learning, which prepares students as teachers, so it is important to open up opportunities for more laywomen and nuns to study there.
The trend toward greater educational opportunities for nuns is paralleled by the increasing the availability of secular education for girls. These new opportunities have raised educational standards for girls and women across a broad spectrum. The establishment of educational institutions such as the Tibetan Central Schools, the Tibetan Children’s Village, and Tibetan Homes have made education available to thousands of Tibetan girls and young women in India and Nepal.
Buddhist education need not be a formal pursuit, of course. Many Tibetan nuns devote themselves to ritual studies on a private basis, in retreat centers, and small monasteries throughout the Tibetan cultural diaspora. Many nuns also pursue meditation and ritual practices in solitude, in caves and isolated locations throughout the Himalayan region. Although these nuns who practice quietly in the mountains receive little attention, their religious practice is a significant contribution to the women’s empowerment and to peace in the world.
While nuns are now able to participate in ceremonies and events previously reserved solely for monks, such as constructing sand mandalas, performing sacred dances, participating in the Great Prayer festival and philosophical debates, full ordination for women (gelongma) remains a controversial matter. The controversy is centered around problems surrounding the transmission of the bhikshuni (gelongma) lineage. No evidence exists that the gelongma lineage was ever transmitted to Tibet from India in an officially sanctioned way, and so there is currently no lineage of fully ordained nuns in the Tibetan tradition. Tibetan nuns receive the ten precepts of a novice nun (getsulma) and are considered part of the Sangha, but their status is consequently lower than that of fully ordained monks (gelong).
Solutions for introducing the gelongma lineage are now being considered seriously. On possibility is for Tibetan nuns to receive ordination through the unbroken lineages transmitted from India to China, Korea, and Vietnam. Since a quorum of both monks and nuns is required to confer the precepts to newly ordained nuns, Tibetan gelongs technically cannot administer a full ordination ceremony for nuns alone. This mirrors the procedures established by Buddha Shakyamuni when he originally established the orders of nuns and monks in India. According to this solution, however, Tibetan nuns could receive the ordination from fully ordained nuns and monks from Korea, Taiwan, or Vietnam. Another possible solution is for Tibetan nuns to be ordained by Tibetan monks alone, a procedure that has been used in Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam without much controversy. Yet a third solution suggests a combined approach in which nuns from Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, or perhaps a combination, would participate in a full ordination
ceremony alongside Tibetan monks. With the backing of H.H. Dalai Lama and senior gelongs, any of these solutions could be justified. From recent enthusiastic discussions on this issue, it appears that support is growing for establishing a lineage of gelongmas in the Tibetan tradition.
The Tibetan government has yet to officially sanction any of these solutions. H.H. Dalai Lama has expressed his personal desire to see the gelongma lineage established within the Tibetan tradition. However, he states that the issue must be put before a senior Sangha council and that he lacks the authority to make the decision alone. To help resolve this issue, H.H. Dalai Lama has repeatedly called for an international conference with representatives of all the major Buddhist traditions to examine the fine points of Buddhist monastic law and work toward a consensus on the matter. Recently, several comparative studies of Chinese and Tibet texts have been undertaken to compare the gelongma precepts and the procedures for receiving the gelongma ordination in the Chinese and Tibetan traditions. A third study is investigating whether the existing gelongma lineages have been transmitted in an unbroken lineage from the time of Buddha Shakyamuni until today, a daunting task. Meanwhile, opinion is divided. On one side, opponents assert that the ordination of nuns cannot be conferred, because the requisite quorum of fully ordained Tibetan monks and nuns is unavailable. In fact, there are already more than sufficient numbers of nuns who have received full ordination in the Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese traditions. On the other side, proponents assert that the ordination can proceed, on
the grounds that Buddha Shakyamuni initially ordained nuns without a full quorum and thus set a precedent of this type of ordination.
While the controversy awaits resolution, Tibetan nuns continue to establish new nunneries and retreat centers in exile. Tibetan nunneries remain largely autonomous, with the nuns responsible for their own governance, maintenance, and support. Financial support in the form of donations from the local community or from abroad are critically important in helping nuns establish and maintain their nunneries and retreat centers. This is a tremendous challenge, since even in the area of financial support, nuns generally experience discrimination, because the laity prefers to support monks. Despite these obstacles, nuns remain dedicated to Dharma practice and to preserving their precious Tibetan cultural heritage.
As Tibetan nuns continue their practices and studies, they chip away at previous restrictions and outdated notions about the inferiority of women. They have become role models for women in Tibet and throughout the Himalayan region, actively promoting the Buddha’s egalitarian philosophy though social engagement.

For further information, see www.sakyadhita.org and www.jamyang.org.

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