The Chinese Bhikkhuni Sangha: its lineage, growth and near‑demise in the Mao years

My dissertation explores the freedoms offered women to chart their own spiritual paths beginning with the Buddha and his revolutionary stance on women, to the creation of a fully ordained female Saṅgha in China, which peaks during the Tang dynasty, and finally its sharp decline to the near extinction during the Mao Zedong years (1949-1976). To be sure, the centuries bring waves of glory and suffering as Buddhism and its followers are alternatively embraced and rejected. My dissertation examines how cultural, political and economic forces exert pressures in shaping the level of freedom and equality of female Buddhists within the Buddhist community as well as women’s rights within society. As the nun and lay communities arise directly from the broader female community, I argue there exists a direct correlation between women’s rights issues and those of liberties for Buddhist women within the Saṅgha; specifically, women’s equality within “this world” as well as their right to achieve liberation from “this world,” or saṃsāra. It is the theme of freedom that weaves a path beneath the historical steps taken by women for over 2500 years. And it offers a unique holistic perspective on a miraculous journey, led by women and for women.

“As this great ocean has but one taste, that of salt, so has this Dhamma but one taste, that of freedom.” I. B. Horner