The Fragility of Restoring Full Ordination for Tibetan Tsunmas (Nuns)
Abstract
:1. Introduction: Historical Background on the Topic of Full Ordination for Tsunmas in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition
When the recognition of impermanence shakes us into accepting the certain demise of our body, then we really aspire to make the most of our life. The truth of impermanence becomes the wind at our backs, urging us not to squander the precious opportunity we have right now.
In this canonical narrative, the act of women’s ordination potentially renders the entire Dharmavinaya, the teachings of the Buddha, fragile, insofar as the Buddha’s dispensation will not last quite as long as it would have otherwise. While the Buddha eventually granted Mahāprajāpatī’s request, he did so by requiring these women to practice additional preventative measures, the eight gurudharmas, which similar to a dam, contains “women’s faults” (Roloff 2020, p. 69). The women’s acceptance of these eight gurudharmas negates the notion of the potentially shortened duration of the Buddha’s dispensation although these rules displace the women’s saṃgha below the men’s, establishing a very stark gendered asymmetry in Buddhist monasticism (Havnevik 1989, pp. 24–27; Gutschow 2004, pp. 169–74; Ngodrup 2007, pp. 152–53, 183–85; Anālayo 2010, pp. 81–82; Hüsken 2010, pp. 144–48; Salgado 2013, pp. 80–81; 2019, p. 5).1Ānanda, it is as follows. For example, a household in which there are many women and few men is easily attacked and overwhelmed by robbers and kidnappers. Likewise, Ānanda, if women go forth into the Dharmavinaya, it will not last long.
Feminist scholar and activist, Sara Ahmed says that “the word fragility derives from fraction. Something is broken. It is in pieces” (Ahmed 2017, p. 180). I read the same concern into the Dalai Lama’s statement on two levels. First, the gelongma lineage is broken. Second, he is concerned about abating a split, a breakage amongst the saṃgha. The Dalai Lama, living in exile in India, did not want any fracturing amongst the saṃgha and presumably the community of Tibetans living abroad.When it comes to re-establishing the Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikṣuṇī ordination, it is extremely important that we avoid a split in the sangha. We need a broad consensus within the Tibetan saṅgha as a whole, and we need to address not only bhikṣuṇī ordination but subsequent issues as well.
2. Re-Establishing the Tradition for Tibetan Tsunmas: Lighting a Fire with One Stick
3. Interlude: A Tale for the Time Being
Okay, here’s what I’ve decided. I don’t mind the risk, because the risk makes it more interesting. And I don’t think old Jiko will mind, either, because being a Buddhist, she really understands impermanence and that everything changes and nothing lasts forever. Old Jiko really isn’t going to care if her life stories get written or lost, and maybe I’ve picked up a little of that laissez-faire attitude from her. When the time comes, I can just let it all go.
3.1. Objectives for the Time Being
3.2. A Time for Gelongma Ordination
Whatever is born is impermanent and is bound to die.Whatever is stored up is impermanent and bound to run out.Whatever comes together is impermanent and is bound to come apart.Whatever is built is impermanent and bound to collapse.Whatever rises up is impermanent and bound to fall down.So, also, friendship and enmity, fortune and sorrow, good and evil, all thethoughts that run through your mind—everything is always changing.
4. Fragility of a Tradition: The Gelongma Lineage in Tibetan History
Individuals who think of themselves to at least some degree as a collective, who understand the world and their appropriate place within it in terms significantly influenced by their encounter with a shared set of written texts or oral teachings based on written texts, and who grant special social status to literate interpreters of authoritative written texts.
4.1. Single Vinaya: Significance of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya
4.1.1. Löpon Wangmo
The Tibetan King, Trisong Detsen (khri srong lde btsan), invited Khenchen Śāntarakṣita (mkhan chen zhi ba ‘thso) from Nalandā University in India. Śāntarakṣita believed the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya would be best for Tibetans. He ordained seven monks, and this has been the practice. Later, when Atiśa came to Tibet, he was asked to give ordinations. Since Śāntarakṣita had introduced the Mūlasarvāstivāda lineage, Atiśa thought passing a lineage from another tradition would be inconsistent. So, he did not give an ordination because having two different lineages in one country would be confusing. Importing a new tradition would not be a big problem if it is a faultless ordination. Nonetheless, since in Tibet we only have had one tradition from the beginning, I think Tibetan tsunmas would love to have ordination through the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya; and they wish for a revival of that gelongma lineage. If practices are in one lineage, it would be nice. Sometimes all fruits are mixed and maybe we get a good juice, but if one tradition mixes with another tradition would be a funny flavor, particularly the ceremony chants!17
4.1.2. Tsunma Tenzin
4.2. Dual-Vinaya: Mūlasarvāstivāda and Dharmaguptaka Vinayas
4.2.1. Tsunma Sonam Khacho
The gelongma lineage declined in Tibet. So, the contemporary issue about gelongma ordination raises questions for many people since it is a new and strange phenomenon. If gelongmas like us practice according to tradition, gradually people will not complain and the gelongma ordination will flourish. On the contrary, if we do not practice well, negative attitudes or gossip will spread in the community. That is not a good thing for anyone because it is all negative karma.24
4.2.2. Tsunma Yangchen
4.2.3. Tsunma Pema
5. When Institutional and Personal Fragility Collide
5.1. Institutional Fragility and Dōgen’s Time-Being
Without a saṃgha of bhikṣunīs, it is very difficult to give proper and authentic vows to individuals in a female body. This is why it is extremely important to reinstitute the community of bhikṣunīs. When we look at the ceremonies for the vows that can be taken with a female body—such as a female lay practitioner with precepts, the female who has gone forth, and the novice nun—as they are described in the Vinaya (and many of the ceremonies have been translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan), they all state that the bhikṣunīs, should bestow the vows that can be given to women. If we seek these authentic true vows, then the bhikṣunīs, are key.38
An old Buddha said:For the time being, I stand astride the highest mountain peaks.For the time being, I move on the deepest depths of the ocean floor.For the time being, I’m three heads and eight arms.For the time being, I’m eight feet or sixteen feet.For the time being, I’m a staff or a whisk.For the time being, I’m Mr. Chang or Mr. Li.For the time being, I’m the great earth and heavens above.The “Time Being” means time, just as it is, is being, and being is all time.The sixteen-foot golden Buddha-body is time; because it is time, it has time’s glorious golden radiance. You must learn to see this glorious radiance in the twelve hours of your day. The [demonic asura with] three heads and eight arms in time; because it is time, it can be in no way different from the twelve hours of your day. Although you never measure the length or brevity of the twelve hours, their swiftness or slowness, you can still call them the twelve hours. As evidence of their going and coming is obvious, you do not come to doubt them. But even though you do not have doubts about them, that is not to say you know them. Since a sentient being’s doubtings of the many and various things unknown to him are naturally vague and indefinite, the course his doubtings take will probably not bring them to coincide with this present doubt. Nonetheless, the doubts themselves are, after all, none other than time.We set the self out in array and make the whole world. We must see all the various things of the whole world as so many times. These things do not get in each other’s way. Because of this, there is an arising of the religious mind as the same time and it is the arising of time of the same mind. So it is with practice and attainment of the Way. We set our self in array, and we see that. Such is the fundamental reason of the Way–that our self is time.
Hence, pine trees are time. So are bamboos. You should not come to understand that time is only flying past. You should not only learn that flying past is the virtue inherent in time. If time were to give itself to merely flying past, it would have to leave gaps. You fail to experience the passage of being-time and hear the utterance of its truth, because you learn only that time is something that goes past.
The essential point is: every being in the entire world is each time and [independent] time, even while it makes a continuous series. Inasmuch as they are being-time, they are my being-time.
5.2. Holding Contradictions
5.3. The Form of Vows and the Karmapa on the Fragility of Vows
From refuge through full monkhood,a Disciple’s vows last as long as he lives.They are lost at death. (2)
The effects of the vowsmanifest in a subsequent lifetime.The vows of a bodhisattva, however,endure even beyond death. (3)
How so? A vow, Disciples maintain,is nonmental [i.e., material] and issues from body and voice;since it has form, the vow is relinquished whenever death occurs.On this point the Abhidharmakośa also teaches: (4)
“The discipline of Individual Liberation is terminatedby renouncing the training, by dying, by having become a hermaphrodite,by severance of the roots of virtue, and by the lapse of night.”And this statement is authoritative (5).
Vows are kind of like a bum pa (vase). During ordination, there is something kind of there that has a form, and it will come into this vessel. This is the moment you get the ordination; it means you have it. So, they want to make sure that you really have it exactly…All the conditions must be complete. And then, we have to make sure that once the time you get it, time will ripen, and you will remember the time you get it. It is related and everything comes together and the time ripens.46
In 2002, when I was 16, His Holiness granted me the vow of intermediate ordination. And on the day when he did so, he gave me both the vow of intermediate ordination and getsul at that same time. Our request was only for the intermediate ordination, but he gave me both ordinations. He must have had a special reason for doing so. Though at the time, my thought was to first receive the intermediate ordination and to later receive novice ordination from Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Rinpoche, His Holiness gave me both. There was some talk within our lineage of the importance of my taking the vows according to our own tradition and that it wouldn’t be quite right to do otherwise. But at that time, to be honest, I hadn’t studied the Vinaya much. In actuality, the vow of intermediate ordination is not the actual monastic ordination. It is really just permission to wear the robes, the symbol of religious ordination. One sets aside the clothes of a layperson and takes up the symbolic robes of ordination, but it is not actual ordination.
After this, much time passed while I was wondering whether I should receive the novice vows according to our Kagyu tradition or not and what to do about full ordination. Further, I also became very busy with the work of Kagyu Monlam. As I studied the Vinaya and my understanding of it gradually increased, I felt like my former way of approaching vows was not quite correct. I thought my previous manner of taking them was not right, and that if I really wanted to receive the vows in a pure way, I should start again from the beginning. Especially, if one wants to receive the vows purely into one’s being, one needs stable renunciation and wishing for emancipation in one’s being. Without this, it would be difficult to keep the vows in a stable manner. These days, it is as if we were just following the custom of taking monks or nuns vows, but it’s actually very rare that one thinks deeply about this and wishes, from the depths of one’s being, to ordain. I think many people must be wondering and talking about why I have not taken full ordination by now. From my side, the main thing is that if renunciation and wishing for emancipation has not truly arisen, the novice and full monks’ vows will not be based on this ethical conduct that longs for liberation, and it would be difficult for them to result in perfectly pure ethical conduct—though there must be some benefit in holding the vows anyway.
It is difficult to have stable renunciation and a mind with the stable longing for liberation. And without these, it is difficult to hold the vows in a completely pure way. So I am trying to develop stable renunciation within my being. I am trying to develop a certain degree of true renunciation—it’s difficult to generate a really high level—but if I can develop a certain degree of renunciation, I feel that I will be able to receive the vows of individual liberation in a full and complete way. Then, at the time of death, if I can die with the support of ordination, I feel my mind would be at ease. This is the high hope that I hold for myself and the reason things have been as they are up to now.
Generally, people say that I am Karmapa, a buddha, a bodhisattva. They say what they say, but when I look for myself, all I see is an ordinary being with afflictions and faults, not someone who is free of faults and endowed with all the qualities, as others think. In any case, my wish to benefit the teachings and benefit beings has never waned, and at the very least, I pray that I will be able to benefit the teachings and beings not only in this lifetime but in all my lifetimes.
For a long time, no one has heard much about what I am doing, and there are many rumors and a lot of hearsay about it. We are all the same. No matter who we are, people say all sorts of things about us; they misunderstand or make up things. In my life, this has often happened from the time I was little until now. Such situations happen often to all of us. But the main thing is that because our own minds are not hidden from us, it is important for us to believe in ourselves. For me, as I said before, I intend to continue working for the sake of Buddhism and sentient beings.
5.4. Personal Fragility and Dōgen on a Critical Instant
Dōgen also wrote that a single moment is all we need to establish our human will and attain truth…. Both life and death manifest in every moment of existence. Our human body appears and disappears moment by moment, without cease, and this ceaseless arising and passing away is what we experience as time and being. They are not separate. They are one thing, and in even a fraction of a second, we have the opportunity to choose, and to turn the course of our action either toward the attainment of truth or away from it. Each instant is utterly critical to the whole world.
6. Super Nuns for the Time Being
I believe that in the deepest places in their hearts, people are violent and take pleasure in hurting each other. Old Jiko and I disagree on this point. She says that according to Buddhist philosophy, my point of view is a delusion and that our original nature is to be kind and good, but honestly I think she’s way too optimistic. I happen to know some people, like Reiko, are truly evil, and many of the Great Minds of Western Philosophy back me up on this. But still I’m glad old Jiko believes we’re basically good, because it gives me hope, even if I can’t believe it myself. Maybe someday I will.
My motivations are for making my monastery a simple monastery because I do not want [the other tsunmas] to live as I did before. In the beginning, we woke up at five o’clock in the morning and worked the whole day like laborers. So, we worked with sand and bricks which we all carried on our backs. Now, I wish for the other tsunmas to just study. My intentions and motivations are that everybody feels this monastery models good practice and study. That is my dream.48
First our responsibility is to practice the Buddhadharma very deeply much like Jetsun Milarepa. Secondly, we teach tsunmas or lay women. I think like that. Tsunpas do not need our help since there are so many geshes and khenpos. We are all the same. All women. That’s why we help them. We have more time because we have a simple life. We don’t look after parents. Lay people have so many problems. They have to look after their children, spouse, and parents. That’s why we teach lay women how to practice Dharma and keep good health.50
By the end of the summer, with Jiko’s help, I was getting stronger. Not just strong in my body, but strong in my mind. In my mind, I was becoming a superhero, like Jubei-chan, the Samurai Girl, only I was Nattchan, the Super Nun, with abilities bestowed upon me by Lord Buddha that included battling the waves, even if I always lost, and being able to withstand astonishing amounts of pain and hardship.
Perhaps we need to develop a different orientation to breaking. We can value what is deemed broken; we can appreciate those bodies, those things, that are deemed to have bits and pieces missing. Breaking need not be understood only as the loss of integrity of something, but as the acquisition of something else, whatever else that might be.(p. 180)
We Tibetans accept bhikṣuṇīs from Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the west. We accept all of them. We are also like them, but why do we not accept our own tsunmas as bhikṣuṇīs (gelongmas)? If Tibetan tsunmas become bhikṣuṇīs (gelongmas) and there are no discussions on it, then that is not a good sign. If we have discussions on it, it shows we are actually focusing on them. If my pen is broken, the majority of people think it is not good because my pen is broken. But I do not think like that. I think that since it is broken, it is a good chance to get a new one! I think like that always!52
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Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Notes
1 | For more on this topic of the first ordination and the potential for decline in different vinayas, see Anālayo (2010, pp. 78–97). |
2 | See other forthcoming articles in this Special Issue for more regional specific historical information: for Theravāda/Pāli, see Bhikkhuni Dhammadinnā, Scott, Seeger, and Walker; for Dharmaguptaka, see Campo, Cho, Bianchi, and Pérronet; for Mūlasarvāstivāda, see Bareja-Starzynska, Schneider, and Wu. |
3 | For more on the history of Theravāda/Pāli, see Seeger and Bhikkhuni Dhammadinnā in this Special Issue. Also, see works by Bhikkhunī Kūsuma (2012) and Bhikkhunī Dhammandandā (Kabilsingh 1991), who are two Theravāda bhikkunīs who also received their full vows with Dharmaguptaka monks. Other additional scholarly works that examine full ordination in the Theravāda/Pāli context include (Collins and McDaniel 2010; Battaglia 2015; Kawanami 2007; Mrozik 2009, 2014, 2020; Salgado 2013, 2019; Seeger 2018). |
4 | I use the term tsunma because it covers all celibate women religious practitioners who hold precepts in the Tibetan tradition, whether these women have postulant (rab tu byung ma, Skt. pravrajitā), novice (dge tshul ma, Skt. śrāmaṇerikā), probationary (dge slob ma, Skt. śikṣamāṇā), or full vows (dge slong ma, bhikṣunī), and whether or not they don monastic attire, shave their heads, and live in or apart from a monastic community. Yet all these Tibetan terms—tsunma, ani, jomo, rabjungma, getsulma, gelobma, and gelongma—are often considered equivalent and interchangeable with the English term nun. Tsunma Tenzin, an interlocutor in Bodh Gaya, used the term tsunma in lieu of the more common ani. The Tibetan term btsun is equivalent to discipline. As Tsunma Tenzin discussed, btsun ma refers to women who adhere to discipline. Interview 3F–TT–Bihar—16 March 2018, 20:49–22:44. All interlocutors names are pseudonyms. I do not use the names and exact locations of nunneries for purposes of confidentiality under the guidelines of the Institutional Review Board at Northwestern University. I conducted all interviews on my own in Tibetan, Hindi, and/or English. Dorjee Choephel was instrumental in transcribing interviews, which we subsequently edited together. |
5 | The 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje initiated this process on 11–12 March 2017, fieldnotes. Presently, the 17th Karmapa has a court case for spousal support against him amid allegations of sexual assault that emerged in May 2021. According to a CBC News article that first published these allegations, Vikki Hui Xin Han is suing for spousal support based upon what “began as a non-consensual sexual encounter [that] evolved into a loving and affectionate relationship” (Proctor 2021). Initially, Han sued for child support but amended her claim for spousal support when the case went to trial (Müller 2021; Burke 2021). Since these allegations postdated all of my fieldwork, I do not know how the tsunmas at the center of this study have received this knowledge of the allegations against the Karmapa. |
6 | I am using this term vow as it relates to the acceptance of the pledge to not break the precepts (Tib. bslab pa’i gzhi, Skt. śikṣāpada) that tsunmas practice. There are complex linguistic issues on this topic of the Tibetan term sdom pa. For more discussion, see Kishino (2004). See also Roloff’s (2020) discussion, pp. 281–93, and footnote 71 on p. 308. In terms of the enumeration of the precepts (Tib. bslab pa’i gzhi, Skt. śikṣāpada), this is by no means fixed, as in Tibetan exegesis or as illustrated in recent scholarship. For more on this topic, see Heckman (2022, chp. 2–3). |
7 | Tsering’s translation is presumably referring to the Tibetan term, dag pa, as does Clarke’s (2010, p. 235). Bhikṣuṇī Tsedroen and Bhikkhu Anālayo also suggest that the preceptor giving the vows does not incur a minor fault (nyes byas) (Tsedroen and Anālayo 2013, p. 761). The point is that since the preceptor incurs an infraction, the vows are not faultless and perfect. However, the ordinations are still valid. Clarke reiterates this point that there are canonical instances where even slight mishaps or even non-ideal ordinations are still valid (Clarke 2010, pp. 232, 237–38). Thanks to Annie Heckman for thinking this through with me. See also Salgado (2019, pp. 4–8). Salgado discusses the nuances of the precepts and the cultivation of self-discipline by showing the limitations of characterizing Vinaya stipulations as rules. For discussions on this topic in a Mahāyana context, see Péronnet (2022). |
8 | |
9 | With gratitude for Professor Richard Kieckhefer making this connection for me during our “works-in-progress” workshop at Northwestern 2/22/22. Leonard Cohen, Anthem, 1992 (Cohen 2022). |
10 | Though there are other sources, here, I am relying on the 8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje’s commentary (Karmapa 2002) on the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the center of my current research. The full passage is as follows: “In the main regions, the female saṃgha requires twelve fully ordained nuns. In the borderlands (remote area), in the case that twelve nuns are not obtained, then six fully ordained nuns are permissible. Even if these numbers are not complete, given with a group of four fully ordained nuns and without making a mistake in the confession in the monastic discipline is to know the essential point described in the full ordination. If these fully ordained nuns are not obtained in the region, it is suitable for the saṃgha of fully ordained monks to also bestow the full ordination to women.” dge ‘dun ma de yang yul dbus su dge slong ma bcu gnyis dang|mtha’ ‘khob tu bcu gnyis med na dge slong ma drug gi grangs tshang ba’o|grangs de dge ma tshang yang dge slong ma bzhi’i tshogs kyis byin na tshangs spyod nyer gnas ‘chogs la nyes byes te|bsnyen rdzogs la gsungs pa’i gnad kyis shes so|dge slong ma de dge ma rnyed na| dge slong pha’i dge ‘dun kyis kyang tshangs spyod nyer gnas sbyon du rung ste|. |
11 | Tibetan histories detail how the gelong saṃgha required reinstatement following Lang Darma’s reign, insinuating how the gelong ordination lineage is also fragile. Yet, a gelongma ordination is a multi-year process with several stages—preventing it from happening from the 8th century to the present moment whereas a gelong ordination does not have a probationary stage. Thus, Vinaya requirements for the male versus female saṃgha create the conditions for differing degrees of fragility between the gelong and gelongma ordination. |
12 | Generally, Mahāyāna practitioners in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan rely on the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya whereas Vajrayāna monastics in Bhutan, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and Tibet rely on the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. |
13 | |
14 | During the 8th Arya Kshema on 19 April 2022, the 17th Karmapa reasserted his wish to continue this gelongma ordination in the future when it was safe after the COVID-19 pandemic. |
15 | I closely detail several exceptional cases of gelongmas in Tibetan history in Chapter 3 of in my dissertation, illustrating how some tsunmas speak of these uncommon gelongma narratives as possible precedents for restoring ordination. |
16 | Interview 22F–LWD–UT—28 July 2018, 1:04–1:07. |
17 | Interview 22F–LWD–UT—28 July 2018. |
18 | Interview 3F–TT–Bihar—16 March 2018, 6:00–9:00. |
19 | Interview 3F–TT–Bihar—16 March 2018, 40:00–44:00. |
20 | Interview 3F–TT–Bihar—16 March 2018, 46:00–48:00. |
21 | As I discuss in Chapter Four of my dissertation, Löpon Wangmo would like to receive her gelongma vows but does not see a viable option. In contrast, Tsunma Tenzin would like to keep perfecting her novice vows and did not express an interest in receiving full vows. |
22 | Gelongma Sonam Khacho’s life story and full ordination are central to my dissertation (Price-Wallace 2022). |
23 | Interview 8F–GS with TP–HP—24 April 2018, 54:30–58:50. |
24 | Interview 1F–GS–HP—22 January 2018, 10:40–12:50. |
25 | |
26 | Interview 1F–GS–HP—22 January 2018, 34:41–32.25. |
27 | Interview 25F–TY–UT—30 July 2018, 18:17–23:50. |
28 | Interview 25F–TY–UT—30 July 2018, 29:35–31:40. |
29 | Survey with Pema, 2C, 2 March 2018–Bihar. |
30 | Interview 8F–TP, informal 22 February 2018, 7 March 2018–Bihar, 24 April 2018–HP, 20 October 2019–Bihar, no recording. |
31 | Survey with Pema, 2C, 2 March 2018–Bihar. She wrote these answers in English. |
32 | See note 31 above. |
33 | Ngöndro, meaning ‘that which comes first,’ is the foundational practice containing essential Buddhist teachings. Ngöndro is an essential practice among all the Tibetan Buddhist schools although each has their own variations of the ordinary preliminaries such as the four thoughts that turn the mind and unique preliminaries such as refuge, purification, accumulating merit, and guru yoga. For more on this topic, see Patrul Rinpoche (1994) and Mingyur Rinpoche (2014). |
34 | Tsunma Pema, WeChat messages, 2020. |
35 | Tsunma Pema, Facebook post, 21 August 2020. All posts are recorded as she wrote them. |
36 | See note 35 above. |
37 | The Karmapa has addressed this topic thoroughly during the 1st, 4th, and 8th Arya Kshema gatherings. |
38 | The 17th Karmapa, Arya Kshema, Bodh Gaya, India, 15 March 2017, translation by Michele Martin. Field notes, 15 March 2017. |
39 | He has been exploring this topic since 2015 and made a formal announcement during the Arya Kshema Gathering. For more on this topic, see Roloff (2020, p. 329). See also Bianchi (2022). |
40 | Roberts draws from Norman Waddell and Masso Abe’s translation (Waddell and Abe 2002). For alternative translation, see Dōgen (1994). |
41 | Welch and Tanahasi’s translation. |
42 | |
43 | With gratitude to an anonymous reader for her clarifying points on this topic. |
44 | Sakya Pandita draws directly from the Abhidharmakośa. His stance accords within the Mūlasarvāstivāda perspective of the Śrāvaka prātimokṣa since it is the only one that existed among Tibetan monastics. It is also what he received from his abbot, Śakyaśrībhadra (Sakya Pandita 2002, p. 22). See also note on page 73 of the book. |
45 | Also see Khenpo Khartar Rinpoche on Karma Chakme, who also delineates how the different schools such as Geluk and Kagyu differ in their understanding of how and when the three vows are received. |
46 | Collaborative interview completed with Michele Martin. We interviewed Tsunma Wangmo, 6 March 2017, Bodh Gaya, India. Interlocutor’s name has been changed for confidentiality. |
47 | |
48 | Interview 4F–TND–Bihar—18 March 2018, 12:20–18:24. |
49 | See note 48 above. |
50 | Interview 15F–GJ–HP—21 July 2018, 20:10. |
51 | For a nearly complete transcript, see the detailed write up from the publicity team of the 8th Arya Kshema who writes, “His Holiness expressed that in the future, when the epidemic has ended and we can once again travel easily, he would like to invite the bhikshuni sangha from another country again to give the novices the nun-in-training vows and then later the bhikshuni ordination. Within the practice lineage of Karma Kamtsang, this topic of bhikshuni ordination was not something he had decided alone, Karmapa clarified. It was a result of several conferences held during the Kagyu Gunchö among the khenpos, geshes, and students. At that time, the khenpos and geshes told him, “You should institute bhikshuni ordination in the Kamtsang Kagyu,” and he heeded the requests.” (Arya Kshema: Winter Dharma Gathering for Kagyu Nuns 2022). |
52 | Interview 15F–GJ–HP—21 July 2018, 1:59–2:02. |
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Price-Wallace, D.M. The Fragility of Restoring Full Ordination for Tibetan Tsunmas (Nuns). Religions 2022, 13, 877. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100877
Price-Wallace DM. The Fragility of Restoring Full Ordination for Tibetan Tsunmas (Nuns). Religions. 2022; 13(10):877. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100877
Chicago/Turabian StylePrice-Wallace, Darcie M. 2022. "The Fragility of Restoring Full Ordination for Tibetan Tsunmas (Nuns)" Religions 13, no. 10: 877. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100877
APA StylePrice-Wallace, D. M. (2022). The Fragility of Restoring Full Ordination for Tibetan Tsunmas (Nuns). Religions, 13(10), 877. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100877