Home  

Chapter VII - 

BHIKKHUNIS AND BUDDHIST NUNS NOW 2

Mahápajápati Gotami accepted these eight points joyfully and so became the first Bhikkhuni. The fact that she did so joyfully shows her humility. Her wisdom led her to accept these points seeing that they would be helpful in Dhamma-training. This point should be carefully noted. On this occasion, the Buddha pointed out to venerable Ananda that since trouble could be expected when women were allowed to go forth, so he had appointed the eight important points in advance to stem that. „As a man might construct in advance an embankment so that the waters of a great reservoir should not cause a flood, so I too have made known in advance these eight important points for bhikkhunis not to be transgressed as long as life lasts“.

These eight important points are compared by the Buddha to an embankment so we may ask what was the flood that he sought to prevent by means of it. If we examine these points all eight have one thing in common: they deal with various sorts of contact between bhikkhunis and Bhikkhus, either as Sanghas or individually. The flood that the Buddha tried to stem was probably unregulated contact between members of the two Sanghas, which could easily give rise to gossip, and slander even when actions were innocent of any wrongdoing. In fact the Vinaya gives many examples of laypeople that were not Buddhists, exclaiming that the bhikkhunis were obviously the Bhikkhus wives. This sort of misapprehension or slander, whichever it was, had to be avoided at all cost for the good name of both Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. Opponents the world over of any religious movement have never hesitated to use the smear of sexual relations as the most potent method of discrediting celibates.

It appears too that part of the flood was conceit. Then it may be asked whether women on the whole have more conceit than man and whether they are more in need of humility. Generalisations of this sort are difficult to make since some women have more humility than others, but woman’s preoccupation with cultivating and preserving, bodily beauty is evidence of conceit. Conceit, in a Buddhist sense means how one conceives oneself, as superior to others, equal to them, or inferior. As far as beauty is concerned women like to be at least equal or superior to other women, an attitude which is rooted in attracting men and binding them by attachment. This conceit cannot be allowed to manifest in a celibate order and there are actually many rules laid down by the Buddha about bhikkhunis, that neither their persons nor their robes should be adorned in any way. Perhaps such restraint is more difficult for women than for men. A nun in Thailand in the present day has declared that she believes that women require the rules, which are directed against conceit as aids for their own training.

After these digressions we should continue to follow the history of the bhikkhunis. Mahápajápati Gotami became the first of them just by accepting the Eight Important Points. Her first question to the Buddha was how the Sakiyan ladies who had accompanied her and who included Princess Yasodhará,, the Buddha’s former wife, should be given the Acceptance. The Buddha instructed that the Bhikkhu-Sangha should give them Acceptance as bhikkhunis. We know that a large number of this first group of bhikkhunis, including Mahápajápati Gotami and Yasodhara, became Arahants.

Later, when an applicant was questioned by Bhikkhus during the Acceptance ceremony, she became shy and the Buddha then said that the Bhikkhuni-Sangha should ordain the applicant first, asking the usual questions, after which the Bhikkhu-Sangha should give the Acceptance again without asking any questions. It seems likely that this dual acceptance would make more difficult the entry of undesirable elements into the Bhikkhuni-Sangha.

As time went on, unruly elements in the Bhikkhuni-Sangha did things, which were unsuitable for the Holy Life so that the Buddha had to lay down rules of training especially for the bhikkhunis. Many of the Bhikkhus’ training rules applied to them as well but they had also precepts, which had no application to Bhikkhus, amounting in all to 311 training-rules compared with the 227 for Bhikkhus. These rules ware recited at the Uposatha ceremony every lunar fortnight and constituted their basic rule. Together with the stories of how they originated and their elaboration, they constituted the second book of the Vinaya Basket, as we saw in Chapter IV.

A senior Bhikkhuni or Theri, that is one who had spent twelve Rains in the Sangha, was entitled to be an ordaining teacher but it happened that young bhikkhunis were not trained properly (which points out a lack of capacity for organisation at that time) so that the Buddha had to limit Acceptance to one pupil every other year for each Bhikkhus teacher. There was no limit in the Bhikkhu-Sangha. This meant that the spread of the bhikkhunis was limited both by the above limitation and by their more difficult disciplinary code. No Bhikkhuni could live or travel alone but had to have, all the time, a Bhikkhuni companion. Even their living places had to be limited to towns where they could be properly sheltered from molestation by violent men. Forest-dwelling bhikkhunis existed only in the earliest days and were later forbidden after the rape of the Arahant Theri Uppalavanná.[3] She was one of the great Teachers in the Bhikkhuni-Sangha and was praised by the Buddha as foremost in supernormal powers.

During the Buddha-time many thousands of women became bhikkhunis from all levels of society. Here the verses of just ten of them, with their stories in brief, will be presented. Some of the verses of Kisagotami Theri have been quoted already, while those of the Venerables Muttá and Rohini will be given below. To begin with, here is the verse of the Arahant Dhammadinná. She was born in a wealthy family and married to Visákha, a leading citizen of Rájagaha. He heard the Buddha’s teaching and attained the Fruit of Non-returning and so, having no sexual desire left at all, gave Dhammadinná the choice of remaining in the house and enjoying the wealth there, or of returning to her own family, but she chose to become a Bhikkhuni and soon reached Arahantship. Her verse was uttered before this, while she was still a Non-returner striving in a solitary place. Later, she was praised by the Buddha as „foremost (of the bhikkhunis) among the Dhamma-preachers“.

            One with a wish for the Final End,

            with a mind exhilarated,

            a mind unbound from pleasures of sense,

            an ‘Upstream-goer’[4] she is called. (12)

Next, Sakulá, born in a Brahmin family. She was also married and acquired faith in the Buddha at the time when he accepted the Jeta Grove as a monastery. One day she listened to the teaching of an Arahant Bhikkhu and was deeply stirred at which she requested the Going-forth. Later, as an Arahant, the Buddha assigned to her pre-eminence among those with the Divine Eye.

            As I was living in my house

            I heard a Bhikkhu teaching Dhamma,

            Dhamma I saw, stainless then -

            Nibbána, the unchanging state.

 

            I left my son, my daughter too,

            my wealth as well, my stored-up grain

            and having had my hair cut off

            I went forth to the homeless state

 

            Then was I a probationer

            developing the path that’s straight,

            I abandoned lust, aversion too

            and the pollutions linked to them.

 

            Accepted as a Bhikkhuni

            I remembered former births

            having made pure the Eye Divine,

            spotless it is and well-developed.

 

            The conditioned as other[5] having seen,

            arising causally, dissolving away,

            the pollutions all abandoned then,

            Quenched I have become quite cool.[6]

                                                            (97-101)

Soná was also born into a good family and eventually became the mother of ten sons and daughters, so that she was known as ‘the many-childrened’. After her husband had become a Bhikkhu, she gave over the wealth of the family to her children, keeping nothing for herself. But soon her children ceased to show her any respect, so she went forth among the bhikkhunis, thinking, ‘I have gone forth in my old age, I must make great efforts’. So she practised all night, every night and became known for her energy. The Buddha one night projected a vision of himself and spoke these words:

            Though one should live a hundred years

            not seeing the Deathless State,

            yet better is life for a single day

            seeing the Deathless State.

At these words, she attained Arahantship. The Buddha One day declared her to be „foremost among bhikkhunis who strive energetically“. Reflecting one day upon her experience she spoke these verses:

            Ten children having borne

            from this bodily congeries,

            so I, now weak and old,

            approached a Bhikkhuni.

 

            The Dhamma she taught me -

            groups, sense-spheres and elements,[7]

            her Dhamma having heard

            I shaved my hair, went forth.

 

            Then a probationer

            I purified the Eye Divine

            former lives I knew

            and where I lived before.

 

            One-pointed, well composed,

            the Signless[8] I develop -

            immediately released

            unclinging now and quenched!

            The five groups, knowing well,

            exist, their roots are cut,

            unmovable am I

            on a stable basis sure,

            now rebirth is no more.

                                                (102-106)

Reborn in a brahmin family, Somá’s father was officiating priest to King Bimbisára. While still in her own house she came to have confidence in the Buddha, and hearing Dhamma her mind became deeply stirred so that she became a Bhikkhuni. Thus she did not marry. After practising for some time she attained Arahantship. Then dwelling in the bliss of Freedom she went one day after the alms round to the Dark Wood and sat there in solitude. Then Mára (the personification of evil) poke these words to her:

            That which sages may attain,

            the Firm State very hard to reach.

            a woman with two fingers’ worth[9]

            of wisdom cannot win.

And she replied with these verses showing how she could not be shaken:

            What’s it to do with a woman’s state

            when the mind is well-composed

            with knowledge after knowledge born

            sees into Perfect Dhamma clear?

            For who indeed conceives it thus:

            a woman am I, a man am I

            or what indeed then am I -

            it’s worthwhile Mára’a speech.

                                    (Samy. Nikáya Collection Section with Verses Chapter V, 2)

Ubbiri was reborn in her last existence in the family of an important citizen of Sávatthi. She was extremely beautiful and so invited to the palace of King Pasenadi of Kosala. After some time a daughter was born to her whom she named Jívá and when the king saw the child he was so pleased that he had Ubbiri raised to the status of a queen. But the little girl died and the mother went daily to the burning-ground in grief. Near there the Buddha met her and told her that innumerable daughters of hers (in past lives) had been burnt there and pointing out the places where this one and that one had been cremated or cast away, he spoke as follows:

            Mother! you who wail in the wood,

            come to yourself, O Ubbiri!

            Eighty-four thousand daughters of yours

            all with the name, Jívá,

            have been burnt in this funeral fire,

            for which of them do you wail?

Then and there because she had the requisite conditions, she attained Arahantship and replied in these verses:

            Truly has he removed the dart,

            hard to see, that nestled in my heart,

            Grief for my daughter he drove away

            in me who was overcome by grief.

 

            Now is the dart plucked cut by me,

            not yearning now and fully quenched.

            To the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha too

            to the Wise One I for refuge go.

                                                            (51 -63)

Then there was another mother, Vasitthi, who for grief of her dead son went quite mad. Born in a good family and married to a young man of equal status, she lived happily with her husband and bore one son. When able to run about he died and while relatives were consoling the father, Vasitthi ran away raving and wandered about until she came to Mithila. There she saw the Buddha and at the sight of the Great One, regained her normal mind. Hearing Dhamma in brief, she asked to become a Bhikkhuni and soon after, she became an Arahant. Reflecting on her attainment, she exulted in this way:

            With my mind deranged, crazed by grief

            for my son and out of my senses,

            naked, with dishevelled hair

            I wandered here and there.

 

            On heaps of rubbish from the streets,

            on charnel-grounds and chariot-roads,

            there I lived for three long years

            given over to hunger and thirst.

 

            Then I saw Him, the Sugata,[10]

            come to Mithila’s city

            the tamer of the untamed,

            Enlightened, without fears at all.

 

            Having then regained my mind

            I bowed to him and sat nearby

            and out of compassion did Gotama

            teach me Dhamma, which having heard

            I went forth to the homeless state.

 

            Devoted to the Teacher’s word

            I realised the State Secure,

            all griefs completely cut right out,

            abandoned, brought to an utter end,

            for known to me are the causes

            from which all griefs are born.

                                                    (113-138)

Due to her past bad kamma,, Vimalá[11] was born to a prostitute and herself followed that trade when she grow up. One day she saw the left-hand chief disciple of the Buddha, venerable Mahá-Moggallána, walking for alms food in Vesáli. Feeling desire for him she went to his dwelling and tried to seduce him. She could not succeed as he was an Arahant, but he succeeded in humbling her pride of beauty with verses ending with this one:

            See this body beautiful,

            a mass of sores, a congeries,

            much considered but miserable

            where nothing is stable, nothing persists.

She was ashamed of her actions and became a lay-follower, later a Bhikkhuni who after effort and striving won Arahantship. Her verses of exultation are as follows:

            Proud of my good complexion and figure,

            my beauty and my fame as well,

            haughty because of my youth

            other women I despised.

 

            Having adorned this body,

            well decorated, deceiving fools,

            at the brothel door I stood

            like a hunter laying a snare,

            showing off my attractions,

            much of my secrets revealing,

            various jugglery I performed

            and many people laughed loud.

 

            Today for almsfood having walked

            shaven-headed, wrapped in my robe,

            sitting down at, the foot of a tree

            I have obtained the non-thinking mind.[12]

 

            All ties completely cut away

            Whether for gods or men

            and all pollutions having destroyed,

            quenched, I have become quite cool.

                                                            (72-76)