Rev. Danny Fisher

The Bangkok Post interviews the brilliant Ajahn Brahm about the question of the Theravāda bhikkhuni sangha. Can it be revived with integrity to the tradition? Ajahn Brahm says the question itself demonstrates misunderstanding. He tells the Post:

In Thailand, we sometimes spend too much of our time believing our teachers, believing accepted wisdom rather than investigating and challenging. I thought, too, when I was a young monk in Thailand that the bhikkhuni order couldn’t be legally revived. But having investigated and studied, I’ve found there is no problem at all.

[...]

One of the biggest myths is that bhikkhunis in the Mahāyāna tradition are somehow separated from the Theravāda. But the truth of the matter is, there is no such thing as a Mahāyāna Vinaya. In all the Mahāyāna schools, they follow mostly a Dharmagupta Vinaya. Dharmagupta is one of the Theravāda sects. They follow Theravāda Vinaya. So the bhikkhunis we see even now in Taiwan and China is a lineage that is unbroken since the time of the Buddha.

In addition, there is another way of reading the Vinaya to say that the Buddha left an opportunity open for just the bhikkhus to ordain bhikkhunis and revive the bhikkhuni sangha.

He’s got a lot more to say. Check out the full interview here.

[Image via The Buddhist Channel.]