Women in Brown
a short history of the order of siladhara, nuns of the English Forest Sangha, Part Two
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsrv.v23i2.221Keywords:
Buddhist monasticism, Buddhist nuns, English Forest SanghaAbstract
This history of the unique community of Theravada nuns known as siladhara, based at Amaravati and Chithurst Buddhist monasteries is presented in two parts. The history from its inception in the late 1970s until the years 2000 appeared in Buddhist Studies Review 23(1). This second part gives the most recent developments in the order, from 2000 to the present day, plus reflections on the future. The research is based on personal interview with founding members of the order as well as email, telephone and written communications with nuns past and present. It considers the implications of the revived bhikkhuni ordination for the siladhara and addresses the possibilities for the future. It describes the founding of a parallel order of Theravada nuns in Western Australia, with some significant differences to the UK nuns. It concludes that in attempting a form of monasticism for women, giving all the advantages of renunciation but at the same time negotiating the difficult synthesis of Western expectations, traditional Theravada cultural norms and the monastic rule itself, it has largely succeeded.
References
Amaravati Publications, 2001. Freeing the Heart: Dhamma Teachiings of the Nun’s Community at Amaravati & Cittaviveka Buddhist Monasteries. Great Gaddesden: Amaravati Publications.
Ariyesako, Bhikkhu, 1998. ‘The Bhikkhus’ Rules: A Guide for Laypeople’, Sanghaaloka Forest Hermitage, Kallista, Australia. Available at Access to Insight website: www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/ariyesako/layguide.html (November 2006).
Chamsanit, Varaporn, 2004. ‘Settling the Debate on Bhikkhuni Ordination in Thailand – Why is it Difficult?’. In Proceedings of the 8th Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women, Discipline and Practice of Buddhist Women: Present and Past, 27 June–2 July 2004, Karma Lekshe Tsomo (ed.). Korea. Unpaginated.
Candasiri, Ajahn, 1993. ‘The Rains Retreat – Ten Rains’. Forest Sangha Newsletter, no. 23 (January), www.fsnewsletter.amaravati.org/html/23/ten.htm (November 2006).
Kusuma, Bhikkhuni, 2004. ‘Nuns and Society in Sri Lanka’. Sakyadhita Newsletter, vol. 14(1) (Spring).
Prebish, Charles S. & Martin Baumann (eds), 2002. Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Satha-Anand, Suwanna, 1999. ‘Truth over Convention: Feminist Interpretations of Buddhism’. In Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women, Courtney W. Howland (ed.), pp. 281–92. New York: St Martin Press.
Spuler, Michelle, 2002. ‘The Development of Buddhism in Australia and New Zealand’. In Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia, C.S. Prebish & M. Baumann (eds), pp. 139–51. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Sujato, Bhikkhu (Bhante), 2004. ‘Full Acceptance’. Eastern Horizon (August). A revised and longer version is at Santi Forest Monastery website: www.santiforestmonastery.com/writings/ Full%20Acceptance.pdf (November 2006).
Sumala, 1991. ‘Women in Buddhism’. Monastic Studies No 19: Buddhist and Christian Monasticism, pp. 114–18. Benedictine Priory of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
Visvapani, 2002. ‘Bold Step for Nuns’. Dharma Life Magazine, iss. 19 (Winter): www.dharmalife.com/issue19/asianbikkhunis.html (November 2006).
Williams, Elizabeth, 2005. ‘Women’s Ordination in Theravada Buddhism: Ancient Evidence and Modern Debates’. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sunderland.
