namaste

I offer this puppet humbly and with respect. This is Namaste. She is a little monk. She has sitting and walking meditation positions. She enjoys Dharma, meditation, farming, music, and yoga. Namaste has a humble and deep bow. I was wondering why Buddhist monks seem to outnumber nuns greatly.

Navneet Nair answers the question well:

“Nuns are an important part of the Buddhist monastic tradition right from the time the first women were introduced into the Sangha by the Buddha himself. The Buddha's step mother (Mahaprajapati) and wife (Yashodhara) were the first two nuns…there is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the potential of a monk or nun or lay person to achieve enlightenment…Today, however, most of the Buddhist orders have lost the lineage of full ordination for nuns (except Korean Dharmaguptika) and this has caused an additional issue. And this is one of the main reason for the decline in the number of nuns.

In the Tibetan tradition, the Dalai Lama has been toying the idea of getting full ordained nuns using the Dharmaguptika lineage. Also he has started giving Geshema degrees to nuns thus making them academically equal to monks as well. But full equality is still some time away.”

Read the full discussion here. Here’s a good starting point if you’re interested in the history of women in Buddhism.

Another issue is that in the Theravada tradition, women are not allowed to be fully ordained. The argument is that the lineage of nuns has ended, and so no new nuns could be ordained.

I make puppets. I was planning on making a male monk, but Namaste called me, and here we are. Namaste!