*Article* **Embodying Legacy by Pursuing Asymmetry: Pushou Temple and Female Monastics' Ordinations in Contemporary China**

**Amandine Péronnet 1,2,3**


**Abstract:** This paper focuses on ordination procedures specific to women in Chinese Buddhism, and on the positions adopted by *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s regarding the procedures' asymmetrical nature in contemporary China. Dual ordinations, according to which aspiring *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s must present themselves in front of both an assembly of fully ordained nuns and of monks in order to be "properly" ordained, were restored by Longlian (隆<sup>莲</sup> 1909–2006) in 1982. *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* ordinations, which postulate that women should train for an additional two years before receiving full ordination when their male counterparts do not have to, have also become increasingly common since the 1980s. Based on fieldwork conducted between 2015 and today, both on-site and online, this paper asks whether asymmetry should be considered similar to subordination with regard to ordination procedures. It looks into Rurui's (如瑞, 1957–) position on the matter, as Longlian's student and one of the most influential bhiks.un. ¯ı of her generation. While recent survey data will be useful in addressing the issue of representation, qualitative data will question the role of vertical networks in perpetuating a teacher's legacy, ultimately leaving us to wonder if asymmetry might not be actively sought after by contemporary Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in order to improve their status.

**Keywords:** Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s; Buddhist monasticism; Longlian; Tongyuan; Rurui; ordination procedures; dual ordination; *Siks ´ . aman¯ . a¯* ordination; contemporary China

#### **1. Introduction**

Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s <sup>1</sup> often seem to hold a privileged position compared to their counterparts in other Asian countries. This is due to the fact that they have access to full ordination. Working specifically on the largest and most influential *bhiks.un. ¯ı* temple in mainland China, Mount Wutai's Pushou temple (五台山普寿寺), asymmetry—understood here as a dissimilarity in *bhiks.u*s' and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' situations—was not a primary concern of mine. Its residents were indeed accomplished, learned, and praised by *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s alike, ostensibly reaching for gender equality through higher education, which at the time did not warrant further investigation. However, they also promoted distinct ordination procedures for female monastics, which called into question that ideal image and prompted me to reexamine asymmetry in the context of Chinese Buddhist ordination procedures. This paper was initially conceived as part of a larger one that would give the reader a comprehensive overview of ordination issues faced by Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in the course of the 20th century<sup>2</sup> . The first part, which now appears as a separate paper in this Special Issue on "Gender Asymmetry and Nuns' Agency in the Asian Buddhist Traditions", mainly dealt with concerns from the Republican era. It centered on the eminent *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Longlian's (隆莲 1909–2006) role in promoting and passing on what she deemed to be orthodox procedures—however asymmetrical (Bianchi 2022). This paper constitutes a second part that focuses on Longlian's and other masters' legacy in contemporary China. By looking into one of her students from the new generation, Rurui (如瑞, 1957–), who is

**Citation:** Péronnet, Amandine. 2022. Embodying Legacy by Pursuing Asymmetry: Pushou Temple and Female Monastics' Ordinations in Contemporary China. *Religions* 13: 1001. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel13101001

Academic Editor: Nicola Schneider

Received: 27 July 2022 Accepted: 18 October 2022 Published: 21 October 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

currently leading the Pushou temple, I wished to investigate the role of vertical networks in influencing one's position regarding female monastics' ordinations, and to analyze that position.

When dealing with the issue of ordination in Buddhism, one can hardly miss the inherent asymmetry. Even though female Chinese Buddhist monastics have access to full ordination (*juzu jie* 具 足 戒 or *dajie* 大 戒), which is not the case everywhere in Asia, they still have to go through procedures that are different from those undergone by male monastics. Dual ordination (*erbuseng jie* 二部僧戒) is one such procedure. The Vinaya, a body of texts specifically focused on monastic discipline, indeed states that to receive full ordination, a female candidate should present herself in front of an assembly of ten *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s and ten *bhiks.u*s in succession, a rule that does not apply to male candidates (Heirman 2002, pp. 75–79). Dual ordinations were seldom held until very recently, in 1982, when the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Longlian restored and promoted this procedure, together with her colleague and friend, the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Tongyuan (通愿 1913–1991)<sup>3</sup> . It has since been included in official regulations in 2000, and is now part of the standardized triple-platform ordination system (*santan dajie* 三坛大戒). This particular system is currently used during officially sanctioned ceremonies, and consists of conferring *´srama ¯ n. era* or *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı (*male or female "novices"*)*, full and bodhisattva ordinations at one place and time<sup>4</sup> . What this translates to in the Chinese Buddhist tradition is that both men and women shall first take the ten *´srama ¯ n. era* or *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* precepts (*shami jie* 沙弥戒 or *shamini jie* 沙弥尼戒) 5 , then the 250 *bhiks.u* precepts (*biqiu jie* 比丘戒), or 348 *bhiks.un. ¯ı* precepts (*biqiuni jie* 比丘尼戒) <sup>6</sup> according to the dual ordination procedure, and all shall finally take the bodhisattva precepts (*pusa jie* 菩萨戒) 7 . Another procedure that this paper will address is the *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* ordination (*shichani jie* 式叉 尼戒) 8 , which marks the beginning of a probationary period of two years only applicable to women. This specific period is first mentioned in the *gurudharma*, a set of eight rules specific to women that the Buddha supposedly enacted as a condition to create the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' order<sup>9</sup> . The *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* was never a common figure in Chinese Buddhist nunneries until the 20th century (Heirman 2008, pp. 133–34). Although this figure is not yet part of the official system, implementing this two-year extra-study period is slowly becoming customary for Chinese Buddhist nunneries.

Consequently, Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s or aspiring *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s have to answer to both the *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' communities, take more precepts than their male counterparts, and study longer. These are only some of the forms of asymmetry in Chinese Buddhism. To understand how these asymmetries effect contemporary female Chinese Buddhist monastics, I ask in this paper: What meaning does this term have in this particular context? Why would Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s promote these asymmetrical procedures? Although asymmetry is often considered to be synonymous with inferiority or subordination in patriarchal societies, as evidenced by most cases introduced in this Special Issue, it can also be understood in the literal sense of two things being different from one another, being unequal, or imbalanced. In this paper, I argue that there is indeed asymmetry in the Chinese Buddhist tradition, but that asymmetry can mean something other than subordination when actively sought after by *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s themselves. Longlian's view suggest a different definition of this concept, as her advocating for distinct ordination procedures meant higher status and independence. What is Rurui's relationship with that legacy? How are the lives of contemporary *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s influenced by their positions? The first section of this paper will be devoted to actualizing ordination numbers to give asymmetry a quantitative framework, as well as a qualitative one, and make known one of the crucial challenges faced by Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in the past few decades. Then, I will dive into the influential role of vertical networks in perpetuating the teachers' views on ordination procedures for female monastics, and specifically examine Rurui's ties to Longlian and Tongyuan. I will finally address Rurui's position on procedures specific to female monastics, such as dual or *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordinations, and the general model she wishes to set for the next generation of Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s.

#### **2. Asymmetry in Numbers: A Quantitative Approach to Ordination**

Since Deng Xiaoping's (邓小平, 1904–1997) reforms of 1978 (*gaige kaifang* 改革开放), Buddhism has slowly been recovering from the eradication period of the Cultural Revolution. Official numbers from 1997 show that there were approximately 70,000 members of the Chinese Buddhist sangha at the time, including ˙ *bhiks.u*s, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, and *´srama ¯ n. era*/*´srama ¯ n. er¯ı*, living in 8000 temples, while in 2006 there were 100,000 members of the sangha living in ˙ 15,000 temples (Ji 2009, pp. 10–12). More recently, in 2012, the Buddhist Association of China (BAC, *Zhongguo fojiao xiehui* 中国佛教协会) estimated 100,000 Chinese Buddhist sangha ˙ members in 28,000 temples. In 2014, the former State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA, *Guojia zongjiao shiwuju* 国家宗教事务局) maintained that the Chinese Buddhist clergy amounted to an even lower 72,000 members (Wenzel-Teuber 2015, p. 28), and that the number of Chinese Buddhist sites reached a total of 28,247 in early 2015 (Guojia zongjiao shiwuju 2020) <sup>10</sup>. While these somewhat growing figures indicate some form of revitalization for Chinese Buddhist monasticism since the 1980s, at least concerning the building and rebuilding of Chinese Buddhist sites, they are still far from reaching pre-1949 numbers. As a matter of fact, when comparing official data published by the Buddhist Chinese Association (BCA, *Zhongguo fojiao hui* 中国佛教会) <sup>11</sup> in the 1930s (Welch 1967, pp. 411–20) and by the BAC in 2012, one can see that the sangha has only recuperated 13.6% of the ˙ numbers reported in the 1930s. However, it must be noted that numbers published by official institutions are more likely to show stagnation than the exponential increase of the Buddhist clergy to promote atheistic values. There even seems to be a decrease in the number of *´srama ¯ n. era*, and in student enrollment at the Buddhist Institute of China (*Zhongguo foxueyuan* 中国佛学院) since the year 2000 (Gildow 2020, pp. 21–24). Although these numbers testify to some quantitative reality for Chinese Buddhism, as well as signify the goals set by the governing authorities, they still do not include unofficial members of the clergy or unregistered temples, do not set apart *´srama ¯ n. era*/*´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* and fully ordained monks and nuns, and do not provide reliable information on the proportion of *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. Thus, they must be considered relatively inadequate in representing the current development of lived monastic Buddhism, especially that of Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, in mainland China.

Looking specifically at ordination ceremonies, which resumed at the beginning of the 1980s, can provide a more accurate quantitative medium to visualize gender asymmetry in Chinese Buddhism. The first ordination ceremony of the post-Maoist era was held in early 1981 for forty-seven male candidates. The second one, organized by Longlian according to the dual ordination procedure, was held in early 1982 for nine female candidates (Bianchi 2019, pp. 154–55). Only in 1993 were the ordination procedures standardized by the promulgation of the first "National Administrative Measures for triple-platform ordinations by Chinese Buddhist temples" (*Quanguo hanchuan fojiao siyuan chuanshou santan dajie guanli banfa* 全国汉传佛教寺院传授三坛大戒管理办法). This text initially limited the number of ceremonies to five sessions a year and the number of participants to 200 per session. As the number of ordinations regularly exceeded these limitations in the 1990s, and in an attempt to control its growth (Ji 2009, p. 11; 2012, pp. 14–15), the BAC published new "Administrative measures" in 2000. They not only allowed designated temples to hold five to eight sessions a year and ordain 300 people per session, but also stipulated that from then on dual ordination procedures were to be held for female monastics. Consequently, there seem to have been a general increase in ordination numbers, with an average of 2774 per year between 1994 and 1999, and 4430 between 2000 and 2009 (Wen 2012, p. 38). According to Wen's figures, a total of 60,944 people were ordained between 1994 and 2009, including 21,331 women, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s thus representing about 35% of these ordinations. At the end of 2011 a new change was made to the "Administrative measures" and the quotas were once again raised. The number of authorized ordination sessions per year was brought to a vague "about ten", and the maximum number of participants per session to 350 (Ji 2012, pp. 14–15). Only two years later, in 2014, did this new attempt at regulation impact the overall number of ordinations. However, there seemed to be a significant increase

in *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' ordinations as early as 2012, exceeding 2000 for the first time (see Table 1). Table 1 and Figure 1 both show that 2012 is when the gap between *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' and *bhiks.u*s' ordinations virtually closed, and the proportion of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' ordinations was highest. No similar bump in numbers is observed for *bhiks.u*s at the time. This might suggest that because female monastics had fewer opportunities to get ordained, they were more likely to take advantage of the hike in quotas. Although there is no significant evolution in the following years, let us note that the highest number of ordinations was in 2018. The sudden drop in 2020 and 2021 should of course be attributed to the COVID 19 pandemic and to the subsequent cancellations of ordinations ceremonies. Finally, and in comparison with the aforementioned 35% of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' ordinations between 1994 and 2009 (Wen 2012, p. 38), numbers from Table 1 allow us to ascertain that there has been a slight increase in the following period, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s representing 39.31% of the overall ordinations from 2009 to 2021.<sup>12</sup>



\* Information relating to these ordination ceremonies come from a website listing all triple-platform ordination calls per year in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (Chonghe 2022). The total number of people ordained per year in mainland China is reached by adding up the maximum number of candidates allowed per ceremony, according to the BAC's quotas, and excluding ceremonies organized in Taiwan and Hong Kong. These calculations are made assuming that all ceremonies are announced by temples and that all quotas are filled and respected, which is not necessarily the case. Therefore, they are only representative of an ideal situation, and should be taken with caution. the highest number of ordinations was in 2018. The sudden drop in 2020 and 2021 should of course be attributed to the COVID 19 pandemic and to the subsequent cancellations of ordinations ceremonies. Finally, and in comparison with the aforementioned 35% of *bhikṣuṇī*s' ordinations between 1994 and 2009 (Wen 2012, p. 38), numbers from Table 1 allow us to ascertain that there has been a slight increase in the following period, *bhikṣuṇī*s representing 39.31% of the overall ordinations from 2009 to 2021.12

**Figure 1.** Number of male and female monastics' official ordination ceremonies per year since 2009 (source: author). **Figure 1.** Number of male and female monastics' official ordination ceremonies per year since 2009 (source: author).

**Table 1.** Official ordination numbers per year since 2009 \*. **Year Total Ordinations Male Monastics Female Monastics Proportion of Female Ordinations** 2009 3300 2100 1200 36.36% 2010 3600 2100 1500 41.67% 2011 4500 3000 1500 33.33% Since 2011, the ordination quotas have not changed, but looking into the body of the official regulatory texts, one can notice a few new additions. A single sentence was added to the 2019 "Administrative measures" to limit the number of requests for ordination ceremonies from Buddhist associations in provinces, autonomous regions and provinciallevel municipalities to one per year. Moreover, and in comparison with those previously

> \* Information relating to these ordination ceremonies come from a website listing all triple‐platform ordination calls per year in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (Chonghe 2022). The total number of people ordained per year in mainland China is reached by adding up the maximum number of candidates allowed per ceremony, according to the BAC's quotas, and excluding ceremonies organized in Taiwan and Hong Kong. These calculations are made assuming that all ceremonies are announced by temples and that all quotas are filled and respected, which is not necessarily the case. Therefore, they are only representative of an ideal situation, and should be

> Since 2011, the ordination quotas have not changed, but looking into the body of the official regulatory texts, one can notice a few new additions. A single sentence was added

2012 4500 2400 2100 46,67% 2013 5700 3450 2250 39.47%

 7480 4550 2930 36.81% 7450 4300 3150 42.28% 8200 5200 3000 36.59% 6700 4250 2450 36.57% 700 700 0 0.00% 3650 2050 1600 43.84% Total 70,610 42,850 27,760 39,31%

taken with caution.

published in 2016, the 2019 "Administrative measures" reassert and accentuate the separation between *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, and further insist on the necessity of dual ordinations. Indeed, within the first section entitled "General dispositions", article 6 now stipulates that "Conferring *bhiks.un. ¯ı* precepts must always be done according to the dual ordination system, and conferring said precepts should be taking place in a temple for female monastics"13. In Section 2 "Requirements and necessary qualifications for temples conferring ordinations", article 1 part 5 also adds that "At the time dual ordination is bestowed, there should be two temples acting as ordination sites, a distinction being made between temples for male and female monastics" (Zhongguo fojiao xiehui 2019, p. 11)14. These additional provisions suggest that dual ordination has not been systematically implemented since it was restored by Longlian in 1982 and included in the official system in 2000 and that when implemented the strict separation between *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' temples has not always been observed. However, dual ordination is now explicitly stated as such in new announcements, and the ordination sites clearly identified.

Among other things, regulations and standardization of these ceremonies allow us to determine the number of ordinations organized each year, and the potential number of candidates. Looking into these figures also raises another question, that of representation. Indeed, it has to be noted that if there are systematically fewer *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' ordinations than *bhiks.u*s', it is primarily because there are fewer *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s to choose from as ordination masters, and fewer temples to appoint as ordination platforms15. Consequently, there are fewer ordination ceremonies organized for female monastics than for male ones each year, respectively seven for twelve in 2019, nine for fifteen in 2018, nine for thirteen in 2017 and so on, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' ordination sessions generally representing between 35% and 40% of all ordination sessions held per year (Chonghe 2022). This would explain the proportions obtained in Table 1, and raise the following question: would there be more female Buddhist candidates to ordination than male ones given the opportunity? Some scholars argue that the proportion of ordained practicing *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s has remained unchanged since 1993, with 30% of the Chinese Buddhist clergy being *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s (Ji 2009, pp. 10–12). If the pool of female religious specialists is indeed lower, this will account for the lower number of temples and masters to choose from for ordination ceremonies and for lower possibilities to be represented. However, others advise that we take this information with caution. Indeed, according to Gildow (2020), there is an upward trend for *bhiks.u*s to disrobe, which means the proportion of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s might well be more important than anticipated: there might be as many as 40,000 *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s for 30,000 *bhiks.u*s in mainland China in 2018, as stated by one of his informants (21–24). This surprising information from mainland China might compare to the situation of Buddhism in Taiwan16, and certainly give a whole new perspective to the representation issue.

#### **3. The Teacher's Influence: Continuity through Vertical Networks**

At first glance, the Pushou temple does not seem to best exemplify the asymmetrical distribution of opportunities and resources for *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s outlined by these figures. Located on one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains, Mount Wutai, and established in 1991, this "star" temple (Qin 2000, p. 13) indeed currently hosts the largest community of female monastics in the People's Republic of China (hereafter PRC)17. The number of residents is approximately 600 *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s-in-training but can reach 800 during the summer retreat (*anju* 安居), considered the busiest time of the year. In 2019, there were exactly 799 people living in the temple at the time of the summer retreat, a number that accounts for permanent residents and those who only join in yearly classes and activities. Moreover, the Mount Wutai Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies (*Zhongguo Wutaishan nizhong foxueyuan* 中国五台山尼众佛学院) created in 1992 within the temple is unsurprisingly the largest Institute for Buddhist Studies (*foxueyuan* 佛学院) in the PRC. It aims at training a generation of female Buddhist leaders in compliance with both the Vinaya regulations and political requirements. The abbess of Pushou temple and president of the Institute, Rurui, is recognized as such a leader by both the government and her

peers18. As she occupies high positions within the institutional system, she is particularly well placed to act as a representative of the Chinese Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' community. In addition to being at the head of the largest Buddhist temple and Institute in the country, she has indeed been sitting as vice-president of the Buddhist Association of Shanxi (*Shanxi sheng fojiao xiehui* 山西省佛教协会) since 1997, and as one of the BAC's vice presidents since 2010. She was also named deputy chief administrator (*fu mishu zhang* 副秘书长) of the BAC in 2002, and acted as deputy director of the Chinese Buddhism Educational Administration and Teaching Methods Committee (*Hanchuan fojiao jiaowu jiaofeng weiyuanhui*汉传佛教教务 教风委员会) from 2015 to 2020<sup>19</sup> .

However, looking more closely at Rurui's life and influences might help us understand Pushou temple's contribution to the gender asymmetry issue at hand. Born in 1957, Rurui was only ordained after the opening of China in the 1980s like most of her peers from the same generation20. Little is known about her early educational background, only that she received a good enough education in her hometown of Taiyuan (太原), Shanxi (山西), that she was able to go to university. She indeed received a university degree in literature from Taiyuan Normal University (*Taiyuan shifan xueyuan* 太原师范学院) before studying Chinese language and literature at Beijing Normal University (*Beijing shifan daxue* 北京师范大学). She then went on to become a school teacher. After meeting with the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Tongyuan, she switched paths and received tonsure in 1981 at Fahai temple (法海寺), Shanxi. At the same time, she also acted as an assistant for one of the most eminent *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s of the 20th century, Longlian, and followed her to the Aidao nunnery (爱道堂) in Chengdu, Sichuan. In 1984 she received her full ordination at Huayan temple (上华严寺) in Datong (大同), Shanxi, during the second dual ordination ceremony organized in mainland China after the reopening, making her one of the first *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s of the contemporary era to be ordained according to this particular procedure. As Tongyuan acted as the main ordination master (or "master of the precepts" *jieshi* 戒师) in this 1984 ceremony (Wen 1991, p. 33; Li 1992, p. 257), Rurui became her ordination disciple. After receiving ordination, Rurui studied for a few years at the Sichuan Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies (*Sichuan nizhong foxueyuan* 四川尼众佛学院) lead by Longlian. At a later date in the course of the 1980s, she went on to study Vinaya with Tongyuan at the Jixiang hermitage (*Jixiang jingshe* 吉祥精舍) in Shaanxi (陕西).

Rurui later founded Mount Wutai's Pushou temple in 1991 and the Mount Wutai Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies in 1992, at age 34. Although she has received several distinctions over the years, two of them seem worth mentioning as a testament to her official recognition as a Buddhist leader and her promotion of higher education for *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s: she was nominated "Chinese Cultural Personality" (*Zhonghua wenhua renwu* 中华文化人物) in 2016, and received an honorary PhD degree in Buddhist Studies from the Thai Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), in November 2017 (Péronnet 2020, p. 131)<sup>21</sup> .

Telling Rurui's life story in such a factual way almost makes her teachers' role seem anecdotal. However, I would argue that it is their particular influence that led her to promote inherently asymmetrical ordination procedures, such as dual and *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordinations, as the "proper" standard for female monastics. The importance of *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' networks in building individual trajectories and favoring certain types of practices has long been observed by scholars in Buddhist studies (DeVido 2015; Bianchi 2017; Campo 2019, 2020). It can be correlated to a larger social network approach that "[ . . . ] is grounded in the intuitive notion that the patterning of social ties in which actors are embedded has important consequences for those actors" (Freeman 2004, p. 2). Hierarchical relationships with masters or teachers in particular are at the core of a Buddhist leader's and his or her temple's identity. These vertical Buddhist networks are often centered on or created by eminent charismatic figures, and legitimize monastic communities associated with them by ensuring historical continuity and prestige. Welch addresses this question in his work and maintains that *bhiks.u*s affiliate to these networks through religious "kinship", loyalty to a charismatic figure, or even according to their region of origin (1967, pp. 403–5). Today, however, several other modes of affiliation could be added to that list. Monastic

education, especially within institutes for Buddhist studies, plays a critical role in the construction of networks for *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in China, creating relationships between students, or between students and teachers. Official Buddhist institutions or associations are also crucial in creating bonds between colleagues and developing affinities between Buddhist executives (DeVido 2015, pp. 79–80; Ashiwa and Wank 2005, p. 222). Other types of affiliation to contemporary Buddhist networks include shared interests or experiences (Schak 2009; Fisher 2014, 2020), membership with an international organization (Wang 2013), social engagement or activism (Huang 2018), and so on.

In Rurui's case, affiliation to Longlian's network is based on loyalty to a charismatic figure and relationship between teacher and student rather than on "kinship" (see Figure 2a). As mentioned earlier, she was Longlian's assistant at the Aidao nunnery in Chengdu after she received tonsure in the early 1980s and studied with her at the Sichuan Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies for a few years, but was never her dharma disciple—only a few students of Longlian were (Bianchi 2017, p. 295). Longlian was the one who restored the dual ordination procedure for *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in 1982. She also contributed to the development of *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination and generally advocated for very rigorous Vinaya practice (Bianchi 2022, pp. 9–10)22. Her peers and students were well aware of and shared her positions. Contemporary Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s still refer to her when looking back at the evolution of Vinaya practices and the organization of the female monastic community over the past few decades (Chiu and Heirman 2014, p. 260). It seems that in their work on *gurudharma* rules, Chiu and Heirman have indeed established that "[ . . . ] changes are often the result of a leader's educational influence" (2014, 260), which undoubtedly partially accounts for Rurui's promotion of dual and *´siks. aman¯ . a¯* ordinations. *Religions* **2022**, *13*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 18

**Figure 3.** Rurui and her teachers (source: Pushou temple). (**a**) Longlian & Rurui, 1997; (**b**) Rurui, Tongyuan, Miaoyin (妙音, 1957–), 1983, Nanshan temple (五台山南山寺). **Figure 2.** Rurui and her teachers (source: Pushou temple). (**a**) Longlian & Rurui, 1997; (**b**) Rurui, Tongyuan, Miaoyin (妙音, 1957–), 1983, Nanshan temple (五台山南山寺).

However, Longlian was not Rurui's only teacher and did not play a crucial part in the founding of Pushou temple. Tongyuan is the one who did (see Figure 3b). Rurui's affiliation to Tongyuan does not fit within Welch's definition of "kinship" either, even though the temple considers her its founding master. Indeed, Tongyuan applied an ideology throughout her life that was known as the "three no's" (*sanbu* 三不): she decided not to take disciples, not to have her biography written, and not to write texts promoting her interpretation of Buddhist doctrine (Wen 1991, pp. 32–33). She nevertheless trained many female students, including Rurui, at the Jixiang hermitage, an institution she created specifically for the study of Vinaya in the Shaanxi province. Rurui was thus Tongyuan's student, as well as her ordination disciple, and considers herself her heir, although she is not formally recognized as part of her lineage. Tongyuan was close to Longlian and met with her on several occasions over the years, sharing an interest in establishing orthodox procedures and practices for female monastics according to the Chinese Vinaya (Péronnet However, Longlian was not Rurui's only teacher and did not play a crucial part in the founding of Pushou temple. Tongyuan is the one who did (see Figure 2b). Rurui's affiliation to Tongyuan does not fit within Welch's definition of "kinship" either, even though the temple considers her its founding master. Indeed, Tongyuan applied an ideology throughout her life that was known as the "three no's" (*sanbu* 三不): she decided not to take disciples, not to have her biography written, and not to write texts promoting her interpretation of Buddhist doctrine (Wen 1991, pp. 32–33). She nevertheless trained many female students, including Rurui, at the Jixiang hermitage, an institution she created specifically for the study of Vinaya in the Shaanxi province. Rurui was thus Tongyuan's student, as well as her ordination disciple, and considers herself her heir, although she is not formally recognized as part of her lineage. Tongyuan was close to Longlian and met with her on several occasions over the years, sharing an interest in establishing orthodox procedures and practices for female monastics according to the Chinese Vinaya

2020, pp. 134–36). As a matter of fact, Longlian trusted her to act as ordination master during the first dual ordination ceremony of the post‐Mao era in 1982. Tongyuan then

properly teach and study the Vinaya, which Rurui explicitly carried out by opening the Vinaya‐centered Pushou temple the year of her teacher's passing. The Pushou *bhikṣuṇī*s still revere Tongyuan as the master whose legacy they keep alive. Her relics are kept in a specific hall of the temple, the Hall for Remembering Kindness (*Yi'en tang* 忆恩堂), and her passing is commemorated every year on the twentieth day of the first lunar month. Even more significant is the threefold system implemented by Rurui at Pushou temple: "[…] Avataṃsaka as lineage, Vinaya as practice, Pure Land as destination […]" (*Huayan wei zong, jielü wei xing, jingtu wei gui* 华严为宗,戒律为行,净土为归)24. This was passed down from the monk Cizhou (慈舟 1877–1957) to Tongyuan, her tonsure disciple, and from Tongyuan to Rurui, providing the temple with a sense of continuity as part of the Huayan school of Buddhism and as a Vinaya center (Wen 1991, p. 32; Yang 2011, p. 24)25. To sum up, the priorities Rurui set for Pushou temple and the Mount Wutai Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies can be traced to a large extent to Tongyuan and Longlian's teachings, especially in terms of monastic discipline. Rurui, but also others such as Wanru (万如 1956–), abbess of the Taiping temple (太平寺) in Wenzhou (温州), or Ruyi (如意 1963–), abbess of the Qifu temple (祈福寺) in Chengdu, affiliated to Tongyuan and/or Longlian's networks by becoming their student at either the Sichuan Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies or the Jixiang hermitage. Data collected during fieldwork and gathered by Chiu (2016, 2017), as well as with information found on each of these three institutions' websites, show that they all promote ordination procedures that were not necessarily (Péronnet 2020, pp. 134–36). As a matter of fact, Longlian trusted her to act as ordination master during the first dual ordination ceremony of the post-Mao era in 1982. Tongyuan then organized the second one in 1984. Her wishes were to "[ . . . ] call upon the whole community of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s to establish a temple of the ten directions [ . . . ]"<sup>23</sup> in order to properly teach and study the Vinaya, which Rurui explicitly carried out by opening the Vinaya-centered Pushou temple the year of her teacher's passing. The Pushou *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s still revere Tongyuan as the master whose legacy they keep alive. Her relics are kept in a specific hall of the temple, the Hall for Remembering Kindness (*Yi'en tang* 忆恩堂), and her passing is commemorated every year on the twentieth day of the first lunar month. Even more significant is the threefold system implemented by Rurui at Pushou temple: "[ . . . ] Avatam. saka as lineage, Vinaya as practice, Pure Land as destination [ . . . ]" (*Huayan wei zong, jielü wei xing, jingtu wei gui* 华严为宗,戒律为行,净土为归) <sup>24</sup>. This was passed down from the monk Cizhou (慈舟1877–1957) to Tongyuan, her tonsure disciple, and from Tongyuan to Rurui, providing the temple with a sense of continuity as part of the Huayan school of Buddhism and as a Vinaya center (Wen 1991, p. 32; Yang 2011, p. 24)<sup>25</sup> .

To sum up, the priorities Rurui set for Pushou temple and the Mount Wutai Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies can be traced to a large extent to Tongyuan and Longlian's teachings, especially in terms of monastic discipline. Rurui, but also others such as Wanru (万如 1956–), abbess of the Taiping temple (太平寺) in Wenzhou (温州), or Ruyi (如意 1963–), abbess of the Qifu temple (祈福寺) in Chengdu, affiliated to Tongyuan and/or Longlian's networks by becoming their student at either the Sichuan Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies or the Jixiang hermitage. Data collected during fieldwork and gathered by Chiu (2016, 2017), as well as with information found on each of these three institutions' websites, show that they all promote ordination procedures that were not necessarily widespread in 20th century China until the 1980s, such as dual and *´siks. aman¯ . a¯* ordinations, which exemplifies the importance of legacy regarding ordination practices. Tongyuan and Longlian's education networks can be further—although partially—exemplified by Figure 3. From online sources, the Buddhist educational background of these *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s has been traced back to either Longlian or Tongyuan. Rurui, Wanru, and Ruyi all appear as part of this network visualization. After ascertaining the influence both eminent masters had in the fields of monastic discipline and education, one can only assume that other *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s connected to their networks might have successfully promoted and implemented the same ordination procedures they did, thus spreading their teachers' views on asymmetry. However, the extent of this phenomenon would certainly need to be researched further. In any case, Rurui followed in her teachers' footsteps, ultimately designing a structure that would be able to carry out their vision and that of their masters before them26, into the present. Ideas were passed down from one generation to the next, "bridging the gap" (Campo 2019) to constitute a legacy: such is the role of vertical networks. Moreover, the continuity and prestige attached to these networks were one of the ways Rurui could obtain legitimacy, a necessary commodity for Buddhist institutions to survive in post-Mao China. It was legitimacy, as well as Rurui's capacity to access the high spheres, that were crucial in mobilizing the financial, human, and symbolic resources allowing her to provide Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s with a successful working model for "proper" ordination procedures (Péronnet 2021).

widespread in 20th century China until the 1980s, such as dual and *śikṣamāṇā* ordinations, which exemplifies the importance of legacy regarding ordination practices. Tongyuan and Longlian's education networks can be further—although partially—exemplified by Figure 4. From online sources, the Buddhist educational background of these *bhikṣuṇī*s has been traced back to either Longlian or Tongyuan. Rurui, Wanru, and Ruyi all appear as part of this network visualization. After ascertaining the influence both eminent masters had in the fields of monastic discipline and education, one can only assume that other *bhikṣuṇī*s connected to their networks might have successfully promoted and implemented the same ordination procedures they did, thus spreading their teachers' views on asymmetry. However, the extent of this phenomenon would certainly need to be researched further. In any case, Rurui followed in her teachers' footsteps, ultimately designing a structure that would be able to carry out their vision and that of their masters before them26, into the present. Ideas were passed down from one generation to the next, "bridging the gap" (Campo 2019) to constitute a legacy: such is the role of vertical networks. Moreover, the continuity and prestige attached to these networks were one of the ways Rurui could obtain legitimacy, a necessary commodity for Buddhist institutions to survive in post‐Mao China. It was legitimacy, as well as Rurui's capacity to access the high spheres, that were crucial in mobilizing the financial, human, and symbolic resources allowing her to provide Chinese *bhikṣuṇī*s with a successful working model for "proper"

**Figure 4.** Longlian and Tongyuan's educational networks27 (source: author). **Figure 3.** Longlian and Tongyuan's educational networks<sup>27</sup> (source: author).

ordination procedures (Péronnet 2021).

#### **4. Advocating for Asymmetrical Ordination Procedures in Contemporary Times 4. Advocating for Asymmetrical Ordination Procedures in Contemporary Times**

Answering a question I asked about Longlian and Tongyuan's influence on her promotion of Vinaya practices and on her management of Pushou temple, Rurui stated Answering a question I asked about Longlian and Tongyuan's influence on her promotion of Vinaya practices and on her management of Pushou temple, Rurui stated that:

that: These two high‐merit *bhikṣuṇī*s believed that monastic discipline is at the root of monastics' spiritual development, and that nuns ought to rely on the Buddhist system of receiving nuns' precepts according to the dual ordination procedure. Ven. Tongyuan in particular spent all her life specializing in and spreading monastic discipline, training *Śikṣamāṇā*, bestowing dual ordinations, building a These two high-merit *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s believed that monastic discipline is at the root of monastics' spiritual development, and that nuns ought to rely on the Buddhist system of receiving nuns' precepts according to the dual ordination procedure. Ven. Tongyuan in particular spent all her life specializing in and spreading monastic discipline, training *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯*, bestowing dual ordinations, building a monastic community, and giving lectures about the precepts.

monastic community, and giving lectures about the precepts. 这两位大德比丘尼都认为戒律是出家修行的根本,比丘尼应依于佛制在二部僧中 求受比丘尼戒。特别是通愿老法师,一生专弘戒律,培养式叉尼,传授二部僧戒 这两位大德比丘尼都认为戒律是出家修行的根本,比丘尼应依于佛制在二部僧中 求受比丘尼戒。特别是通愿老法师,一生专弘戒律,培养式叉尼,传授二部僧 戒,建立僧团,演说戒法。28

,建立僧团,演说戒法。<sup>28</sup> This quote first accentuates Rurui's unique connection to Tongyuan. She, rather than Longlian, is presented as the one who made a great contribution to the field of Vinaya. This quote first accentuates Rurui's unique connection to Tongyuan. She, rather than Longlian, is presented as the one who made a great contribution to the field of Vinaya. She is the one whose legacy Rurui keeps alive by reproducing virtually everything she ever accomplished—specializing in the implementation and study of the Vinaya, promoting dual and *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination procedures, building Pushou temple, giving lectures on various subjects, including monastic discipline, and so on. This particular quote also mentions Tongyuan and Longlian's role in promoting dual ordination, a procedure that they deemed crucial to monastic discipline and the cultivation of Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s (Bianchi 2022, p. 8). Since their time, it has been normalized as the "proper" way to conduct *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' ordinations and has officially been included in the standardized triple-platform ordination system in 2000 (Ji 2009, p. 11; Bianchi 2019, p. 157). As Pushou temple is not part of the Buddhist sites authorized to hold ordination ceremonies, Pushou *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s entirely depend on the standardized official system to get ordained and, as such, have no choice but to go along with the dual ordination procedure. Thus, it is worth mentioning that promoting it is not only considered a way to pursue ideals set by Rurui's teachers or necessary in itself to support cultivation but is also in line with official regulations.

Contemporary institutions hail back to historical narratives surrounding dual ordination, and other asymmetrical procedures such as *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination. These narratives surprisingly configure asymmetries as what contributes to the distinctive of female monastics. In a comprehensive presentation document drafted by Pushou temple in 201729, the section relating to the Institute entitled "student monastics' aptitudes, origins, and admission procedures" (学僧资质、来源及录取方式) presents dual ordination and all ordination requirements specific to female monastics as part of a special request from the Buddha himself, accounting for thorough compliance with these rules:

[One must] abide by the Buddha's specific requirements for female monastics, that is to undergo two years of studies and training as a *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* before receiving the full ordination, only then can the essence of dual ordination be considered genuine and satisfactory. Consequently, the Institute also attaches importance to the training and education that goes into moving up from *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* to *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* to fully ordained nun. [ . . . ] [One] must first study and train in the "pure practice" class for a year, meet every institutional standard and be officially tonsured, before she enters the *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* class to study for a year, then the *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* class to study for two years. Only after having followed the six *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* precepts can she receive the dual ordination and formally join the "department of disciplinary studies".

遵循佛陀对尼众的特别要求,即必须经两年式叉尼学习锻练后再受具戒,才算真 正圆满二部僧戒的实质。因此,学院也重视从小众到大尼次第而上的培养与教 育。[ . . . ] 先在净行班学习锻练一年,各方面考核合格且正式落发后,再进入沙 弥尼班学习一年,之后再入式叉尼班学习两年,式叉尼六法清净后才可受二部僧 戒,正式进入戒学部学习。

This text makes it clear that agreeing to be trained as a *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* and going through the dual ordination procedure is necessary for being admitted at the Mount Wutai Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies, thus making it a contractual clause for getting access to higher education. It furthermore suggests that additional years of training and studying are a privilege that has to do with the Buddha's special treatment of female monastics and that distinguishes them from male ones. In any case, differentiating features—or asymmetry—are emphasized. It is what sets *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s apart from *bhiks.u*s to mark them as distinctively pure.

As shown earlier, there seems to be at least another step necessary to the "proper" completion of dual ordination, a step that allows female monastics to study and be trained longer than male monastics. The *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination marks the beginning of a two-year probationary period<sup>30</sup> during which the *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* must follow a set of six precepts if she is to claim full ordination. This ordination procedure can be seen as an asymmetrical one mainly because it constitutes an extra step in the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' career and has no equivalent for *bhiks.u*s. Following Longlian and Tongyuan's example, Rurui also advocates for this specific procedure and for an extended period of time between the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* and the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination. This division was summed up as follows by one of my informants at Pushou temple:

Actually at that time we are called the female novice [*´srama ¯ n. er¯ı*] only in the image aspect, in Chinese is "*xintong shamini*" [形同沙弥尼]. [ . . . ] In your appearance you look like a monastic, but actually you haven't taken any precepts [ . . . ]. But after one year, we take the ten precepts of the female monastic. [ . . . ] at that time we are called [ . . . ] "*fatong shamini*" [法同沙弥尼]. In the morning we take the ten precepts of the female monastic and in the afternoon we'll get the "*shichani*" [式 叉尼] ceremony [ . . . ]. Actually it happens in one day. [ . . . ] At that time the "*shichani*" they don't know exactly the name of the full "*bhikkhuni*"'s precepts<sup>31</sup> , but they have to practice every precepts of "*bhikkhuni*", [they are] actually already in their training program. And the "*shichani*" program will last for two years. If you can observe [the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* precepts] very strictly and purely, then you are qualified to get the full ordination.<sup>32</sup>

The model promoted by the Pushou temple, based on Vinaya texts, thus advises a training period of at least three years before receiving dual ordination. One should first train for year as a *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* "in appearance", before receiving both the ten *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* precepts and the six *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* precepts in one day. Then, the two-year probationary period serves as a way to practice not only the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* precepts, but also the 348 *bhiks.un. ¯ı* precepts that they will later take during full ordination, allowing them to experience and master them beforehand—an opportunity that male monastics do not have. The informant quoted above

indeed considers this particular period to be "very significant training for the future female full ordination", and states that "learning about the spirit of these [*bhiks.un. ¯ı*] precepts [ . . . ] is the main reason for regulating this probationary period. It helps female monastics to practice early and to be familiar with the full monastic's life earlier". In the same way that dual ordination seems to be essential to monastic discipline (Bianchi 2022, p. 12), *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination is introduced in the presentation text above as the only way to ensure that dual ordination is "genuine and satisfactory", and in the following quote as necessary to receive "valid" full ordination and be "qualified" as a *bhiks.un. ¯ı*. Raising the question of what needs to be done by female monastics to be qualified enough also raises the very interesting issue of whether a value judgment is sometimes made against *bhiks.u*s' education prior to full ordination, as they do not receive the same drastic training as *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. Asymmetry, in this particular instance, is not only to be found in the number of training years, but also in the additional knowledge of the Vinaya and esteem that may come from it.

Although Longlian, Tongyuan, and now Rurui have been advocating for this probationary period, it is still not part of the official ordination system and is not mandatory by governmental standards to receive full ordination. Indeed, the necessary two-year interval between *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* and *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordinations—which are conferred the same day—and *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination would seem to jeopardize the standardized triple-platform ceremonies that should be held in a reasonable time-frame but in "no less than a month" (Zhongguo fojiao xiehui 2019, p. 11). However, Longlian devised a system that would complement the official one as a "doctrinally orthodox adaptation to the contemporary institutional environment in which Buddhism finds itself in the PRC" (Péronnet 2020, p. 146). As it has been confirmed to me by several informants, the Pushou temple provides a concrete model for this complementary system: the *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* and *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* precepts are taken a few years before dual ordination, as prescribed by the Vinaya, and then *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* precepts are taken once more during official triple-platform ordination ceremonies. This working solution has led to the probationary period being more widely spread and recognized in mainland China33. Although the current "Administrative measures" do not mention the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination explicitly, they nevertheless advise that women should practice and study for two years after being tonsured, in contrast with the one year suggested for men (Zhongguo fojiao xiehui 2019, p. 12). Moreover, between 2014 and 2021, five calls for dual ordination ceremonies, out of fifty-five, specifically mentioned that female applicants should have taken the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* precepts in order to register. Most of them required applicants to have spent at least two years training at a temple before applying (Chonghe 2022). Although there is still a long way to go before standardization, Chiu and Heirman's research suggests that this practice is now increasingly common in Chinese Buddhist nunneries (Chiu and Heirman 2014, p. 260), and the multiplication of references to the additional two years of training for female monastics indeed testifies to its popularity.

One other step that the Puhsou temple promotes is the bodhisattva ordination. Because of the rigorous discipline of the mind that it requires, it is usually considered to be an advanced step in the monastic career, only found in the Mahay¯ ana tradition. During the ¯ ceremony, the already ordained *bhiks.un. ¯ı* (or *bhiks.u*) takes ten major and forty-eight minor bodhisattva precepts, and sometimes receives incense burns (Chiu 2019, pp. 204–5). Once again, Rurui, and one of her assistants relaying her views, seem to think that this requires strict training:

[ . . . ] those who have just [ . . . ] received the full ordination shouldn't get the bodhisattva ordination immediately. Because you know, the bodhisattva ordination, especially the female one [ . . . ], is very detailed, much more difficult to observe. So if one doesn't have any basic training, [ . . . ] one tends to make mistakes. So [Rurui] wants the female monastics to lay a very good foundation for the "*bhikkhuni*" education [ . . . ]. Basically, those "*bhikkhuni*" should be educated, should be trained in a very careful way.<sup>34</sup>

According to the above quote, bodhisattva ordination is necessary to receive what is perceived as "proper" Buddhist education and thus become a monastic beyond reproach—

one that can make "no mistake". As these precepts are not, to my knowledge, genderspecific, it also seems particularly odd that my informant would stress their importance for "females" and associate them with "*bhikkhuni*" education, differentiating *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s from *bhiks.u*s even when there is no difference to make. An explanation might lie in the fact that bodhisattva precepts are reputed particularly difficult to observe. As such, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s who would be willing and able to take them should be recognized as even more worthy, and ultimately be praised as experts in monastic discipline. Rurui's position on the matter, and that of her students, seems to gravitate once more towards providing *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s with a chance to develop their spiritual cultivation and raise their status even further.

As this has proved to be somewhat of a delicate subject to ask about, it is difficult to know to which extent the bodhisattva ordination is first received as part of the triple-platform ordination system and then again later on, just as the *´srama ¯ n. er¯ı* ordination. However, one other informant in Pushou temple, who in 2019 had just been ordained according to the triple-platform system, assured me that she had not yet taken the bodhisattva precepts. She planned to do it two years later, after studying for some time at the Institute of Buddhist Studies for Nuns, which she said was the expected thing to do. She would then receive bodhisattva ordination a second time, two years after full ordination. Thus, this process of combining Vinaya requirements with official expectations would also seem to apply to bodhisattva ordination, at least in the case of Pushou temple.

After Longlian and Tongyuan's mostly theoretical model, Pushou *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s advocate for separating the different ordination procedures in time, and strive to make it work to complement the standardized system. Rurui, although not as prolific on this topic as her teachers, can be seen as an enforcer of their ideals, effectuating asymmetrical training in Vinaya studies while dealing with the evermore present regulations of monastic development. This distinct rigorous training lead Pushou temple to "establish a model"<sup>35</sup> and be recognized as "an advanced unit and a paragon of Buddhist practice among the PRC's nunneries"<sup>36</sup> (Péronnet 2021, pp. 135–36). By knowingly insisting on the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' career being different from that of the *bhiks.u*s, Rurui and her peers give the female monastic community more time to study, cultivate, and perfect themselves. They ultimately position *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s as easily identifiable religious specialists and scholars in possession of enough symbolic and material resources to access higher positions and legitimately act as representatives for the monastic community at large.

#### **5. Conclusions: Subordination or Emancipation?**

After looking into the asymmetrical aspects of ordination procedures, one can raise the issue that Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s seem to be promoting their subordination to *bhiks.u*s and encouraging gender inequality in an attempt to comply with the Vinaya and the *gurudharma*. The image that Pushou temple shows to the world, all the more visible during public rituals, is that of a temple full of competent, educated *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s who still perpetuate a patriarchal vision of Buddhism through their rigorous approach to monastic discipline. Patriarchy in Buddhism is at least what scholars in gender and feminist studies wrote about at the end of the twentieth century (Gross 1981; Paul 1985; Willis 1985; Harris 1999), and what I first saw when confronted with this particular image. Promoting dual or *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordinations and, more generally, advocating for distinct procedures and practices for female monastics does seem to be putting them at a disadvantage. The number of opportunities female monastics are presented with, the number of candidates for dual ordination in recent years, the issue of representation, and the number of precepts and training years, certainly attest to the overwhelming presence of asymmetry in Chinese Buddhism.

However, we should move beyond these first impressions to see that the distinction between *bhiks.u*s' and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' experiences is not necessarily synonymous with subordination and can be actively sought after. *Bhiks.un. ¯ı*s like Yinkong (印空 1921–) fight for equal opportunities and instruction by offering higher education to *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, sometimes creating asymmetry of their own by encouraging longer years of study that ultimately allow *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s to be more knowledgeable than *bhiks.u*s (Campo 2020, pp. 264–80; Campo

Forthcoming, p. 13). Advancing *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' knowledge and status was always the goal behind the creation of the Mount Wutai Nuns' Institute for Buddhist Studies, but also, perhaps more surprisingly so, behind the promotion of asymmetrical ordination procedures by Rurui and Pushou temple. In doing so, Pushou *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s conform to the standardized ordination system recognized by the state and Vinaya regulations, and therefore are legitimating their place as "properly" ordained interlocutors to the official institutions and to the sangha. This "double legitimacy" process participates in them finding their place ˙ in Chinese society, improving their image and status, and ultimately seeking positions equivalent to those occupied by *bhiks.u*s. What was passed down to Rurui through Longlian and Tongyuan's networks, what provides Pushou temple with a sense of continuity, is the will to restore a form of orthodoxy for female monastics and, quite paradoxically, to promote *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s as religious specialists and scholars with qualifications equal to or even higher than *bhiks.u*s. Thus, contrary to what one might think at first, and although it does play on asymmetry, the concrete model set up by Longlian, advocated by Tongyuan, and implemented by Rurui, does not aim at perpetuating subordination or a patriarchal view of Buddhism but at elevating, or dare I say emancipating *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. That is not to say that institutional inferiority does not exist in Chinese Buddhism or that the current system is not informed by a history of gender discrimination, but that one should definitely take into account the various solutions devised to remedy it, besides fighting it head-on. Moreover, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s are active on several fronts and find additional ways to thrive within this somewhat conservative environment. One such way is higher education. The model they offered, and still offer, is then a dynamic process which aims to find a balance between traditional practices and a modern vision of the position of women in Buddhism.

**Funding:** My research on the Pushou temple and Buddhist nuns in contemporary China was funded by the PhD Research Scholarship from the Università degli Studi di Perugia; by the Joint Research PhD Fellowship from the Confucius Institute (Hanban); by the Field Scholarship from the French School of Asian Studies (EFEO); and by fieldwork grants from the French Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on Buddhism (CEIB) and the French Research Institute on East Asia (IFRAE).

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** This paper could not have been written without the financial and administrative support provided by the French Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on Buddhism (CEIB), the French Research Institute on East-Asia (IFRAE–Inalco), and the Università degli Studi di Perugia. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to Ester Bianchi for including me in this collaborative project and for always pointing me in the right direction. I would also like to thank Nicola Schneider for organizing the "Gender Asymmetry in the Different Buddhist Traditions Through the Prism of Nuns' Ordination and Education" Conference together with Ester Bianchi and for her very helpful notes on this paper. I am finally indebted to Shi Hongzhi for her unfailing friendship and help over the years, and to Daniela Campo, Manon Laurent, Kati Fitzgerald and the anonymous reviewers for greatly improving this paper with their comments and suggestions.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.

#### **Notes**


#### **References**


*Feminist Scholarship* 1: 16–32.

Academy for Nuns. *Religions* 13.

University of Hawai'i Press, pp. 123–51.

CBETA. 2016. Sifenlü 四分律 [Dharmaguptaka Vinaya]. Available online: http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/T22n1428 (accessed on 26 June 2019). (Chiu and Heirman 2014) Chiu, Tzu-Lung, and Ann Heirman. 2014. "The Gurudharmas in Buddhist Nunneries of Mainland China". *Buddhist Studies Review* 31: 241–72.

*Religions* **2022**, *13*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 18

(Campo 2019) Campo, Daniela. 2019. Bridging the Gap: Chan and Tiantai Dharma Lineages from Republican to Post-Mao China. In *Buddhism after Mao: Negotiations, Continuities, and Reinventions*. Edited by Ji Zhe, Gareth Fisher, and André Laliberté. Honolulu:

(Campo 2020) Campo, Daniela. 2020. Chinese Buddhism in the post-Mao era: Preserving and reinventing the received tradition. In *Handbook on Religion in China*. Edited by Stephan Feuchtwang. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar, pp. 255–80. (Campo forthcoming) Campo, Daniela. forthcoming. Female Education in a Chan Public Monastery: The Dajinshan Buddhist

(Chen 2011) Chen, Chiung Hwang. 2011. Feminist Debate in Taiwan's Buddhism: The Issue of the Eight Garudhammas. *Journal of* 


Chonghe 崇和. 2022. ZenMonk.cn. Available online: http://zenmonk.cn/stdj.htm (accessed on 10 March 2022). (DeVido 2015) DeVido, Elise A. 2015. Networks and Bridges: Nuns in the Making of Modern Chinese Buddhism. *The Chinese Historical* 

	- DeVido, Elise A. 2010. *Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns*. Albany: State University of New York Press. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
	- Gross, Rita. 1981. Feminism from the Perspective of Buddhist Practice. *Buddhist-Christian Studies* 1: 73–82. [CrossRef] on 20 April 2020).
	- Heirman, Ann. 2009. Speech is silver, silence is golden? Speech and silence in the Buddhist Samgha. *The Eastern Buddhist* 40: 63–92. *Buddhist* 40: 63–92.
	- (1945–1999). Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. Mao, Rujing. 2015. Chinese Bhiksunis in contemporary China: Beliefs and practices on Three-Plus-One Project. *International Journal of Dharma Studies* 3: 1–13. [CrossRef]
		- Oostveen, Daan F. 2020. Rhizomatic Religion and Material Destruction in Kham Tibet: The Case of Yachen Gar. *Religions* 11: 533. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/10/533 (accessed on 22 October 2020). [CrossRef]
		- Paul, Diana Y. 1985. *Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Mahay¯ ana Tradition ¯* . Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press.
		- Péronnet, Amandine. 2020. Building the Largest Female Buddhist Monastery in Contemporary China: Master Rurui between Continuity and Change. *Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies* Special Supplement: 128–57. Available online: https: //ocbs.org/when-a-new-generation-comes-up-buddhist-leadership-in-contemporary-china/ (accessed on 1 May 2022).

### *Article* **Reading Equality into Asymmetry: Dual Ordination in the Eyes of Modern Chinese** *Bhiks.un. ¯ı***s**

**Ester Bianchi**

Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy; ester.bianchi@unipg.it

**Abstract:** The "Dual Ordination" (*erbuseng jie* 二部僧戒) is a *Vinaya*-based ordination procedure introduced to China from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a in the fifth century; in the late imperial period it came to be ¯ included in the main ordination system. It stipulates that full ordination for nuns is to be carried out first in front of an assembly of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s and then another assembly of *bhiks.u*s. However, contrary to this stipulation, ordinations have mainly been conferred to women by *bhiks.u*s alone in China since the tenth century. The Dual Ordination procedures became a topic of discussion during the Republic of China (1911–1949) with the result that it was eventually reintroduced on the Mainland at the beginning of the 1980s, mainly due to the efforts of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s Longlian 隆蓮 (1909–2006) and Tongyuan 通願 (1913–1991). The article traces the roots of the restoration of Dual Ordinations during the Republican era and provides an account of their history since the 1980s. Finally, Longlian's views about *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination are discussed. The objective is to probe the historical and ideological context for the reestablishment of this ordination system in modern and contemporary China, which ultimately strengthened the role and position of Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s.

**Keywords:** Dual Ordination; *erbuseng jie* 二部僧戒; *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination; Longlian 隆蓮; Tongyuan 通願

A boat of compassion from the heavenly sea of the Land of the Lion comes from far away to set up the Dual Ordination platform. Strictly purifying the *Vinaya*, the jade flute of the Discipline blows away the dust of defilement. 天海慈航 獅子國萬里遠來 建二部戒壇嚴凈毗尼 玉律共調離垢地 (Longlian)

#### **1. Introduction**

In this couplet, hung in the Tiexiang nunnery 鐵像寺 (Chengdu, Sichuan), Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Longlian 隆蓮 (1909–2006) describes the event celebrated as the beginning of a proper female monastic lineage in China,<sup>1</sup> i.e., the introduction of the procedures for full ordination from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a in the fifth century. ¯ <sup>2</sup> The procedure is known as "Dual Ordination" (*erbuseng jie* 二部僧戒), and its origins are traditionally traced back to the very beginnings of the female monastic order (*bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*) at the time of the Buddha. According to the traditional narrative, Buddha S´akyamuni agreed to the requests of his aunt ¯ and foster mother Mahapraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı (Ch. Daaidao 大愛道, which, significantly, is reflected in the name of Longlian's other nunnery, Aidao hall 愛道堂) and admitted women into the monastic order, provided that *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s respected the *gurudharma*s (*ba jingfa* 八敬法), eight rules never to be transgressed. These rules, which have been met with a new surge of interest in modern China,<sup>3</sup> were meant to prevent the disappearance of Buddhism from the world after the creation of the *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* and clearly subjugated *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s to the *bhiks.usam. gha*. 4 In the *Vinaya* of the Dharmaguptaka (*Sifenlü* 四分律: *T* no. 1428), the standard *Vinaya* reference in China since the seventh century, the fourth rule of the *gurudharma*s reads: "After having been trained in the six rules for two years as a probationer (*´siks. ama¯n. a¯*), the ordination ceremony of a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* has to be carried out in both *sam. gha*s" (*T* no. 1428: 923b8–10, tr. Heirman 1997, p. 36). The Dual Ordination procedure thus

**Citation:** Bianchi, Ester. 2022. Reading Equality into Asymmetry: Dual Ordination in the Eyes of Modern Chinese *Bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. *Religions* 13: 919. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel13100919

Academic Editor: Nicola Schneider

Received: 18 August 2022 Accepted: 22 September 2022 Published: 30 September 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

stipulates that nuns' ordination be divided into two sequential steps, and that it be carried out in succession first in front of an assembly of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s (fully ordained women) and then of *bhiks.u*s (fully ordained men).<sup>5</sup>

In contemporary China, Dual Ordinations are conferred as part of the "Triple Platform Ordination" (*santan dajie* 三壇大戒), a system which includes the bestowal, in succession and during a unique ordination period, of the ten precepts of the *´srama ¯ n. era*/*´srama ¯ n. erika¯* (male and female "novices"),<sup>6</sup> of the hundreds of precepts for *bhiks.u*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s,<sup>7</sup> and finally of the Bodhisattva precepts.<sup>8</sup> This system was delineated within the Nanshan *Vinaya* tradition (*Nanshan lü* 南山律), which is notably based on the *Vinaya* of the Dharmaguptaka, as late as the seventeenth century.<sup>9</sup>

As for the dual procedures for *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, they were introduced from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a in the ¯ fifth century but mostly discarded after the Song dynasty (960–1279).<sup>10</sup> At the beginning of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Shuyu 書玉, a *Vinaya* master belonging to the same lineage as the masters who conceived the Triple Platform Ordination system, authored the "Dual Ordination Procedures" (*Erbuseng shoujie yishi* 二部僧受戒儀式, *X* no. 1134), inscribing this early procedure for *bhiks.un. ¯ı* full ordination within the major ordination system of late imperial China.<sup>11</sup> In recent years, Shuyu's text has become the principal reference for Dual Ordinations in China again. However, throughout the Qing dynasty and during the Republic of China (1911–1949), ordinations continued to be conferred to the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s by only ten *bhiks.u* masters, and thus in disregard of the dual procedures. It should be noted that, in contrast to other *Vinaya* traditions, the Chinese tradition considers ordinations carried out by *bhiks.u*s alone to be valid, as both Gun. avarman (Qiunabamo 求 那跋摩) (367–431), a *Vinaya* master involved in the first Dual Ordination, and Daoxuan 道 宣 (596–667), the supposed initiator of the Nanshan *Vinaya* tradition, believed that such ordinations produced a minor offense on the part of the *bhiks.u*s conferring the precepts without invalidating the ordination of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s undergoing the procedure.<sup>12</sup>

The eight *gurudharma*s also include a reference to the figure of the *´siks. aman¯ . a¯*, the twoyear female probationer of whom there exists no male counterpart.<sup>13</sup> *Sik ´ s. ama¯n. a¯* ordination is a step eventually leading to full ordination and should be conferred at the minimum age of eighteen. However, as Heirman (2008) has shown, this figure was never common in imperial China. On the other hand, it was discussed and referenced by *Vinaya* masters during the Republican Era, and it has partially been revived since the 1980s both in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and in Taiwan (Heirman and Chiu 2012; Chiu and Heirman 2014).

These rules for *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination became a topic of discussion among Buddhist circles during the Republican era, but they were implemented in Taiwan in the 1970s (Li Forthcoming) and in Mainland China only in the 1980s. The latter was mainly due to the efforts of two prominent *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s: the aforementioned Longlian (1909–2006), who was based in Sichuan, and her life-long friend Tongyuan 通願 (1913–1991), from Wutaishan.<sup>14</sup> The first *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination after the Cultural Revolution, organized by Longlian and Tongyuan, was conferred according to the Dual Ordination system and was held successively in Chengdu's Tiexiang nunnery and Wenshu temple 文殊院 in 1982. Significantly, the candidates involved were all *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s, as it was also Longlian and Tongyuan's intention to (re-)establish this *Vinaya* figure within contemporary Chinese Buddhism.

After this, Dual Ordinations progressively became the most common procedure for *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination in Mainland China. Since the year 2000, state regulations have clearly stipulated that *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordinations must follow Dual Ordination procedures. Ordinations conferred by *bhiks.u*s alone have thus become illegal in the PRC (Bianchi 2019). As for the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*, even if it has not become a rule, this figure is nowadays less exceptional than before. Since *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* ordination is to be conferred before the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* one, and since the latter involves a probationary period of two years before full ordination, *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s participating in Triple Platform Ordinations retake the *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* precepts as a renewal. In all cases (a woman living in a nunnery without any formal ordination, a *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* or a

*´siks. ama¯n. a¯*), the time a woman spends in a nunnery between tonsure and full ordination is meant to serve as a training period.<sup>15</sup> Finally, today, *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* ordination is mostly bestowed by an *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı* (female master of the discipline),<sup>16</sup> rather than by a *bhiks.u*, as it was a common habit in the past (although there are still cases of male tonsure masters for women).<sup>17</sup>

Nowadays, the theoretical career for a woman wishing to become a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* in Mainland China thus consists of the following steps:<sup>18</sup>

First, going forth (*chujia* 出家, *pravrajya¯*): a female candidate must find a nunnery and have her head tonsured by a tonsure master, most often an *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı*; in many cases, she also receives the ten precepts, even if it is not unusual for *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* ordination to take place at the time of full ordination, in which case the ten precepts are only studied beforehand, in preparation for their formal bestowal.<sup>19</sup>

Second, two-year probationary period (optional): upon reaching age eighteen, the female candidate may receive the six *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* precepts, which she must observe for two years; transgressions oblige her to start the probationary period over again;<sup>20</sup> this step is preceded by the *´sraman ¯ . erika¯* ordination.

Third, full ordination (*juzujie* 具足戒, *upasam. pada¯*): from age twenty, the candidate can apply for *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination, which involves the dual procedures and, as part of the Triple Platform Ordination, is preceded by *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* ordination (or its renewal, in the event that the candidate has already received it) and followed by the bestowal of the Bodhisattva precepts (which turns the newly ordained into a 'Mahay¯ ana ¯ *bhiks.un. ¯ı*').

In the present article, I will trace the roots of the restoration of Dual Ordinations during the Republican era and provide an account of the early history of these procedures in the PRC. Due to her key role in the process, I will also present Longlian's view about *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination. Fur the purpose of this study, I refer only to Mainland China (for Taiwan, see Li Forthcoming), from the 1930s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The contemporary legacy of these ideas and events in the PRC is discussed in Amandine Péronnet's contribution in this Special Issue. My objective is to probe the historical and ideological context in which the Dual Ordination system was revived, in an attempt to explain how its promotion ended up in strengthening the role of Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. As we will see, certain prominent modern Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s (as well as their male masters) affirmed soteriological gender equality, but also embraced forms of gender asymmetry between female and male Buddhist monastics by reviving the eight *gurudharma*s and the Dual Ordination system, which entails an additional probationary step for female monastics and mandates the presence of both orders at the moment of full ordination for nuns. They endorsed this in the name of orthodoxy (*rufa* 如法, lit. "according to the Dharma") and legitimacy (*hefa* 合法, which more closely refers to a legalistic interpretation of the *Vinaya*) so as to comply with the regulations of the monastic protocol as established by the Buddha. Notwithstanding the implied inequality of an asymmetric treatment of male and female monastics, this ultimately served to raise the status and prestige of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in the *sam. gha* and in society.

#### **2. The Emergence of the Issue of** *Bhiks.un. ¯ı* **Ordination in Republican China**

*Bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination and lineages were a debated topic in China during the 1930s and 1940s (Wen 1991, p. 32). Not only did some of the most prominent male *Vinaya* masters of the era interest themselves in ordination procedures, including Dual Ordinations, but the topic was also addressed by scholar *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s trained in the new female Buddhist Academies which offered modern Buddhist education to lay and monastic women in Republican China.<sup>21</sup> The background against which these discussions took place was provided by some modern trends within Chinese Buddhism, i.e., the development of concerns for gender equality (Kang 2016) and the emergence of a *Vinaya* movement, which claimed disciplinary strictness and often took on a text-oriented approach in the name of orthodoxy (Bianchi 2020). In the following section, I will examine both trends, in an attempt to illuminate how these two separate approaches contributed to the emergence of the Dual Ordination issue.

#### *2.1. Gender Equality and the Foundation of the* Bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*s*

The issue of gender equality was raised by well-educated *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s and laywomen.<sup>22</sup> It was part of a larger movement that was questioning the role and place of women in Chinese society at large, and, as Yuan Yuan has demonstrated in her case study on the female Buddhist Academies of Wuhan, it "fitted into the broader women's liberation discourse and the national modernization project" (Yuan 2009, p. 376). These prominent Buddhist women distanced themselves from traditional Buddhist views on females and claimed a leading role for women in the monastic community as well as in society as a whole. To quote Elise DeVido, "they argued that not only do both women and men possess Buddha nature and can become enlightened, but that females should enjoy equality with males whether in the monastic community or in society at large, and women should be liberated from their constraints" (DeVido 2015, p. 78).

Gender equality in Buddhism was also, and indeed first, backed by certain modern male Buddhists. Yang Wenhui 楊文會 (1837–1911), for instance, the well-known layman who initiated some of the most prominent reforms in the field of Buddhist education and publishing, supported *bhiks.un. ¯ı* education, republished many Buddhist scriptures related to women,<sup>23</sup> and advocated a change in the position and role of women within the Buddhist hierarchy (He 1997, pp. 204–5; Valussi 2019, pp. 160–61). Among the scriptures he rediscovered and distributed was the "Biographies of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s" (*Biqiuni zhuan* 比 丘尼傳, *T* no. 2063), a collection bound to attract much interest within female Buddhist circles as it provided modern *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s with exemplary portraits from the past. Since it also offered details on the history of the foundation and early development of the Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*, this collection became an important reference for the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s wishing to attest to the legitimacy of their monastic status.<sup>24</sup>

Significantly, the reformist *bhiks.u* Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947), who like Yang promoted the first female Buddhist Academies, was not an advocate of the monastic choice for women, though he maintained that Buddhism did not discriminate against them—as testified by the many enlightened women mentioned in Buddhist scriptures—and encouraged them to serve the Buddhist cause as lay followers.<sup>25</sup> Taixu addressed the topic in a short article published in 1935 in the Buddhist journal *Haichao yin* 海潮音, which deserves to be quoted here as it offers his view about the establishment of the *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* in India and about the Buddha's request that *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s respect the eight *gurudharma*s.

Taixu reports some of the complaints he received about the gender inequality embedded among the seven groups of Buddhist disciples (i.e., *bhiks.u*, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*, *´srama ¯ n. era*, *´srama ¯ n. erika¯*, *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*, and male and female lay practitioners, respectively *upasaka ¯* and *upasik ¯ a¯*). The argument of Taixu's interlocutor is that ancient Christianity was also unequal towards women, but that in modern times, Christians have developed gender equality, while Chinese Buddhism has not yet adjusted to the equity policies of a modern society. As a result, the interlocutor concludes, in the future there will be no more *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in China. Taixu replies:

In Buddhism, there is no inequality between laymen and laywomen, *upasaka ¯* s and *upasik ¯ a¯*s . . . But within the monastic community, the gap dividing *´srama ¯ n. erika¯*s, *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s from *´srama ¯ n. era*s and *bhiks.u*s is no less than the distance between heaven and the abyss. Why so? The original intention of S´akyamuni ¯ Buddha while leading the Buddhist *sam. gha* was that no woman should go forth and join the community, so that the *sam. gha* treasure could be upheld with purity and discipline. But the Buddha's aunt, who had great kindness for the Buddha, strongly insisted on going forth. The Buddha resisted steadily but could not stop her requests and finally imposed strict limitations through the eight *gurudharma*s, also adding some 'secret' precepts. Fundamentally, he wanted to make sure that women knew of the difficulties [of going forth] and encourage [their] withdrawal, so that his aunt may be the only case capable of becoming a female monastic. This is the reason why, as of today, in Tibet and many other places there are no Buddhist female monastics. . . . As for the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* institution, it is absolutely necessary to be strict, first because what was established by the Buddha cannot be changed, and second because if no woman ever became a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* again, this would be fully in compliance with the Buddha's intention.

佛教中在家男女之優蒲塞夷,絕無何不平等處 . . . . . . 然在出家僧團中之沙彌 尼、式叉摩那尼、比丘尼,以視沙彌、比丘,誠不啻天淵之隔。若云何以致此? 則釋迦佛原意,住持佛教僧團中,誠不欲有女子出家來加入,以成其純凈律儀之 住持僧寶。無如與佛有大恩之姨母強求出家,力拒不絕,乃嚴限制以八敬法且 加密戒條,本在令知難而退;或使能出家為尼者,絕無僅有 . . . . . . 至比丘尼制 則斷斷乎須嚴格,一因佛制不可改,二因若能沒有女人作比丘尼,尤合佛心也。 (Taixu 1935)

Taixu's understanding of the story of Mahapraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı is in line with a received tradition, which "tells us that soteriologically women are not inferior to men. Socially and institutionally however they are" (Heirman 2001, p. 284). Taixu seems to blame the Buddha's foster mother for having forced the Buddha into creating a female monastic order, which he would rather have avoided. Finally, Taixu proves to be aware of the absence of a *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* in other Buddhist traditions, including the Tibetan, and seems to wish the same for China.<sup>26</sup> In this light, the strict respect of the eight *gurudharma*s, including the rules regarding *´siks. aman¯ . a¯*s and Dual Ordinations, is given as unavoidable.

A different reading of the *gurudharma*s was provided by Hengbao 恒寶, a prominent scholar *bhiks.un. ¯ı* from Wuhan. Hengbao, the founder and abbess of the Wuhan Pure Bodhi Vihara (Puti jingshe ¯ 菩提精舍), published an article in 1937 on "The Buddhist view on women" (*Fojiao nüxing guan* 佛教女性觀) in the "Dedicated Journal for Female Buddhists" (*Fojiao nüzhong zhuankan* 佛教女眾專刊), the first journal for female Buddhists in China (Hengbao 1937, p. 19), in which she explains that the *gurudharma*s were conceived by the Buddha not because of an alleged discrimination against women, but as a response to the social conditions of the time, "for the sake of [dispelling] oppositions and criticism" (Yuan 2009, p. 389).

This single issue of the "Dedicated Journal for Female Buddhists" (the publication was discontinued because of the Japanese occupation) collected a number of essays by Wuhan *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, some of which address, more or less directly, female ordination. In her article, Hengbao herself recalls the history of the foundation of the female monastic order by the Buddha, revealing her acquaintance with many canonical versions of the event. Instead of only mentioning Mahapraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı's insistence and the Buddha's final surrender, Hengbao enriches her narrative with many details, casting a nuanced, if not positive light on it. In the received narrative, the role of the Buddha's disciple Ananda is prominent; Hengbao ¯ reports Ananda's mention of the kindness professed by Mah ¯ apraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı towards S´akyamuni ¯ Buddha, the statement by the Buddha that women can achieve the four fruits of the path (i.e., stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and *arhat*), and the fact that Buddhas in the past had also four assemblies of disciples, i.e., *bhiks.u*, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*, *upasaka ¯* and *upasik ¯ a¯*, etc.<sup>27</sup> Hengbao also explains that, according to the *Vinaya* commentary *Shanjian lun* 善見論 (*T* no. 1642),<sup>28</sup> Buddhism will still last one thousand years upon acceptance of the eight *gurudharma*s, instead of only half of its due duration after the creation of the *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* (Hengbao 1937, pp. 19–20).<sup>29</sup>

As for the Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*, the principal source of inspiration for modern *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s was the "Biographies of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s". Changzhen 常真 (1937), for instance, in response to someone asking her information about the "beginning of the Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*", cites Jingjian 淨檢 (ca. 292–361), whose biography is the first in the collection. This article, which is relevant for our topic because it treats both *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* and *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordinations,<sup>30</sup> reports, nearly entirely and verbatim, the words by the Central Asian master Zhishan 智山, who was consulted on ordination matters by Jingjian's own

master Fashi 法始. The master explains that he could not bestow her ordination as he did not have the full texts of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* rules; however, he continues:

To become a monastic, a female has the ten precepts, which she may receive from the *bhiks.u*s. At the same time, however, she should rely on a [female] monastic instructor to be trained in the precepts.

尼有十戒,必從比丘授,同時就要以和尚傳戒為依止。 (Changzhen 1937, p. 68) 31

Jingjian went forth and received the *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* ten precepts together with twenty-four other candidates from Zhishan. Later, a text of rules and procedures for *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s (from the *Vinaya* of the Mahas¯ anghika) reached China and was translated into Chinese. Thus, in ¯ the year 357, Jingjian and four of her fellow sisters received full ordination by the foreign *´sraman. a* Tanmojieduo 曇摩羯多 in Luoyang.

In reporting the case of Jingjian, described as the "first Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*", Changzhen shows acceptance of the validity of *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* and *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordinations that are only bestowed by *bhiks.u*s, but she also points to the need of an *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı* for training a candidate in the precepts. At the same time, she also mentions that only ordinations conferred by the two assemblies should be considered fully legitimate (Changzhen 1937, p. 68).

Hengbao (1937, p. 20), on the other hand, records the first Dual Ordination, celebrated in the mid fifth century by *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a, as the "beginning of the Chinese ¯ *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*".<sup>32</sup> She compares this first "formal" (*zhengshi* <sup>正</sup>式) event with cases that occurred during earlier centuries, when Chinese women—such as Apan 阿潘, according to later sources the first female Buddhist monastic in Chinese history33—could only engage in monastic life through the practice of taking the three refuges, and could hence not be called *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. Implicitly, Hengbao also points to the irregularity of the one-*sam. gha* ordinations, such as Jingjian's, that were taking place before the first Dual Ordination.

The two articles by Hengbao and Changzhen show an interest in the origins and history of the *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* in India and China, as seen through a gender-equality concern and in search of exemplary figures from the past to look up to. The above quoted passages also convey a growing awareness of the legitimate procedures for female ordinations, a topic that was being debated by the most prominent *Vinaya* masters of the era.

#### *2.2. The* Vinaya *Movement and* Bhiks.un. ¯ı *Ordination*

The Republican era was also a time of *Vinaya* resurgence (Bianchi and Campo Forthcoming), and many insisted on the establishment of legitimate ordination procedures, i.e., procedures that were believed to have been stipulated and regulated by the Buddha himself in the *Vinaya* literature (Bianchi 2017b, p. 116). The irregularity of the ordination system for female monastics when compared with the requirements set up by the *Vinaya*s appeared evident to the *Vinaya* masters of the era, leading to a rediscovery of Dual Ordinations and, even if only to a minor degree, of the figure of the *´siks. aman¯ . a¯*.

For instance, in a lecture focused on monastic precepts, *Vinaya* master Hongyi 弘 一 (1880–1942) addressed both questions of the legitimacy of the female full ordination processes and of the lack of *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s in Chinese Buddhism. Hongyi notes that the figure of the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* was not known in China during his time, so much so that in the regions north of the Yangtze river, people mistakenly called unmarried Buddhist laywomen by that term. According to *Vinaya* rules, he clarifies, after receiving the ten precepts and at the age of eighteen, a *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* should receive the *dharma* of a *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*, which lasts for two years and involves the study of the four *par¯ ajika ¯* s (grave offenses, ultimately corresponding to the first four of the six rules), of the six rules specific to this figure (*liufa* 六法), and of the other *Vinaya* rules and rituals.<sup>34</sup> At the end of the (unbroken) two-year training period, when she turns twenty and reaches the age for full ordination, a *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* can receive *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination. As for the latter question, Hongyi recognizes that:

According to the Buddhist system, *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination should be taken twice: first, "basic *dharma*" is bestowed by the *bhiks.un. ¯ı sam. gha*; then, the *bhiks.u sam. gha* is

invited to bestow formal ordination. The precepts are properly received only at the time of the formal ordination by the *bhiks.u*s. However, this procedure has no longer been applied since the Southern Song dynasty [1127–1279].

依據佛制,比丘尼戒要重覆受兩次;先依尼僧授本法,後請大僧正授,但正得戒 時,是在大僧正授時;此法南宋以後已不能實行了。 (Hongyi 1935)

Remarkably, as Birnbaum (Forthcoming) has pointed out, on the same occasion Hongyi also came to question the legitimacy of the ordination lineage of the Chinese *bhiks.usam. gha*. 35

It is clear from the above that Hongyi was well aware that in the case of *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination, the procedures prescribed by the *Vinaya* texts had not been implemented for at least one millennium. To my knowledge, however, he did not try to revive them.<sup>36</sup> The two *Vinaya* masters who played a decisive role in the actual implementation of the Dual Ordination system were Cizhou 慈舟 (1877–1957) and Nenghai 能海 (1886–1967).<sup>37</sup> Both masters planned to revive it, but "failed as conditions were not yet ripe at their time" (Zongxing 2019, p. 74). Their legacy was nevertheless taken over after the Maoist era by their two major female disciples, i.e., Tongyuan and Longlian, respectively.

Among the female disciples of *Vinaya* master Cizhou, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s Kaihui 開慧 and Shengyu 勝雨, together with Yinhe 印和, spearheaded the restoration of Beijing Tongjiao nunnery 通教寺 in 1941. Tongjiao nunnery, once a Ming dynasty temple, soon became a renowned and active *Vinaya* nunnery under the influence of Cizhou (DeVido 2015, p. 81). There they founded the Bajing Xueyuan 八敬學苑, a Buddhist school for *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s significantly named after the eight *gurudharma*s. Tongyuan, who had received tonsure from master Cizhou in 1941 and had taken up residence in Tongjiao nunnery, was trained in this environment and was greatly influenced by both Cizhou and Kaihui, her principal female master, who was particularly engaged in establishing the Dual Ordination system (Wen 1991, p. 32).

According to his disciple Daoyuan 道源 (1900–1988),<sup>38</sup> Cizhou did confer Dual Ordination twice, in 1947 and 1955, at the Anyang Vihara ¯ 安養精舍 in Beijing.<sup>39</sup> Tongyuan was reportedly involved in one of these events (Zongxing 2019, p. 74). To my knowledge, no other source confirms this information. However, considering the above, it is highly probable that Cizhou trained his female disciples from Tongjiao nunnery, including Tongyuan, for Dual Ordinations, irrespective of whether the ordination had taken place or not. Apparently, Tongyuan's knowledge of the procedures was so profound that Longlian decided to involve her as principal master of the discipline in the ordination she organized at the beginning of the 1980s.

Longlian, on the other hand, was introduced to Dual Ordination procedures by Nenghai. In terms of *Vinaya*, this Sino-Tibetan master referred to the Dharmaguptaka tradition (Bianchi 2021a). He insisted that all his disciples follow the rules equally regardless of their gender. However, at the same time he recognized gender asymmetry and stressed gender separation in his communities.<sup>40</sup> In his words:

Male and female *sam. gha*s differ in nature and appearance, they differ in mind and action, thus the precepts must also be different. In reality, should there be no difference, then there is actual inequality, preventing us from seeing the great wisdom of the Buddha.

二部性相不同,心行不同,故戒亦應有別。若無分別,即真不平等,亦不足以見 佛之大智慧也。 (Zongxing 2019, pp. 74–75)

In his rigorous approach to the *Vinaya*, Nenghai believed that "women should study as *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s and respect the six rules for two years" (有女須正學六法二年持) <sup>41</sup> and, like Cizhou, urged the re-establishment of Dual Ordinations. In 1937, Nenghai was organizing a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination in the Wutai mountains, but he decided to postpone it because, as stated in his "Notes on ordinations" (*Chuanjie tonggao* 傳戒通告), he realized that "conditions for a proper *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination were not yet ripe" (Ma 2015, p. 58). As his disciple Renjie 任傑 reported, a few years later, Nenghai expressed his concern about the fact that *bhiks.u*s were unable to instruct *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s after ordination with these words:

For a *bhiks.u* to bestow ordination to the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s and fail to instruct his (female) disciples after doing so is contrary to the Buddha's system and does not protect the Dharma.

比丘 . . . . . . 傳比丘尼戒,傳戒後又不能教誡弟子,有違佛制,護法不容! (Renjie 1987, p. 70)

We can thus infer that at the basis of Nenghai's interest in the Dual Ordination procedures there was both a concern about orthodoxy (compliance with the *Vinaya* scriptures) and a concern for the proper training and education of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s once admitted into the *sam. gha*, which could only be carried out by a female master, or *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı.*<sup>42</sup> This process of reinstating the role of the *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı*, who should guide a female monastic for a period from her tonsure to the two years after ordination, was carried on by Longlian and has become a common practice in the present day PRC.

For the purpose of organizing a Dual Ordination, Nenghai invited the *Vinaya* master Guanyi 貫一 (1875–1954), abbot of the Baoguang monastery 寶光寺, to instruct *´srama ¯ n. erika¯*s on the ordination procedures at Tiexiang nunnery in October 1948. Significantly, Nenghai asked Longlian, who at that time was residing at Tiexiang nunnery and had attended Guanyi's lectures, to impart the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination to the resident monastics; since she was monastically too young (she had only been ordained for eight years, instead of the required twelve), however, in the end Guanyi acted as master of the discipline (Qiu 1997, p. 239).<sup>43</sup> For Nenghai, this had to be the first step on the two-year path to full ordination. Longlian was chosen as the principal master for bestowing the precepts at the upcoming ordination ceremony (Dingzhi 1995, p. 37). It was the eve of the foundation of the PRC, and Nenghai's plan failed as the ordination was ultimately not carried out.<sup>44</sup> But he did not give up and tasked Longlian to take care of "resurrecting" (*huifu* 恢复) Dual Ordinations in the new-era China (Qiu 1997, p. 183). Due to historical circumstances, she was not able to do so before the early 1980s.

To sum up, Tongyuan and Longlian were instructed in Dual Ordination procedures by their own masters, both of whom were *Vinaya* experts, well before the two *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s first met in Beijing's Tongjiao nunnery in 1955. That encounter signaled the beginning of their thirty-six-year-long friendship and created suitable conditions for their cooperation in establishing Dual Ordinations after the Maoist era. Through the establishment of legitimate ordination criteria, as well as the foundation of Institutes of Buddhist Studies, Tongyuan and Longlian significantly contributed to the evolution of the role and status of Buddhist *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in contemporary Mainland China.<sup>45</sup>

#### **3. Assessing the Significance of Dual Ordinations in Post-Mao China**

As we have seen, the first Dual Ordination of the modern era in Mainland China was organized by Longlian in Chengdu in the year 1982. This ordination involved only nine *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s; in March 1987, twenty more *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s, graduates from the Institute of Studies directed by Longlian at Tiexiang nunnery, took their turn.<sup>46</sup> As for Tongyuan, she organized the second Dual Ordination in 1984 at the Upper Huayan monastery 上 華嚴寺, in Datong (Wen 1991, p. 33). Dual Ordination procedures gradually spread and eventually became the only legal system for *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination in the PRC in the year 2000, serving as an integral part of the Triple Platform Ordination system.<sup>47</sup> In this concluding section, I will introduce some of the major aspects of the establishment of Dual Ordinations in the PRC since the 1980s, referring only to the Taiwanese case when it is relevant for the Mainland developments.<sup>48</sup> On the Mainland, the two *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s who succeeded in advocating legitimate female ordination during the Republican era and in implementing them in post-Mao PRC were Tongyuan and Longlian. However, Tongyuan chose to keep a 'low-profile', and we do not have much information about her views. As she refrained from writing about her interpretation of Buddhist doctrines and practices, her opinions about

*bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination must be inferred from her actions and others' accounts.<sup>49</sup> Longlian, by contrast, was a very influential scholar *bhiks.un. ¯ı* who authored numerous essays and books and frequently gave public talks and interviews; she also played a prominent political role as the first woman to hold a leadership position in the Buddhist Association of China (BAC). For this reason, I will focus mainly on Longlian in the following section.

#### *3.1. "Resurrecting" Dual Ordinations in Mainland China*

Longlian was officially assigned the task of organizing the first *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination of the new era in 1981, after a ban on ordinations that had lasted twenty-five years.<sup>50</sup> The task included the use of Dual Ordination procedures. This assignment came after she had formally requested to "resurrect" Dual Ordinations at the fourth meeting of the newly restored BAC (December 1980). Along with her renown as a scholar *bhiks.un. ¯ı* and her political influence, Longlian's knowledge of the English language may have influenced the decision to involve her in this task, since, as will be explained below, PRC political authorities also perceived this ceremony as an attempt to re-establish the Sinhalese *bhikkhuni-sangha ˙* , an example of the so-called 'Dharma diplomacy', i.e., the use of Buddhism for the development of international relations.

At the BAC meeting, Longlian met Tongyuan for the first time after the Cultural Revolution. She told her friend about her intention to resurrect Dual Ordinations, and the latter fully agreed with the plan (Qiu 1997, p. 174). In 1981, Longlian exchanged letters with Tongyuan, seeking her opinion and discussing the contents of and strategies for the ceremony (Zongxing 2019, p. 74). As a consequence, Tongyuan was appointed main *bhiks.un. ¯ı* master of the discipline (*heshang ni* 和尚尼) at the upcoming ordination. The Dual Ordination ceremony took place in January 1982 in Tiexiang nunnery, where the precepts were conferred by ten *bhiks.un. ¯ı* masters, and in Wenshu temple, where they were conferred by the *bhiks.u* masters.

The ordination announcement, published by the official journal of the BAC in February 1982, deserves to be quoted in full:

Recently, the Wenshu temple in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, held a Dual Ordination ceremony for female candidates. The Buddhist Association of China has expressed its admiration. According to the Buddhist ordination rules, a female candidate must be ordained by the two assemblies before she can become an orthodox (*rufa*) *bhiks.un. ¯ı*. In China, Dual Ordinations were first celebrated in the mid-fifth century in Nanjing by nineteen *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s from the Kingdom of Ceylon (present-day Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a) [headed by] Tiposalo (the "Biographies of the ¯ *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s" name her Tiesaluo). The Wenshu temple Dual Ordination began on 9 December 1981, when the candidates entered the hall to study the rules and rituals. A total of twenty-one monastics participated in the ordination (including nine candidates and twelve advanced *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s). The *bhiks.u* masters included Kuanlin 寬霖 as "master of the discipline", Xinji 心極 as "master of the formal act", Puchao 普超 as "instructor" and Chuanhua 傳華 and others as "witnesses". The *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s had Tongyuan as "master of the discipline", Longlian as "master of the formal act", Dingjing 定静 as "instructor" and Guojie 果戒 and others as "witnesses". The ceremony lasted for forty days and was successfully completed on 18 January 1982.

最近,四川成都文殊院為出家的女眾舉行了一次"二部僧授戒"法會。中國佛協曾 致電表示贊嘆。按照佛教授戒法的規定,出家的女眾必須從二部僧授戒後,才 能成為如法的比丘尼。我國自公元五世紀中葉師子國 (今斯里蘭卡) 提婆薩羅 (《比丘尼傳》作鐵薩羅) 等十九位比丘尼法師在南京首次實行二部僧授戒。文殊 院這次舉行的二部僧授戒法會,從1981年12月9日開始進堂學習律儀。參加受戒 的尼眾共21人 (其中新戒9人,增戒12人)。比丘僧由寬霖任得戒師,心極任揭磨 師,普超任教授師,傳華等七人任尊證師; 比丘尼僧由通願任得戒師,隆蓮任揭 磨師,定靜任教授師,果戒等七人任尊證師。法會歷時40天,至1982年1月18日 圓滿結束。 (Fayin 1982, p. 21)

The approval by the BAC and the implication that only Dual Ordinations should be considered fully orthodox and legitimate are both remarkable and suggest decades of germination of these ideas.

The textual reference employed was the aforementioned "Dual Ordination Procedures" written at the beginning of the Qing dynasty by the *Vinaya* master Shuyu (*X* no. 1134). As we have seen, they prescribe Dual Ordinations within the Triple Platform Ordination system. For the occasion, Longlian and Tongyuan adapted the text to a modern context. Longlian even had these procedures translated into English for the Sinhalese nuns that were supposed to participate in the ordination.<sup>51</sup> Significantly, the text employed by Longlian and Tongyuan addressed candidates as *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s (*shichamona* 式叉摩那) throughout the rite, which differs from the canonical version, where the term *´sraman ¯ . erika¯*s is used instead (*X* n. 1134: 731c17).

As a matter of fact, the female candidates involved in this first Dual Ordination (and in the other eight ordination ceremonies organized under the supervision of Longlian) were all *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s.<sup>52</sup> To Longlian, the two-year probationary period as a *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* was to be understood as an unrenounceable part of the Dual Ordination process. As noted above, this was the view of her master Nenghai, who instructed her to revive Dual Ordinations by a strict observance of all the rules, including the need for the two-year training period. Longlian had also witnessed the bestowal of the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* ordination to the Tiexiang nunnery *´srama ¯ n. erika¯*s back in 1949, under the supervision of Guanyi and Nenghai himself. As Chiu and Heirman (2014) have already observed, Longlian had a decisive influence on the emergence of the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* stage in Mainland China. Even if this stage has not become compulsory, *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination can take place no earlier than after a two-year period of time from one's entrance into the Buddhist order according to contemporary official regulations (while for *´srama ¯ n. era*s only one year is requested, as there are no male *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*s), which implicitly allows for the two-year *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* training; accordingly, some *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination announcements are explicitly geared to both *´sraman ¯ . erika¯*s and *´siks. aman¯ . a¯*s.

As for the 'global' context,<sup>53</sup> it should be clarified that the first Dual Ordination of the modern era was held in Taipei in the year 1970. As Yu-chen Li has shown, this system became a widespread ordination criterion for female monastics in Taiwan after 1976 and soon resulted in the Taiwanese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' involvement in the international restoration of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* lineages (Li Forthcoming). At the onset, this seemed to be the case as well in Mainland China, considering that the decision to hold a Dual Ordination ceremony in 1982 was also meant to involve a group of female monastics from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a. In an ¯ interview, Longlian traced the roots of this plan back to Zhou Enlai 周恩来 (1898–1976), who during an official visit to the South Asian country—he visited Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a twice, in ¯ 1957 and 1964—discovered that female full ordination had disappeared from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a¯ and reportedly decided, along with the local authorities, to re-establish the Sinhalese *bhikkhun¯ı* lineage through the intervention of Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s (Chang 2019, p. 159).<sup>54</sup> Longlian first heard of this possibility in 1980, when she received a visit from a China-based professor of Sinhala (Qiu 1997, p. 239). Professor Lawei 拉維 later published an article in Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a explaining the history of the introduction of Dual Ordination to China through the ¯ intervention of Sinhalese monastics and based on the account provided by Longlian of the relevant passages in the "Biographies of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s".<sup>55</sup> Apparently, this article awakened the interest of certain Sinhalese Buddhists. In April 1981, Longlian reportedly met the head of the Ministry of Culture from Sr´ ¯ı Lank˙ a in Beijing; on that occasion, it was agreed that ¯ candidates from the two countries would be ordained together in Sichuan (Qiu 1997, p. 240). Ultimately, however, the Sinhalese nuns did not attend the Dual Ordination organized at Tiexiang nunnery and Wenshu temple, most likely for political reasons.<sup>56</sup> Nevertheless, the renown of Longlian had already reached far and wide. As a consequence, she was later visited by Karma Tsomo Lekshe, of the Sakyadhita Association of Buddhist Women, who wanted to cooperate with Longlian on an international Dual Ordination ceremony (which also eventually did not happen).<sup>57</sup> As is well known, Sinhalese female monastics, as well as those in other Theravada countries or in the Tibetan tradition, including Western Buddhist ¯

women, subsequently turned to Korean and Taiwanese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, or to different procedures disconnected from the Chinese lineage.<sup>58</sup> However, considering some recent moves by the Karmapa and by masters from the Larung gar in Sertar, the 'global' factor may become relevant again in Mainland China, if allowed (or even favored) at a political level.<sup>59</sup>

#### *3.2. Improving the* Bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' Status: Dual Ordinations from Longlian's Perspective*

The establishment of "orthodox" (*rufa*) and "legitimate" (*hefa*) *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination procedures in China was an aspiration that Longlian cherished throughout her life. Despite this, to my knowledge, Longlian did not publish any writing on the ordination procedures or their meaning in any of her numerous volumes and essays. However, not only did she often talk about Dual Ordinations with her students and in public, she also gave various interviews touching on this topic, which were recorded by journalists or authors<sup>60</sup> or videorecorded to be included in documentary films.<sup>61</sup> On these occasions, Longlian explained her ideas in terms that strike us as both modern and conservative at the same time. On the one hand, she affirmed gender equality on soteriological grounds (women, she claimed, can become Buddha). On the other, she accepted forms of asymmetry in ordination practices. Nevertheless, in her view this was meant to enforce the legitimacy of Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination from the point of view of orthodoxy, thus indicating that she viewed the introduction of Dual Ordination procedures as another way to improve the status of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s within the *sam. gha* (Qiu 1997, p. 235).

In a series of interviews she gave to Shanshan Qiu 裘山山, the author of her bestselling biography, Longlian expresses her aspiration to re-establish a legitimate *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* and her views on gender equality and asymmetry (Qiu 1997, pp. 284–86).<sup>62</sup> Qiu records an excerpt of an interview, in which she openly asked Longlian about gender equality, stating that in her view there is still an idea of male superiority (*nanzun nübei* 男尊女卑) in Buddhism. Longlian agrees that there is asymmetry in the *Vinaya*, noting as examples ordinations (which must involve both *sam. gha*s for female candidates) and the number of precepts (of which there are ninety-one more precepts in the *Pratimok ¯ s. a* for the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s than in that for the *bhiks.u*s). She then explains that Buddhism teaches the equality of all beings. However, Longlian states, it is not possible to be absolutely equal in this world, where for every person who walks in front or sits in a more elevated seat, there has to be someone else walking behind or sitting lower. In this way, Longlian affirms gender equality in soteriological terms, but allows for the existence and necessity of gender asymmetry in the world we live:

There is indeed a division between men and women in Buddhism, so that there can be stability within the monastic community. . . . Male supremacy in the secular world is bound to be reflected in the religion.

佛教中的男女確有一個高下之分,這樣僧團內部才能穩定 . . . . . . 俗世間的男尊 女卑,必然會反映到宗教中來。

In the same interview Longlian also explains the position of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in the *sam. gha* by recalling the narrative of the foundation of the *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha*, an argument which is reminiscent of the ideas expressed by the Wuhan nuns of the Republican era, including the belief that observance of the *gurudharma*s will prevent Buddhism from disappearing from the world:

In the beginning, S´akyamuni Buddha was reluctant to allow women to go forth. ¯ . . . The founder of our *bhiks.un. ¯ı* order, the Buddha's aunt, Mahapraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı, was very determined to go forth. The Buddha said, if you insist on going forth, you must observe the eight *gurudharma*s, namely, to have respect for *bhiks.u*s and to observe eight special precepts. In this way, the Dharma will not be destroyed in the future. In order to go forth, Mahapraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı agreed without hesitation. The Buddha built a temple specifically for Mahapraj ¯ apat ¯ ¯ı (Daaidao), and this is the origin of the name of our Aidao hall. Since *bhiks.u*s came first and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s later, some phenomena can be easily explained.

當初釋迦牟尼佛是不願意讓女人出家的 . . . . . . 我們比丘尼的始祖,也就是佛 的姨媽大愛道,當初堅決要求出家。佛就說,如果你一定要出家,就必須遵 守"八敬法",即對比丘懷有敬意,遵守八項特殊的戒律。這樣將來才不致毀滅 佛法。大愛道為了出家,毫不猶豫地答應了。佛陀就專門為大愛道修建了一座 廟,這也就是我們愛道堂名稱的來歷。既然是先有比丘後有比丘尼,有些現象也 就好解釋了。 (Qiu 1997, p. 285)

Longlian also addressed the issue of Dual Ordinations during an interview recorded on the occasion of an ordination ceremony in 1994 in Aidao nunnery and included in two documentary films on her life (Aidaotang 2002, 2009). The documentary films also include videos showing images that reference the 1982 ordination held in Wenshu temple and Tiexiang nunnery. The interview is translated in the Appendix 70. To sum up, in the interview Longlian clarifies the following points:


In line with the views of Nenghai, Longlian believed that the involvement of the *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı* and the other *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s in the various steps of the ordination process was meant to allow female Buddhists to be duly instructed before and after ordination within a system which emphasizes gender separation. As for the going forth rituals, the first documentary film (Aidaotang 2002) features Longlian performing the *pravrajya¯* ceremony (from tonsure and wearing of the *kas. aya ¯* or monastic robe to the bestowal of the *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* precepts), where she acts as *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı*, thus re-establishing the habit that this step should involve a female master (a difference from her own *pravrajya¯*). In Dual Ordinations, the reinstatement of the step involving the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s is deemed necessary in terms of post-ordination training for the newly ordained, while the role of the *bhiks.u* masters in the process, rather than implying an agenda to exert control over the female order, is instead presented as both a consequence of historical circumstances and the result of the Buddha's concern for the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s*'* safety, as explained in some passages of the *Vinaya* texts.<sup>64</sup>

Significantly, the later documentary film removes the emphasis placed by Longlian on the non-legitimacy of *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordinations conducted by *bhiks.u*s (or *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s) alone. In Chinese Buddhism, be it in Mainland China or Taiwan, this was and still is a very sensitive topic. Taken literally, Longlian's statement that "ordinations conferred at only one place should not be considered legitimate" would imply the fundamental illegitimacy of the Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı* lineage as a whole. In reality, following the Chinese *Vinaya* tradition, Longlian believed that ordinations conducted by *bhiks.u*s alone could be accepted. As we have seen, this involved only a minor offense by the *bhiks.u*s bestowing ordination, without invalidating the ordination of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. Accordingly, Longlian admits that an ordination held by only the ten *bhiks.u*s "generally counts as ordination".

Comparisons with modern political concepts ("democracy") and to party administration ("preparatory party member") included in the interview (see full translation in

the Appendix 70) reveal the influence of the PRC's ideological atmosphere on Longlian. Her concerns for gender issues as well as for procedures to be traced back to S´akyamuni ¯ Buddha, on the other hand, allow us to connect her with the spread of modernist ideas during the Republic of China, ideas which include an emphasis on gender equality and an attempt to retrace 'original' teachings of the Buddha.<sup>65</sup>

#### **4. Conclusions**

Both the Dual Ordination system and the related figure of the *´siks. aman¯ . a¯* are included in the eight *gurudharma*s, which among other rules also state that a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* must pay obeisance to a *bhiks.u* regardless of his age, or that a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* may not admonish a *bhiks.u*, whereas a *bhiks.u* may always do so.<sup>66</sup> Does the (re-)establishment of these procedures in modern China imply a reiteration of the very idea of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s' subordination to the *bhiks.usam. gha*?

In my opinion Longlian, the main character in this story—an exceptional *bhiks.un. ¯ı* who managed to cope with modernity while complying with tradition, and who has become a true symbol of gender empowerment within the *sam. gha*67—was not attempting to promote gender inequality through the establishment of the (asymmetric) Dual Ordination system and the figure of the *´siks. ama¯n. a¯*. Longlian's main concern was to reinstate the dual procedures in order to make the whole ordination system more legitimate and orthodox, which ultimately also resulted in the improvement of the status of *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s within the Buddhist *sam. gha* and society as a whole. Interestingly Longlian, while consistently rejecting views of gender inequality from a soteriological perspective, took from *Vinaya* master Nenghai the idea of the need for gender asymmetry, which is explained as a consequence of historical and social factors. In this light, male masters are involved in the ordination process in order to protect (rather than to control) the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, an argument that was made also in the *Vinaya* of the Dharmaguptaka.<sup>68</sup>

In a nutshell, I believe that the establishment (or "resurrection", as it is usually termed) of Dual Ordinations in modern China should be seen as the result of a few seemingly unrelated phenomena. First of all, from its onset during the Republican period, the idea of establishing Dual Ordinations was connected with a modern notion of orthodoxy, which was notably searched for in the scriptures, and involved the adoption of a text-oriented approach to Buddhist practices. In the eyes of many modern Chinese *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, this idea was also related to the search for legitimacy of their monastic status, in the wake of modern perspectives on gender equality within the Buddhist community. In later years, a third aspect emerged, as the Dual Ordination system assumed a 'global' dimension and was connected with the re-establishment of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* order within other Buddhist traditions: phenomena that are integral to a modern interpretation of Buddhism.

To conclude, the asymmetry embedded in the ordination system was endorsed in modern times in the name of legitimacy/orthodoxy, seemingly without advocating ideas of inequality within the *sam. gha*. On the contrary, considering that both *´srama ¯ n. erika¯* and *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordinations were bestowed by male masters for centuries within Chinese Buddhist monasticism, the involvement of female masters resulted in a form of female empowerment, if not in full-fledged equality.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia: Ricerca di base (2018).

**Acknowledgments:** I wish to thank Nicola Schneider for first inviting me to participate in the workshop on "L'asymétrie sexuelle dans les différentes traditions bouddhiques à travers le prisme de l'ordination et de l'éducation des nonnes" (Paris, 16 January 2015), where we began our exchanges on the topic of this Special Issue. It was due to her persistence, the consonance of our interests and the stimulating exchange over the years, that we finally proposed this project to the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation of International Scholarly Exchange (CCKF), which gracefully chose to support it with a Conference Grant 2020/2021. My gratitude also goes to all the participants of the conference, "Gender Asymmetry in the Different Buddhist Traditions Through the Prism of Nuns' Ordination and

Education" (Perugia, 16–17 May 2022), for their lively and helpful discussions; I am especially grateful to *bhikkhun¯ı* Dhammadinna, Daniela Campo, Ann Heirman, Amandine P ¯ éronnet, Nicola Schneider, and Alexander Von Rospatt, for reading previous versions of this article and for their comments and feedback. I am also indebted to *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Shi Guoping 釋果平, *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Shih Heng-Ching 釋恆 清, *bhiks.un. ¯ı* Shi Hongzhi 釋弘智 and *bhiks.u* Shi Xianshi 釋賢世 for providing insightful suggestions, useful information and precious material.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.

#### **Abbreviations**


#### **Appendix A. Longlian Explaining Dual Ordinations in 1994<sup>70</sup>**

Buddhist disciples are called the "disciples of the four assemblies", and are male and female monastics who went forth and male and female lay householders.<sup>71</sup> Ordained male monastics are called *bhiks.u*s and ordained female monastics are called *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s; those who have not yet received complete ordination but have gone forth are *´srama ¯ n. era*s and, the female ones, *´srama ¯ n. erika¯*s. Thus, in Buddhism "four groups" means *bhiks.u*s, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, laymen and laywomen. Only a place where all four assembies of disciples are complete is called a "Middle kingdom" (*Zhongguo* 中國). In Buddhism, the special name "middle kingdom" refers to a place that is the center of Buddhism. So, in order to meet this standard, the presence of all four assemblies of disciples is necessary.<sup>72</sup>

佛的弟子,稱為四眾弟子。四眾弟子就是出家男女二眾,在家男女二眾。出家的 男眾被稱為比丘,女眾就稱為比丘尼。初出家還沒受大戒的,男的稱為沙彌,女 的稱為沙彌尼。佛教當中說四眾弟子就是說的,比丘,比丘尼和在家的男居 士,女居士。要四眾弟子齊全的地方,才稱為中國。佛教裡面的特殊名字叫中 國,它的意思就是說,這個地方是佛教的中心,那麼要夠得上這個標準,就是要 四眾弟子齊全。

Ordination procedures have been established gradually. In order to be ordained, *bhiks.u*s have to undergo a "three-times formal act" (*san fan jiemo* <sup>三</sup>番羯磨),<sup>73</sup> and *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s also have to follow the same procedures. It is a democratic procedure; i.e., whenever there is a person wishing to become a *bhiks.u* or a *bhiks.un. ¯ı*, it is necessary to select from the monastic community a group of ten high-ranking *bhiks.u*s of great virtue and appropriate monastic age. They are convened in order to hold this particular examination, which is also called the "ritual of ascending the ordination platform" (*dengtan jiemo* 登壇羯磨). A special place shall be provided,<sup>74</sup> since ordination is a high-level and secret assembly that cannot be attended by everybody. On the ordination platform there are ten persons, the "master of the discipline" (*jie heshang* 戒和尚), the "master of the formal act" (*jiemo shi* 羯磨師), the "instructor" (*jiaoshou shi* 教授師), and seven "venerable witnesses" (*zun zheng shi* 尊證師)—"venerable" because they are high-ranking *bhiks.u*s, while "witnesses" expresses their function as "attestors". The union of these ten persons makes it a high-level assembly, a special assembly. Candidates must receive the approval of this assembly to become *bhiks.u*s or *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. This assembly cannot be attended by anybody else; the attendants of the principal master and all the other attendants (*yinli shi* 引禮師) are not allowed to take part in it. On the platform, there are only the ten masters who hold this important assembly; in addition, the ordination candidates are also there. This assembly is organized in such a strict and secret way.<sup>75</sup>

傳戒的手續是遂步建立的。那麼比丘也要經過三番羯磨傳戒的手續。比丘尼同樣 要經過手續。這個手續是一個民主的手續,就是說誰要當比丘或者是比丘尼,都 要在僧團當中選出十位地位特別高的,道高德重,戒臘須彌的人,來開這個特 別的審查會,這個就是現在所謂的比丘登壇羯磨。這個開會還要有個特殊的地 方,是一個高級的秘密會議,不得是全體人都來參加。這個壇上就有十位,包括 戒和尚,羯磨師,教授師和七位尊證師。尊就是他有地位,證就是他來證明。這 十個人組合起來,它就成了一個高級的會議,特殊的會議。那麼這個新戒要通過 允許他成為比丘,要經過這個會議。這個會就是說其他人不能參加。戒和尚帶的 侍者和那些引禮師都不能參加這個會。壇上只有這個十師開這個高級會議。另外 就是受戒的新戒在裡面。這個會議的組織就是這樣一個比較嚴密而秘密的一種 會。

As for *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, in the very beginning they also followed the same ordination procedures (as male candidates). Later, however, it was said that this was not sufficient, because this way a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* only had male masters: how would a male master ever take care of her? For this reason, it was deemed necessary that *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s be instructed and guided by other *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s. Therefore, whenever a woman wishes to enter the monastic order, she must find another woman who will act as her "master of the discipline" (*upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı*). The latter will be responsible for instructing the candidate, so as to establish with her a masterdisciple relationship (*shitu guanxi* 師徒關係).<sup>76</sup> But after this rule was established, some new problems arose. I.e., since *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s lived in deep seclusion, rarely came out and thus were not acquainted with the outside world, it happened that throughout history some problems arose in the acceptance of new candidates. Therefore, it was understood that it was not sufficient that one be approved only by ten *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s; instead, it was necessary to also be approved by ten *bhiks.u*s, which added a further step.<sup>77</sup>

那麼比丘尼最初也就是這樣受戒的。後來說不行,這個比丘尼的師父都是男 的,哪個去管她呢?所以比丘尼一定要由比丘尼來教導,那麼她要出家的時 候,就要找個女的給她當戒和尚,這個戒和尚就要負責教這個新戒,要建立 起師徒關係。這個規矩建立之後呢?後來又有問題,就是說,在比丘尼,她都 深居簡出,外面多少情況她不熟悉,有時收來的新戒,在這個歷史上就有些問 題。所以說光是十個比丘尼通過還不行,還要十個比丘來通過,這就更進一步。

This led to a dual procedure. A *´srama ¯ n. erika¯*-*´siks. ama¯n. a¯* wishing to receive female full ordination, must undergo a first examination on the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* ordination platform; this way she becomes a "fundamental" *bhiks.un. ¯ı*, called a "basic *dharma bhiks.un. ¯ı*" (*benfa ni* <sup>本</sup>法尼).<sup>78</sup> This is like a "preparatory *bhiks.un. ¯ı*", in the same sense as the political title of "preparatory party member" (*yubei dangyuan* 預備黨 員). But this phase is very short: it is requested that, on that same day, as soon as the basic *dharma* ordination has been conferred among the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s, female candidates reach the ten *bhiks.u*s' platform in order to receive the precepts for a second time. This is why it is called "ordination by the two assemblies".

所以這就成了兩道手續,一個女的沙彌正學女,要受比丘尼戒,要經過比丘尼的 壇上十師開會審查了,才是一個基礎的比丘尼,叫本法尼,像是一個預備比丘尼 一樣,就像預備黨員那個意思,但是這個時間很短。它有要求你當天,今天在比 丘尼當中,把這個本法尼戒受了,馬上就在這一天之內,要到這個是個比丘壇上 十師當中去,重受二道戒。所以就稱為二部僧戒。

Ordinations conferred at only one place should not be considered legitimate. But what if the ceremony was held only by the ten *bhiks.u*s? Is that candidate considered to have been ordained or not? Ordinarily speaking, it should count as ordination. Yet, that *bhiks.un. ¯ı* misses the first step of the procedure, her ordination has not been conducted according to the system established by the Buddha, since the part of the procedure involving the approval by the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* assembly is lacking. This is already illegitimate in itself. The second problem is that

this *bhiks.un. ¯ı* did not find a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* master by whom to be instructed into the precepts. This *bhiks.un. ¯ı* was only ordained by the *bhiks.u*s. Buddhism particularly emphasizes gender differences. Hence, even if she has been ordained, this *bhiks.un. ¯ı* cannot follow a male master of the discipline. Therefore, she needs to have an *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı*; only in this way would she be duly instructed. This newly ordained *bhiks.un. ¯ı*, immediately after ordination, needs to follow that female master, and study with her the three Buddhist teachings [i.e., monastic discipline, meditation and wisdom]. For a male master of the discipline, no matter how knowledgeable and virtuous he may be, it would not be easy to provide that mentorship. Therefore, this is how the system was set up. That is, it is not legitimate to bestow ordination without *bhiks.un. ¯ı* masters.<sup>79</sup> S´akyamuni Buddha ¯ said that you must first find an *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı* to admit and instruct you, and that you can only be ordained after the *bhiks.un. ¯ısam. gha* has acknowledged you and accepted you to live there.

只有一個地方受都是不合法的。但是呢,只有比丘授呢,這個人算不算得戒 呢,照理說應該算得戒,但是她就缺了這第一道手續。沒有依照佛的制度,沒有 通過比丘尼的會議,這就是第一個不合法。第二個呢,就是說沒有找到比丘尼給 她當師父,給她當戒和尚,她光是在比丘當中受了戒下來。佛教特別是男女有 別。那麼她就是受了戒下來,也不能跟到這個男的戒和尚,所以她就必須要有一 個女的戒和尚,才算是真正教授她的師父。受了戒之後照說這個新戒,就應該 跟到這個女的戒和尚,學這個佛法當中的三學。男的戒和尚,道高德重也不好 辦,不能管教。所以這個制度是這樣建立起來的,就是說沒有比丘尼的和尚,而 授戒呢,不合法。釋迦佛說的,要先把你的比丘尼和尚找了,承認教你。比丘尼 的僧團,承認接納你在那裡住,你才能受戒。

Therefore, ascending the ordination platform in the midst of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s is a 'preparatory' step, but a necessary one. Only after ascending the ordination platform in the midst of the *bhiks.u*s is it decided that you have eventually become a *bhiks.un. ¯ı*. However, the master of the discipline will also stress that, as you have been ordained there, after ordination you will have to continue studying the precepts with that *upadhy ¯ ayin ¯ ¯ı*. So, this is how this system was established. It is called Dual Ordination.

所以,比丘尼當中登壇算是一個預備,但是是必要的預備。而比丘當中登壇才算 是最後,決定你最後成為比丘尼了。但是戒和尚還是說,你在這裡受了戒,以後 還是要去跟著你那個比丘尼的戒和尚學習,所以這個制度是這樣建立起來的,稱 為二部僧戒。

#### **Notes**


seeing a newly ordained *bhiks.u*, and she must pay obeisance; (2) A *bhiks.un. ¯ı* may not revile a *bhiks.u* saying that he has done something wrong; (3) A *bhiks.un. ¯ı* may not admonish a *bhiks.u*, whereas a *bhiks.u* may admonish a *bhiks.un. ¯ı*; (4) After a woman has been trained as a *´siks. ama¯n. a¯* for two years, the ordination ceremony must be carried out in both orders; (5) When a *bhiks.un. ¯ı* has committed a *sam. ghava´se ¯ s. a* offense (an offense that leads to a temporary exclusion), she has to undergo the penance in both orders; (6) Every fortnight, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s have to ask *bhiks.u*s for instruction; (7) *Bhiks.un. ¯ı*s cannot spend the summer retreat (rainy season) in a place where there are no *bhiks.u*s; (8) At the end of the summer retreat, *bhiks.un. ¯ı*s also have to carry out the *pravara ¯ n. a¯* ceremony in the *bhiks.u* order. On the history of the beginning of the *bhiks.un. ¯ı* order, see Analayo ¯ (2016, 2019) and, for a different view, von Hinüber (2008); on the narrative of the foundation according to the *Vinaya* of the Dharmaguptaka and a comparison with the other available *Vinaya*s, see Heirman (2001, pp. 278–84).


period was also created to check the possibility of pregnancy in female candidates (Huimin 2007, p. 16; Heirman 2008, p. 108). On *´siks. aman¯ . a¯* ordination, see also Heng-Ching (2000, pp. 510–13), and Heirman (1997, pp. 36, n. 14, 45–47).


#### **References**

Aidaotang 愛道堂, ed. 2002. *Dangdai di yi biqiuni* 當代第一比丘尼. (DVD). Chengdu: Aidaotang.

Aidaotang 愛道堂, ed. 2009. *Dangdai di yi biqiuni* 當代第一比丘尼. (DVD). Chengdu: Aidaotang.

Analayo, Bhikkhu. 2013a. The Legality of Bhikkhun ¯ ¯ı Ordination. *Journal of Buddhist Ethics* 20: 310–33.

Analayo, Bhikkhu. 2013b. The Revival of the Bhikkhun ¯ ¯ı Order and the Decline of the Sasana. ¯ *Journal of Buddhist Ethics* 20: 110–93.

Analayo, Bhikkhu. 2014. On the Bhikkhun ¯ ¯ı Ordination Controversy. *Sri Lanka International Journal of Buddhist Studies* 3: 1–20.

Analayo, Bhikkhu. 2016. ¯ *The Foundation History of the Nuns' Order*. Bochum: Projektverlag, Hamburg Buddhist Studies 6.


Nenghai 能海. 1995. *Wenshu wuzi genben zhenyan niansongfa* 文殊五字根本真言念誦法. Chengdu: Zhaojuesi. First published 1936.

