tion, approximately one hundred precepts were for-
mulated on the basis of wrongdoings that occurred
among the nuns. The four parajikas,which are com-
mon to both bhiksus and bhiksunls,are to refrain from:
(1) sexual intercourse, (2) taking what is not given, (3)
taking a human life, and (4) telling lies, especially about
one’s spiritual attainments. There are four additional
parajikasthat bhiksunlsare required to refrain from:
(5) bodily contact with a lustful man; (6) arranging to
meet a man with amorous intentions; (7) concealing
a parajika of another bhiksunl; and (8) obeying a
bhiksu who has been expelled from the san ̇gha. (For a
bhiksu,to touch a woman, sit in a secluded place with
a woman, or follow an expelled bhiksu is an offense in
the next suspension category.) In the second category
of precepts, san ̇ghavas ́esa, there are seventeen for
bhiksunls in the DHARMAGUPTAKA and THERAVADA
schools and twenty in the Mulasarvastivada. The
san ̇ghavas ́esas in the Dharmagupta school prohibit
bhiksunls from such actions as matchmaking, base-
lessly accusing someone of a parajika, making an ac-
cusation against a layperson, knowingly ordaining a
thief, absolving a suspended bhiksunlwithout permis-
sion, traveling alone, refusing to accept admonish-
ments, creating a schism in the san ̇gha, and so on.
Bhiksunls,like bhiksus,are required to hold three
primary ritual observances: (1) posadha,the bimonthly
recitation of the PRATIMOKSA; (2) pravarana,the invi-
tation at the end of the rains-retreat (varsa); and (3)
kathina,the distribution of robes that concludes the
rains-retreat. Traditionally, bhiksunls primarily de-
voted themselves to teaching, meditating, and other
means of mental cultivation toward the goal of liber-
ation. In modern times, they have also become active
in translating, publishing, and a wide variety of other
social welfare activities.
The lineage of full ordination for women
According to Buddhist accounts, the order of Buddhist
nuns began five or six years after the order of monks
when MAHAPRAJAPATIGAUTAMI, Buddha S ́akyamuni’s
maternal aunt and foster mother, requested admission
to the san ̇gha. After the Buddha refused her request
three times, she and a contingent of five hundred
noblewomen shaved their heads, donned mendicants’
robes, and walked barefooted to Vais ́alto demonstrate
their determination. When the Buddha’s attendant
ANANDApressed their case and asked whether women
were equally capable of achieving the fruits of the
dharma, the Buddha confirmed that they were. He
consequently granted Mahaprajapat’s request to join
the order, purportedly on the condition that she agree
to accept eight special rules (gurudharma): (1) a
bhiksunlordained even one hundred years must rise
and pay respect to a bhiksu even if he was ordained
that very day; (2) bhiksunlsmust not hold their rains-
retreat in a place where there is no bhiksu; (3) bhiksunls
must request instruction from the bhiksus twice each
month; (4) at the conclusion of the rains-retreat,
bhiksunlsmust declare the faults they have seen, heard,
and suspected before the order of bhiksus; (5) sus-
pended bhiksunlsmust be reinstated before a quorum
of twenty bhiksus and twenty bhiksunls; (6) the ordi-
nation of bhiksunlsmust be conducted by both orders
(first by ten bhiksunlsand then by ten bhiksus); (7)
bhiksunlsmust not revile bhiksus; and (8) bhiksunls
must not admonish bhiksus,although bhiksus may ad-
monish bhiksunls.Although it is unlikely that these
eight rules were actually imposed by the Buddha, they
are cited as the source of the unequal status of nuns
and monks in Buddhist societies.
Accounts indicate that, following Mahaprajapat’s
ordination, thousands of women became nuns.
Among these early nuns, many were renowned for
their extraordinary attainments: Khemafor wisdom,
Dhammadinna for teaching, Patacara for monastic
discipline, Kisa Gautamfor asceticism, Nanda for
meditation, Bhaddafor past-life recall, and Uppala-
vannafor supernormal powers. During the Buddha’s
time, many nuns were said to have achieved the fruits
of practice, including the state of an ARHAT, or libera-
tion. Examples of their songs of realization are in-
cluded in the Therlgatha(Verses of the BhiksunlElders).
There is evidence that the BhiksunSan ̇gha contin-
ued to exist in India until about the tenth century,
though in dwindling numbers and with less support
than the order of monks. According to the Sinhalese
chronicle Dlpavam ̇sa, the Bhiksun San ̇gha in Sri
Lanka was established in the fourth century B.C.E. when
San ̇ghamitta, daughter of King AS ́OKA, traveled from
India especially to transmit the bhiksunlprecepts to
Queen Anula and hundreds of Sinhalese women.
Around the eleventh century, the Bhiksun San ̇gha
died out in Sri Lanka due to droughts and the Chola
invasions from India. Before that time, however, in the
fifth century C.E., the bhiksunllineage was transmitted
from Sri Lanka to China. Sri Lankan bhiksunlsheaded
by a bhiksunlnamed Devasaratraveled in two delega-
tions to Nanjing, where they administered the ordina-
tion to Jingjian and several hundred other Chinese
nuns. From China, the bhiksunllineage was graduallyNUNS