Are There Buddhist Nuns?
“All Buddhist traditions have nuns, although their status is different among the various Buddhist countries. The Buddha is reported to have allowed women into the sangha only with great reluctance, predicting that the move would lead to Buddhism’s collapse after 500 years (rather than the 1000 years it would have enjoyed otherwise). Fully ordained Buddhist nuns (bhikkhunis) have more Patimokkha-rules than the monks (bhikkhus). The important vows are the same, however. As with monks, there are quite a lot of variation in nuns’ dress and social conventions between different Buddhist cultures in Asia. Chinese nuns possess the full bhikkuni ordination; Tibetan nuns do not; and in Theravada countries women renunciates are discouraged from even wearing saffron robes. Disparities may often be observed in the amount of respect and financial resources given to monks viz. nuns, with nuns receiving less of both in all countries with the possible exception of Taiwan.
