Quick Answer: Who Are Chinese Buddhist Nuns?
A fully ordained nun (比丘尼, bǐqiūní) is a member of the Buddhist monastic community. Chinese sources record women taking monastic precepts, forming nunneries and teaching other nuns from early in the history of Buddhism in China.[1][2]
- Early account: Baochang’s collection tells of Jingjian (净检, Jìngjiǎn), who led a community and received full ordination from monks.[1]
- Dual ordination (二部僧戒, èrbùsēng jiè): A procedure in which a candidate receives full ordination through assemblies of nuns and monks.[2][3]
- Modern renewal: Nuns including Longlian (隆莲, Lónglián) and Tongyuan (通愿, Tōngyuàn) helped renew dual ordination in mainland China.[3][4]
The evidence comes from biographies, disciplinary studies and records of particular communities.
The account of an early nun and a later photograph of a Beijing nunnery answer different questions. The first records how Buddhist writers remembered the beginnings of women’s ordination. The second preserves the presence of a particular community centuries later.
Jingjian and the Early Ordination Accounts
Baochang’s sixth-century Biographies of Buddhist Nuns begins with Jingjian. In the account she studies Buddhist texts, receives novice precepts and takes a leading role at the Bamboo Grove Nunnery. The biography describes full ordination conferred by monks, which it presents as a landmark in Chinese women’s ordination.[1]
By about 433, fully ordained Sri Lankan nuns were present in China. Their participation made it possible for Chinese nuns to receive another ordination with assemblies of both women and men. Historian Ann Heirman reads this as part of a debate about what procedures the Vinaya required.[2]
How Nuns Preserved and Renewed the Practice
Longlian and Tongyuan helped bring dual ordination back into practice in mainland China in the early 1980s. Their work also involved teaching the next generation. At Pushou Temple (普寿寺, Pǔshòu Sì) on Mount Wutai, the nun Rurui carried on practices she learned from both teachers. The temple combines study of Huayan Buddhism, monastic discipline and Pure Land practice. It is one example of how a nuns’ community combined education and ordination.[3][4]
A Photograph From a Beijing Nunnery
Hedda Morrison’s photograph catalogued as Hv11-22 comes from an album about Buddhist nuns at Cui Feng Si near Beijing’s Xizhimen. The archive gives the estimated range 1933–1946 and identifies the subject as a Buddhist nun. Read the image alongside the rest of the album to place the sitter within a documented nunnery.[5]
FAQs About Chinese Buddhist Nuns
What does biqiuni mean?
It is the Chinese term for a fully ordained Buddhist nun. Novice ordination is a distinct stage with its own precepts.
Why is dual ordination called dual?
It refers to the participation of two assemblies, one of fully ordained nuns and one of fully ordained monks.
Where can I read the early biographies?
Look for the Biographies of Buddhist Nuns, canon number T2063. An English translation appears in Lives of Great Monks and Nuns.
出典
[1] Baochang, translated in Lives of Great Monks and Nuns. Biographies of Buddhist Nuns
[2] Ann Heirman. Buddhist Nuns: Between Past and Present
[3] Ester Bianchi. Reading Equality into Asymmetry: Dual Ordination in the Eyes of Modern Chinese Bhikshunis
[4] Amandine Péronnet. Embodying Legacy by Pursuing Asymmetry
[5] Historical Photographs of China. Buddhist Nun, Hv11-22