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How Bhikkhuni Order
flourished for centuries
by
Sumana Saparamadu
From
Budusarana Jan 31 2008
It was on the full-moon
day of the month of Unduvap that the
ship bringing Sanghamitta Theri and the branch of the Bo-tree at
Gaya,
arrived at Jambukola or
Dambukola. It would have taken at least
two days for the chariots, awaiting the Theris
arrival with her companions to reach
Anuradhapura, a distance of about 150 km. (Jambukola
was, scholars say, Kyts or a port nearby
on the Northern coast of the Jaffna
peninsular).
The planting of the sacred branch on Lankan soil was an event of
utmost importance, as it signifies Buddhas
dhamma that took root in Lanka. In connection to this a 14-day
festival was held to honour the Bodhi tree.
After this festival in the month of Duruthu, Sanghamitta Theri
Ordained Princess Anula and the court ladies who renounced the
worldly life. This was the specific reason for Theris visit to
Lanka. With that ordination she founded the Seehala
Bhikkuni Sangha
the Order of Seehala Bhikkuni.
That was the first step taken by the Theri. A greater and more
important task lay before the Theri to teach the Dhamma and the
Vinaya, which formed the bedrock of the
Sangha.
Sanghamitta Theri and the eleven Bhikkunis
who came with her from Jambudeepa (North
India) took up residence in the
Upasika
Vihara which King
Devanampiyatissa built for Princess Anula and the court
ladies who were to be ordained, and began to teach the Dhamma,
instructed the novice bhikkunis on the
Vinaya, and exhort them to lead the
goodlife, according to the Dhamma, which
alone would bring them salvation from sansaaro.
The Bhikkhunis responded well to the
teaching and soon acquired a reputation for their learning. Some
specialised in the
Vinaya,
and others in the history of the religion -
Saddhamma
Vamsa. The
Deepavamsa mentions five famous
bhikkhunis - Mahila,
Samanta, Girikali,
Dasi and Kali - who were pre-eminent
among Vinaya scholars. They came to
Anuradhapura all the way from
Ruhuna, especially to teach the
Vinaya. The first two were daughters of
King Kavantissa and half-sisters of
Dutugemunu.
Girikala was the daughter of the Kings
Purohita the adviser while Dasi
and Kali were daughters of commoners.
In the first century AD Lanka was hit by a severe drought and
famine. Bhikkus and
Bhikkunis left their abodes and went to India or to the hilly
districts in the island. At long last the famine was over and
Walagamba ascended the throne after
Seven years of war. He got down Bhikkus
and Bhikkunis from India to revive the
religion. They came without a hesitation when they heard the peril
was over. The Deepavamsa tells us that
the first to teach the Vinaya were
sixteen bhikkunis.
The Deepavamsa records much information
on the Theravada Bhikkunis where as the
Mahavamsa, which was introduced very
much later than the Deepavamsa, mentions
the Bhikkhunis and
Mehenavara only in passing. The
Mahavamsa says nothing even of Mahila
the half-sister of Dutugemunu who was
still famous when Mahanama
Thera wrote the
Mahavamsa.
One chapter in the Deepavamsa gives a
detailed account of the original missionary
Bhikkhunis who came from Jambudeepa
to learn Dhamma and Vinaya.
Some Seehala Bhikkhunis specialized in
the history of the religion -
Saddhamma
Vamsa in King
Walagambas time and two Bhikkhunis
who came from India, Seevala and
Maharuha, were both historians.
They were proud of Nagamitta who was
Ordained in Lanka, and lived during the reigns of
Kutakanna Tissa
and his son Abhaya. She too was
well-versed in history. Two others distinguished for their knowledge
of the Saddhamma
Vamsa were Sanha and
Samudda, who lived closer to the last
period recorded in the Deepavamsa.
Some scholars are of the opinion that
Deepavamsa is the work of
Bhikkunis,
they had made a collection of traditions handed down from the time
of Sanghamitta Theri.
From its inception the Bhikkuni Order
was a great success and its reputation was so high, that even
royalty came from overseas seeking peace and refuge.
Nunneries were favourite objects of
endowment with the women. As more and more women joined the order
more and more nunneries had to be built. When the numbers grew, as
it happened with the bhikkhus, there
were schisms among Bhikkhunis too.
This was due to differences in the interpretation of the Dhamma or
the Vinaya rules. New abodes were needed
for the breakaway bhikkhunis.
Mahavamsa says that
Moggallana II (497-515 AD) built a special
Mehenawara which was named
Rajini and gave it to the
Saagalika
bhikkhunis. There was also another breakaway group known as
Dhammaruchika.
The original group Ordained by Sanghamitta Theri and headed by her,
the orthodox Theravada Bhikkhunis, were
known as Hatthalahaka
Bhikkuni. A Shrange
name for a Sect of Bhikkunis. The word
means elephant post. Sanghamitta Theri wanting a quiet place for
meditation, made it a habit to be away
from the city and visit where the State elephant used to be
tethered. The King when he got to know this,
built her a Vihara there and it became
the Theris residence until her demise. And the community of
bhikkhunis, under her, became known as
Haththalahaka
Bhikkhunis.
The Seehala Bhikkunis didn’t confine
their mission to their island home and few
Bhikkhunis went to China in the 5th century and ordained
Chinese women. The Mahavamsa or any of
the other Pali or
Sinhala chronicles (Vamsa
katha) make no mention of this. This
from Chinese records that we learn that two batches of Seehala
Bhikkunis went to China in 429 AD and
433 AD in a ship captained by one Nandi
from India. This captain Nandi took them
to Nanking, the capital of the Sung
Dynasty. In the second batch was a bhikkhuni
by the name of the Devsara.
When the second group arrived four years later, the first group was
very fluent in Chinese. Now there were enough
bhikkhunis for a quorum to perform the
Upasampada or Higher Ordination. 300 Chinese
Samaneri Bhikkunis
were given the Upasampada in
batches, The ceremony was overseen by
Bhikkhu Gunawarman,
a Kashmiri Bhikkhu.
The Bhikkhunis who played an important
part during the Anuradhapura period of
our history, who even braves stormy seas to carry the Dhamma to
China and founded a Bhikkhuni Order there, disappeared from the
scene with the fall of the Anuradhapura
kingdom in 1017 AD. There is no mention in any of the chronicles of
nunneries. What happened to them during the years of
Chola rule?
After Vijaya Bahu
defeated the Cholas wrested the country from them and became King in
1065. He enlisted the help of King Anuradhapura
of Ramanna (part of present day Myanmar)
to restore the Upasampada and revive the
religion, but he made no attempt to revive the Bhikkhuni Order.
The Bhikkhuni Order was fostered and cherished by successive rulers
for over 12 centuries. Why it was allowed to die completely without
any attempt at resuscitation is difficult to understand (Malalasekera
ibid)
Posted on Jan, 29 2008 |