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Main Menu The Buddha & His Disciples Order of Monks and Nuns
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Buddhist Studies: The Buddha and His Disciples: Order of Monks and Nuns
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each monk could voice his opinion and had the right to vote on the decisions. The Uposatha had an important role to play in reaffirming the Sangha's
identity, strengthening fellowship, and in particular, in preserving and transmitting the Dharma.
43. At first there were no nuns, but as the Dharma became more popular and widespread, women gradually became more interested in leading the
monastic life. During one of the Buddha's visits to Kapilavatthu, just after his father had died, Maha Pajapati Gotami, his foster mother, approached
him and asked if she could be ordained. The Buddha refused and Maha Pajapati Gotami went away in tears. After the Buddha left Kapilavatthu for
Vesali, she shaved off her hair, put on a yellow robe and set out for Vesali also. She arrived covered with dust, with her feet cut and swollen, and with
tears streaming down her cheeks. She asked Ananda to approach the Buddha and ask him once again if she could be ordained. And again he
refused. Ananda felt sorry for Maha Pajapati Gotami and decided to intercede on her behalf. First he asked the Buddha if women had the same
spiritual potential as men. The Buddha replied: "Women, having gone forth from home into homelessness in the Dharma and discipline taught by the
Tathagata, are able to realise the fruits of Stream-Winning, of Once-Returning, of Non-Returning and of Arahantship." Then Ananda asked the
Buddha to consider how helpful his foster mother had been to him. "Lord, if women can realise the same states as men, and as Maha Pajapati
Gotami was of great service to you - she is your aunt, your foster mother, your nurse, she gave you her milk and suckled you when your mother died
- therefore, it would be good if women would be allowed to go forth from home into homelessness in the Dharma and discipline taught by the
Tathagata."
44. The Buddha finally agreed but stipulated that nuns would have to live by some extra rules. The special rules for nuns were (1) in matters of
respect and deference, a monk always had precedence over a nun, (2) a nun must spend the rains retreat in a place separated from monks, (3)
nuns must ask monks for the date to hold the Uposatha and about teaching the Dharma, (4) when a nun did wrong she must confess it before the
community of both nuns and monks, (5) a nun who broke an important rule must undergo punishment before both the nuns and the monks, (6) a nun
must be ordained by both an assembly of nuns and of monks, (7) nuns must not abuse or revile a monk, and (8) a nun must not teach a monk. Maha
Pajapati Gotami accepted these extra rules, and so the Order of Nuns (bhikkhuni sangha) was inaugurated.[ N4 ]
45. However, the Buddha seems to have thought that with both males and females together, maintaining celibacy (brahmacariya), an important
aspect of the monastic life, would be difficult. He later said that now that there were monks and nuns, a celibate order would only last for five hundred
years. Interestingly enough, his prediction proved to be fairly accurate. By the 7th century CE, certain groups of monks were beginning to marry, a
trend that, along with other circumstances, eventually led to the decline of Buddhism in India. Fortunately, in most Buddhist countries, monks and
nuns continue to practise celibacy and uphold the original values of the monastic life.
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