Historical Lessons for the Monastics: Establishing a Monastic Community

Many of Shakyamuni Buddha’s male disciples decided to follow the Indian shramanera tradition of celibacy and form a mendicant, itinerant religious community. At first there were no specific vows. Buddha promulgated them, one by one, on specific occasions when a particular monk’s behavior caused either difficulty within the community or misunderstanding among the lay followers. He borrowed a number of these vows from the Jains. Buddha also adopted the Jain custom of having his community meet periodically to confess any infractions of these vows.

The construction of fixed monastic abodes began shortly after Buddha instituted the rainy season retreat during which his monks would stay in one place to minimize causing harm to fields or insects. The model for this retreat was again the Jains, who emphasize strongly the principle of ahimsa, the avoidance of all harm. 

At first, Buddha did not agree to admit women to his order. He felt that the northern Indian society of his time would misunderstand and suspect loose moral conduct between the monks and the nuns. A few years before he passed away, however, Buddha gave his consent. But he formulated additional vows for his nuns so as to minimize public criticism. 

Thus, from its very inception, the Buddhist monastic system was designed to fit as comfortably as possible into the norms of society. By adopting certain local Jain customs and being sensitive to the current state of affairs of gender relations, Buddha started a monastic tradition that would be not only acceptable to society, but worthy of respect and would last.

We can also follow Buddha’s lead. The three major vows for Catholic monastics are poverty, chastity and obedience. Westerners, therefore, expect monks and nuns to lead a modest lifestyle. Buddhist monastics have several vows not to handle money and to limit the quality and number of their robes and certain specific possessions. They do not, however, have a general vow of poverty. Although most live modestly, a number do not, as is also the case with their Catholic counterparts.

Just as Buddha promulgated additional vows to avoid strained situations as they arose, so too can we add informal conventions for our monastics to follow in order to avoid the lay community’s disrespect. Although there is no need to make up a new vow, it would help for the Buddhist monastic order in the West to lead as much as possible a life of modesty and poverty, as did the early Buddhist monks in India. Whether they be Westerners or Asians, Buddhist monks and nuns wearing expensive watches and driving flashy cars give a strange impression of renunciation to the Western world.

Furthermore, the modern Western monastic community needs to be in tune with current standards of social relations. It is no longer acceptable for there to be inequality between men and women, and for Westerners to continue the traditional Asian Buddhist ranking of monks over nuns. Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion, was represented as a male in India and Tibet. In tenth-century Central Asia, however, this bodhisattva assumed a female form, which was then accepted throughout East Asia. Likewise, it is not only possible but may be very helpful and skillful for some traditionally male positions in the Buddhist hierarchy to be held now by women.

Up until the beginning of the nineteenth century, only members of the aristocracy or upper classes could take monks’ ordination in Sri Lanka. With the renewal, at that time, of the ordination lineage from Myanmar, however, members of the Sri Lankan wealthy middle class were also admitted into the newly formed Amarapura Order. Members of the Sri Lankan lower classes could become monks only at the end of the nineteenth century, with the founding of the reformist Ramanna Order, dedicated to strict adherence to monastic discipline and a return to poverty. Despite Buddha’s rejection of making differences within his monastic community along the lines of the Indian caste system of his time, some Buddhist countries have been slow in implementing this policy.

Today, in keeping with modern values, the ranks of Western and traditional Asian monastics are open to people of all economic, social, racial and ethnic backgrounds, without discrimination. We must be careful, however, not to allow for a privileged class within the monasteries. Buddha instituted a ranking system of monastics according to seniority of ordination, not according to age, wealth, social background or erudition. If Westerners ignore this custom and model themselves instead on the Tibeto-Mongolian system of granting special privileges to a monastic aristocracy of incarnate lamas, their non-egalitarian, almost feudal attitude will damage the reputation of Buddhism in the West. This is important now that about a dozen incarnate lamas have been recognized within the Western Buddhist community.

Buddha intended all monks and nuns, not only Rinpoches, to be objects of respect as representatives of the Sangha Refuge. It is important, therefore, to have our priorities clear. His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama always says he considers himself a simple Buddhist monk who, because of karma, carries certain special responsibilities. He never says he thinks of himself as an incarnate lama. This shows what His Holiness considers more important.

Ranking by seniority may be a helpful criterion for bringing more egalitarianism to the Buddhist lay community as well. Both Western and Asian administrators and teachers often ignore long-time, serious, but economically poor practitioners in favor of wealthy new patrons. This not only alienates the older, poorer students but also gives society the impression that the Buddhist institutions are run according to worldly, rather than spiritual, values. We must guard against a misplaced loyalty to our Western worship of youth, fame and money.

Throughout the history of Buddhism, there has always been the problem of monks and nuns who did not meet the standard and who caused trouble or embarrassment to the monastic community. Certain criteria were established to try to avoid this, such as minors having to receive the consent of their parents before taking robes. In the Vinaya rules of discipline, for example, Buddha prohibited hermaphrodites from joining his monastic community since it would be a problem whether to ordain them as monks or as nuns. Sometimes local custom set certain requirements for joining the community, such as children in Tibet having to be physically, mentally and emotionally mature enough to chase away a crow. 

Occasionally, kings acting as protectors of the Dharma set regulations. For instance, the eleventh-century Tangut legal code in Central Asia prohibited state employees, servants and reserve troops from becoming monks, to avoid men taking robes simply to escape their duties. It also disqualified the old and the feeble, since they would not be able to keep monastic discipline. Only widows or unmarried women could take the nuns’ vows. Women who fled to nunneries simply to escape unhappy marriages might attract trouble if their disgruntled husbands came to take them back by force. It is far better for them to be legally single and spiritually motivated.

The mid-tenth-century Korean kings instituted state examinations on the Buddhist scriptures for prospective monks, and the twelfth-century proto-Manchu Jurchen rulers of northern China, who borrowed many aspects of their Buddhism from Korea, followed suit. Both modelled themselves after the Chinese civil service system in which candidates were awarded positions on the basis of examinations on the Confucian classics.

We might think that nowadays such examinations, perhaps given by Buddhist institutions rather than the state, might likewise be helpful for screening the quality and commitment of not only Western and traditional Asian Buddhist monastics, but also residents of Dharma centers and those who enter long-term retreats. But we need to consider other factors.

The thirteenth-century Mongol ruler of northern China, Guyuk Khan, grandson of Genghis, was strongly encouraged by the Confucian advisor of his father and grandfather to follow the example of the Jurchen empire he had conquered and institute examinations on the Buddhist scriptures for all the prospective monks in his realm. A Chan Buddhist monk at his court convinced him, however, not to implement this plan. He argued that monks should cultivate ethical virtues and meditative skills, not erudite scholarship.

This is an important point, not only for screening prospective candidates for ordination, residency in centers and three-year retreats, but also for maintaining the quality of those who have already joined. Modern-day monks, nuns and lay Buddhist intensive practitioners must certainly at least know the fundamental teachings of the Dharma, such as the four noble truths, karma and so on, otherwise they will be a great liability and embarrassment to any Buddhist institution. If they have not studied these before joining, how can their commitment to Buddhism and a Buddhist motivation be stable? And if they have not maintained and deepened their understanding, what have they been doing since they joined? But it is not necessary for every serious Buddhist practitioner to have a deep knowledge of the scriptures. Far more essential is that committed Buddhists keep their vowed rules of ethical conduct and engage in at least some level of practice, whether it be meditation, social service or reciting prayers and performing rituals.

Most Western residential Dharma centers have daily group meditation and chanting sessions, and many members do not attend. But just to attend does not guarantee that people are sincerely interested in practice. In Tibetan and Mongolian monasteries, for instance, monks and nuns must pass an examination on the memorization of the daily ritual prayers of their monastic division before they are allowed to attend the services. But since free tea and food are served at these group prayer sessions, the motivation to memorize the prayers is not always to help one’s spiritual development. 

Thus, although quality control is necessary for monastics as well as retreatants and lay residents in Western Dharma centers, we must allow for those who are either non-intellectual or who do not care for group spiritual activities. The important criteria are people’s adherence to ethical guidelines, their sincere efforts to practice in whatever manner and at whatever level befits them, and then, in addition, some basic Dharma knowledge. Even if people in the monasteries and centers can pass examinations on the scriptures, are able to recite from memory volumes of prayers and have perfect attendance records at daily meditation sessions, if they lack these three, they will cause Buddhism to decline.

In many traditional Asian Buddhist societies, such as Tibet and Mongolia, prospective monks and nuns enter the monasteries mostly as children. They do not immediately receive advanced vows, but usually just the five lay precepts and permission to wear robes. By the time they are old enough to take novice or full monastic vows, they have a basis of many years of experience and study upon which to make a valid decision. Their teachers, as well, have known and trained them for years beforehand, so that naturally they will have weeded out those who would not be able to keep the full vows and maintain the discipline, and those who were emotionally unable to do a long-term retreat. Afterall, not every member of a monastery is a scholar or meditator. A significant number have always gathered fuel and water or worked in the kitchens.

In the West, however, many people taking ordination or entering three-year retreats are either unfit or unprepared to do so. A very high percentage of Western monastics have disrobed, which has not only led to their experiencing numerous emotional problems with feelings of guilt, but also to many traditional Asian Buddhists not taking Western monastics seriously. Not only have a number of long-term retreatants dropped out of retreat before they had finished, at least one has even committed suicide during its course.

It is very important, therefore, for there to be more thorough screening before Westerners are allowed to ordain or enter long-term retreat. His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has remarked that newcomers to Buddhism who aim initially at becoming a full monk or nun, or a master tantric practitioner, are aiming at something too high and complex. Because they are unrealistic, they will soon become disappointed and give up.

Only a handful of Westerners have entered monasteries as children, although a number have now grown up in Dharma centers where their parents have lived. The vast majority of people will not have had such experience. In order for such prospective candidates to learn the basics and come to know what monastic or retreat life is like, and for teachers to be able to assess their character and abilities, it would be best for there to be a trial period of up to a year before they are allowed to join. Buddha, for instance, instituted a two-year probationary period before women are permitted to take full nuns’ ordination. A short trial period would be helpful, as well, for prospective residents of a Dharma center. 

After Westerners have received ordination, they have often been sent almost immediately to administer or teach at Dharma centers without having received any training in being a monk or a nun, or any detailed explanation of their vows. Subsequently, they have experienced great difficulties. To help avoid this, it is essential to institute such training programs for a period of time after ordination, as is the custom in Taiwan. Otherwise, Western monks and nuns will not be able to keep their vows if they have not fully studied and understood them. These Western monastics took ordination in all sincerity with the full intention to keep their vows and follow a committed spiritual life. But without a support system and help from monastic elders, they soon become disillusioned and disrobe.

There are hardly any Western Buddhist monasteries or nunneries, and almost no financial resources to support such institutes. For Buddhism to survive in the West, there need to be such monastic centers. It is not sufficient for there merely to be houses for Westerners within traditional Asian monasteries as there are for Mongolians and Central Asians in Tibetan monasteries. Establishing such houses would be a help for those Westerners who would like to receive a typical Asian training, but not all Westerners find that an Asian lifestyle suits them. Once Westerners have their own monasteries and nunneries, then with proper guidance they will be able to evolve a style of monastic life that suits their culture and needs.

Buddha instituted the taking of a pratimoksha set of Vinaya vows of discipline for either an entire lifetime or just for a day. Lay, novice and full ordination vows are for a lifetime, while householders may take eight precepts for a day on special occasions. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, however, King Lithai of Thailand introduced the custom of accepting celibate monks’ vows for just a limited time. This procedure spread to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

It might be very beneficial on several levels for such a system to be adopted in the West, not as a replacement, but as a supplement to the possibility of taking lifetime or one-day vows. His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has supported this proposal, saying that although the value of monks’ and nuns’ vows is obvious, not everyone can keep them for their entire life. Therefore, for those with the strong wish to keep the vows, but who cannot do so for their whole lifetime, the Thai system of ordination for a limited period is very good. We should have a middle way, neither too rigid nor too flexible.

This system of taking temporary vows can be beneficial not only on a personal level, but also on a social level. It has helped to integrate the monastic community into the village life of the Southeast Asian Buddhist countries that have this custom and to gain for the monasteries the economic and moral support of society. Since most men have voluntarily been monks at some time, usually before marriage, they understand the joys and difficulties of leading a monastic life. They and their families naturally remain sympathetic and loyal to the existence of the monasteries and will always support them.

If many members of Western Dharma centers, not only male but also female, had at some point been monks or nuns for one or more years, they would later in life be far more receptive to supporting the monastic community, both financially and morally. They would have more empathy and consequently more respect for monks and nuns. The lay and monastic communities would become far better integrated.

Also, as Dr. Robert Thurman has pointed out, on a national and global level, society might become more balanced if its citizens had the opportunity to express and fulfill not only their martial but also their spiritual nature. They can do the former by joining the armed forces either temporarily or as a life-long professional. They should also be able to do the latter by joining a monastery or nunnery likewise for either a limited period or as a lifetime commitment.

Without such an option for temporarily becoming a monastic, many people, particularly in modern Western or Western-style societies, are so busy and have so many responsibilities and pressures that they have no alternative but to suppress their spiritual side. They may be able to spare one or two evenings a week to go to a Dharma center, and perhaps a few minutes a day for meditation, but they never have the time or emotional space to experience the fulfillment that comes from devoting their entire energies to spiritual pursuit. Although being able to do an occasional meditational retreat is a helpful pressure valve for many, being able to take ordination for a year or two might be even more helpful.

Many people today are interested in restoring the full nuns’ ordination lineage in the Tibetan and Southeast Asian Buddhist traditions. It is very important to do so in order for Buddhism to be able to present equal opportunities for men and women. This will help lessen the outcries many women now have against Buddhism as being sexist. There are several technical difficulties, however, in reinstating this lineage. Let us look at the history of nuns in Buddhism in order to appreciate the complexity of the issue and start to formulate solutions to the problems.

A slight variation in the monks’ and nuns’ vows developed in the various monastic communities around the Buddha. Several of his disciples transmitted these separate variants and thus began the different transmission lineages of ordination. As pre-Mahayana Buddhism split into eighteen divisions, different schools adopted and transmitted different ordination lineages. Today, only three of these for full monks (bhikshu) survive: the Theravada in Southeast Asia, the Dharmaguptaka in the Chinese cultural area of mostly East Asia, and the Mulasarvastivada in the Central Asian and Himalayan regions that have adopted Tibetan civilization. Only one lineage survives for full nuns (bhikshuni), namely the Dharmaguptaka. The vast majority of the monks’ vows in these three traditions are the same. This is also true for the vows of the nuns. The three monastic orders differ only in certain minor vows, their robes and their accommodation of certain local customs.

Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Myanmar each originally had the Theravada tradition of full nuns’ ordination, but due to wars and invasions it did not survive. In present-day Sri Lanka and Myanmar, there are simply renunciate women practitioners keeping ten vows, but no actual nuns. Thailand, Cambodia and Laos never had a nuns’ tradition. There, renunciate women practice with eight vows.

The full nuns’ ordination lineage of the Mulasarvastivada tradition was never transmitted from its homeland in northern India to Tibet, only its novice nuns’ lineage. According to the traditional account, the geographic and climatic conditions in Tibet prohibited the successful journey there of the number of Indian full nuns necessary to constitute the quorum for conferring ordination. Similarly, Tibetan women who might have travelled to India for full ordination did not survive. Although the novice nuns’ ordination lineage was transmitted from Tibet to Ladakh, Bhutan and other Himalayan regions, it was not transmitted to any of the Mongolian or Turkic regions of Central Asia and Russia. There again, renunciate women have been practicing until recently without formal pratimoksha vows. In 1993, however, the novice nuns’ ordination was introduced into Outer Mongolia. Only the Dharmaguptaka lineage of full nuns’ ordination has survived, and only in Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

A number of Western and a handful of refugee Tibetan novice nuns, both from the Mulasarvastivada tradition, have taken the Dharmaguptaka full nuns’ ordination in these countries. They wish to have the same opportunity as men to hold full ordination vows. A problem, however, is which monastic tradition of robes and customs should they now follow, the Tibetan or Chinese? Or should they follow the Indonesian Buddhayana example of changing robes depending upon the community with which they are staying?

Tibetan monastics wear maroon-colored robes, with skirts and no sleeves. The Chinese have adapted to Confucian modesty and taste, and wear a grey, black or brown habit, with loose-fitting slacks and long sleeves. The Tibetan community does not take sympathetically to its monastics wearing the robes of the people who at present are militarily occupying their country. The Tibetan full nuns still wear Tibetan robes. Only a tiny number of Western nuns in the same situation have chosen to wear Chinese robes, and this mostly when they are outside the Tibetan refugee community.

But can a Dharmaguptaka full nuns’ ordination allow women with Mulasarvastivada novice vows to follow and uphold the Mulasarvastivada full nuns’ vows? Or is it proper for such nuns to still follow the dress and practices of the Tibetan tradition while holding Chinese Dharmaguptaka vows? Which type of fortnightly monastic confession ceremony should they attend, Dharmaguptaka or Mulasarvastivada? And what options are open to women who wish to follow the Theravada tradition as full nuns? Theravada monks wear one-piece yellow or orange robes. What should its nuns wear who hold a Dharmaguptaka ordination?

The present situation is not satisfactory. A clearer solution to these monastic problems revolves around the issue of who may constitute the quorum of five fully ordained nuns necessary with five fully ordained monks to confer the full nuns’ ordination. If all ten are from one tradition, then clearly the ordination is of that tradition. The vows do not specify the color of robes and meditational practice one does. These are dictated by custom and personal preference. The only difficult technical point is the bimonthly monastic confession ceremony, which technically should be that of the ordination lineage.

Twice in the past, the Buddhist monastic community has restored its ordination lineages when they were threatened with extinction because there were no longer enough full monks or nuns to constitute the quorum for conferring ordination. This happened in early fifth-century China, when Sri Lankan Theravada nuns were invited to southern China to complete the quorum for the Dharmaguptaka full nuns’ ordination. Since the majority of the ordaining quorum and the ceremony were Dharmaguptaka, the new nuns received the Dharmaguptaka vows.

The other example is the Tibetan full monks’ ordination lineage. In tenth-century Tibet, only three full monks were left who held the Mulasarvastivada set of vows. Two Chinese Dharmaguptaka monks in northeastern Tibet completed the quorum for transmitting the full monks’ ordination. Again, since the majority of ordaining monks and the ceremony were Mulasarvastivadin, the new monks received the Mulasarvastivada set of vows.

There is much discussion nowadays of using this technique of filling the ordination quorum with full nuns from the Dharmaguptaka lineage in order to revive the Mulasarvastivada and Theravada full nuns’ lineages. But, as His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has said, it is better for the Theravadins to take the first step in this direction, since if the Tibetans were to do so, prejudiced, uneducated people might accuse them of degenerating the Dharma because of tantra and the wish of the monks to have female partners.

If Dharmaguptaka full nuns help to restore the ordination lineage, some changes in the procedures and rules may be required since there would be an equal number of Dharmaguptaka and non-Dharmaguptaka monastics in the quorum. There have already been two historical precedents for making changes in the ordination procedures. In the above example concerning the restoration of the full monks’ ordination in Tibet, only one new monk was ordained by the mixed Mulasarvastivada/Dharmaguptaka quorum. Soon ten further candidates came requesting ordination. The three senior monks agreed in council that because of the extraordinary circumstances they would allow the ordaining quorum to be reduced to four monks. The Tibetans have followed this custom ever since. Also, the three were very old, and there was the danger that if they waited the full ten years for the new younger monk to reach the level of seniority that would qualify him for the ordaining quorum, some if not all of them will have passed away. They therefore allowed the younger monk to join the quorum.

The Chinese have also altered the ordaining procedures in the Dharmaguptaka line so that nowadays the full nuns’ ordination is occasionally given by an ordaining quorum of only five full monks without any full nuns. Often, however, it is still conferred in the traditional manner with a quorum of ten.

Thus, a council of monastic elders must decide how to revive the Theravada and Mulasarvastivada ordination lineages and if any alteration in the ordination procedure is required. Great wisdom and vision will be needed.

[See: Conference Report on Bhikshuni Ordination Lineages]