Question: I have heard that there are no more Buddhist nuns. Is this true?
ANSWER: The Buddha founded the order of nuns during his lifetime and for five or six hundred years, nuns played an important role in the spread and development of Buddhism. But for reasons that arc not clear nuns never commanded the same esteem or got the same support, as monks and in India and Southeast Asia the order died out. However, in Taiwan, Korea and Japan the order of nuns has continued to flourish. Today in Sri Lanka steps are being taken to reintroduce the order of nuns from Taiwan although some traditionalists are not very enthusiastic about this. However, in keeping with the Buddha’s original intention, it is only right that women as well as men have the opportunity to live the monastic life and benefit from it.
ANSWER: The Buddha founded the order of nuns during his lifetime and for five or six hundred years, nuns played an important role in the spread and development of Buddhism. But for reasons that arc not clear nuns never commanded the same esteem or got the same support, as monks and in India and Southeast Asia the order died out. However, in Taiwan, Korea and Japan the order of nuns has continued to flourish. Today in Sri Lanka steps are being taken to reintroduce the order of nuns from Taiwan although some traditionalists are not very enthusiastic about this. However, in keeping with the Buddha’s original intention, it is only right that women as well as men have the opportunity to live the monastic life and benefit from it.
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