Practices in BuddhismWomen in the Sangha

Bhikku and bhikkuni

Buddhists who dedicate their lives to seeking enlightenment can become ordained. Monks are called bhikku and nuns are called bhikkuni. Both aim for the goal of liberation from samsara.

Buddhist teaching and women

There is no difference in Buddhist teaching between men and women. Both are subject to old age, sickness, death, desire and suffering. Women have the same potential as men to gain the wisdom, insight and compassion necessary for enlightenment. Both the Mahayana and the Theravada traditions mention women who have attained enlightenment.

Modern Buddhist views

There have always been women in the Sangha

Khandro Rinpoche, a female Tibetan lama (spiritual teacher), suggests that there have always been women in the Sangha and that women have always followed the Dhamma. Their presence is not a new phenomenon. In her book Blossoms of the Dharma: Living as a Buddhist Nun, she says that modern women in the Sangha are reenergising (p. 171) ancient traditions.

Men and women are equal in seeking enlightenment

Masatoshi Ueki, a Japanese scholar of Buddhism, goes back to the earliest Buddhists texts and concludes that the Buddha presented men and women as equally able to understand and practise the Dhamma and both capable of achieving enlightenment.