Journal Articles

Questions of ordination legitimacy for newly ordained Theravāda bhikkhunī in Thailand

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In Thailand the widespread assumption that bhikkhunī ordination has already been disrupted and that as a result Theravāda Buddhist women can no longer be ordained has been challenged by a group of women who have received the full monastic precepts from foreign saṅgha and practise Theravāda Buddhism in yellow monastic robes. Public concerns have centred on whether such bhikkhunī ordinations are possible, and how women could become bhikkhunī in a ‘correct’ way. Both supporters and opponents are often vocal in discussing ordination ceremony procedures, based on their interpretation of the vinaya, the monastic disciplines. This paper argues that it is not a matter of ‘right’ procedure, but rather of the authority of the religious institution or tradition that validates one's ordination. Even if a woman is ordained as a bhikkhunī by the ‘right’ procedure, her status remains unstable unless the religious authority of her country sanctions her ordination. In other words, it is only a political decision made by a religious institution — in the case of Thailand, the National Saṅgha — that can reinstate ‘legitimate’ bhikkhunī ordination.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

Call Number

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Publisher

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press., 2012

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

00224634

Classification

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Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Vol. 43, No. 1, February 2012, pp 55-76

Subject(s)

Thailand
Questions of ordination legitimacy

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