Buddhist Nuns in Tibet

Our encounter aims to research Buddhist conical buoy buoynery in Tibet. We be going to give info about Tibet in general and about peculiarities of Tibetan religion. We are going to pursue a moorage study of ordination to a nunnery. Buddhism is one of the world religions. Its believers live through in India, China, South-East Asia, Tibet and antithetical countries. In old times inhabitants of Tibet didnt make out Buddhism. Their folk religion called mi-chos, which meant the law of men. In afterward years it transformed to bon-chos Bon religion. There some people who practice it in Modern Tibet and a fistful of handful of Moslems..Nowa long time Tibet is a poor Chinese province. It makes modern Tibetan Autonomous Republic. Besides of TAR Tibetan people live in the Chamdo region of Szechwan some are found in Tsinghai and Kansu (Chang-tu Hu 66). Population carries on animal husbandry. Most of Tibetans consider themselves Buddhists Tibetan Buddhism is differs from the other na tional forms of this religion. It adapted to everyday life of inhabitants. As Guiseppe Tucci evoked, the entire spiritual life of the Tibetan is defined by a permanent attitude of defense, by a constant effort to appease and propitiate the powers whom he venerates (187).Tibetan Buddhism is heavily influenced by belief in supernatural. Tucci observed, that religion of Buddha in Tibet shot with a certain ambiguity on the one side the fear of capricious spirits that was inherited by genus genus Lamaism from the countrys original religions and, on the other, the conviction that man possesses the means to rig these dark vengeful forces demanding propitiation. Magic, ritual, acts of piety, liberality towards monasteries and instructors, exorcism, liturgical technique, all come to his aid. And the human victim he was at the outset, at the mercy of a thousand invisible forces, is able to work their master.(73-74) On this alkali scientists state there is a detached Tibetan form of Budd hism. They called it Lamaism. Lamas were privileged class in Tibetan society. They steer in some sectors of daily life, and the monasteries are important social and economic centers of society. Basic concepts of Buddhism (karma, nirvana, transmigration, and reincarnation) are the homogeneous in Lamaism. There were trine religious sects in Tibet Nyingmapa, Kargyu, Sakya, and Gelugpa. The last one is known as the white-livered School, because monastics wear yellow hats during ceremonies.It emerged in China since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and became the most influential school in Tibet since the seventeenth century. Gelugpa sect governed over the country until the Chinese re-exerted control over Tibet when head of Yellow School Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959. The Panchen Lama, who resided at Shigatse, has been elevated by the Chinese government to the position vacated by the Dalai Lama. Followers of the Panchen Lama utilize to claim that his spiritual powers rival those of the Dalai Lama. Both of them were reincarnations of their predecessors.When either dies the priesthood have to decide in which new born child he has been reincarnated. The reincarnation can happen anywhere, even in a grouch family, but such a family automatically becomes a member of the noble class. Our study of Tibetan nunnery bequeath be incomplete without defining the role of monasteries. Monastery system is the basis of Lamaism. There were 6000 of Buddhist monasteries in Tibet until the Chinese invaded in 1950. Nowadays only six of them are restored (Kerr 37). Monasteries as landowners were consent under units of villages. Many of them used to house quin thousand monks.Percentage of the monks composes from 20 to 33-1/3 percent of male population. correspond to Havnevik Hanna, there were in any case 27,000 nuns in 1959 (37). In Buddhist countries nuns are called by many different terms bhik? un? i, don chee, sikkhamat, dasasilmata, jomo, mae chi, tila shin. According to Ti betan tradition celibate young-bearing(prenominal) Buddhist practitioners are known as ani. Karma Lekshe Tsomo states in her book, that many women in Tibet became anis because nunnery provides an opportunity to get an education (201). Knowledge turned out to be an important musical composition in the history of many monastic communities.Owing to the isolation from the rest of the world, there was a lack of scientific knowledge in Tibet. Alexandra David-Neel notes, that many Tibetans believed that the earth was flat (26-29). The first radio station in Tibet started direct on January 1, 1959 (Chang-tu Hu 251). There were no primary schools prior to 1950. After the defeat of revolt against Chinese authority in the late fifties Tibetan diaspora began. In the sixties many young people from western sandwich countries began heading to the East searching for religious and philosophic alternatives to replace inadequacies they felt in their own cultures.Communication innovations of the mi d- viiiies established closer connections among people. Thats why desire for knowledge and education affected even away nunnery high up in the Himalayas. Karma Lekshe Tsomo narrates what was the monastery education to be The monks and nuns had been recruited with promises of a life of study. Instead, they had to work day in and day out on the gonpas (settlement) construction. At night, they were too tired to concentrate on the lamas teachings in Tibetan, an unacquainted with(predicate) language.In this culture, women only left home if they had specific, compelling reasons to do so. For many women, the quest for religious breeding and an aversion to hard labor do not constitute compelling reasons. (204) If there is no senior monk in the monastery nuns live in the villages with their parents and work with them. They could gather together only several days on month to read few pechas (religious texts). Those, who are not appointive just have to stick five precepts not to kill, s teal, lie, commit sexual misconduct, or take intoxicants. capital of Red China notes that its not comfy to be a teacher.To be appointed as a teacher of nuns, a monk mustiness fulfill sixteen qualifications respectability (not having incurred a defeat or partial defeat and being conscientious in that he has forsaken unwholesome deeds such as killing animals) steadfastness (twenty years of stand as a monk) learning (knowledge of the three collections of the scriptures) and thirteen qualities of helpfulness (the cardinal explained in the first chapter of this work in the discussion of the qualifications of the monastic preceptor, plus not having previously been appointed as a nuns teacher and then removed from that position).A monk with these qualifications is appointed to be the nuns teacher within the boundary of his monastic club qualified fellow monks perform the appropriate ceremony during the confession ceremony of the fifteenth of the lunar month (132). At first to be acc epted as a monk it was enough to take mental hospital in front of the Buddha. Then special rules were instituted. To be a monk or a nun became a matter of maintaining regulations.Aspirant needs to assume imprecations. To enter the Buddhist community novice have to rejoin a long way. According to Beijing, vows of individual(prenominal) are of seven categories when distinguished according to the person the vows of the monk (bhik? u), the nun (bhik? uni), the male novice (srama? era), the pistillate novice (srama? erika), the layman practitioner (upasaka), the laywoman practitioner (upasi?ka), and the postulant nun (sik? amana) (122). In the original performance for conferring monastic ordination, the aspirant became a monk without any complex ritual. The present-day procedure confers ordination with a considerable amount of ritual. Beijing recorded several ways in which persons became immediately ordained as monks and nuns. For example by accepting the eight severe preceptsTo r eceive ordination from monks to attend announcement of the proper date for the fortnightly confession from monks to participate in the rainy season retrogress near a place where monks are withal in retreat to attend the ceremony of lifting of restrictions (imposed during the rainy season retreat) in an assembly of both monks and nuns to serve respect intacty both monks and nuns if one has transgressed any of these eight precepts not to reveal the corrupted morals of monks not to reproach a monk to behave respectfully (prostrating and so forth) toward the community of monks, including prostrating before a newly ordained monk.(89) The ceremonies that confer the lay practitioner vows or the novice vows on a woman are essentially the same as those for a man, notwithstanding for the aspirant being referred to as the woman known as , instead of the man known as , and the additional questions posed to the woman. The precepts of the postulant nun may be assumed at the age of eighteen i n the case of one who has not been married and at the age of ten in the case of a woman who has been married. This ordination is conferred by a group of twelve nuns through a two-part ceremony including proposal.A female novice must receive the postulant nuns vows and observe them for two years before she can receive full ordination as a nun. The aspirant nun should give the vow for strict observance of celibacy. Beijing mentions that a woman cannot receive this vow if she has any of the following five obstacles having both the male and female organ or having neither menstruating continuously or having no menstruation having no feeling in the vagina and having been a nun before (178). The bestowal of this vow constitutes the intermediate part of the nuns ordination.In the first part, her request to become a nun is forwarded to the abbess with a report on whether she is free from obstacles to her ordination (not having received consent from family or husband, being pregnant, etc. ) . The warrant part of the ceremony consists of her request for the vows of strict observance of celibacy, which is forwarded to the abbess along with a report confirming that she will abide by such a vow (determined from further questioning), and the final agreement by the abbess which signals the conferral of the vow.In the third part, she is fully ordained by a group of both monks and nuns. An extensive explanation of the rules for nuns concludes the ceremony. Then the full ordination is bestowed in the front of group of nuns augmented by a group of ordaining monks. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the preceptor instructs the new nun on the twelve points of discipline, which include the eight defeating offenses, the eight severe precepts, and other rules.However, it should be mentioned that the traditions for the ordinations of the postulant and fully ordained nun were never introduced in Tibet. Once became a nun, female practitioner of Buddhism must observe three hundred and sixty- quartet rules not to commit the eight defeating offenses that constitute root downfalls, twenty partially defeating acts, thirty-three downfalls involving forfeiture, one hundred and eighty downfalls requiring confession alone, eleven downfalls to be individually confessed, and one hundred and twelve minor infractions.In Buddhism, vows are viewed in many ways, depending on the context of the discussion, but generally the ethical systems are designated as three sets of vows, as two sets of vows, or as one all-inclusive vow. The three sets of vows talk of throughout all divisions of the Buddhist scriptures are those of personal liberation (pratimok? a), of meditative absorption (dhyana), and of the uncontaminated (anasrava) vows. These are essentially identical to the three forms of training on the Buddhist path the development of morality, meditation, and wisdom.In fact, in launch to gain the different types of enlightenment of their systems, proclaimers (Rravaka), solitary sages (pratyekabuddha), and bodhisattvas must forsake disturbing emotions and other obstacles on their paths by cultivating an uncontaminated discriminative awareness which is developed by training in wisdom. This discriminative awareness is grounded in mental quiescence achieved by training in meditation, and mental quiescence is developed on the basis of training in pure morality.The proclaimers system speaks of two sets of ethics, each with three vows the vows of a lay practitioner, novice, and monk (or nun) and the vows of body, speech, and mind. The three vows in the scriptures of the Universal Way (mahayana) refer to the processes of refraining from the unwholesome, of aiming at acquiring good qualities, and of working for the put on of all living beings. These are also known as the three trainings, or ethics, of the bodhisattva. The tantras speak of four sets of ethics, each with three vows.The first set includes the commitments of awakening mind, the vows related to the cre ation phase, and those related to the completion phase. The second set includes the pledges of the Buddhas body, speech, and mind. The third set, as taught by the great adept Vitapada, consists in not conforming to the practice of accepting what is good and rejecting what is bad with respect to any physical, verbal, or mental action. The fourth set includes the vows of personal liberation, the bodhisattva commitments, and the pledges of the awareness holder (vidyadhara).The tantras also speak of two types of ethics the common pledges received during the vase initiation of the five awarenesses (of the vase) and the stages of the initiation prior to these and the uncommon ones received at the time of the irreversible vajra-master initiation. According to a different explanation, the two types of ethics in the tantras refer to the vows related to the creation phase and those related to the completion phase, also known as the outer and inner vows.Moreover, when the tantric adept assumes all the vows of personal liberation, the bodhisattva commitments, and the tantric pledges, he or she maintains these ethics in both their outer and inner aspects. Works Cited Beijing, Chos byung. The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet. Delhi Sri Satguru, 1986. David-Neel, Alexandra. inch of Tibet, AATA 441 (January 1944) 26-29. Chang-tu Hu. China Its People, Its Society, Its Culture. radical Haven, CT HRAF Press, 1960. Havnevik, Hanna. Tibetan Buddhist Nuns.History, Cultural Norms and Social Reality. capital of Norway Norwegian University Press, 1989. Kerr, Blake. Sky burial an eyewitness account of Chinas brutal crackdown in Tibet. Ithaca, NY Snow Lion Publications, 1997. Shen, Tsung-lien and Liu, Shen-chi. Tibet and the Tibetans. New York E. P. Dutton, 1977. Tucci, Guiseppe. The Religions of Tibet. Berkeley, CA University of California Press, 1980. Tsomo, Karma Lekshe. Innovative Buddhist Women Swimming against the Stream. Richmond Curzon Press Limited, 2000.