Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns

Conclusion: Buddhism, Women, and Civil Society in Taiwan

Conclusion Buddhism, Women, and Civil Society in Taiwan To conclude, we return to the three focalizing questions of this book. How Have Women Shaped Taiwan’s Buddhism? Over the past half-century, ordained and lay Buddhist women, together with monks and laymen, have built up modern Chinese institutional Buddhism on the foundations of zhaijiao and Japanese-era institutional Buddhism.1 Taiwan’s Buddhism is unique in the world for several reasons: Taiwan has the largest number of nuns in the world; nuns outnumber monks three to one; and, among nuns in Taiwan are leaders in the fields of education, charity , the arts, normative ethics, and human rights. Finally, Taiwan’s Buddhists have to a great extent transformed negative depictions of “women” and “the feminine” into positive traits worthy of emulation by both genders; in the case of Ciji, Zhengyan strives to reform Taiwan and the world through a feminized Buddhism. To my knowledge, this particularly strong propagation of positive feminine traits as making “women especially suited for Buddhism” is only found in Taiwan, not in the Mahāyāna Buddhism circles of China, where the monks’ order is more numerous and powerful, with privileged access to resources, education, and positions of leadership and where negative ideas about women’s “pollution” and “karmic burdens” still prevail.2 Nor is this kind of argument found in Korean Buddhist circles, though more than half of the monastics are nuns and eighty percent of lay Buddhists are women.3 In Vietnam, the female image of Guanyin is also very important to Mahāyāna Buddhists, as in Taiwan, but according to my observations, monks or nuns do not regard tù’ bi (compassion) as being particular associated with women or “the feminine,” rather, tù’ bi is one of the great Buddhist virtues to be cultivated by all. Though it is claimed that now nuns outnumber monks in Vietnam,4 and many nuns seek higher education in Vietnam and abroad, 111 112 Taiwan’s Buddhist Nuns monks and nuns still have unequal status. Only monks are called “Teacher/ Master,” Thầy, while nuns are called Su’ Cô, “Teacher-auntie”; also, monks’ names begin with Thích while nuns add the word for “woman,” Thích nũ’. Monks in Vietnam, as they have throughout history, have higher social standing and power, have privileged access to lay disciples and resources, and are in command in all areas of Buddhist circles except the monastic kitchen. Due to the hard work and achievements of nuns such as Zhengyan, Wu Yin, Chao Hwei, and their disciples, a form of socially-engaged Buddhism, Buddhism for the Human Realm, flourishes in Taiwan. Monastics in Taiwan are now perceived as educated professionals, and the Buddhist religion is now respected for its achievements in many fields. Taiwan also plays a key role in developing global Buddhism through its overseas branches in many countries, and is helping to revive Buddhism in China, with Taiwan’s nuns and monks officiating at ordination ceremonies, giving lectures and holding retreats, and disseminating Buddhist publications, as well as with Taiwan’s Buddhists’ generous donations. Master Xingyun deserves great credit for his support of the nuns’ order in Taiwan and around the world, and Foguangshan has sponsored full ordination ceremonies for nuns of Tibetan and Theravādin traditions, such as in February 1998 at Bodhgayā India, which helped restore Sri Lanka’s bhikkhunī order after a lapse of nine centuries.5 Taiwan has become a center for female Buddhist novitiates, Asian and non-Asian, from all Buddhist traditions (Theravādin, Tibetan, Zen) to receive training and full ordination. For over fifteen years, the Dalai Lama has called for full ordination for nuns in Tibetan Buddhism and sent a special team to Taiwan in 1997 and in 2001 to investigate the Taiwanese system.6 All these accomplishments have proven wrong Zhang Mantao’s gloomy prediction that: “Relying on women [in Taiwan’s Buddhism] probably will make it impossible to obtain perfect results.”7 How Has Buddhism Shaped the Role and Identity of Taiwanese Women? We have seen that there are many types of Buddhist groups in Taiwan besides those advocating renjian fojiao and not every temple chooses active social engagement. Taiwan offers many choices for women and men regarding Buddhist doctrine and practice, including whether to remain a lay practitioner or become a monastic, and this is one strong point about Taiwan’s Buddhism.8 Women can choose to become Buddhist nuns and in doing so satisfy their intellectual and spiritual needs...