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比丘尼

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: bhikṣuṇī

Senses:

  • A Buddhist nun. (Pāli. bhikkhunī; Tib. dge slong ma). A fully ordained female member of the saṃgha. Tradition states that the Buddhaʼs aunt, Mahāprajāpatī 摩訶波闍波提, was the first woman permitted to join the order in compliance with the request of Ānanda. In the fourteenth year after his enlightenment the Buddha yielded to persuasion and admitted his aunt and women to his order of religious mendicants, but said that the admission of women would shorten the period of Buddhism by 500 years. The nun, however old, must acknowledge the superiority of every monk; must never scold him or tell his faults; must never accuse him, though he may accuse her; and must in all respects obey the rules as commanded by him. She accepts all the rules for the monks with additional rules for her own order (such is the theory rather than the practice). The title by which Mahāprajāpatī was addressed was applied to nuns, i. e. ārya, or noble, 阿姨, though some consider the Chinese term entirely native. The bhikṣuṇī is one of the four kinds of practitioners 四衆, seven kinds of practitioners 七衆, and eight kinds of practitioners 八衆. Also translated as 尼姑, 乞士女, 除女, 薰女, and transliterated as 苾芻尼, 比呼尼. Abbreviated as 尼. 〔瑜伽論 T 1579.30.418c26〕 (Skt. bhikṣuṇī-pratisaṃyukta) [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui,Nakamura, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind, Soothill, Yokoi, Iwanami]
  • In China and most other countries where Buddhism has flourished, a Buddhist nun 尼僧 is a woman who has (at least) shaved her head, donned monastic robes, and been ordained with the ten novice precepts 沙彌十戒 established in the Indian Vinaya, which makes her a novice 沙彌. A bhikṣuṇī 比丘尼 or full-fledged nun 大僧 is one who has, in addition, been ordained with the full precepts 具足戒 of the complete Prātimokṣa. In Japan, however, from the Heian period (794–1185) on some men and women who shaved their heads and joined monastic orders began to be ordained using only bodhisattva precepts. In present-day Sōtō Zen, nuns are women who have undergone the ceremony of taking precepts when going forth from household life 出家得度式作法; the rite entails shaving the head, donning monastic robes, and receiving the bodhisattva precepts. In present-day Rinzai Zen, nuns are women who have taken the traditional ten novice precepts. Technically, therefore, there are no Japanese Zen bhikṣuṇīs, but in certain ritual contexts that term is used for Zen nuns 禪尼 nevertheless. Unlike their male counterparts, who have been free to marry since the Meiji era (1868–1912), Japanese Zen nuns maintain the tradition of celibacy that is the norm for monks and nuns throughout most of the Buddhist world. The daughters of Zen temple priests, unlike their brothers, are neither expected nor allowed to follow in their fathers' footsteps. Most Japanese Zen nuns are not from temple families. Those who have children gave birth to them before they joined the monastic order. Zen nuns in Japan today comprise less than one percent of the total ordained Zen clergy, which numbers about 25,000. [Griffith Foulk]
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  • Cf. Karashima (Lokakṣema Glossary): view / hide
      
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 884

    Bulgyo sajeon 341a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1042d

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 674

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 17a/18

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 25

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 1132d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 1480

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0696

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4291c,3019c

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1484-2

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 158

    Lokakṣemaʼs Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Karashima) 35

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2001-09-08

    Updated: 2020-10-19