Project

Communal Jurisdiction of Non-ordained Female Renunciants in the Southern Buddhist Tradition: Myanmar-Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka

Collaborative Group

Dr. Hiroko Kawanami, Dr. Monica Lindberg Falk, Dr. Nirmala S. Salgado

Department

Religion

Abstract

There are many studies about the monastic rules and regulations of ordained bhikkhunis, however studies about the communal rules currently observed by non-ordained female renunciants in the Southern tradition are lacking. The purpose of this research is to investigate case studies of various communities of Buddhist female renunciants; nunnery schools, institutions, meditation centers, and nuns’ hermitages in Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, in order to investigate how they regulate their monastic life and maintain communal cohesion.