Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, a śikṣamāṇā (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

;

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

: ''sikkhamānā''; ; ; ) is a female novice trainee. This training period is to be two years long, supervised by both a monk and a nun. After this period, the trainee may attempt full ordination as a bhikṣuṇī.

Overview

According to Buddhist tradition, a young woman should be ordained, by both a monk and a nun, first as a

śrāmaṇerī A (Pali; ), is a novice male monk in a Buddhist context. A female novice nun is in , and in or . In Tibetan Buddhism, a female novice nun is known by the Lhasa Tibetan, Tibetan language term , and a male novice monk is a .Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...

vinaya The Vinaya (Pali and Sanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines devel ...

has 311 rules of discipline for bhikkhunis. Within Chinese society, as an example, members of the Sangha are expected to renounce family connections and accept the

Sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

as their family. Thus, according to Vinaya Pitaka, the ordination order for women is: # Śrāmaṇerī # Śikṣamāṇā # Bhikṣuṇī

External links

"In depth comparative study of the Sikkhamānā training from all Vinayas"
by Dhammacaro (07/23/2005).
"Vinaya Pitaka"
brief description includes "Order of ordination for men and women...." Buddhist nuns Buddhist monasticism Sanskrit words and phrases Buddhist titles Ordination of women in Buddhism {{Buddhism-stub

Overview

See also

External links