Maritime Transmission of the Monastic Order of Nuns to China

Abstract

This short paper is a study of the issues concerning the maritime transmission of the proper dual Bhiksuni Ordination to China from Sri Lanka. It is important because according to the Buddhist tradition, a woman becomes a proper Bhiksuni, a fully ordained nun, only when she has obtained ordination first from ten fully ordained Buddhist nuns and then from ten fully ordained Buddhist monks. It is called dual ordination. However, before 433, there was no such properly ordained Bhiksuni in China and the women such as Jingjian 淨檢 who became nuns obtained the ordination from Buddhist monks only. It was only when a group of fully ordained Buddhist nuns headed by Devasara came to China by the ship of a merchant named Nanti from Sri Lanka in 433 that the proper dual ordination for nuns could be performed. As a result, more than three hundred women got dual ordination and thus the proper Bhiksuni Order was established in China and it has continued till this day. So maritime trade played an important role in the transmission of Bukkhuni Order to China.