Transcultural Theravāda Buddhist Nuns’ Communities

Presenter:

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Abstract

The re-establishment of the Theravāda Buddhist nuns’ community in the 20th and 21st centuries poses specific challenges to the local Buddhist communities, which turn out to be very specific to each location and situation. Female and male practitioners have to deal with specific local resistances as well as navigate the global entanglement and interaction of local communities. All these factors add to the need of the traditions’ transformation and transcreation. This contribution will take the “International Bhikkhuni Ordination” which took place in January 2019 in Bodh Gaya as its starting point, discussing the diverse factors that prevent or enable local and international leadership of specific Theravāda Buddhist nuns, and looking at specific “hybrid” forms of Buddhism that emerge in the context of global Buddhist networks.