The Ordination of Nuns in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, its Presentation in the Tibetan Commentaries, and Approaches toward the Buddhist Nuns' Order Restoration in Tibetan Buddhism (including the expansion of the ITLR Database by analyzing and adding monastic terminology)

• Applicant: Dr. Carola Roloff
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 155080625

The aim of the project is to study the rituals and rules for the highest ordination of a nun, in that version of the Buddhist monastic law that regulates the school of the Mulasarvastivadins and that is largely preserved in Tibetan translation only. According to tradition, full ordination for women was introduced by the Buddha. It was transmitted to several Buddhist countries. In Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, it spread in accordance with the Vinaya of the Dharmaguptakas. In India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, the ordination of nuns became extinct around the 11th or 12th century. So far we have no accounts that full ordination for women was ever introduced to other Buddhist countries, such as Thailand or Tibet. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made by Buddhists worldwide to introduce or re-introduce this ordination, not least because it promises an appreciation of the role of women in society and an improvement of human rights for large parts of Asia. In July 2007 at the University of Hamburg, an international congress on the role of Buddhist women in the order took place, dealing precisely with this interdisciplinary topic. It became clear that, contrary to the prevailing opinion, in the area of the ordination rituals for nuns significant differences between the extant schools of the Vinaya exist. By examining basic texts that have not been evaluated to date in either scientific research or within the Tibetan exegesis itself, this research project will demonstrate that by selective exegesis this tradition continues to impact the lives of parts of the female population. With reference to the present discussion and the latest autochthonous publications surrounding the Buddhist nuns' order restoration, it will be shown how a revival of the full ordination of Buddhist nuns in Tibetan Buddhism can be justified in accordance with the monastic code. Furthermore in cooperation with the Indo-Tibetan Lexical Resource Project of the Khyentse Center at the University of Hamburg a terminological analysis and a sustainable collection of monastic terms will be undertaken with particular emphasis on feminine forms. Thus an already existing digital (online) reservoir will be extended into the field of Vinaya.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants