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A bhikkhunī is a female monk in Buddhism. She is treated equally to a bhikkhu but they are kept separate to prevent sexual misconduct. Also, the bhikkhunī lineage is required to follow eight rules of subordination (not vows) to bhikkus.
When a lay woman is first initiated (pabbajjā), she is called sāmaṇerī, or a novice monk. After pabbajjā she is trained and rises to the level of sikkhamānā. After two years of sikkhamānā and having achieved 20 years of age, she is considered ready for upasampadā, ordination into the sangha. When the upasampadā is finished she becomes bhikkhuni.
Substitutes for bhikkhunī
In Thervada countries today, the bhikkhunī lineage has died out. However, pious women have created unofficial bhikkhunī lineages. These lineages are all for the sake of accumulating merit for the individual women, and thus do not present an obvious opportunity for social power.
In Sri Lanka, the dasa sil matavo teach, counsel, and care for the sick, but are treated as laity and are not fields of merit. Most consider their seperation from the overpoliticized sangha power structure a benefit.
In Thailand, the mae ji are renunciants who unfortunately have not received any attention until recently. For lack of of a bhikkhunī lineage, they beg on the streets, but are not fields of merit and therefore were ignored by society. The Thai Mae Ji assocation was founded with the help of the Queen in 1969 to offer education to mae ji.
In Cambodia, the position of dorchee is apparently equivalent to mae ji.
In Burma, the sila-rhan, pronounced thila-shin, are fields of merit and legally occupy a position in between laity and monk. They study in Buddhist schools called gyaung.
In Tibet, the bhikkhunī line was reestablished in the 1980s by the Dalai Lama. Before that, there was a line of unofficial novice nuns called ani, who lived communally in nunneries.
Reestablishment of bhikkuni line
In 1987 there was a meeting of women Buddhist leaders in Bodh Gaya to discuss the issue of bhikkuni, followed by a 1991 conference in Bangkok. The Sri Lankan lineage was established by Korean and Taiwanese bhikkunis from the Sakyadita organization in 1996. Ordination of bhikkuni was banned in Thailand in 1928, but in 2003 a Thai woman was ordained in Sri Lanka and founded a nunnery in Thailand. [1]