#bhikkhuni

Nuns are a member of a religious community of women, especially a cloistered one, living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

They dedicate their lives to religious observance. Most nuns spend their time praying or meditating and doing service work in their communities.

Nuns in different religions 👇

Nuns in Christianity.

Nuns and sisters in Christianity belong to various religious institutes, each with its own charism. Both take vows, pray, do religious services/contemplations & live modestly. Nuns traditionally recite the full Divine Office in church throughout the day, while lay sisters perform maintenance or errands outside the cloister. Externs, who live outside the enclosure, may also assist with tasks.

Nuns in Buddhism.

Buddhist nuns, called bhikkhunis, mostly live under disciplined & mindfulness. They share important vows, offer teachings on Buddhist scriptures, conduct ceremonies, teach meditation, offer counseling, & receive alms. Bhikkhunis are expected to go against the materialistic values, focusing instead on spiritual aims outlined by the Buddha. They adhere to specific precepts guiding their behavior/lifestyle, which vary based on tradition & monastery.

Nuns in Hinduism.

Hindu nuns, also called sanyasini, sadhavi or swamini, practice a monastic life of religious devotion by living simple lives of study, meditation & prayer. Some nuns seclude themselves in Hindu communities while others wander from place to place spreading the teachings of their faith, all their actions are directed as a service to Brahman. Hinduism teaches followers to respect these nuns for renouncing material things.

Nuns in Taoism.

Taoist nuns typically lived in temples known as guan, Celibacy was associated with early Taoist schools. They are solitary practitioners who take modesty & Clarity. In the Shangqing School, Taoist nuns are called nü daoshi or nüguan. their daily schedule included chanting scriptures, community work, and individual practices, including inner alchemical exercises.

Nuns in Shintoism.

Shinto nuns are called miko, or shrine maiden, they’re young nuns who work at shrines & heavily worship Shinto Kami (gods). Miko were once likely seen as shamans & priestesses but they are understood in modern Japanese culture to have an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred Kagura dance.

Nuns in Jainism.

The Quest for Buddhism (19)

The family of Siddhartha (Buddha) 

Sundarī Nandā – Beautiful half-sister of Buddha, the most venerable bhikkhuni (nun)

Princess Sundarī Nandā, also known simply a Sundarī, was the daughter of King Suddhodana (Ref) and Mahaprajapati (Ref2). She was the half-sister of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became a Buddha. She became a nun after the enlightenment of her half-brother and became the foremost bhikkhuni in the practise of dhyana (Pali: jhana, lit. total meditative absorption). She lived during the 6th century BCE in what is now Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India.

When she was born, Princess Nandā was lovingly welcomed by her parents: Nanda's name means joy, contentment, pleasure, and was named as her parents were especially joyous about the arrival of a newborn baby. Nanda was known in her childhood for being extremely well-bred, graceful and beautiful. To disambiguate her from Sakyans (Ref3) by the same name, she was also known as "Rupa-Nanda (lit. one of delightful form)," sometimes "Sundari-Nanda (beautiful Nanda)." Since Her beauty sparkled day by day she was later named as "Janapada Kalyani". 

Over time, many members of her family, the family of the Sakyans of Kapilavastu, left the worldly life for the ascetic life, inspired by the enlightenment of their Crown Prince Siddhartha(Buddha). Amongst them was her brother Nanda (Ref4), and her cousins Anuruddha and Ananda, who were two of the Buddha’s ten principal disciples. According to a Budddist text, “Therigatha” (lit. verses of the elder nuns), she was to get married with her own brother Nanda but before their wedding he had to enter into monastic life.

Her mother, was the first Buddhist nun, having asked the Buddha to allow women into the sangha. As a result of this, many other royal Sakyan ladies, including Princess Yasodharā, the wife of Siddhartha became Buddhist monastics. Thereupon, Nanda also renounced the world, but it was recorded that she did not do it out of confidence in the Buddha and the dharma, but out of blood love for her relatives and a feeling of belonging.

[to be continued]

仏教の探求 (19)

お釈迦さまの家族

孫陀利難陀 (そんだりなんだ、梵: スンダリ・ナンダ) 〜ブッダの美しい異母妹、最も崇高な比丘尼（尼僧）

スンダリ・ナンダ王女は、浄飯王（シュッドーダナ王：参照）とマハー・プラジャーパティー（参照2）の娘で、後にブッダとなるシッダールタ・ゴータマの異母妹である。異母兄の悟りの後、尼僧となり、ディヤーナ（四禅:しぜん、完全瞑想）の修行で最も優れた比丘尼（びくに、尼僧）となった。紀元前6世紀、現在のインドのビハール州とウッタル・プラデーシュ州に住んでいた。

ナンダ王女は生まれたとき、両親から愛情をもって迎えられた。ナンダの名前は、喜び、満足、快楽を意味し、生まれたばかりの赤ん坊の到着を両親が特に喜んだことから名づけられた。ナンダは幼少の頃、非常に育ちがよく、優雅で美しいことで知られていた。同名の釈迦族（参照3）と区別するために、「ルパ・ナンダ (歓喜な姿の者)」、時には「スンダリ・ナンダ(美しいナンダ)」とも呼ばれた。彼女の美しさが日々輝いていたことから、後に「ジャナパダ・カリヤーニ」と呼ばれるようになった。

やがて、彼女の一族であるカピラヴァストゥの釈迦族は、皇太子シッダールタ (ブッダ)の悟りに触発されて、世俗を離れ禁欲生活を送る者が多くなった。その中には、実兄の孫陀羅難陀 (そんだらなんだ、梵：スンダラ・ナンダ（参照4）)や、従兄弟の阿那律 (あなりつ、梵: アニルッダ) と阿難陀（あなんだ、梵: アーナンダ ）も含まれており、どちらも釈迦の十大弟子の中の二人であった。仏典『テーリーガータ (長老尼偈経: ちょうろうに・げじゅ）』によると、彼女は実兄のナンダと結婚することになっていたが、結婚前に彼は僧籍に入らなければならなかった。

彼女の母親は、釈迦に女性の入信を願った最初の尼僧である。その結果、シッダールタ(ブッダ)の正妻ヤショーダラー王女をはじめ、多くの釈迦族の女性が仏門に入ることになった。そこでナンダも世を捨てたが、それは仏や法への信頼からではなく、身内への血の通った愛と帰属意識からであったと記録されている。

At Sāvatthī. Standing to one side, that devatā recited this verse in the presence of the blessed one:

How many must one cut, how many abandon, and how many further must one develop? When a bhikkhu has surmounted how many ties is he called a crosser of the flood?

[The Blessed One]:

One must cut off five, and must develop a further five. A bhikkhu who has surmounted five ties is called a crosser of the flood.

Spk: one must cut off the lower fetters (identity view, doubt, the distorted grasp of rules and vows, sensual desire, ill will). One must abandon the five higher fetters (lust for form, lust for the formless, conceit, restlessness, ignorance). In order to cut off and abandon these fetters one must develop a further five, namely, the five spiritual faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom). The five ties are lust, hatred, delusion, conceit and views. A bhikkhu who has surmounted these five ties is called a crosser of the flood.

by Saṃsāran  

In the West, there are churches, synagogues and, increasingly mosques. These are places of worship and instruction. These institutions are also woven into the communities where they are located and provide charity for the needy and destitute. 

In Buddhist places, the community which surrounds the temple is called the “sangha”.  The sangha along with the Buddha and the dharma (teachings) make up the “Three Jewels”.  The word “sangha” is used differently in different places but it is coming to mean the entire company of Buddhists and not just the monks and nuns. Since, traditionally Buddhist monks were mendicants, beggars, it was the community who supported them. In return, the monks tended the temple to give people a place to worship, offered instruction and guidance in personal matters, officiated at weddings and funerals, tended to the sick and dying and offered an opportunity holy life for the chosen sons and daughters of the sangha. Having a child training for the life of a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni  (monk or nun) was both an honor and a blessing bringing good karma. 

The Quest for Buddhism (14)

Spinoff

The Yao(=800)-bhikkhuni - The nun who lived to be 800 years old kept youth and longevity

Yao-bhikkhuni is a legendary figure in Japan. She was a nun who attained immortality by eating the flesh of a mermaid. There is also a similar legend in Korea.

The legend is spread over 28 prefectures, 89 wards, 121 cities, towns and villages, with 166 legends of a woman who lived to be 800 years old, but looked as young as 17 or 18. The details of the legend vary from region to region, but the main points are as follows:

A man is invited to the house of a stranger and is offered a meal. The place is a dragon palace or an island in the other world. There, he accidentally sees the flesh of a mermaid being cooked. He is too creeped out to eat it and takes it home as a souvenir. The man’s daughter (or wife) unknowingly eats the mermaid’s flesh. From then on, the woman is granted immortality. She then lives in the village, but her husband dies several times and everyone she knows dies, so she becomes a bhikkhuni (nun) and leaves the village to go around the country, planting trees (cedar, camellia, pine, etc.). Eventually, she reached in Wakasa (now: Obama City, Fukui Prefecture), where she entered into Nirvana at 800 years old at the time of her death. Some say that she was a walking shaman.

In 1449, in the diary of an official, “Nakahara Yasutomi Ki”, there is an actual record that a bhikkhuni (nun), said to be 200 to 800 years old, came to Kyoto from Wakasa. Fees were charged for the spectacle. It is written that the rich were charged 100 coins and the poor 10 coins.

仏教の探求 (14)

番外編

八百比丘尼(やおびくに)〜不老長寿、800歳まで生きた尼

八百比丘尼（やおびくに）は、日本の伝説上の人物で、人魚の肉を食べたことで不老長寿を獲得した比丘尼である。尚、韓国にも類似の伝説があるという。

その伝説は全国28都県89区市町村121ヶ所にわたって分布しており、伝承数は166に及ぶ800歳まで生きたが、その姿は17～18歳の様に若々しかったといわれている。地方により伝説の細かな部分は異なるが大筋では以下の通りである：

ある男が、見知らぬ人物の家に招待され供応を受ける。場所は竜宮や島などの異界で、そこで男は偶然、人魚の肉が料理されているのを見てしまう。男は気味悪がって食べず、土産として持ち帰る。その人魚の肉を、男の娘(または妻)が知らずに食べてしまう。それ以来その女は不老長寿を得る。その後娘は村で暮らすが、夫に何度も死に別れたり、知り合いもみな死んでしまったので、出家して比丘尼となって村を出て全国をめぐり、各地に木（杉・椿・松など）を植えたりする。やがて最後は若狭(現：福井県小浜市)にたどり着き、入定する。その場所は小浜の空印寺と伝えることが多く、齢は八百歳であったといわれる。彼女は歩き巫女だったという説もある。

The Quest for Buddhism (21)

The family of Siddhartha (Buddha)

Yashodhara –the wife, and later a disciple of Buddha

Yashodhara was the wife of the Buddha before his ordination, when he was Prince Gautama Siddhartha, was mother to Rahula and cousin to Siddhartha (Buddha), Nanda and Sundari Nanda. She was the sister of Buddha's disciple, Devadatta, who later became a renegade, and Ananda, one of the ten principal disciples.

Her grandfather was King Anjana, the king of Koliya dynasty of ancient India, whose eldest son was Suprabuddha (her father), whose eldest daughter was Maya (Buddha’s real mother) and whose second daughter was (Buddha's stepmother, mother of Nanda and Sundari Nanda).

According to common belief, King Shuddhodana, fearing that the crown prince awakening to the spiritual side of life, arranged for Yashodhara to marry Prince Siddhartha, who was the same age as her, at the young age of 16. Both of them shared respect and rapport with each other but it is also said they both didn't have much desires toward marital life. It took long time Yaśodharā to conceive a child.

Some texts say that she carried Rahula in her womb for six years, while others say that she carried Rahula during the six years of the Buddha's arduous asceticism and gave birth to her on the night of his enlightenment.

Later, when she came to know that he had left, Yaśodharā decided to start leading a simple life. Several princes sought her hand but she rejected the proposals.

After five years when Buddha gave permission of women entering to sangha she too became a bhikkhuni and attained arhat. After her ordination, she devoted herself to self-reflection and is said to have become one of the foremost nuns.

仏教の探求 (21)

お釈迦さまの家族

耶輸陀羅（やしゅだら、梵: ヤショーダラー）〜妻、後にブッダの弟子となる

耶輸陀羅（以下：ヤショーダラー）は、釈迦が出家する前、すなわちガウタマ・シッダールタ太子だった時の皇太子妃で、羅睺羅（らごら、梵:ラーフラ）の母。シッダールタ（ブッダ）、ナンダ、スンダリ・ナンダの従姉妹。ブッダの弟子で後に違背したとされる提婆達多 (だいばだった、梵: デーヴァダッタ)と、十大弟子の一人阿難 (あなん、梵:アーナンダ )の姉。

祖父は古代インドの拘利(コーリヤ)王朝のアンジャナ王で、長男は父のスプラブッダ、長女はマーヤー(ブッダの実母)、次女はマハーパージャパティ(ブッダの継母、ナンダとスンダリ・ナンダの母)であった。

通説では、皇太子が人生の精神面に目覚めることを恐れたシュッドーダナ王により、ヤショーダラーは、16歳の若さで同じ年のシッダールタ太子と結婚した。二人はお互いに尊敬と親近感を抱いていたが、結婚生活への願望はあまりなかったとも言われている。ヤショーダラーは、しばらく子に恵まれなず、シッダールタが29歳で出家する夜に、一子羅睺羅（らごら、ラーフラ）を生んだとされる。

経典によっては、彼女はラーフラを6年間胎内に宿していた、という説や、彼女は、釈迦が難行苦行中の6年の間にラーフラを宿していて、成道の夜に生んだという諸説がある。

シッダールタ王子が去ってから、ヤショーダラーは質素な生活を始めることにした。何人かの王子が彼女に求婚したが、彼女はそれを拒否した。