Re-establishment of the Bhikkuni Sasana(98 Mar 18)
The bhikkuni sasana (order) was re-established recently after about thousand years. As there were no bhikkunis in the Theravada tradition arrangements had to be made to perform the upasampada karma (higher ordination) in India under the direction of bhikkunis from the Mahayana tradition in China.
There had always been opposition to the re-establishment of the bhikkuni sasana as most of the bhikkus including the Mahanayake Theros are of the opinion that the re-establishment of a bhikkuni sasana in the Theravada tradition is against the Vinaya or the discipline that has to be followed. They argue that it is impossible to re-establish a bhikkuni sasana in Sri Lanka, they maintain that it is necessary to have at least five bhikkunis from the Theravada tradition. On the other hand the others claim that what is found in China is not a Mahayana bhikkuni sasana but a Theravada bhikkuni sasana as the bhikkuni sasana in China was established with bhikkunis who went to China from Sri Lanka.
There is no merit in this argument as what is practised in China is not Theravada but Mahayana. Some people may counter this by saying that even in Sri Lanka bhikku sasana there is infiltration from the Mahayana tradition. No tradition is pure and there are borrowings from the other traditions. However there are certain salient features that can be recognised in any tradition and it is not difficult to identify the Sri Lankan bhikku sasana as belonging to the Theravada tradition.
However it is not necessary to go into all these details to see why it is not advisable to re-establish the bhikkuni sasana in Sri Lanka. It is not a question of denying the women the right to become bhikkunis. It is associated with the continuation of the Sinhala Buddhist culture and the very survival of the Sinhala nation.
Who are the people who support the bhikkuni sasana movement? All the NGOs and the Sinhala groups working with the Tamil racists are firmly behind the bhikkuni sasana movement. It has become one of their projects. They know by re-establishing the bhikkuni sasana they can weaken the bhikku sasana. The bhikkus have been the mura devathavun vahanse or the guardians of the Sinhala nation. Even today the government finds the bhikkus to be an obstacle in getting the new constitution, which paves the way for an Eelam, accepted by the parliament. Thus it is in the interest of the Tamil racists and the Western powers to weaken the bhikku sasana. The anti-Sinhala forces had tried to re-establish the bhikkuni sasana over the last few decades. They are now stronger and with the foreign money pumped in they have been successful nominally. However the Sinhala Buddhist people who can see through all these will not accept the bhikkunis at this critical juncture, when the Sinhala nation is under attack from various quarters.