Taiwanese Nuns and Education Issues in Contemporary Taiwan

In this article, I discuss the Buddhist educational profile of nuns in contemporary Taiwan by introducing the development of monastic education for women. Taiwanese women’s mass ordination created a Buddhist renaissance after postwar Taiwan, a national ordination system based on monastic discipline,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReligions (Basel, Switzerland ) Vol. 13; no. 9; p. 847
Main Author Li, Yu-Chen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022
Subjects
bhikṣuṇīs’ identities
Buddhism
Buddhist nuns
contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism
Curricula
Education of women
Education reform
Evaluation
Females
gender
Leadership
Learning
monastic education
Monks
nuns
Ordination of women
Religion
Social aspects
Students
Study abroad
Training
War
Women college students
Taiwan
China
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Summary:In this article, I discuss the Buddhist educational profile of nuns in contemporary Taiwan by introducing the development of monastic education for women. Taiwanese women’s mass ordination created a Buddhist renaissance after postwar Taiwan, a national ordination system based on monastic discipline, as well as the revival of monastic education. Both ordination and monastic education are very strong institutional settings for women’s monastic identity. Its findings, firstly, shed light on how the increased opportunities for women’s education in Taiwanese Buddhism have continuously attracted young female university students. Secondly, these so-called scholarly nuns come to Buddhist academies as students and eventually become instructors. These scholarly nuns elevate the standards of their Buddhist academies and use their original academic specializations to expand the educational curriculum of their school. The role of scholarly nuns in contemporary Taiwan exemplifies that Buddhism provides educational resources for women, as educational resources enhance women’s engagement in Buddhism.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel13090847