[Buddha-l] women & , er, religion

[Dan Lusthaus]

MIchael Paris wrote:
> I'm not aware that there are fully ordained Tibetan nuns, at least
[...]
> I'm also not aware of female Zen temple heads in Japan, nor female Shin
> ministers. There may be, but I've never know of any. Does anyone?

The two countries with fully ordained women are Korea and Taiwan. There have
been discussions over the years by the Dalai Lama and others with the
Taiwanese orders to kickstart full ordination for Tibetan nuns, but that so
far has mostly remained talk.

In Japan, starting in earnest in the late 19th c., so-called "New Religions"
began to sprout up, many begun and led by women. The traditional orders,
despite the admiring press they typically receive in the West, remain deeply
conservative in most things, including politics and gender issues. If Jamie
Hubbard is around, he can maybe say something more informative about women
and the new religions, etc.

Dan