Book Description

Amituofo, this work is offered to the Elders in our Bhikshuni Sangha, in this 4 part Bhikshuni Pratimoksa are many commentary sections that are based upon Western viewpoints and living standards. The commentaries are written by a scholar Bhikshuni and an American, she is me, I am Dharma Master Hong Yang the translator of this Pratimoksa and commentator. I will address our Western brothers and sisters concerns as well as our guest Masters who visit us here facing our culture and mix of cultures here. We are told by Buddha to adapt to the conditions of our host country, and for me that is my home country the USA. Reading this work you will see I am not dropping sections nor altering the original text but I am trying to comment on each precept relating to our Western viewpoints more than Eastern viewpoints. Writing Buddhist commentaries has been the realm of men and scholars, rarely do we see any Bhikshuni writing books about Buddhism in the West or in the East and we should have more. Much of what we have about our monastic life in English relies on sourcing from non Mahayana sources for stories and supporting material. I've included some of it for a reference in framework particularly regarding the parajikas. Later when I finish translating some work of the famous Master Dao Xuan a great master who reformed Chinese Buddhism with lengthy commentaries so we can have some reliable sources ourselves instead of snippets. Many of us whether we are East or West are caring about the influences of the Western culture globally and we have to figure out how to adapt our monastic life so we can change along with the global society we have now. It is important not only for those who are from the West but also all of those Bhikshuni living in the West. General readers, you may enjoy learning about our life and may read this to help you understand a bit more about Buddhist culture as we are guided by these Vinaya rules. Understanding how we are guided can be helpful in your relationship to Sangha regarding supporting us in our precepts, even to say: Whew! I am glad I don't have to follow all those rules! Hahaha! There is no fault by this Bhikshuni in providing this text in English and Chinese to the general reader in the act of publishing this material as it's already online in several languages anyway. It would be a minor fault for a Bhikshuni to sit with this text to recite the Pratimoksa ceremony with the general reader or doing so in public. My approach here is one of common sense with a great deal of focus on adapting to the Western culture in the commentaries that is not replacing the precepts but adding to our practice of living here in the West as Sangha and creating awareness of all Dharmagupta Bhikshuni residing here. The Dharmagupta lineage is the oldest lineage in the USA and it came with Chinese Sangha brought over in the push to build our railroads. It is at 161 years old this year the oldest active order within the Mahayana tradition. That makes our Bhikshuni lineage the oldest in the USA. In this commentary each precept is reviewed and commented on when clarity is needed or a cultural difference is pointed out. The goal here is to get you to keep thinking how to adapt to your own culture while keeping your precepts in purity. Dharmagupta is one of the original schools from India, travelling up through Sri Lanka to China (neither Bhikshu nor Bhikshuni Sangha were lost or broken even during the cultural revolution in China which started in the 1940s with persecution of the 1960s to 1980s) then Korea, and Vietnam. It is rare for one to be able to step into the freedom of robes so if you are not holding a Dharmagupta Bhikshuni ordination you can benefit by learning a bit more about the oldest lineage in Buddhism today. We live in the now, not in the was. Offered with respect to the Dharmagupta Bhikshuni in our Saha world today. This text not written for laity, so be kind, no reviews needed.