Contemporary Pedagogy of Chinese Bhikṣuṇī's Education in Taiwan: A Case Study of the Luminary International Buddhist Society (Bhikṣuṇī Saṃgha)

As an unbroken fully-ordained Buddhist nun’s lineage since the fifth century, Chinese bhiksuni is not only continuing but also thriving throughout Chinese Buddhism’s history. It is shown in the considerable quantity of bhiksuni’s sangha members and the outstanding quality of their achievements. These accomplishments of Chinese bhiksunis reflect their fruitful education systems. In fact, education is one of the critical factors in the prosperity of Chinese bhiksuni. 

Among its prosperous status, Chinese bhiksuni in Taiwan serves an exceptional case, which is called the “nun’s miracle” by scholars. Constructing more than three-quarters of the Taiwanese monastic population and being generally well-educated, bhiksunis lead prominent roles in Taiwanese Buddhism. They are active in a great variety of careers, such as preaching the Buddhadharma, leading Buddhist practices, establishing bhiksuni systems, promoting life education in society, engaging in philanthropies and social services, and devoting themselves to hospice spiritual care and environment protection. 

With a conducive environment and versatile characteristics, the Taiwanese bhiksuni is called the “Infinite Sky of Bhiksunis比丘尼的天空.” The infinite sky denotes both the praise for and the goal of achieving Buddhist nuns’ unlimited possibility and unbounded capacity, both in Buddhism and society. They take up the role of torchbearers of Buddha’s teachings, not only illuminating themselves by practicing Buddha’s teachings personally but also illuminating others by propagating and actualizing the teachings in society. The key path to this sky is, again, education.

This paper aims to investigate contemporary Chinese bhiksuni education in Taiwan by taking a representative Bhiksuni Sangha community, the Luminary International Buddhist Society香光尼僧團(LIBS), as a case study with two questions: 1. What is the pedagogy of Chinese bhiksuni education in the contemporary global era to educate a qualified and capable bhiksuni? 2. What are the outcomes of bhiksuni education, i.e., how does bhiksuni education influence bhiksunis’ life-long practice in Buddhism and life-long dedication in society? 

By adopting a critical and interpretive methodology, this paper examines the questions by consulting LIBS’s archives, curriculums, and publications and conducting interviews (32 interviewees with monastic age from 5 to 40 years) and participant observations (almost 20 years) at LIBS. Based on the case study, this paper mirrors the general conditions of contemporary Chinese bhiksuni education in Taiwan and will envision the future trajectory and contribution of Chinese bhiksuni education. 

The Luminary International Buddhist Society香光尼僧團(LIBS) is a representative bhikṣuṇī sangha in Taiwan. As a medium-size sangha community purely consisting of female monastics, LIBS receives general recognition from Chinese Buddhist and academic circles on account of three aspects: 1) highly educated bhikṣuṇī members, 2) reputable educational dedications for both bhikṣuṇīs and lay practitioners, 3) well-organized and modernized professional sangha system.

Founded by Bhiksuni Master Wuyin悟因長老尼 in 1980, LIBS has ordained more than 150 bhikṣuṇīs and developed one bhikṣuṇī' seminary, seven branch temples, two publishers, and one Gaya foundation with educational and charitable centers. With deep care and firm respect for female monastics, Master Wuyin leads LIBS to prioritize bhiksuni education as LIBS’s primary committed mission. This mission aims to equip bhiksunis with the competence to take on the roles and responsibilities as torchbearers in Buddhism and religious professionals in society, thereby envisioning and creating a “bhiksuni’s infinite sky”, which signifies expanding the opportunities for and horizons of the development and contributions of bhiksunis.

“Bhiksuni’s Infinite Sky” soundly portrays Master Wuyin’s vision of bhiksuni education and its implementation. With the goal of cultivating competent Buddhist monastics佛教僧伽 and religious professionals宗教師, Wuyin leads LIBS to offer nuns a four-year fundamental education through a bhiksuni seminary (Luminary Buddhist Institute) as the first step in opening the broad sky for nuns’ development. In addition to fundamental education, LIBS provides continuing education as the real sky for nuns to practice flying, solidify their competence, and expand their horizons. LIBS’s continuing education, apart from offering formal and non-formal learning opportunities, largely focuses on learning through duties within LIBS’s three major missions: education, culture, and social services, as well as at its branch temples and organizations.

In order to investigate the pedagogies of LIBS's bhikṣuṇī education within limited passages, this paper concentrates on her most well-designed and organized education system: the Five Doors of Bhikṣuṇī Education五門教育. By implementing the Five Doors, the Institute provides holistic bhikṣuṇī education according to its theme, "Fundamental and Personality Education". The five are 1) Comprehending the Buddha-dharma解門, 2) Practicing the Buddha-dharma行門, 3) Performing Monastic Duty執事門, 4) Leading Monastic Life生活門, and 5) Propagating the Buddha-dharma弘護門. Each year's curriculum would cover all five doors with different proportions of emphasis in line with different stages of bhikṣuṇī education.

LIBS’s fundamental and continuing education together not only enables bhiksunis to implement and consolidate what they have learned in fundamental education and to continue pursuing relevant or preferred self-directed learning during real-life practice, but also helps realize Master Wuyin’s vision of life-long monastic learning. She stresses that “modern education emphasizes not just ‘what you know’ but rather ‘what you can do.’ ...Learning continues throughout life; four years at the Bhiksuni seminary serve merely as fundamental education...education is inherently about ‘endless learning,’ and learning is even more needed when it's time to apply it.”