Colombo,March 13, 2020: News that Buddhist nuns have been denied identity documents in Sri Lanka made world headlines recently, exposing a complex reality that reflects unequal gender dynamics in monastic life.
“The media has distorted the whole issue,” Buddhist preacher Rajitha Viduransi told Arab News, referring to a December report by the BBC in which Bhikkunis, or Buddhist nuns, narrated the challenges that they face in obtaining their official identity.
For laymen and laywoman, Viduransi explained, national identity cards are issued by the Department for Registration of Persons. For Buddhist monks and nuns the documents are produced by the Department of Buddhist Affairs, which is directly under the prime minister, reflecting the special status the majority religion holds in Sri Lankan society.
Once they enter a Buddhist order, future monks or nuns have to renounce their national identity and will have their identification documents replaced by special cards that carry the name of a recognized prelate who ordained them. And that is where the problem starts.
Despite numbers of prominent Bhikkunis in the country, who have served for decades in monasteries, not a single one has the right to confer holy orders on novices, Viduransi said. While the Department of Buddhist Affairs is unable to issue the special identity cards without an ordinance, male clergy have been reluctant to authorize the service and lineage of Lankan nuns.
The lineage is special and started with that of monks in the third century BCE. According to tradition, the ordination lineages of both monks and nuns arrived on the island from India, with King Ashoka’s son, Mahinda, and daughter, Sanghamitta.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1640791/world