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Becoming a Nun
The biographies record that women entered the
monastic life anywhere from a very young age of five or six to the age of
seventy. Those who took up that life as children would have remained novices
until the proper age for receiving the full obligation, which was ordinarily
age 20. Anyone entering the monastic life also had to have permission from the
person who had authority over her, whether father, husband, or son.
27 On occasion permission
was given by the local governor (no. 54) or even by the Buddha (no. 24).
There were probably as many reasons to become a nun
as there were nuns, but general motives can be identified.
28 Ideally, one joined because of religious
aspirations. One felt a desire to live in an environment within which to
observe the precepts of Buddhism, disciplining oneself in the rigors of convent
life, which provided the best place to cultivate meditation with the hope of
enlightenment. Many nuns certainly followed such hopes into the convent.
For women, however, the convent also provided a
refuge from such vicissitudes of life as unwelcome marriage, flight from war,
homelessness, lack of protection, or frustrated intellectual ambitions.
The most dramatic example, perhaps, of a woman
fleeing marriage is T'an-hui (no. 54), who threatened a spectacular suicide if
forced to marry. The threat of suicide, although by less bizarre means, was a
part of Chinese tradition. The woman of virtue and principle does not shy away
from taking her own life if necessary.
For women who had been left without a family and
without protection during the years of warfare and turmoil, the convent
provided a haven and a refuge, a home and a family. The most poignant case is
that of Fa-sheng (no. 15), who became a nun at age 70: "She still longed for
her old home. Only by delving deep into the mysteries of Buddhism was she able
to leave behind sorrow and forget old age."
Fifty-three of the sixty-five biographies mention
the woman's ability to read and write. Traditional Chinese society did not
encourage literacy among women, and education for girls was ordinarily
restricted to the domestic arts. Therefore, the very high rate of literacy
among our select group of nuns is noteworthy. The biographies suggest that some
women may have gone into the monastic life to be able to follow scholarly
pursuits, a vocation that might otherwise have been denied them. The repeated
claim that a nun was very intelligent is not necessarily mere convention.
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