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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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IATHPublished by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003 by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia