Women Under the Bo Tree

Women under the bo tree examines the tradition of female world-renunciation in Buddhist Sri Lanka. The study is textual, historical, and anthropological, and links ancient tradition with contemporary practice. Tessa Bartholomeusz utilizes data based on her field experiences in many contemporary cloisters: the history of the re-emergence of Buddhist female renouncers in the late nineteenth century after a hiatus of several hundred years; the reasons why women renounce; the variety of expressions of female world-renunciation; and, above all, attitudes about women and monasticism that have either prohibited women from renouncing or have encouraged them to do so. One of the most striking discoveries of the study is that the fortunes of Buddhist female renouncers is tied to the fortunes of Buddhism in Sri Lanka more generally, and to perceived notions of Sri Lanka as the caretaker of Buddhism.

Preface; Acknowledgments; Notes on pronunciation; Dramatis personae; Part I; Introduction: The tradition of Buddhist female renunciation in Sri Lanka; 1. The ancient order of nuns in Sri Lanka; 2. Nineteenth century Ceylon: the emergence of the lay nun; 3. Theosophists, educators and nuns; 4. The Sanghamitta Sisterhood; Part II; 5. The Institutionalisation of tradition; 6. The lay nun in transitional Ceylon; 7. The Dasa Sil Mata in contemporary Sri Lanka; 8. Novitiates, western lay nuns, and cave dwellers; 9. The Sri Lankan Bhikkhuni Sangha: trends and reflections; Epilogue: Women under the bo tree; Appendices; Notes; Bibliographies; Index.