BKK POST: 980314: SRI LANKA: Women

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BKK POST:  980314
SRI LANKA

Women enter
top rank of
Buddhism

Order revived as 22 women are ordained

Dambulla,Sri Lanka, AFP

Sri Lanka on Thursday marked a landmark in Buddhism, with 22 women being admitted to the religious hierarchy to revive an order of Buddhist nuns after nearly 15 centuries, a top monk said.

The chosen women were ordained as full-fledged Buddhist nuns at a ceremony in this historic northcentral region, better known for its first century BC stone temple and cave paintings.

Monk Inamaluwe Sumangala said they had sent a group of 20 women earlier to Budh Gaya in neighbouring India to be ordained as nuns and they in turn were instrumental in ordaining the 22 women on Thursday.

"Today, men and women are treated equally in all other spheres of life, and we feel that having the order of nuns will ensure that equality among priests, too," monk Sumangala said.

The newly-ordained Buddhist nuns had an all night ceremony here to admit them to the order after chanting stanzas and being blessed by senior monks.  The nuns had their heads shaved and will wear saffron robes and walk barefoot.