Hello Dhamma friends,
Vinaya seems to be a living thing so I’m curious to discuss the way different monasteries and monastics work with the rules of respect which suggest a junior bhikku is senior to a Bhikkhūnī of some years.
It’s something I’ve been asked a bit about lately by laity and to wriggle out of the awkwardness I just answer that it’s open to interpretation.
I can see that it makes some monks uncomfortable too. Having a senior Bhikkhūnī bow to a more junior Bhikkhu.
Are there places where the junior monks will bow to a senior Bhikkhūnī?
I’ve seen certain Californian Bhikkhus say that they choose to not interfere with Bhikkhūnī bussiness. Which I took to infer discomfort in these rules. It seems in other situations too that the more junior Bhikkhus just don’t visit the Bhikkhūnīs, but in some circumstances this is unavoidable and as the Bhikkhūnī sangha regenerates this will increase. It seems like the pink elephant in the room.
I’ve heard lovely tales of Korean Bhikkhūnīs leading the Santi pindapat line in days gone by. This warms my heart.
How is this addressed currently? How can we make this a less awkward thing for the entire 4-fold community in the future?