Editing Tibetan Buddhism (section)

==== Eastern nuns ====
While monasticism is practiced there by women, it is much less common (2 percent of the population in the 20th century compared to 12 percent of men). Nuns were also much less respected by Tibetan society than monks and may receive less lay support than male monastics.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=211}}

Traditionally, Tibetan Buddhist nuns were also not "fully ordained" as [[bhikkhuni|bhikṣuṇīs]] (who take the full set of monastic vows in the [[Vinaya]]). When Buddhism traveled from India to Tibet, apparently the quorum of bhikṣuṇīs required for bestowing full ordination never reached Tibet.{{sfnp|Tsomo|1999|p=22}}{{efn|Under the Mulasarvastivadin Vinaya, as with the two other extant Vinaya lineages today ([[Theravada]] and [[Dharmaguptaka]]), in order to ordain bhikṣuṇīs, there must be quorums of both bhikṣuṇīs ''and'' bhikṣus; without both, a woman cannot be ordained as a nun ({{bo|t=དགེ་སློང་མ་|s=gélongma}}).}} Despite an absence of ordination there, bhikṣuṇīs did travel to Tibet. A notable example was the Sri Lankan nun [[Candramālī]], whose work with Śrījñāna ({{bo|w=dpal ye shes}}) resulted in the tantric text ''Śrīcandramāla Tantrarāja''.{{efn|{{bo|t=དཔལ་ཟླ་བའི་ཕྲེང་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ}}, {{zh|c=吉祥月鬘本續王}}}}{{sfnp|Tsomo|1999|p=76}}

There are accounts of fully ordained Tibetan women, such as the [[Samding Dorje Phagmo]] (1422–1455), who was once ranked the highest female master and [[tulku]] in Tibet, but very little is known about the exact circumstances of their ordination.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haas |first=Michaela |title=Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West |publisher=Shambhala Publications |year=2013 |isbn=978-1559394079 |page=6}}</ref>

In the modern era, Tibetan Buddhist nuns have taken full ordinations through East Asian Vinaya lineages.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=213}} The Dalai Lama has authorized followers of the Tibetan tradition to be ordained as nuns in traditions that have such ordination.{{efn|According to [[Thubten Chodron]], the current [[Dalai Lama]] has said on this issue:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=30|title=A New Possibility: Introducing Full Ordination for Women into the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition|access-date=28 June 2015|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928185818/http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=30|url-status=dead}}</ref>
#In 2005, the Dalai Lama repeatedly spoke about the bhikṣuṇī ordination in public gatherings. In Dharamsala, he encouraged, "We need to bring this to a conclusion. We Tibetans alone can't decide this. Rather, it should be decided in collaboration with Buddhists from all over the world. Speaking in general terms, were the Buddha to come to this 21st century world, I feel that most likely, seeing the actual situation in the world now, he might change the rules somewhat...."
#Later, in [[Zürich]] during a 2005 conference of Tibetan Buddhist Centers, he said, "Now I think the time has come; we should start a working group or committee" to meet with monks from other Buddhist traditions. Looking at the German bhikṣuṇī [[Jampa Tsedroen]], he instructed, "I prefer that Western Buddhist nuns carry out this work… Go to different places for further research and discuss with senior monks (from various Buddhist countries). I think, first, senior bhikshunis need to correct the monks' way of thinking.
#"This is the 21st century. Everywhere we are talking about equality….Basically Buddhism needs equality. There are some really minor things to remember as a Buddhist—a bhikshu always goes first, then a bhikshuni….The key thing is the restoration of the bhikshuni vow."

[[Alexander Berzin (scholar)|Alexander Berzin]] referred to the Dalai Lama having said on occasion of the 2007 Hamburg congress:
{{blockquote|Sometimes in religion there has been an emphasis on male importance. In Buddhism, however, the highest vows, namely the bhikshu and bhikshuni ones, are equal and entail the same rights. This is the case despite the fact that in some ritual areas, due to social custom, bhikshus go first. But Buddha gave the basic rights equally to both sangha groups. There is no point in discussing whether or not to revive the bhikshuni ordination; the question is merely how to do so properly within the context of the Vinaya.<ref name="StudyBuddhism.com 2">{{Cite web|url=https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/prayers-rituals/vows/conference-report-on-bhikshuni-ordination-lineages/summary-of-speeches-at-the-bhikshuni-congress-day-3|title=Summary of Speeches at the Bhikshuni Congress: Day 3|website=studybuddhism.com}}</ref>}}}} The official lineage of Tibetan Buddhist bhikṣuṇīs recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns, most of them Butanese, were fully ordained.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/tenzin-palmo-womens-ordination/|title=Making the Sangha Whole|first=Vicki|last=Mackenzie|date=22 July 2024|website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review}}</ref><ref>DAMCHÖ DIANA FINNEGAN and CAROLA ROLOFF (BHIKṢUṆĪ JAMPA TSEDROEN). "Women Receive Full Ordination in Bhutan For First Time in Modern History", ''Lion's Roar'', JUNE 27, 2022.</ref>