< Issue No. 6 (2010)Article
The First Ten-Precept Nun of Sri Lanka and the Burmese Thila-Shin Connection
Kusuma, Bhikkhuni, Sri Jayawardhena- pura University
Abstract
The Bhikkhuni Order was introduced to Sri Lanka in the 3rd c. BCE, by Arhant Sanghamitta, daughter of King Asoka, and sister of Arhant Mahinda, son, who introduced Buddhism, and the Bhikkhu Order, to Sri Lanka (see Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, # 5 for some details). Queen Anula becoming the first Sinhala Bhikkhuni, the Bhikkhuni Order continued to thrive for fifteen centuries, under benevolent Buddhist rulers, until both the male and the female Orders came to be brought to an end by the Hindu South Indian invaders in the 11th c. (for a treatment see K M, de Silva, 1981, A History of Sri Lanka, Oxford University Press). While the Bhikkhuni Order has now (since late 1990’s) come to be revived, filling the vacuum created by the demise of the Bhikkhuni Order in the 11th c., there had emerged, beginning in the 19th c., a precursor - the Ten-Precept Nuns (dasasil mātā). In this issue, we present the personal story of the very first of them, Sister Sudharmācārī. The genesis of the Dasasil Mātā Community that we see today in Sri Lanka, however, can be traced to the Thila-Shin nuns’ movement in Burma. During the reign of King Mindon (1853-78), there was a resurgence of Buddhism. The Thila-Shin Order arose during this period. Part II is that story.
The material is excerpted with kind permission from The Dasasil Nun (2010) by Bhikkhuni Kusuma, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Cultural Centre.