Committee for Bhikshuni Ordination (CBO)

Activities of the Committee for Bhikshuni Ordination (CBO)

The Committee for Bhikshuni Ordination (CBO) is a committee established at the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2005, whose goal is to make full ordination available to nuns in all Buddhist traditions, especially the Tibetan tradition. Although this goal has the strong support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, heads of various Tibetan traditions, and leading Buddhist masters, the issue is still sufficiently controversial and misunderstood within the Tibetan monastic community and the general Tibetan public that the goal has not yet been accomplished. It is widely recognized that further efforts at education to build consensus are needed.

In August 2010, after careful deliberation, the Committee members unanimously decided to change the Committee’s name from Committee of Western Bhiksunis (CWB) to Committee for Bhikshuni Ordination in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition in order to more clearly explain the goal and main focus of the Committee’s work. The new acronym is CBO.

The CBO is currently undertaking efforts to develop communication materials to act upon the 7/18/2009 recommendation to the CBO by Mr. Gonpo Puntsok of the Department of Religion and Culture in Dharamsala that if the CBO committee could lobby the community of bhikshu masters using reliable vinaya sources and in harmony with vinaya teachings and Buddha Dharma, to bring about a consensus on accepting a method to make bhikshuni ordination available in the Tibetan tradition, it would bring great satisfaction for every party connected to it.

The booklets under development are:

A booklet written for Buddhist nuns practicing in the Tibetan tradition which provides information about the history and contemporary situation of bhiksuni ordination issue.
A booklet that introducing the bhiksuni issue to monks and the general public.
A booklet for Tibetan vinaya scholars on key points of the bhiksuni issue.
A booklet containing the life stories of historically famous bhiksunis
A booklet reprinting Revival of Bhikkuni Ordination in the Theravada Tradition by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Funding Request

Financial Situation (balance 2010):
The Gustav Prietsch Foundation of Hamburg, Germany has generously donated $7000 for the printing of the above materials, which the committee has reserved for this purpose. Other than these funds, the CBO has on hand only $791 for other purposes. During the meeting, the Committee made plans to apply for grants to fund distribution of the booklets.

The committee holds Skype meetings every three months. The next in-person meeting has yet to be scheduled. It depends on financial support. The CBO is seeking sponsors for the next CBO Committee meeting. Meeting sponsors will be gratefully acknowledged in the meeting agenda and minutes, and the nuns who are CWB members will offer special prayers for the meeting sponsors each day during the meeting.

Please help the CBO make progress on this historic effort to make the opportunity for full ordination available for all Buddhist women. You can help by becoming a CBO meeting sponsor.

Generations of women will thank you for helping to make the opportunity for full ordination available to all Buddhist nuns who have devoted their lives to the Dharma for the benefit of all beings.

Please respond to:
Bhikshuni Jampa Tsedroen, Coordinator of the CBO, JampaTsedroen@gmx.de

Donations for the CBO are requested to the Studienstiftung für Buddhismus (Foundation for Buddhist Studies), Hamburg:

    * HypoVereinsbank AG
    * BLZ (sort code) 10020890
    * Account No. 601926695
    * Reference: CWB Donation
    * Swift: HYVEDEMM488
    * IBAN: DE58 1002 0890 0601 9266 95

Reference: Donation for CBO.

Foundation for Buddhist Studies