Ajahn Brahm throws the fox between the hens: Bikkhuni ordination

Ajahn Brahmavamso (or known as Ajahn Brahm) is abbot of the Bodhinyana Forest Monastery near Perth in Western Australia. He is also the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of W.A, the Spiritual Advisor to the Buddhist Society of Victoria, and the Spiritual Director of the Cittabhavana Buddhist Hermitage in Bundanoon, N.S.W.
However, Ahajn Brahm has his Buddhist roots in Thailand: he was ordained in Bangkok at the age of 23 by the Abbot of Wat Saket and spent subsequently 9 years studying and training in the forest meditation tradition of the revered Venerable Ajahn Chah.
As such, Ajahn Brahm is very well respected not only in western Buddhist circles, but also here in Thailand.

Now, in a page-long interview in todays Bangkok Post, Ajahn Brahm has thrown the fox between the hens -- at least here in Thailand. The interview was about Bikkhuni ordination.
Not only did Ajahn Brahm state that the Vinaya does allow for the ordination of Buddhist full nuns, but as there are existing and valid Mahayana lineages tracing back to their Theravadan origins, the Bikkhuni lines never really died completely out.
Reading between the lines he makes an even stronger point: that the Buddha himself created a lineage of nuns must mean that he intended women to have the full support of the Sangha -- and that it would be the compassionate thing to ordain women who wish to spread the Dhamma and spiritual enlightenment.

As especially the Thai Sangha has been vehemently against women's ordination (and enacted a law against it in 1924) they come out of this argument as outdated and uncompassionate.

The full interview on bikkhuni.net.
Discussion in the Thai Visa Buddhism Forum.


Ajahn Brahm on the Bhikkhuni Question (Excerpt)

Q.: It is widely believed that in the Theravada tradition, there is no longer any way to perform valid bhikkhuni ordinations according to the Vinaya. It is said that ordinations need to be performed by a “dual-sangha” of both bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, and as the Theravada bhikkhuni sangha had “died out” in Sri Lanka many centuries ago, this is no longer possible. Hundreds of bhikkhunis, including many Thais, have been ordained since the Theravada bhikkhuni order was restored [in Sri Lanka in the late 1990’s using Mahayana bhikkhunis], but they are mostly seen in Thailand as not being legitimate Theravada bhikkhunis. What do you think of this view?

Ajahn Brahm: That is a myth. In Thailand , we spend too much of our time believing in our teachers, believing in accepted wisdom rather than investigating and challenging. So sometimes it takes Western monks outside of Asia to question and investigate. Even with wisdom that has been accepted for years, to challenge it if there is reason to do so.
I thought too when I was a young monk in Thailand that the problem was a legal problem, that the bhikkhuni order couldn’t be revived. But having investigated and studied, I’ve found out that many of the obstacles we thought were there aren’t there at all. Someone like [a respected Theravada scholar-monk] has researched the Bhikkhu BodhiPali Vinaya and his paper is one of the most eloquent I’ve seen – fair, balanced, comes out on the side of “It’s possible, why don’t we do this?”
One of the biggest myths is that bhikkhunis under the Mahayana tradition is somehow separated from the Theravada. But the truth of the matter is, there is no such thing as a Mahayana Vinaya. In all the Mahayana schools whether in Tibet , China , Korea , or Vietnam , they follow mostly a Dharmagupta Vinaya. Dharmagupta is one of the Theravada sects. They follow a Theravada Vinaya. If you actually studied that Vinaya and read it, you’d find out how similar it is to the Vinaya that’s practiced – or should be practiced – here in Thailand.