After his Enlightenment the Buddha taught both men and women and had both male and female followers. He established an order of women, ordaining his aunt Mahapajapati along with 500 women who joined her.

As Buddhism spread throughout Asia, so did the community of women Buddhists. There were orders of bhikkhunis (nuns) in Sri Lanka, China, Burma, Korea and Vietnam. The bhikkhuni order has died out in many of these countries and attempts are currently being made to re-establish it. The bhikkhuni order still thrives in the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese traditions of Buddhism.

The Western Buddhist Order (WBO) was founded by Sangharakshita in Britain in 1968. The Western Buddhist Order is open equally to men and women. It is founded on the assumption that both are capable of following the teachings of the Buddha and attaining Enlightenment. Twelve men and women were initially ordained within the WBO which has now grown to a worldwide movement with over 900 Order members. Around 500 women have asked for ordination within the Order.

The Western Buddhist Order is not a monastic order. Those practising within it have various lifestyles, from celibate meditators to people living with their families in busy cities; from meditation teachers to those embarked on a full-time career. What unites them is that they have made a formal commitment to following the Buddhist path to Enlightenment.

Ordination within the Western Buddhist Order usually takes place after several years of preparation that includes meditation, study and retreats.

At ordination a Buddhist name is bestowed by the preceptor (the person who performs the ordination); this often embodies qualities to aspire towards, such as generosity, compassion, energy or wisdom. The new Order member also takes on a meditation practice in which they visualise a Buddha or another Enlightened figure. At the time of their ordination all Order members undertake to practise a traditional set of ethical precepts. Men and women Order members take the same ten precepts which they practise in their everyday lives.

In 1989 Sangharakshita appointed three senior women Order Members to take on the responsibility for ordaining other women within the WBO. This led to the creation of Tiratanaloka, a retreat centre dedicated to preparing women for ordination. For the last three years longer ordination retreats have been held at Il Convento in Italy.

Ordination: a personal perspective
by Jnanasiddhi - She who has the attainment of knowledge or wisdom

In September 2000 I went to Il Convento in Tuscany to be ordained. I spent six and a half weeks there, now a memory, but one that still affects me. The experience changed me and I will never be the same again. This is not purely because I have a new name, a new spiritual relationship with my preceptor, a new meditation practice. I have had a new experience of myself and of life which I hope I will always be able to contact deep within.

This new experience is hard to describe - words stiffen under my hand and fix the experience, when some of its main characteristics are flexibility, lightness and a jewel-like multifacetedness. In many ways it is like any good retreat experience but lengthier- the sense of harmony, calm, heightened awareness, and joy. But in other ways it is qualitatively different. It is long enough to become your life - at least for that time. It is deep enough to let go of your old self and spacious enough not to rush into a new one.

People say that memories of childhood are as though it were always summer. Memories of my time in Tuscany are that it was always wide-open blue, without and within. Space enough for my heart and mind to forget their habitual limits and grow. Like a seedling getting a good start with nourishing conditions, I was fortunate enough to have Il Convento to begin the growth that I hope will occur in the rest of my life in the Order.

The beauty and profound restfulness that comes with prolonged shared silence; the honesty and open-heartedness of people when they did speak; the beauty of shrines and stupas, songs and chants set in the collective devotion of twenty seven women stay with me and form a reservoir of memories to dip into.

My private ordination was the most important day of my life so far and needed and deserved the mythic setting and open space that Il Convento provided. Rich ornamentation or luxurious splendour would have been out of place for the simple yet beautiful ceremony where I became a daughter of the Buddha; but bare stone walls and crumbling cloister, in a country not my own, seemed fitting and right.

From the Lion Terrace of Il Convento you can see the village of Batignano, hear the hunting dogs of the neighbouring estate and feel the world held at bay. Would I, if I could, have magically transported Il Convento to a more remote spot and extended the weeks I spent there? I would. But now, looking back, I am just enormously grateful for the opportunity I had and for the magic of Il Convento and ordination.