Crossing Borders, Spreading the Dharma: Buddhist Nuns as Transnational Propagators
Abstract:
The transnational spread of Buddhism has often been recounted through the travels of eminent monks, institutional expansion and the migration of Buddhist communities. However, Buddhist nuns have also played a significant — albeit relatively understudied — role in the transmission of Buddhist teachings, practices and institutions across geographical and cultural boundaries.
This presentation examines the role of Buddhist nuns as agents in the transnational spread of Buddhism, highlighting how their religious aspirations, their mobility and their daily practices contribute to the transmission and localisation of Buddhism in new social and cultural environments. Historically, Buddhist nuns were involved from very early on in trans-regional networks for the transmission of the Dharma. Saṅghamittā Therī’s journey from India to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE — during which she brought both the ordination lineage of the *bhikṣuṇī* (nuns) and a cutting from the Bodhi tree — constitutes an important precedent in terms of transnational religious mobility for women.
Centuries later, Sri Lankan *bhikṣuṇī* travelled to China and helped establish a tradition of dual ordination for Chinese Buddhist women. These journeys demonstrate that Buddhist nuns were not merely recipients of Buddhist transmission, but active agents through whom religious lineages, practices and institutions crossed political and cultural boundaries.
Drawing on this historical perspective, this presentation examines the contemporary transnational spread of ‘humanist Buddhism’, paying particular attention to the *bhikṣuṇī* of Fo Guang Shan who are engaged in spreading the Dharma abroad. Their experiences reveal that transnational propagation involves far more than the mere physical transfer of Buddhism from one country to another. By entering linguistic, cultural and religious environments that are foreign to them, these nuns establish temples, develop communities, learn local languages, translate Buddhist teachings, navigate cultural differences and develop new forms of religious practice and social engagement. Their active role as missionaries is evident not only in the formal teaching of the Dharma, but also in the day-to-day work of forging connections, responding to local needs and creating spaces open to the participation of diverse communities.
By highlighting the voices and experiences of Buddhist nuns, this presentation argues that the transnational spread of Buddhism must be understood as a dynamic process shaped by mobility, religious aspirations, cultural negotiation and local interactions. Buddhist nuns are therefore not peripheral actors in the globalisation of Buddhism; they are transnational religious actors who actively create networks, interpret traditions and reshape Buddhism as it takes root in new cultural contexts.
Guest speaker:
Dr Wei-Yi Cheng is an associate professor in the Department of Buddhist Studies at Fo Guang University, Taiwan. She obtained her PhD in Religious Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her research lies at the intersection of Buddhism and gender, contemporary Buddhist culture and transnational Buddhism.
Dr Cheng’s academic work offers a critical and intercultural perspective on contemporary religious practices. Her research focuses in particular on the agency and lived experiences of Buddhist women and members of the clergy, on cross-border religious migration, and on the globalisation of Asian Buddhist traditions; she studies in particular the transnational networks linking Taiwan to Buddhist communities in South-East Asia (Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Myanmar). Furthermore, her work actively addresses contemporary social issues by exploring the interactions between Buddhist traditions and gender roles, debates on marriage equality, and the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people and those living with HIV/AIDS.
Her research has been published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals, such as the *Journal of Global Buddhism*, *Religions*, *Contemporary Buddhism* and the *Journal of Buddhist Ethics*. She has also contributed to key academic works, including *The Oxford Handbook of Lived Buddhism* (Oxford University Press) and *Transnational Religious Spaces* (De Gruyter).
Contact: Antoine Cid View e-mail