Venerable Yifa has been a nun at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan since 1979. She received her Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale University in 1996. She has been provost at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist College and dean at Hsi Lai University in California and Taiwan. She is the author of The Origin of Buddhist Monastic Code in Song China and a contributor to Benedict’s Dharma: Buddhists Reflect on the Rule of St. Benedict. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Like all other world religions, Buddhism has had its share of controversies regarding women’s roles. Yifa, a Chinese Buddhist nun, looks at the role of women in early Buddhism, appraises the controversial "eight rules" that women have to obey in order to become Buddhist nuns and examines the social conditions of women throughout the Buddhist world. Yifa concentrates on the still largely unknown Chinese tradition, bringing to light new insights into this important strand of Buddhist culture and the women who were embedded in it. Using her twenty-year experience as a Buddhist nun, Yifa reveals the opportunities and challenges that await any woman who seeks to become a Buddhist, and in so doing uncovers the heart of the spiritual calling.
