In Tibetan and Theravada traditions, there exist only the bhikkhu sangha (the order of fully-ordained monks) but not the bhikkhuni sangha (the order of fully-ordained nuns). The efforts to establish the bhikkhuni sangha have been undertaken by Buddhist feminists in recent years. Such effort has borne fruit in Sri Lanka. In Dambulla, for example, the ordination of bhikkhuni has taken place each year since 1998. It is thus safe to say that the bhikkhuni sangha has eturned to Sri Lanka. This paper is based on the information gathered from my visit to Dambulla Bhikkhuni Sangha in the summer of 2008. It will first discuss the image of bhikkhuni in Sri Lankan textual discourse before moving on to the discussion of the ten-year development of Dambulla Bhikkhuni Sangha.
