These papers were presented at a panel, organized by us and chaired by Liz Wilson, on ‘Women’s Leadership and Monastic Organizations in Theravāda Buddhist Traditions’, at the 2008 American Academy of Religion meeting, Chicago. Here, we bring together articles that examine the roots of the teachings on nuns in Pāli literature with others which investigate issues relating to contemporary Theravāda nuns, as well as an analysis of relevant debates in ancient China. The objective of these papers is to contribute to discussion of the multiple ways in which professionally celibate women are represented, organized and empowered in the textual and contemporary traditions of Pāli and Theravāda Buddhism, to study how representations of female monasticism are related to organizational structures of leadership and agency, and explore how debates over the need for ‘dual ordination’ have occurred in traditions other than the Theravāda.
