Women under the Bo Tree_ Buddhist nuns in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Preface page ; Acknowledgments ; Motes on pronunciation ; Dramatis personae ; PART I; Introduction: The tradition of Buddhist female; renunciation in Sri Lanka ; 1 The ancient order of nuns in Sri Lanka ; 2 Nineteenth-century Ceylon: the emergence of the lay nun ; 3 Theosophists, educators, and nuns ; 4 The Sanghamitta Sisterhood ; PART II; 5 The institutionalization of tradition: the early twentieth century and the lay nun ; 6 The lay nun in transitional Ceylon ; 7 The dasa sil mata in contemporary Sri Lanka ; 8 Novitiates, western lay nuns, and cave dwellers ; 9 The Sri Lankan Bhikkhum Sarigha: trends and reflections ; Epilogue: Women under the Bo tree ; Appendices ; Notes ; Select bibliographies ; Index and glossary ;