There are several hundred nuns and monks ordained in the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). They are authentic Buddhist ordained practitioners who try to show a good and practical example of service, celibacy, and humility for our modern world.
NKT nuns and monks practice everything that a fully ordained nun or monk practice, minus the cultural rules that make benefiting others in the West in these modern times really hard, if not impossible. For example, according to the Vinaya, it is an offence for a monk to touch his mother out of affection. This would be completely unacceptable in Western culture and would lead people to think that Buddhism has nothing to do with normal life. Another example is a vow that states that monks and nuns cannot handle money. This is completely impractical when it comes to running a Dharma Center or operating in daily life. It would put many restrictions on the activities of an ordained person living in the West. Also, if Western Dharma teachers had to wait for lay people to feed them they would die of starvation! It is not part of Western culture for people to beg, but it is part of Western culture for people to work and support themselves. Nowadays, most Western monks and nuns are not living in actual monasteries, but are out and about in their communities helping living beings.
And how are monks and nuns supposed to understand and keep vows such as the following in this modern day?
Not to bathe more frequently than once a fortnight when residing in the middle Ganges Valley, except on certain occasions.
Not to teach Dharma to a person wearing sandals, unless he is sick.
In case a Bhikkhu should get some goats’ wool whilst he is on a journey, let him accept it, if he likes; and when he has accepted it, he may carry it in his own hand, if there are no porters, for the distance of three leagues. Should he carry it further than that, even if there are no porters — that is a Pâkittiya offence involving forfeiture.
Buddha Shakyamuni himself said that the Vinaya rules for Buddhist monks and nuns should be practiced in accordance with what is most acceptable for society, and NKT monks and nuns follow this advice.
Also, please check the comments below for a useful resource identifying the precedents of Kadampa ordination vows within the teachings of various Tibetan lineages.
I received ordination from Venerable Geshe-la nearly 20 years ago, and I am so happy to have this set of vows. It is so practical and spiritually beneficial at the same time.
NKT ordination vows are
– broad (covering all aspects of my life) and
– flexible enough for modern life,
– and at the same time, powerfully focused on the highest spiritual goals in Buddhism – attaining liberation and enlightenment.
Keeping the 10 commitments of NKT ordination is such a joyful practice, and it fits fine with modern life – work and family.
I suppose to my family, I’m a bit more boring now because I don’t drink, and I’m not going to produce any grand-kids for my parents. But otherwise, I can still vacation with them, see them at Christmas, etc. I’ve even been to Christmas mass a few times with my family. I think that they are happy with my ordination, and have some appreciation for what I do.
Of late I have been reading some of the Facebook posts of a very sweet, sincere, and dedicated practitioner called Ngawang Chodron. She got ordained as a nun several months ago in a Tibetan monastery in Nepal and shares her journey and observations. Her root Guru is Venerable Geshe-la, but clearly she has strong Tibetan imprints — thus she finds herself in this interesting situation of being a Western nun in a traditionally Tibetan establishment where monks always rule the roost. Ngawang Chodron often explains what life is like for a female monastic in the Tibetan system, and to be honest it doesn’t sound at all easy sometimes, and is certainly not something many people could aspire to or pull off (she may be the exception). Here is what she wrote a few days ago:
“The vinaya was laid down 2500 years ago when there were only Indians praciticing dharma. But nowadays you’ve got an international sangha, so it is no longer a homogeneous group, and with greater heterogeneity comes (I feel) the need to examine the vinaya rules and perhaps adapt them.
The dharma – the same dharma – is taught very differently in the west compared to in the monasteries. westerners are taught to understand the dharma and about how to practice dharma in daily life. As a result, westerners, especially westerners that come out to India and Nepal, often do have a deep understanding of dharma (unlike what some people think). Furthermore, many westerners do study philosophy – I for one study on the nalanda masters course with Geshe Damdul and we study the same texts as in the monastery, so this idea that westerners don’t know dharma is very false. The opposite is true.
Therefore, when you follow the vinaya literally, you end up with illogical situations where for example a child monk, who knows very little about the dharma and probably doesn’t even know their [getsul] precepts, is seen as superior to a female who actually has studied and therefore does have understanding of dharma and their getsul(ma) precepts. You end up with situations where intelligent and learned women with better discipline (because they understand their precepts) are sitting lower than unlearned child monks with poor discipline.
Many of the precepts are not followed literally (it’s the motivation behind, for example handling money, that’s deemed most important) but for some reason the gender aspect of the vinaya is followed literally……I find that interesting as well….I think it’s because it suits the monks to have it like this. they never have to experience this unfair treatment themselves, so it doesn’t get questioned and never changes.
Nowadays we have a much more international sangha, even in India and Nepal, so like many other precepts that are not followed literally, I think the seating arrangement in particular, where the monks are always sitting ahead of the nuns, also needs to be adapted. This is just my opinion.”
I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing this. I feel she won’t mind as she is very happy to share her observations widely and frequently.
I found this post interesting in the light of this response about NKT ordination because adapting the Vinaya without losing its meaning is exactly what Venerable Geshe-la has done, and it is working very well. There is no discrimination against nuns and the NKT Sangha are able to live in modern society, practice Dharma, and help others, all without breaking their vows.
This is a useful resource identifying the precedents of Kadampa ordination vows within the teachings of various Tibetan lineages: http://www.lifetheory.org/a-festival-of-attainments.pdf