Selected translations and analysis of "Further biographies of nuns"

Abstract

‘Further Biographies of Nuns’ was compiled by Master Zhenhua (1908 -1947) in the 1940s and presents the biographies of 200 Buddhist nuns from the Liang Dynasty (502-557) to the Republic of China (1912-1949). This thesis presents the translation of twelve biographies from ‘Further Biographies of Nuns.’ Though the Buddhist monks of China have been a source for many biographies and studies by both Asian and Western scholars throughout history, Chinese Buddhist nuns have received little attention. Zhenhua’s compilation is the sequel of ‘Biographies of Nuns’ by Master Baochang (ca. 466-?), collected nearly 1500 years before. It is not known why it took so long for a sequel on the lives of nuns to be written, especially considering how the lives of monks were elaborated in several compilations throughout Chinese history. However, it might be because the lives of nuns where considered less interesting and noteworthy than those of monks. This thesis shows that many nuns were of comparable importance and influence as the great monks, as in the translated biographies presented here there are examples of nuns who became greatly respected and influential teachers, lecturing other nuns, large congregations of lay people, and monks on the sūtras. Many of the nuns presented here were considered very eloquent and witty, and there is even an example of a nun—one of many—who held great influence over an Empress Dowager in the Yuan Dynasty.