More than 2500 years ago, Buddha accepted women to join the Sanga after much persuasion from Ananda. Many nuns became Arahant bhikkhunis or enlightened Buddhist nuns. In the past, I thought Arahants are male only.
You can read more about the Arahant bhikkhunis written by Susan Elbaum Jootla. You can read the Enlightened Nuns here to read more.
The life story of Patacara before she came to the Dhamma, described in considerable detail in the commentary to the Therigatha, is even more dramatic. She lost her entire family, her husband, two small children, parents and brothers in various accidents within a few days. She went insane from the sorrow, but the Buddha’s compassion combined with Patacara’s paramis from the past enabled her to regain her right mind.
When she came into his presence, he taught her to understand how often before she had hopelessly exhausted herself grieving for the dead. She became a stream-enterer (sotapanna), one at the first stage of irreversible progress on the path to liberation, and she was ordained. Later, as she was one day pouring water to wash her feet and watching it trickle away — as life does sooner or later for all beings — her mind became utterly free from clinging. Patacara, like Dhamma, had thoroughly developed seeds of understanding, so a very minor mundane incident at just the right moment cleared her mind of every trace of ignorance.
You can read more about the Arahant bhikkhunis written by Susan Elbaum Jootla. You can read the Enlightened Nuns here to read more.
The life story of Patacara before she came to the Dhamma, described in considerable detail in the commentary to the Therigatha, is even more dramatic. She lost her entire family, her husband, two small children, parents and brothers in various accidents within a few days. She went insane from the sorrow, but the Buddha’s compassion combined with Patacara’s paramis from the past enabled her to regain her right mind.
When she came into his presence, he taught her to understand how often before she had hopelessly exhausted herself grieving for the dead. She became a stream-enterer (sotapanna), one at the first stage of irreversible progress on the path to liberation, and she was ordained. Later, as she was one day pouring water to wash her feet and watching it trickle away — as life does sooner or later for all beings — her mind became utterly free from clinging. Patacara, like Dhamma, had thoroughly developed seeds of understanding, so a very minor mundane incident at just the right moment cleared her mind of every trace of ignorance.
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