Networks and bridges: Nuns in the making of modern Chinese Buddhism

Buddhist women have been building modern Chinese Buddhism for over a century and have been instrumental in the globalization of Buddhism. This article focuses on how Chinese Buddhist nuns constructed new networks, and their role as “bridges” between eras, people, institutions, and regions in modern times. The first section contextualizes the “Buddhist Revival” in turn-of-the-century China, and highlights the reforms of Buddhist modernizer Taixu regarding Chinese Buddhist women, particularly in the field of education. The second section discusses several networks of Buddhist women spanning a time-period from the late nineteenth century to the present, including those of two eminent nuns, Longlian and Tongyuan. I also discuss some reasons for the evolution of Taiwan’s flourishing order of nuns and highlight networks of Taiwan nuns connecting Taiwan, China, Japan, and Hong Kong. The mission of these nuns past and present has been education, the key to the development of the nuns’ order and to the flourishing of Chinese Buddhism today.