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Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2004 72(4):935-953; doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfh084
© 2004 by American Academy of Religion
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Religious Identities of Buddhist Nuns: Training Precepts, Renunciant Attire, and Nomenclature in Theravada Buddhism

Nirmala S. Salgado

Augustana College, Rock Island, IL 61201-2296

The concept of "renunciation" in contemporary Buddhism is a controversial one. This article investigates the ambiguities latent in the religious and social indicators of Buddhist nuns as "householders" or "laity" and "renunciants." I explore these identities in textual, historical, and contemporary contexts with reference to perceptions on training precepts, ascetic attire, and nomenclature. I suggest that Buddhist nuns participate in not one but variant ideals of renunciation that are located in a politics of representation, which both includes them in a community of Buddhist renunciants and distances them from it.


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