Damming the Dhamma: Problems with Bhikkhunīs in the Pali Vinaya

The article develops its argument by reading the Pāli Vinaya as a coherent narrative system with a beginning, middle, and end, framed by the Buddha’s enlightenment, teaching career, and final passing away. Blackstone first examines how the Vinaya transfers the Buddha’s authority to the saṅgha as a corporate body, emphasizing the ideals of purity, separation from worldly defilement, and hierarchical order. She then analyzes the role of monastic rules, ordination procedures, uposatha rituals, and communal boundaries as mechanisms for preserving the integrity of the saṅgha. Against this background, the story of Mahāpajāpatī’s request for ordination becomes a critical case: women’s entry into the order is depicted not merely as a social issue but as a symbolic rupture in the masculine structure of monastic authority. The article concludes that the garudhammas function within the Vinaya narrative as a disciplinary and institutional mechanism to contain this rupture and preserve the saṅgha’s imagined purity and hierarchy.