Buddhists Plan to Revive Order of Nuns

Leading U.S. Buddhist monks with religious roots in Sri Lanka, Thailand and other South Asian countries will take the first step Sunday in Los Angeles toward restoring a long-dormant order of nuns by ordaining a Massachusetts woman as a novice.

Orders of nuns have been ordained in the northern Asian countries of Mahayana Buddhism since the practice was transmitted through China around the 4th century. But by the 12th century all evidence of the bikhshuni order of nuns had disappeared from records in the southern countries in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

But American-based Buddhists have been hoping to restore opportunities for women in the Theravadan tradition to lead celibate, dedicated lives as nuns.

“We are taking a bold step, because it is a very controversial issue in Sri Lanka and Thailand,” said the Venerable Havanpola Ratanasara, who heads the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California. He expressed optimism that Theravadan Buddhists in Asia eventually will accept the ordinations in this country as valid.

The candidate is Prem Suksawat of West Roxbury, Mass., who grew up in Thailand and who holds a doctorate in education from Boston University and has pursued postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School. She has been working as a school psychologist in Massachusetts.

She will move to Los Angeles for a training period that may last “two years or so” before full ordination, according to Ratanasara, who will preside over Sunday’s 9 a.m. ordination ceremony at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, 1847 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles. The rites will occur during a full day of Vesak--Buddha’s birthday--events. (213) 737-5084.

“This is a monumental event in our history as Buddhists,” said the Venerable Walpola Piyananda, who will grant the samaneri, or first step, ordination.

“The time has come for women to once again receive full ordination, and it will be of great benefit to society,” said Piyananda, who likened their efforts to those of “a Buddhist Johnny Appleseed.”

The weekend novice ordination will be at least the second try to reestablish a Theravadan precedent in the United States. A young Thai woman, who took the religious name Dhammamitta, was ordained in the late 1980s in Los Angeles, but had “to give up the robe” because of pressing family matters in Thailand, Ratanasara said.

“However, she is back in Los Angeles and tells me she wants to resume her study and practice toward full ordination,” Ratanasara said. The monk, a native of Sri Lanka, said there “is no hard and fast rule as to length of time before full ordination. We do the training with great care and under a teacher’s guidance.”

THEOLOGY

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Theologian Virgilio Elizondo of the Mexican American Center in San Antonio will discuss issues involving the U.S.-Mexico border in a lecture open to the public at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the University of San Diego. Elizondo, called the “father of U.S. Latino theology,” will speak on “Transformation of the Borders: Border Separation or New Humanity?” during the weekend meeting of the College Theology Society, a nationwide professional group of Catholic scholars. The talk will be in the university’s Shiley Theater. Admission $5. (619) 260-4053.

* Theological works by two Fuller Theological Seminary faculty members were among the top 10 winners in the annual book contest run by the evangelical Christianity Today magazine. Miroslav Volf tied for sixth place with “Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation” (Abingdon). Nancey Murphy tied for eighth place with “Beyond Liberalism & Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda” (Trinity Press International).

DATES

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Science, God and the kabbalah, the Jewish mystical system dating from the Middle Ages, will be discussed next weekend by a scholar in residence at Stephen S. Wise Temple in the Sepulveda Pass off Mulholland Drive. Daniel Matt, professor of Jewish spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, will speak at 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. next Saturday. Actor Ed Asner will give a reading during Matt’s closing talk at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. (310) 476-8561.

* Jewish spirituality from female perspectives will be presented by three women scholars at a Wednesday night forum at UCLA Hillel, 900 Hilgard Ave. The speakers are author-lecturer Tamar Frankiel, Rabbi Judith HaLevy of the Malibu Jewish Community Center and Rabbi Debra Orenstein of the University of Judaism. $12 at the door. (310) 208-3081.

* USC’s School of Music and the Westwood Presbyterian Church will present a variety of cantatas, spirituals and 20th century hymns in “Baroque and Back,” a concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the church, 10822 Wilshire Blvd. (310) 474-4535.

* The African Children’s Choir, composed of children 12 and under from East Africa, will continue a series through Southern California with a concert at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, (714) 220-5220. The group will also perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Glenkirk Presbyterian Church, 1700 E. Palopinto Ave., Glendora, (818) 914-4833, and at 7 p.m. Friday at Alhambra First Baptist Church, 101 S. Atlantic Blvd. (818) 570-1511.

FINALLY

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Lutheran heritage, including the Reformation break of Protestant leader Martin Luther from Catholicism, is the theme of the Southern California (West) Synod assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is meeting next week at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel.

Delegates will travel by buses to nearby Loyola Marymount University for the assembly’s opening worship service Thursday in the large chapel at the Catholic school.

Lutheran Bishop Paul Egertson of Los Angeles will preside over the 7:30 p.m. service, with the Rt. Rev. Chester Talton, the assistant bishop of the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese, giving the sermon.

The ecumenical service was designed to encourage Lutheran-Catholic-Episcopal cooperation at the parish level in addition to the formal relations established a few years ago by Los Angeles bishops of those church bodies, a spokeswoman said.

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People

One of Hollywood’s successful TV sitcom creator-producers will give the commencement address this morning at Biola University.

Michael Warren, the co-executive producer of “Family Matters” and “Step by Step,” will talk to 323 undergraduate and 124 graduate students receiving degrees in the 9 a.m. ceremonieson the Metzer Lawn at the evangelical campus in La Mirada. Honorary degrees will be given to New Tribe Missions founder Bob Williams and missionary Georalyn Wilkinson of Far East Broadcasting Co.

Warren, a speaker at Biola’s “Christian Impacting Media” seminars for the last two years, has teamed up with William Bickley since the early 1980s, when they wrote scripts for “Happy Days” and “The Love Boat,” among other shows.

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