ABSTRACT
This research set out to examine issues deemed by Western feminists to be significant factors in the welfare of Buddhist nuns. However, the process of this research has led to the emergence of a far more complicated picture of the reality of Buddhist nuns than those issues that have been presupposed or implied by Western feminists to date. Even when the temporal framework is strictly limited (as in the time of my fieldwork), this research finds that the lives of Buddhist nuns could still diverge greatly from one another as a result of the variations in geographical, historical, political, economic, social, denominational, and other contexts. Therefore, the complexity of factors relevant to nuns’ welfare requires both a reassessment of the feminist standpoint that inspired this research, and an ability to take into account a far greater range of generalities and specifics in making any such assessment of Buddhist nuns themselves. The themes present in this reassessment as well as my conclusions are outlined in this chapter.
