The Nun's Path, From Sri Lanka to Wisconsin

Last year Judy Franklin of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, was ordained a Theravada nun. Manya A. Brachear tells her story in today's Chicago Tribune.

Franklin, now Bhikkhuni Vimala, and about a dozen other women of the upper Midwest are reviving a nun's lineage that disappeared from Sri Lanka and India many centuries ago. When the original orders of nuns died out in the distant past, conservatives used the rules that called for ordained monks and nuns to be present at nuns’ ordination to prevent the institution of new orders. If there were no ordained nuns, no nuns could be present to ordain future nuns.

Recently the ordination problem has been solved by allowing ordained nuns from other parts of Asia to travel to ordination ceremonies. Twenty-first century women are taking the ancient vows and living by the 331 rules.

Raised a fundamentalist Christian in Texas, Judy Franklin's path took her through several religious traditions before she found Buddhism. The teaching that there are 84,000 truths in the universe, Buddhism being only one, especially appealed to her. She was encouraged to become a nun by her teacher, Sujatha Bhante, who praised her concentration and courage.