Ayya

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

Ayya is a Pali term, translated as "honourable" or "worthy."<ref name="ayya_def"> It is most commonly used as a veneration in addressing or referring to an ordained female Buddhist monk, most often of the Theravadan tradition in southeast Asia. It is sometimes mistaken as equivalent to Christian use of the word, "sister." Ayya can refer to either a bhikkhuni (fully-ordained and usually wearing orange or yellow robes in southeast Asia) or a samaneri (shramanerika) ten-precept novice renunciant or a sikkhamana (wearing white, brown or sometimes pink), but not to non-ordained precept-holders.

Generally for bhikkhunis, robes would be maroon with yellow in Tibet; gray (for Mahayanans) or orange/yellow (for Theravadans) in Vietnam; gray in Korea; gray or black in China and Taiwan; black in Japan; orange or yellow in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia and Burma. The colour of robes distinguishes both level of ordination and tradition, with white (usually worn by a male renunciant before ordination) or pink symbolising a state of ambiguity, being on the threshold of a decision, no longer secular and not yet monastic. A key exception to this is in the countries where women are not allowed to wear robes that signify full ordination, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and (Theravadans in) Vietnam. So, the majority of Ayyas wear orange/yellow or white/pink. <ref name="buddh_robes">

There are very few fully-ordained, bhikkhuni Ayyas in the 21st century because, over the previous 1,000 years, the Theravadan nuns' lineage was lost in most of southeast Asia. The lineage was reinstated in 1996 at Sarnath, India, by a quorum of Theravada monks and Korean nuns.<ref name="ordina_proc"></ref> Eleven Sinhalese dasa sil mata nuns took full bhikkhuni ordaination in that ceremony, reviving the Theravada Bhikkhuni Order after 980 years of decline and dissipation. Theravadan ordination is available for women (as of 2006) in Sri Lanka, where many of the current bhikkhunis have been ordained. In Thailand, where it is illegal for women to take ordination, nearly all female monastics are known as mae chees (also spelled "Mae ji)," regardless of their level of attainment.

See also

• Henepola Gunaratana
• Ratanansara
• Ayya Tataaloka
• Sucinta
• Sudhamma