Modern Revival And Its Contested Reception

Beginning particularly in the late twentieth century, a modern movement to revive full bhikkhuni ordination within Theravada Buddhism gained momentum, most consequentially through ordinations performed in Sri Lanka from 1998 onward using bhikkhunis from the continuously unbroken Mahayana lineage, alongside Theravada bhikkhus, to satisfy the Vinaya's quorum requirements for a valid ordination, an approach its supporters argue is a legitimate cross-lineage restoration and its critics, including several national Theravada monastic authorities, argue cannot validly restore a lineage that Theravada Vinaya specifically requires to descend from Theravada ordination.

Thailand's Sangha Supreme Council has not formally recognized these revived ordinations, and Thai law has historically restricted the ordination of women as bhikkhunis within the country, while Sri Lanka has seen much broader acceptance, with several thousand ordained bhikkhunis now active there; Myanmar and other Theravada countries fall at various points along this same spectrum of official recognition and practical toleration. The dispute remains unresolved as a matter of institutional Theravada authority even as the number of ordained Theravada bhikkhunis worldwide, and their monasteries, teaching activity and lay following, has grown steadily since the revival began.