Lankan Bhikkhunī to visit Canada to highlight 1,600-year Buddhist women’s legacy

Ayya Aloka Therī Bhikkhunī, a fully ordained Buddhist nun and senior preceptor with more than a decade of monastic leadership, will visit Canada in October to meet leaders on Parliament Hill and engage with Buddhist communities in Ottawa and Toronto.

The visit, organised by Buddhist Heritage Month and Buddhist Embassy Canada, will highlight the historical contribution of Buddhist women’s monastic leadership and the continuing role of the Bhikkhunī Sangha in contemporary society.

The programme will commemorate the legacy of Sri Lankan Bhikkhunī Devasārā Therī, who travelled to China in the early fifth century. Historical sources record that in 433 CE she led a delegation to Nanjing, where Sri Lankan and Chinese monastics conducted the dual ordination of more than 300 Chinese women.

The event, documented in the Biqiuni Zhuan, is widely regarded as the foundation of the Chinese Bhikkhunī lineage.

Organisers said the Canadian visit, more than 1,600 years after Devasārā Therī’s journey to China, represents a continuation of the tradition of Buddhist women’s spiritual leadership and its contribution to cultural, religious and interfaith life.

“This 1,600-year legacy of Bhikkhunī Devasārā is a shared inheritance of humanity,” said Visita Sirin Leelaratna, founder of Buddhist Embassy Canada. (pictured)

“Recognising the Bhikkhunī Sangha strengthens inclusivity, historical continuity and the values of compassion, wisdom and service across Canadian society,” Leelaratna said.

The programme forms part of the Wisdom in Motion campaign and coincides with UNESCO’s International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on October 17, observed under the 2003 UNESCO Convention.

Canada observes Women’s History Month in October, providing an additional context for the programme, which seeks to highlight the historical and contemporary contributions of Buddhist women.

Leelaratna said institutions needed to respond to the growing spiritual and pastoral needs of women amid demographic changes.

He added that greater recognition of the Bhikkhunī Sangha would contribute to Canada’s multicultural and interfaith landscape while strengthening awareness of the historical continuity of Buddhist women’s monastic traditions.