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| - According to scripture and legend they have come from Gautama Buddha himself, though modern scholars have shown that this story abounds in textual problems, and cannot possibly be a factual account. The Eight Garudhammas are: (1) A bhikkhuni who has been fully ordained even for more than a century must bow down, rise up from her seat, salute with hands palm-to-palm over her heart, and perform the duties of respect to a bhikkhu even if he has been fully ordained only a day. This rule is to be honored, respected, revered, venerated, never to be transgressed as long as she lives."
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| abstract
| - According to scripture and legend they have come from Gautama Buddha himself, though modern scholars have shown that this story abounds in textual problems, and cannot possibly be a factual account. The Eight Garudhammas are: (1) A bhikkhuni who has been fully ordained even for more than a century must bow down, rise up from her seat, salute with hands palm-to-palm over her heart, and perform the duties of respect to a bhikkhu even if he has been fully ordained only a day. This rule is to be honored, respected, revered, venerated, never to be transgressed as long as she lives." (2)A bhikkhuni must not spend the rains in a residence where there is no bhikkhu... (3) Every half-month a bhikkhuni should request two things from the Bhikkhu Sangha: she should ask for the date of the uposatha day and come for an exhortation... (4) At the end of the Rains-residence, a bhikkhuni should invite (criticism both from) the Bhikkhu Sangha and the Bhikkhuni Sangha on any of three grounds: what they have seen, what they have heard, what they have suspected... (5) A bhikkhuni who has broken any of the vows of respect must undergo penance for half a month under both Sanghas... (6) Only after a probationer has trained in the six precepts for two years should she request ordination from both Sanghas... (7) A bhikkhu must not in any way be insulted or reviled by a bhikkhuni... (8) From this day forward, the admonition of a bhikkhu by a bhikkhuni is forbidden, but the admonition of a bhikkhuni by a bhikkhu is not forbidden. This rule, too, is to be honored, respected, revered, venerated, never to be transgressed as long as she lives. With regard to the first and most onerous of the rules, the Buddha is portrayed as saying that he instituted it due to the expectations of his society. An identical rule is found in Jainism. These rules were instituted, whether by the Buddha himself or other members of the early sangha, to fulfill certain requirements put on them by society. Monks and nuns had to be sufficiently separated to give no accusation of impropriety between them, but not so separate that the nuns became an autonomous group of women without at least formal subordination to some male authority; this was unacceptable to society at large, and would have rendered the sangha socially unacceptable. Social acceptability was vital for the sangha, as it could survive without material support from lay society.
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