Nun

Nun is a woman who made a special vow (or promise) dedicating herself to a religious life. Catholic nuns are said to "take the veil" as a symbol of their new life.^[1] Roman Catholic nuns are the most commonly thought of nuns in the West, but nuns are found in different forms of Christianity as well as non-Christian religions such as Buddhism. A fully ordained Buddhist nun is called a bhikkhuni or bhiksuni; ordained novices are sāmaṇerī.^[2] A nun is the female version of a monk.^[3]

A nun

References

1. Crown and Veil: Female Monasticism from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Centuries, eds. Jeffrey F Hamburger; Susan Marti; et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), p. 13
2. Bhikkhunī Ordination From Ancient India to Contemporary Sri Lanka by Bhikkhu Anālayo භි ක ් ෂ ුණ ී පැව ි ද ් ද පු රාණ ඉන ් ද ියාවේ පටන ් ද වර ් තමාන ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දක ් ෂ වා භි ක ් ඛ ු අනාලය ෝ Translated by Bhikkhu Derangala Kusalañāṇa පර ි වර ් තනය: භි ක ් ඛ ු දෑරංගල කු සලඤාණ Forewords by Bhante Guṇaratana, Bhikkhu Bodhi, and Ajahn Brahmavaṃso http://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/bhikkhuni.pdf
3. Association of the Monasteries of Nuns of the Order of Preachers of the United States of America, Vocation in Black and White: Dominican Contemplative Nuns Tell How God Called Them (New York: iUniverse, 2008), p. 106

Other websites

• Poor Clare nuns in Rockford, Illinois Archived 2006-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
• A Blog about Being a Catholic Nun in Today’s World
• A Biography of a Vajrayana Buddhist Nun
• Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women
• Alliance for Bhikkhunis