Dear Yong Peng,

You wrote:

>
> Bhante,
>
> thank you. I am very happy to wait for your paper on this topic. However, I still feel the lack of empathy among Buddhists on this issue, for Buddhism to be the fourth largest world religion.

I'd rather say the lack of interest, at least in my experience with the Burmese Sangha and the Burmese Buddhist community.

> 1. on the word garudhamma and the eight garudhammas. I did a search in CSCD, and found it mainly comes from the Vinaya. The only exception is AN8.6.1 Gotami Vagga/Gotami Sutta. An English translation can be found on Metta Web: http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara5/8-atthakanipata/006-gotamivaggo-e.html
>
> As to the Vinaya, a similar narration is found in the Cullavagga or Cuu.lavagga in the Vinaya. Here is a excerpt from ATI: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/bmc2/bmc2.ch23.html

These sources have been edited, published, translated and argued over for a very long time. Many western scholars have pointed out the ambiguities and inconsistencies in these sources. While many like to explain away such problems as arising on account of these sources (at least a significant part of them) being later additions, prof. von Hinuber maintains that the problematic sources are an indication of the Buddhist nunhood itself arising only after the Buddha had passed away. (I haven't read this paper. I heard about this from a German nun who was present at the conference where he read his paper.)

The sources are the same, you see, but the interpretations can be diametrically opposite depending on your approach. This is why I am still trying to form a hypothesis before attacking these sources.

with metta

Ven. Pandita