Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: How one woman changed Buddhism

Tuesday, December 23, 2025

How one woman changed Buddhism

Saṅghamittā (Sanskrit Saṅghamitrā, "Friend of the Sangha") with the nun's name Ven. Ayapali Theri [1], who lived from 282 BC–203 BC [1].

She was a fully enlightened (arhat, arahant) Indian Buddhist nun and the eldest daughter (as recounted in Sri Lankan tradition as recorded in the Dīpavaṃsa) of Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka (304 BC–232 BC) with his first wife Queen Devi (302 BCE–242 BCE).

Together with her monastic brother, Ven. Mahinda Thero, she entered the order of Buddhist monastics. The two siblings later went as Buddhist missionaries to the island of Sri Lanka to spread the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha, at the request of Sri Lankan King Devanampiya Tissa (250 BC–210 BC), who was a contemporary of King Ashoka.

Emperor Asoka at Nava Jetavana Temple, Shravasti, for the Third Buddhist Council

From Emperor Ashoka's India to Sri Lanka

Ashoka was initially reluctant to send his daughter (according to the Sri Lankan tradition) on an overseas mission, even one of only 35 miles, the distance between the subcontinent (India) and the island (dipa or dvipa).

However, because of the insistence of Ven. Sangamitta herself, he finally agreed. She was sent to Sri Lanka together with several other nuns to start the Buddhist nun's lineage of (Bhikkhuni Sangha or order of fully ordained female Buddhist monastics) at the request of King Tissa.

Sangha incomplete without women
THERE ARE MANY GREAT WOMEN IN BUDDHISM: Many come to mind like the Buddha's enlightened wife (Bimba Devi, Yasodhara, Rāhulamātā, Bhadda Kaccana, Subhaddakā, and called by many other names to dilute her magnificence and prominence in the Bhikkhuni Sangha, as if she were the "Mary" so often mentioned in Christianity); Ven. Mahā Pajāpatī Gotami, the Buddha's mother and history's first Buddhist nun; Western German Jewish Buddhist nun Ayya Khema, who restarted full ordination in Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka; Khema Theri, foremost in wisdom; Uppalavanna, foremost in psychic powers; Ven. Sundarī Nanda, the Buddha's fully enlightened sister (possibly the same as the "Belle of the Land," the most beautiful Janapada Kalyani); Kwan Yin Bodhisattva, Goddess of Compassion; Prajnaparamita, Goddess of Wisdom (Buddhism's Sophia); the various colored Taras; Ambapali the Wise Courtesan; Ven. Kisa Gotami; Dipa Ma; modern American greats like Tara Brach, Ven. Tathālokā Bhikkhunī, Sharon Salzberg, Sylvia Boorstein, Shaila Catherine, Tina Rasmussen; and the many advanced ones like Beth Upton, Sayalay Susila, Sayalay Dipankara, and so on.

There she ordained Queen Anulā and other women in King Tissa's court at Anuradhapura who desired to be ordained as nuns after Mahinda converted them to Buddhism [2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

After Sanghamittā’s contribution to the propagation of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and her establishing the Bhikkhunī Sangha or Meheini Sasna ("Order of Buddhist Nuns") there, her name became synonymous with "Buddhist Female Monastic Order of Theravāda Buddhism" that was established Sri Lanka, Burma, China, and Thailand, in particular.

The day she brought the most revered Bodhi tree as a sapling to Sri Lanka and planted it in Anuradhapura, where it still survives, is still celebrated annually on the Full Moon Day of December as Uduvapa Poya or Uposatha Poya and "Sanghamittā Day" by Sri Lankan Theravāda Buddhists [3, 5, 7]. More