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In Thailand the widespread assumption that bhikkhunī ordination has already been disrupted and that as a result Theravāda Buddhist women can no longer be ordained has been challenged by a group of women who have received the full monastic precepts from foreign saṅgha and practise Theravāda Buddhism in yellow monastic robes. Public concerns have centred on whether such bhikkhunī ordinations are possible, and how women could become bhikkhunī in a ‘correct’ way. Both supporters and opponents are often vocal in discussing ordination ceremony procedures, based on their interpretation of the vinaya, the monastic disciplines. This paper argues that it is not a matter of ‘right’ procedure, but rather of the authority of the religious institution or tradition that validates one's ordination. Even if a woman is ordained as a bhikkhunī by the ‘right’ procedure, her status remains unstable unless the religious authority of her country sanctions her ordination. In other words, it is only a political decision made by a religious institution — in the case of Thailand, the National Saṅgha — that can reinstate ‘legitimate’ bhikkhunī ordination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, I consider the changing forms of a traditional art genre and ritual cycle, Manooraa Rongkruu, in which it is possible for the living to communicate with the dead. I did fieldwork on the dynamics of Theravada Buddhism, Islam and indigenous religion and multi-religious rituals in Southern Thailand from 2004–2007. Religious forms in Southern Thailand have been hybridised, fragmented, post-modernised and revitalised. The performance and art genre of the Manooraa enjoy high popularity in certain parts of Southern Thailand and is used to heal a number of modern ailments. The public performances in Takae, Patthalung and Ta Kura, Songkhla, attract hundreds of thousands of worshippers. I show that the revitalised and reflexive religious practices of people in Southern Thailand to engage and worship the great ancestor spirits represent a multi-vocal arena, in which social transformations and discursive shifts are negotiated. Illustrations of the new performances of the Manooraa Rongkruu are provided to illustrate a ritual in movement that negotiates traditional obligations and postmodern requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the shift in soteriological and religious significance in the tradition of Tibet, China. It states that Theravada consecration ceremony is a rite for the blessing the sculptures of the Buddha by mimetic reenactment of events from the life of the Buddha. It mentions that the switch in consecration practice in the tradition of the Tibetan Buddhist sheds light on a wider fundamental conflict in the philosophical perspectives of the Mahayana and Theravada traditions.