Dharma Realm Buddhist University is a liberal arts program in Ukiah California that prides itself on the open discussion of a wide variety of philosophical, religious, and contemplative sources. Founded in 1976 by Chan Master Hsuan Hua, DRBU has always been influenced deeply by Chinese Buddhism. This influence, however, usually doesn't constrain the texts and activities that its students read, as texts from the Chinese, Pali, and Tibetan canons are found within its curriculum. 

As DRBU has a sizeable number of monastic students and faculty, it has specific policies relating to the admission and continued education of monastics. This policy while made to cover and respect the three different major Vinaya traditions found in Buddhism today, is entirely based off of the Chinese Vinaya with which its writers have an education in. 

Ani Sherab Dolma (right) is a sophomore student in the bachelors program at DRBU.  She is a dedicated student, a diligent practitioner, an important member of the Avatamsaka Recitation Club, and a pillar of the class of 29' as well as the larger community at DRBU.

Ani Sherab Dolma recently took novice ordination in the Tibetan tradition this previous summer. She underwent a long and rigorous training period to prepare for this, undergoing all the preliminaries and studies necessary to take up this commitment. This means taking up ten vows, wearing robes, and generally taking up the position of a Buddhist renunciate. With the blessing of her teacher and preceptor she came back to DRBU to finish her education.  

The Chinese tradition has strict restrictions surrounding the movement, livelihood, and behavior of novice monastics. This is because the novice stage in this tradition is seen as a training period before full ordination, which means taking over three hundred vows and undergoing a specific ceremony found only in the Chinese tradition. Due to this, DRBU does not allow novices to attend the university, as it believes that attending the university would delay their training and would not allow them to undergo the restrictions essential to the Chinese tradition. 

The issue is that these strict restrictions do not exist in the Theravadan and Tibetan traditions, as the tradition of taking 300 vows for female monastics is not extant in these traditions. In these traditions the taking of novice vows is not seen as a training period, but rather as the culmination of a previous training period. Every Tibetan Buddhist Nun is technically a novice, from the youngest to the oldest practitioner, all of them find the culmination of their vows in these ten, and not in the 300 of the Chinese tradition. Also, in the Tibetan tradition, it is very common for nuns or monks to only take the ten vows and to keep them until they die. Patrul Rinpoche, a highly respected Dzogchen master that Ani Sherab Dolma has a lineage and personal connection to, famously only took up the ten as he lived as a wandering practitioner in Tibet. 

The DRBU Board of Directors has made the decision to expel Ani Sherab Drolma from the program due to her ordaining as a novice this summer. The differences between the Chinese and Tibetan traditions have been explained to the Board of Directors multiple times, but they have still chosen to undertake this action. While recognizing Ani Sherab Drolma as a novice, they still refuse to recognize the textual and traditional justifications that differ from the Chinese tradition.

Instead of respecting the practices and rules of other Buddhist traditions, the DRBU Board of Directors has decided to prioritize the rules of one tradition at the expense of another. This cannot be seen as anything other than the enforcement of sectarianism at a university that is supposed to support open dialogue and coexistence.

By signing this petition, hopefully we can prevent the expulsion of a wonderful nun from a community she cares deeply about, as well as the revision of an archaic and discriminatory monastic admission policy.