On the 22nd of October 2009, Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery in Perth, Australia held a controversial bhikkhuni ordination in the Thai Theravada Buddhist lineage, six weeks prior to a planned meeting where the issue of the bhikkhuni ordination was to be discussed. The ordination was conducted under conditions of strict secrecy in the face of protests from the elders of the Sangha.

On the 1st of November 2009, the Sangha of Wat Nong Pah Pong, the head monastery of the Ajahn Chah lineage, revoked Bodhinyana's status as a branch monastery of Wat Nong Pah Pong.

Out of respect for Ajahn Chah and the Wat Nong Pah Pong lineage, we have attempted to provide accurate information in order to provide a complete picture of this situation. This website contains official and personal statements, correspondence between involved parties, and relevant information on the Vinaya (Buddhist monastic code) and Thai Sangha laws.

"As long as the monks hold regular and frequent assemblies, they may be expected to prosper and not decline. As long as they meet in harmony, break up in harmony, and carry on their business in harmony, they may be expected to prosper and not decline. As long as they do not authorize what has not been authorized already, and do not abolish what has been authorized, but proceed according to what has been authorized by the rules of training, they may be expected to prosper and not decline; as long as they honor, respect, revere and salute the elders of long standing who are long ordained, fathers and leaders of the order, they may be expected to prosper and not decline; as long as they do not fall prey to desires which arise in them and lead to rebirth, they may be expected to prosper and not decline; as long as they are devoted to forest-lodgings, they may be expected to prosper and not decline; as long as they preserve their personal mindfulness, so that in future the good among their companions will come to them, and those who have already come will feel at ease with them they may be expected to prosper and not decline; as long as the monks hold to these seven things and are seen to do so, they may be expected to prosper and not decline."


– The Buddha, Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Digha Nikaya