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The following is an excerpt from Inquiring Mind, Spring 2011. It is the introductory and explanatory section written by the editors to an article written for Inquiring Mind by Ajahn Thanasanti called "Finding A Way Forward." I reproduced it here (hand typed it) because I cannot find it anywhere online. However, the article it prefaces is a condensed version of Ajahn Thanasanti's blog of 9.9.10 to be found at:

http://awakeningtruth.org/blog/?p=78

Should she or shouldn't she? Ajahn Thanasanti Bhikkhuni tries to unravel the complicated factors impacting her decision on whether or not to become a fully ordained Buddhist nun (p. 3).

In 1991 Ajahn Thanasanti Bhikkhuni ordained as a siladhara, a unique form of nuns' training formulated ten years earlier by the Ajahn Chah-Ajahn Sumedho Forest Tradition in England. The siladhara order has thrived in England on a small scale despite remaining unrecognized by the larger Buddhist community. The creation of the siladhara community has served the novel intent to support Western women's aspirations to practice as nuns.

A bhikkhuni, unlike a siladhara, is a fully ordained nun whose status in the Buddhist sangha includes the authority to ordain other women. While established by the Buddha, bhikkhuni ordination died out in Theravada Buddhist countries over a millennium ago. In recent years, however, it has been reestablished in a few countries, stirring hope among many, alongside controversy and even condemnation by some.

In 2009 the elders of the Ajahn Chah Sumedho lineage in Thailand reaffirmed its conformance with the Thai Sangha governing council's position that bhikkhuni ordination had cease to exist and could not be legitimately revived there. Likewise, the council of elders in England reaffirmed that the siladhara order should not be seen as a stepping stone to full bhikkhuni ordination for women, and the council required members of the order to acknowledge this in writing. Being asked to sign such a statement threw the siladhara community into turmoil. Numerous siladharas, including Ajahan Thanasanti, left the community in England, with some giving up the nun's life entirely (p. 16). (Bold type are my empahses; italics, theirs.)

See also:
http://www.buddhismwithoutboundaries...ahn-Thanasanti

mayUallB@eze
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