The Bhikkhuni Sangha is the congregation of Buddhist nuns, including practicing nuns: novice nuns and learned women (sāmaṇerī, sikkhāmānā). These are women who have become monks, abandoned their families and lived without families, and accepted a life of celibacy. A new woman joining the nun community must undergo two years of female ordination before becoming a novice nun, receive novice nun ordination for two years and reach the age of twenty before receiving full bhikkhunī ordination....