漢傳佛教有著世界上歷史最久並繼續持續的比丘尼僧團，二十一世紀的當代佛教，臺灣比丘尼呈現佛教歷史前所未見的獨特性，除了數量上是比丘的三倍之外，也是世界上目前比丘尼人數最多的地區，無論在慈善、教育、藝術、文化等方面，均有傑出表現。然而，比丘尼在禪修上的實踐，卻仍未被觸及。法鼓山為少數對女性禪修師資做有系統地培養與弘化的道場之一，根據筆者的訪談資料，臺灣兩眾道場的禪七帶領仍以男眾法師為主，而法鼓山的禪修培養與弘化，並無性別的考量，有著比臺灣其他道場女眾更多弘化機會。法鼓山尼眾人數從最早一九八○年的三人到二○一三年的二一六人；僧眾禪修領眾培養方面，從早期聖嚴法師的親自帶領，到一九九九年成立僧伽大學四年制佛學院，系統性地教授禪學與禪修，僧伽大學更在二○○六年設立六年制的禪學系，系統性地培養禪修領眾人才。法鼓山做為禪宗在臺灣佛教復興的現象之一，要如何解釋如同臺灣其他兩眾道場創辦人均為男性，法鼓山對於女性禪修師資的培養與弘化，有更開放的空間？其對女性禪修師資培養與弘化的開放態度，和禪宗傳統在面對現代化、全球化下的機會與挑戰又有什麼樣的關係？這當中，比丘尼對禪宗法理如何運用與再詮釋？本文先以深度訪談結合文獻資料，呈現法鼓山三十多年的比丘尼禪修培養與弘化歷史，再探討法鼓山比丘尼禪修的培養與弘化，如何受到禪宗法理與創辦人理念的影響？以及當中與禪宗現代化、全球化和性別議題的交涉。

Chinese Buddhism has the world’s oldest and continuous bhikshuni sangha tradition. In contemporary society, Taiwan is home to both greatest number of female monastics (about 15,000), largest proportion of nuns and monks (3:1), and the most diverse bhikshuni communities in the world, a situation unprecedented in world Buddhist history. The outstanding accomplishment of Taiwan bhikshunis in fields such as charity, education, art, culture, as well as Buddhist social movements attracts scholars to do researches on Taiwan Buddhist nuns since the past two decades. About the issues of women in Chan Buddhism, though not totally neglected, studies are limited to pre-modern literary and historical analysis and lack of empirical finding. What is the real practice of Buddhist women, their subjective perception of Chan, and their substantive pedagogy demands us to do further inquiry. This article explores a historically significant but under-studied phenomenon of women religious practice in contemporary Chinese Buddhism. My research focuses on the bhikshuni sangha of Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM)—women who live in a Chan Buddhist monastery in contemporary Taiwan-and its making of modern female Chan teachers. This research draws from my ethnography of the DDM bhikshuni sangha, personal interviews, DDM’s historical archives, and literatures review. Through the exploration of this work, I will show that along with the open space on women in Taiwan Buddhism, DDM founder, Shengyen’s international Chan vision and modernism, as well as the Mahayana doctrine of egalitarianism and Chan sudden enlightenment, it creates a institutional and systematic Chan cultivation, pedagogy and propagation for women, a chance unprecedented for Chan women in the past.