Religion: Dalai Lama sends message

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama sent a message yesterday to the Seventh Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women being held in Taipei that said that "both women and men have equal opportunity and potential to practice the dharma and to achieve its goals." The Dalai Lama emphasized that the re-institution of the Bhikshuni ordination is very important, but said that no single person could decide how this would be done. Rather, this would be a matter for the Sangha, or those who have attained the path of seeing, to address. Bhikshuni ordination, in essence, deals with becoming a Buddhist nun. The conference opened Thursday and will run through next Wednesday.