This special issue of the Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies (JCBS) features two general themes of Chinese Buddhist monastic institutional life and Buddhist women’s experience and practice in premodern or modern periods, covering different aspects of Buddhist thought, practice, social, and institutional life. The articles herein are a testimony to the continuing prominence of women scholars in the field and the ways they are shaping it in new and exciting directions. Their methodological approaches and subject matters have expanded and enriched the Buddhist studies subfields of animal studies (Heirman), women’s spirituality (Hershkovitz), institutional lineage construction (Lepneva), historical mortuary practices of eunuchs (Pan), the textual reception of bhikṣuṇī order (Wang), and Chan literary studies (Zhang). Special thanks go out to Ester Bianchi for helping to put this issue together