Women In Buddhism

• 'This is a thorough, comprehensive and well researched guide to the history and agency of women in Buddhism. We travel widely through time and space, discovering awakened and well-practised women of old to the present day.'-Martine Batchelor, author of Women on the Buddhist Path and Women in Korean Zen • 'Written in a clear and accessible style, this book offers an excellent introduction into how women have shaped Buddhism from its beginning in India and over the course of its historical development throughout the Buddhist world.

In what follows I translate a discourse preserved as an individual translation in the Taishō edition under entry number 60, which reports the going forth of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, followed by a discussion of the different attitudes towards women that emerge from this discourse and a comparison to the current setting in Thailand

With this paper I examine the narrative that in the Cullavagga of the Theravāda Vinaya forms the background to the different rules on bhikkhunī ordination, alternating between translations of the respective portions from the original Pāli and discussions of their implications.

A study of women in the early Buddhist tradition and their relationship with meditative practice, using the Lotus Sūtra as an example of the potential for female enlightenment within Mahāyāna doctrine. Central themes include the androcentric and misogynist trends of early monastic Buddhism, rejection of the feminine through the Buddha's awakening and adherence of the tradition to celibacy and meditation using female corpses. The main focus is given to female emancipation through sexual transgression and transformation in Mahāyāna texts, and gender transformation within the context of the revolutionary teaching of the 'one vehicle' of the Lotus Sūtra.

It is rare to find a recorded lineage of female teachers in either Bön or Tibetan Buddhism, but here thirty heart teachings of Bön Khandro are being made publically available in English for the first time. In fact, this book combines many unique features in one concise volume.
First and foremost, the Dzogchen Yetri Thasel Mogyud, a succession of women from all over Central and Inner Asia who received precious Dzogchen teachings, and went on to achieve complete Buddhahood within one lifetime. These amazing ladies of wisdom practised with perseverance in a variety of circumstances and, gaining insight into the true Nature of their own minds, they obtained miraculous powers and passed on the essence of their experience to a single female disciple. These quintessential pith instructions were collected like precious drops of nectar and written down by the eighth century Bönpo sage Lachen Drenpa Namkha.
Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, the most erudite teacher of Yungdrung Bön, has taught on this text twice in the West, and the transcripts have been edited and amalgamated here. The book also includes a translation of the root text.
Another major feature of this publication is the specially commissioned thangka of this cycle of Khandro painted by Geshe Mönlam. Images of this female lineage are extremely rare, and Yongdzin Rinpoche consulted various texts to compile a detailed description of each lady. This text is also included here, and the image of each Khandro is printed alongside her heart teachings enabling the reader to invoke her blessings while reading.
The second half of the book is dedicated to the last yogini in this lineage, Chöza Bönmo, who not only fully realized the ultimate meaning of Dzogchen but also played a pivotal role in saving the teachings of Yungdrung Bön from almost certain annihilation during the eighth century persecution in the reign of the Tibetan king Trisong Deutsen. As an inspiration to Western students, Nagru Geshe Gelek Jinpa has compiled her biography by extracting key episodes of her spiritual path – the teachings she received from her two main masters Lachen Drenpa Namkha and Lishu Tagring, how she practised, and her inspiring Song of Experience. This is a path which, with the guidance of the teachings translated here, we can all aspire to follow.
Apart from the transcript of Yongdzin Rinpoche’s teaching, this is a bi-lingual publication in English and Tibetan.

Also included are:
Prayers to Drenpa Namkha and Chöza Bönmo;
25+ colour plates with the images of individual Khandro, Drenpa Namkha, Lishu Tagring etc;
A full colour poster of the Mogyud thangka.

Love and Liberation – Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro is an impressive study on the autobiography of the early twentieth century treasure revealer (Tib. gter ston) and tantric adept Sera Khandro Dewe Dorje (Tib. se ra mkha' 'gro bde ba'i rdo rje) (also called Künzang Dekyong Chönyi Wangmo, Tib. se ra mkha' 'gro kun bzang bde skyong dbang mo, (1892–1940).

This article revisits the question, first introduced by feminist scholars in the mid-1990s, about whether sexual practices within Buddhist tantra (heterosexually conceived) are empowering or exploitative to women. The purpose here is to complicate this question, given the different geographic settings and cultural contexts in which consort relationships have been embedded— from eastern Tibet to North America—and to nuance our understanding of the potential and pitfalls of sexuality in tantric contexts. To do so, I query the dynamics of secrecy and sexuality in tantric practice, examining twentieth century examples of female practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism who have participated in such relationships and thereby highlighting the localized ways that the " secret consort " (gsang yum) has been invoked as a social role. This issue is especially relevant today in light of the global #MeToo movement and recent disclosures of sexual improprieties and alleged abuse involving Tibetan teachers at the head of Buddhist communities in Europe and North America. For this reason, to conclude, I discuss shifting perspectives on sexuality as Buddhist tantra has spread beyond Asia and draw attention to current voices calling for greater transparency and community accountability.

This paper explores the visual representation of Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara) and argues that this, understood in relation to the traditions and devotion to him/ her, allows her to be read as a figure of subversive religiosity. Indeed, it is argued that, rather than being a symbol of tradition and convention, a subversive reading of her is not only more potent, but also inherent within her portrayals. To begin, the transformation of him/ her from a figure of mainstream Mahayana tradition, in the Pure Land School and texts such as the Lotus Sutra, to the ‘Chinese Goddess of Compassion’ is explored, paying particular attention to the legends of Miaoshan. This is then extended to consider both why s/he may be considered a conventional figure, but also how and why s/he offers the potential for subversive readings centred around ideas of gender, identity, patriarchy and morality.

This paper considers the process of doctrinal reinterpretation and rhetorical conformity to globalization-driven changes in socio-cultural standards. Considered are the Virgin Mary, Kuan-yin, and Athena in the context of gender equality. Being an impersonal, non-negotiable state of affairs rather than a political system that might be negotiated with, globalization leaves no choice for exclusivist groups than to modify their rhetoric to maintain their relevance and exclusivity within globalized environments. In this context, pluralism may be served better when it ensures the prosperity and exclusivity of religious groups than when it stands as a moral axiom. The consideration of the three "goddesses" demonstrates the importance of the flexibility of doctrinal interpretation in view of the goal to maintain, amid the ever-changing, globalized context, the myth of noble origins and of a unified, continuous tradition founded on supposedly ever-relevant and immutable truths.

Available records, when gathered together, could be seen as suggesting that in the past there have been both bhikkhunis and samaneris in the lands now known as Thailand, from the time of the Aśokan missions of arahants Sona and Uttara to Suvannabhumi, up until the Ayutthaya Period, and even into the twentieth century in the northern regions. However, there is little or no public knowledge nor a sense of connectedness to this distant and more recent past within contemporary Theravada Buddhist communities.  The updated version of this paper, originally published as an appendix to the 2007 First International Congress on Buddhist Women paper "Mining for Gold" and now republished indepedently in the July 2015 issue of Gautami Samayiki, gathers such records. It aims to share knowledge and foster a sense of connectedness with our shared past as well as to contribute to further reflection and consideration, potentially leading to a shift in perspective with regards Buddhist monastic women's history, the history of the monastic Sangha and the history of Buddha Catu Parisa (Buddha's Fourfold Community) in Southeast Asia, particularly in the region/s now known as Thailand.

This article presents an avadāna excerpt found in Śamathadeva’s Abhidharmakośopāyikā-ṭīkā. The tale reports a monk’s change of sex to female, followed by five hundred successive births as a woman, all of which happened as the karmic result of having addressed his fellow monks as women. The avadāna identifies this monk, who is introduced as a reciter of the Tripiṭaka, with the Bodhisattva in a past life. The story of the past serves to explain why the Buddha’s advice was disregarded by the quarreling monks of Kauśāmbī, who were involved in a dispute over a minor issue of monastic discipline. The present study places this unsourced avadāna in its broader textual context, suggesting the possibility of its placement in a no longer extant Mūlasarvāstivāda Kṣudraka-piṭaka. It then explores the question of a ‘gendered evaluation’ of karmic retribution, as well as the significance of a change of sex to female (and eventually back to male). This change reportedly took place when the Bodhisattva was already on the path to Buddhahood and had generated the bodhicitta, his resolve to reach full awakening.

This article further articulates Sponberg’s (1992) seminal identification of four distinct attitudes toward women and the feminine in Buddhism, by including a sub-typology of ‘essentialist misogyny’. Textual and institutional voices in the Buddhist traditions are traced that testify to a process of essentialization of the female sex or gender that is first constructed as an entity, ‘womanhood’, and then devalued. This trend is already documented in the early Buddhist texts, where it stands in contrast to the soteriologically normative non-essentialized view of femininity. The discourse develops with misogynist positions taken in medieval Theravāda works. It is further continued, albeit under an opposite agenda, that of the ‘sacred feminine’, in contemporary Western Buddhism. Such contemporary instances of an essentialized feminine exemplify how doctrinal and religio-historical tensions are renegotiated leading to the emergence of new incarnations of the Theravāda, and Buddhist in general, scriptural canon, which in turn overwrite previously emerged ‘practical canons’.

This is the second article in a two-part study of the hagiographic narrative of the parinirvāṇa of Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī and her five hundred bhikṣuṇī companions, as told in the Kṣudrakavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya extant in Tibetan and Chinese translation. The present article takes up for translation and study the story of the nuns' funeral, in the aftermath of the parinirvāṇa itself

As so many ancient tales, the disciple Uppalavaṇṇā's is one of many twists and turns, spanning vast reaches of time and space, past, present and future -the web of incarnations, human, animal and divine -in connection with the Buddha. It has been a popular tale, told in multiple texts, fascinating generations of story-weavers and listeners for more than twenty-five centuries. For good reason, as it continues to serve as a catalyst for exploration, inspiration and insight.

This paper argues that the Kṛṣṇa-carita as presented in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa was strongly influenced by biographies of the Buddha, and that Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddha in the Buddhacarita might have been a model for the Bhāgavata’s portrayal of Kṛṣṇa.  It provides evidence that both the Buddha and Kṛṣṇa in these Sanskrit kāvya are depicted as dharmapramāṇa, desireless yogīs, and extremely desirable but unattainable beloveds and thus the objects of unrequited love and passionate viraha-bhakti.  It therefore challenges Friedhelm Hardy’s claims about the South Indian origins of viraha-bhakti and argues to the contrary that highly emotional forms of bhakti are found in Sanskrit literature before the Āḻvārs.

The article establishes the history and precise dating of the Tibetan translation of Lakṣmī's *Sahajasiddhipaddhati, a significant female-authored Tantric Buddhist text. By way of examining the scholarly activities of the Tibetan translator 'Bro Lotsā ba Shes rab Grags, the paper also provides many historical details about texts, translations, and Buddhist scholars in Kashmir, Nepal, and Tibet during the second half of the eleventh century.

This article studies narratives related to the topic of women receiving a prediction or declaration (vyākaraṇa) for Buddhahood. The texts in question—in their received form—have their place in the Indian Buddhist traditions of the Middle Period. The first episode taken up is the story of Princess Munī who receives the prediction of becoming the present Buddha Śākyamuni; this is found in the so-called “Scripture on the Wise and the Fool.” The second episode is the story of Yaśomatī who receives the prediction that she will become the Buddha Ratnamati; this is found in the Avadānaśataka. When evaluating these comparatively rare instances of predictions received by women, two aspects come up for special consideration: (a) the textual significance of variations regarding the presence or absence of a change of sex, and (b) the epistemological and soteriological consequences for female audiences of women’s narratives constructed by the third-person perspective of male monastic text transmitters. The variations document that the transmitters did not always perceive the transformation of sex into a male as a categorical necessity. This transformation may not have been integral to these narratives of the bodhisattva path as articulated by the textual communities in which these texts originated and circulated.

Course Description: Gender Issues in Religion introduces the students to various religious traditions and investigates prevailing attitudes toward women. The course deals with the role women play in religion and society, and the way women were and are portrayed by the world's major religions. It illuminates the impact patriarchy had on the lives of women worldwide and depicts their contemporary responses in creating new religious movements and institutions.

Buddhism is widely known throughout the world as a religion of peace and kindness. It is  less known as a religion of gender-equality. Nonetheless, that the Buddha would harbor the slightest bit of ill-will toward women, flies in the face of the complete awakening of the Buddha, which entails that he was utterly pure of thought, kind and well disposed to a fault, completely without defilement or bias of any sort, toward any living being. What gives?

Theist religions argue for the pre-existence of self/Atman/ruh based on mentalistic idealism and/or interactive substance dualism frameworks; whereas Buddhism denies this; instead, this atheist religion (i) proposes Karmic theory (impression of karmas/

This article studies the double sex-change motif in the Soreyyatthera-vatthu, the “Story (literally, “subject matter”) of the Elder Soreyya”, of the Dhammapada-aṭṭhavaṇṇanā, the commentary on the canonical stanzas of the Dhammapada. The Soreyyatthera-vatthu tells the story of the householder Soreyya’s spontaneous sex-change to female, as a result of an unwholesome fantasy aroused by the sight of the beautiful hue on the body of the venerable Mahākaccāyana. The protagonist of the story then regains the male sex upon having regretted and made amends for his former thought, goes forth as a Buddhist monk, and eventually becomes an arahant. The article first presents the narrative and the canonical stanzas in light of their literary antecedent in the Baudhāyana-śrautasūtra, one of the oldest ritual manuals stemming from the Taittirīya exegetical school of the Black Yajurveda (sections I–III). It then reviews a reading proposed by Reiko Ohnuma (2007 and 2012) that sees gender-discourse relevance in the narrative and the verse this encapsulates, as if they were expressions of “Buddhist ambivalence” towards or “devaluation” of “mother-love” (sections IV), followed by a few closing thoughts on the Buddhist “super-valuation” of world detachment (section V).

This article explores narrtives relevant to the study of the representation of women’s soteriological agency in the Middle Period by looking at two parallel versions of a story that are located respectively in the Mūlasarvāstivāda and the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya.  The first story—in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya—is about a woman who, due to an oversight by Ānanda, misses the occasion to be exposed to the inspiring qualities of the Buddha and therefore to develop an aspira-tion to Buddhahood. In the second story—in the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya—the opportunity is not lost on Ānanda who gives the woman an exposition of the Buddha’s qualities. This second case, which involves some textual difficulties, appears to describe a declaration of assurance of liberation obtained by the woman, which is understood as a potential for Buddha¬hood in the Vinaya commentary extant in Chinese, possibly as a result of an explanatory gloss inserted in China. Both stories (and the Vinaya commentary) show a positive attitude towards women. This testifies to the existence of a multitude of voices in gender-related soteriological discourse, not only in narrative collections such as the Avadānaśataka and the 'Scripture of the Wise and the Fool', but also in stories transmitted within the boundaries of canonical normative texts such as the Vinayas. The primary sources offered in translation and the topics broached in the discussion offer a window onto the intersection of Buddhist soteriological and social ideologies as reflected in Buddhist legal texts in late antique and medieval India, and beyond it.

In his edicts, the emperor Aśoka Maurya extols brāhmaṇas, usually alongside ascetics (śramaṇas), as deserving honor and generosity, though he never alludes to their connection with ritual, the central theme of early Brahmanical literature. On the other hand, in Rock Edicts I and IX, he disparages sacrifices, and ceremonies performed by women, advocating instead the practice of ethical virtues. Close attention to the wording of Rock Edict IX shows that Aśoka and the Brahmanical Gṛhyasūtras talk about domestic rites in very similar terms, even describing them with the same adjective (uccāvaca). Both of them note the special role of women as a source of knowledge of such ceremonies, and differ only in how they evalute the value of such ceremonial: Aśoka disparages women’s rites, while some Gṛhyasūtras explicitly validate women as authorities in such matters. A comparison of these sources highlights the distinctive role of the term dhamma in Aśoka’s usage in contrast to maṅgala (auspicious folk rites), and may provide some guidance for dating the Gṛhyasūtras. The fact that Aśoka does not explicitly connect such rites with the brāhmaṇas suggests that in his experience at least (i.e., in Magadha) Brahmins’ religious authority had nothing to do with domestic ritual. We may conclude that the Vedic canonization of Gṛhya ritual norms was not yet recognized outside of priestly circles, if it had developed yet at all.

The science of psychology is believed to consist of objective and meaningful knowledge about a realm of our own direct experiencing with which we are all intimate and familiar, yet about which we also feel we have very little understanding, and no real insight, and so feel inclined to submit to psychology as if it were revelatory and definitive. Society’s default attitude to psychology is one of deferential, if occasionally grudging, respect. The quasi-medical arm of psychology – psychotherapy - is accorded a similar authority even when it appears to employ questionable methods and dubious reasoning. Yet our submissive, compliant attitude to these disciplines is deeply counterproductive to any serious quest for authentic metaphysical knowledge and self-fulfilment, because it effectively neutralises sceptical enquiry and intellectual self-reliance, both of which are essential precursors to, and indispensable features of, any meaningful commitment to metaphysical gnosis. And if one is to achieve clarity of thought and observational accuracy, it is especially important to approach one’s psychological capacities directly – without intermediary - in an independent and self-reliant spirit, free of the misguided and inappropriate interventions of psychology and psychotherapy, however well intended they might be. One should never allow one’s judgement to be distorted by specious theories formulated by people who can never know more about you than you can know about yourself.

This paper was first presented at  Zhuhai Conference on Buddhist Culture in 2015.  It is a brief history of the planning and construction of both an internet atlas as well as a 3-D Virtual Reality installation for museums.  The project has recently received a major grant from the Australia Research Council  and is being done in cooperation with University of New South Wales  in Sydney and Professor Sarah Kenderdine.

Liang, Jue. "Branching from the Lotus-Born: Padmasambhava in the Extensive Life of Ye shes mtsho rgyal." In About Padmasambhava: Historical Narratives and Later Transformations of Guru Rinpoche, edited by Geoffrey Samuel and Jamyang Oliphant of Rossie, 169-185. Schongau: Garuda Verlag, 2020.

In this article I explore aspects of the situation of women in early
Buddhism. In an appendix to the present article, I take the occasion to reply to criticisms raised by Oskar von Hinüber and Bhikkhu Ṭhānissaro in relation to publications of mine relevant to several points covered in the main part of the present article

In the Theravāda Buddhist polities on the mainland of Southeast Asia, abiding concerns about the proper structuring of the relationship between the ‘two wheels of dhamma’ (i.e. the realm of religion and the realm of politics) have had a profound influence on processes of state formation and political legitimation. This article explores one such religious ‘effect’ on the constitutions and electoral laws of modern Burma/Myanmar, Siam/Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, namely the official disenfranchisement of Buddhist monks (and, in some instances, Buddhist ‘nuns’ as well as non-Buddhist clergy). The article traces the historical evolution of this Buddhist exception to the democratic principle of equal and universal suffrage, and assesses the extent to which dominant theoretical approaches in the social sciences help us to understand the politics of religious disenfranchisement in Southeast Asia. It finds that neither secularization theory nor the religious-economy approach can explain observed patterns. Instead, the article offers an account of the politics of religious disenfranchisement that emphasizes the role of ideas and historical context.

Position of Women in Islam and Buddhism: A Comparative Study. By Shabbir Ahmmad, Jaffary Awang and Indriaty Ismail. Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research, vol. 7, no. 3, 2017, pp.1-9.

This article is interesting because two of the authors have a doctor-ate degree. It also provides an opportunity to clarify some misconceptions and misunderstanding about women in Buddhism. The assertions in the article will be listed in bold, each followed by a discussion.

A significant venue for critiquing "fake" lamas and sexual transgressions has been contemporary Tibetan language fiction. The favored style of social realism is particularly well-suited to delve into the messiness of human failings and call attention to exploitative social relations. While not necessarily feminist in intent, short stories about such sexual transgressions—as a form of social critique of male depravity and the mistreatment of women—provide an important complement to more direct advocacy work for women’s rights and access to education and health care. In this article, we do a close reading of Tibetan-medium short stories that depict lamas engaged in sexual misconduct and abuse, comparing fictional accounts by celebrated male authors Döndrup Gyal and Tsering Döndrup with those by less well-known women writers, Tashi
Drönma (abbreviated Tredrön) and Tsedrön Kyi.

This paper looks at a set of related Jātaka tales, the Mahā-paduma Jātaka and the Bandhanamokkha Jātaka, to determine what ethical prescriptions are conveyed, and if there are gendered ethical messages therein. It is my contention that the female character in the tales – generally lacking name or voice – is treated ambiguously and that her ethical behavior over several lifetimes only serves to reinforce existing messages of masculine spiritual and ethical supremacy. Furthermore, neither of the tales provides a positive model of ethical behavior for lay women, unless it is to extrapolate from the virtuous actions of the male characters. The audience and reader are not given access to the female characters’ thoughts or motivations for her actions, further restricting understanding. The Mahā-paduma Jātaka is the longest of the Jātakas under consideration in this paper, set in the audience’s present day shortly after the Buddha has attained Enlightenment, and deals with the disastrous karmic effects of attempting to besmirch the Buddha’s good name. The main female character in this tale is named Ciñcamānavikā; it is her past lives that are the subject of the past life in the Mahā-paduma Jātaka and a different past life in the Bandhanamokkha Jātaka. By way of contrast to the Jātakas, I briefly consider the character of Queen Mallikā from the Dhammapada Commentary, a character with voice and virtue, features notably lacking from the Jātaka tales.

A translation of Jikmé Lingpa's "btsun mo la spring ba'i gtam." In A Gathering of Brilliant Moons: Practice Advice from the Rime Masters of Tibet. Eds. Holly Gayley and Josh Schapiro. Boston: Wisdom Publications 2017
http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/gathering-brilliant-moons

The literary sources reveal that Buddha left his wife and child at home to find enlightenment, which implies that he saw women, and domestic life in particular, as an obstacle in the path of liberation (nirvana). This article is an attempt to question the social norms concerning women accepted by the Buddha and Buddhism through the lens of gender. In addition, it throws a critical light on the eight garudhammas (rules to be observed by fully ordained Buddhist nuns).Buddhism was introduced by the Buddha as a tradition that changed the extant Vedic way of life to his own “way of life,” known as Buddhism in the contemporary world. It cannot be said that the Buddha converted people from Vedic religion to Buddhism. Instead, the Buddha used the debate to figure out higher truth through logic and attract people to Buddhism. Thus, the roots of Buddhism lie in denouncing the obsolete practices of the Vedic system that promoted any kind of nobleness/righteousness established by birth. In contrast, he promoted righteousness and nobleness based on action and logic. Unfortunately, an important and often overlooked aspect of Buddha and Buddhism, in general, is about women’s place.